Ben Elton

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Ben Elton
Born 3 May 1959 (1959-05-03) (age 50)
Catford, London, England
Medium Stand-up comedy, television and film
Years active 1981-present
Spouse Sophie Gare

Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May1959) is an English comedian, writer and director.

Born in Catford, London, he is the son of the physicist and educational researcher Lewis Elton and the nephew of the historian Sir G R Elton. He studied at Stillness Junior School and Godalming Grammar School in Surrey, and the University of Manchester. He became a stand-up comedian and comedy writer shortly after leaving university in 1980, and was a central figure in the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s. More recently he has achieved success writing lyrics for and producing musicals, and as an author.

Elton is married to Sophie and has three children (Albert, Charlotte and Alfred). He lives in London and Fremantle, Western Australia. Elton has had dual citizenship with Australia since 2004.[1]

Contents

[edit] Work

[edit] Television

His first television appearance was a stand-up performance on the BBC2 youth and music programme The Oxford Roadshow. His first TV success though was at the age of 23 as co-writer of the television sitcom The Young Ones, in which he occasionally appeared.

In 1983/84 he wrote and appeared in Granada Television's sketch show Alfresco, which was also notable for early appearances by Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane. In 1985, Elton produced his first solo script for the BBC with his comedy-drama series Happy Families, starring Jennifer Saunders and Adrian Edmondson. Elton appeared in the fifth episode as a liberal prison governor. Shortly afterwards, he reunited Mayall and Edmondson with their Young Ones co-star Nigel Planer for the showbiz send-up sitcom Filthy Rich and Catflap.

In 1985 Elton began his successful writing partnership with Richard Curtis. Together they wrote Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth. Blackadder, starring Rowan Atkinson, was a worldwide hit, winning four BAFTAs and an Emmy. Elton and Curtis also wrote Atkinson's 1986 hit stage show, The New Review, and Mr Bean's famous exam episode. While writing Blackadder 4, he mentioned that the First World War was a particularly apt subject for a situation comedy. Before writing the series, he and the writers read a number of books about the war and found that

“ Actually, all the lead up to the first world war was very funny, all the people coming from communities where they'd never bumped into posh people... and all being so gung ho and optimistic...the first hundred pages of any book about the world war are hilarious, then of course everybody dies.[2] ”

Elton became a stand-up comedian primarily to showcase his own writing, but became one of Britain's biggest selling live acts.[3] After a regular slot on Saturday Live — later moved and renamed Friday Night Live — which was seen as a UK version of the USA's Saturday Night Live, he became the host of the programme.

In 1990 he starred in his own stand-up comedy and sketch series entitled The Man from Auntie, which had a second series in 1994. (The title plays on The Man from UNCLE; "Auntie" is a nickname for the BBC). In 1991 Ben won the Royal Television Society Writers' Award.

The Ben Elton Show (1998) followed a format similar to that of The Man from Auntie and featured (somewhat incongruously) Ronnie Corbett, a comedian of the 'old-guard' that the 'alternative comedians' of the 1980s were the direct alternative to, as a regular guest. It was his last high-profile network programme in the UK as a stand-up comedian.

In April 2007, Get a Grip, a new show began broadcasting on ITV1. Featuring a combination of 'comic sketches' (similar to those seen on The Ben Elton Show) and staged studio discussion between Elton and 23-year-old Alexa Chung, the show's aim was to, "contrast Elton's middle-aged viewpoint with Chung's younger perspective," (although Elton is wholly responsible for the script).

Elton will also be appearing in the ITV version of BBC Radio 2 sitcom Teenage Kicks.[4][5]

[edit] Behind the camera

Elton also wrote and produced The Thin Blue Line, a studio-based sitcom set in a police station, also starring Rowan Atkinson, which ran for two series (in 1995 and 1996). A prime-time family show lacking the edge of his earlier work, its traditional format and characters won it the 1995 British Comedy Award and both the public and professional Jury Awards at Reims.

He also wrote the six-part sitcom Blessed, starring Ardal O'Hanlon, which aired on BBC1 in 2005.

[edit] Radio

Elton co-starred with Adrian Edmondson on Teenage Kicks, a sitcom for BBC Radio 2. A television version is currently in production for ITV.

[edit] Novels

He has published eleven novels since 1989 (all published by Black Swan, an imprint of Transworld), which are listed below. His 11th novel will be published by Transworld in November 2007. His first novel, Stark, was made into an Australian TV film in 1993 in which Elton starred.

[edit] Films

Ben Elton had appeared in amateur dramatic productions as a youth, notably as The Artful Dodger in the musical Oliver!. [6]

While previously appearing in bit parts in his own TV series, he began his professional film acting career when he starred as CD in Stark, the Australian/BBC TV film adaptation of his novel, released in 1993. This ABC co-production was directed by Nadia Tass and filmed in Australia.

He played Verges to Michael Keaton's Dogberry in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.

[edit] Behind the camera

Elton wrote and directed the film adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, which was released under the title Maybe Baby (2000) starring Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson. It was a moderate UK success and was distributed globally.[7] The film was also nominated for a prize at Germany's Emden Film Festival.

[edit] Musicals

Elton collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on The Beautiful Game in 2000, writing the book and lyrics (Lloyd Webber wrote the music). The Beautiful Game won the London Critics Circle Award for best new musical. Elton went on to write a number of compilation shows featuring popular songs taken from the back catalogues of pop/rock artists. The first of these was the musical We Will Rock You with music by the rock band Queen. This was successful in London and won the 2003 Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best New Musical. It has since opened in the US, Australia, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and New Zealand. Tonight's the Night based on the songs of Sir Rod Stewart opened in November 2003. The Daily Telegraph reported on 15 September 2007 that Elton is collaborating with Lloyd-Webber again on a remake of The Beautiful Game, which will be called The Boy In The Photograph. A source is reported as saying "the original show centred on the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland, but obviously the peace process has moved on since they first wrote it in 2000, so they are working on a new score and lyrics. It's due for a first workshop performance at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts next April and will go to Toronto from there - maybe even returning to the West End if all goes well". A spokesman for Lloyd-Webber is reported as confirming that the pair are indeed working together again.[8]

[edit] Stage

Elton studied Drama at the University of Manchester and has written three West End plays.

  • Gasping (1990) was first performed at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. It starred Hugh Laurie and featured the voice of Stephen Fry.
  • Silly Cow (1991) again performed at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. It was written for and starred Dawn French.
  • Popcorn (1996) was adapted for the stage and went on a UK-wide tour. It also toured Australia in a production starring Marcus Graham and Nadine Garner in its Eastern-States seasons. Popcorn won the TMA Barclays Theatre Award for best new play and the Olivier Award for best comedy. The Paris production of Popcorn ran for a year and was nominated for seven Moliere Awards.
  • Blast From the Past (1998) was also adapted for the stage and was produced at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

[edit] Stand-up comedy

In 1981, when his live act took off, Elton was hired by The Comedy Store in London as its compère.

In 2005 Elton did his first stand-up tour since 1997, touring the UK with "Get a Grip". He toured Australia and New Zealand with the same show in 2006.

[edit] Awards

In 2007, Ben Elton was awarded an Honorary Rose for lifetime achievement at the Rose d'Or festival. He was also made a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, in recognition of the work that he has carried out with students. Ben has also been awarded an honorary doctorate in Drama at Manchester University.

[edit] Criticism

Anne Robinson put Ben Elton into Room 101 in protest at his hosting the Royal Variety Performance. She argued that he should be sent to the room "for being a total and utter hypocrite and going back on everything he stood for in the 80s and 90s". He was put in for a second time (the only person ever to experience this dishonour) in 2007 by comedian Mark Steel (whose style has been compared with Elton.)[9] In his 2005 show Stand-up Comedian, comic Stewart Lee remarked upon the fact that Ben Elton is more widely despised than Osama Bin Laden due to the fact that the latter has "at least lived his life according to a consistent set of ethical principles".

Toby Young summarises similar criticisms when he writes:

“ Ben Elton. Do you know this guy? He started out as an "alternative" comedian, railing against Thatcherism and the like, and now earns a fortune writing the librettos for truly awful West End musicals. I mean, his name has become a byword for shameless hackery. He's the biggest sell-out of his generation.[10] ”

Though Young earlier said that criticism aimed at Elton is "down to sour grapes", and that "he may not be everyone's cup of tea, but Britain would surely be a poorer place without him."[11]

Elton has also been criticised for writing a musical with Conservative Party supporter Andrew Lloyd Webber. In his defence, Elton has said "if I were to refuse to talk to Tories, I would narrow my social and professional scope considerably. If you judge all your relationships on a person's voting intentions, I think you miss out on the varieties of life."[12]

Elton has also been criticised for co-writing a song that was performed at the inauguration of US President George W. Bush. When questioned on this, Elton remarked that he did not see it as a celebration of Bush, more a celebration of the presidency of the United States, and said that whilst he "despises" Bush's policies, he was "not sufficiently right-wing to invoke a South African-style boycott."[13]

In an interview on Parkinson, aired December 2, 2006, Elton also stated that he had originally been in support of the Iraq War.[14]

In a 2007 interview with Australian newspaper, The Age, Elton defended himself against his detractors, commenting that, "I said at the time that as long as I was under the impression that my prime minister told me that we were under direct threat of being nuked by this bloke I felt we should go and deal with it," and, "When it turned out to be a complete myth I felt as stupid as everyone else did." He also said that it would have been "arrogant" not to originally support it. [1]

In the same interview, he blamed Wikipedia for much of the criticism he receives, stating that his own entry has been notoriously wrong and describing Wikipedia as "potentially an instrument to peddle prejudice".

He also said, "I know that everything I have ever said, and every piece of work I have ever put before the public, I meant absolutely at the time."

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Media/Media+Releases/Latest+Media+Releases/Ben+Elton+to+showcase+Western+Australia.htm
  2. ^ I Have a Cunning Plan - 20th Anniversary of Blackadder, BBC Radio 4 documentary broadcast 23rd August 2003. Excerpts available at bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/interviews/
  3. ^ http://www.ourbrisbane.com/whatson/events/html/events/1/81818.html
  4. ^ Chortle.co.uk: Getting His Kicks on TV
  5. ^ British Sitcom Guide: Teenage Kicks to switch to BBC2?
  6. ^ Guardian Unlimited Books - Mystery Man
  7. ^ IMDb: Maybe Baby
  8. ^ The Daily Telegrah - A Beautiful Partnership
  9. ^ thisislancashire.co.uk: Mark Steel
  10. ^ The Sound of No Hands Clapping, Toby Young, Da Capo Press 2006, p.212
  11. ^ Toby Young - Ben Elton profile
  12. ^ http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/feature_story/0,4120,326394,00.html
  13. ^ BBC News: Ben Elton denies Bush reports
  14. ^ YouTube clip: Parkinson interview

[edit] External links

de:Ben Elton fr:Ben Elton id:Ben Elton nl:Ben Elton no:Ben Elton sv:Ben Elton

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/Ben_Elton"
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