Here’s my theory. If you had a happy childhood, you don’t remember much about it. I remember bits and pieces. We lived in south-east London. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t rich either. My dad was a lecturer and my mum was an English teacher. I don’t remember much else.
Childhood I wanted to be a soldier, and then at age nine, I had an epiphany: there was a sign at school saying the local amateur dramatic society was putting on a play. Peter PanI got a bit part and fell in love with it and wanted to become an actor, but then I saw a BBC documentary about Noel Coward and thought, what a life to be in the theatre and to write funny plays.
I often A one-man cliché from the ’80s. I thought it was a time filled with pious comedians shouting anti-sexism and anti-racism rants. Looking back, I was the only person I knew who thought that. I did fridge jokes, but I had another side to me that wasn’t so common.
Tampon habits My most famous piece was about what the world would be like if men menstruated. At the time, it was not allowed to advertise sanitary products on television. It was incredibly patriarchal and misogynistic that a commercial could not mention a female biology.
I Friday Night Live I gave Annie Lennox a sparkly suit that she intended to auction off for charity, certainly not to wear on stage, on the condition that I not tell her how much it sold for. I didn’t want to find out that Mick Jagger’s toothpick had sold for £200,000 and my suit had gone to the only person who could afford to dry clean it.
I cried I have cried over unrequited love, I have cried over family sadness, but I don’t think I’ve cried that much.
Elton John once He called me out of the blue and said, “Elton, it’s Elton. I’ve been meaning to say that for ages.” Those were literally the first things he said to me. He was so complimentary, it was amazing.
I am a recipient of the Order of Australia. I was awarded the equivalent of the Order of the British Empire for my services to entertainment. I’ve never received anything from the British. I don’t care, because it makes me sleep very happy at night.
My materials are As I get older, my interests change. When I was younger, I talked about school days and sex. When I’m middle-aged, I’m raising a screaming toddler. Soon I’ll be talking about owning two sad walking sticks. No more talking about how long it takes to pee at 65.
I had We talked about writing a musical, we had long discussions with Cat Stevens, we were approached by the Beach Boys, and we had two fantastic meetings with Tina Turner. we will rock youTo be honest, I don’t really think about doing it again.
They don’t make Sparkly materials reminiscent of the 80s. For 2022 Friday Night Live Now that it’s back, I’ve made another suit. It’s not the same one.
Ben Elton: Authentic Stupidity will tour the UK and Ireland from 23 August to 18 November. more detail in Bennelton Live
