Following the huge success of Ben Elton’s critically acclaimed sold-out UK tour in 2019, which marked his return to stand up after a 15 year hiatus, the undisputed godfather of modern stand-up is going back on the road with a brand new live show – Authentic Stupidity. Taking in 54 dates across the UK & Ireland, the tour opens at York Barbican on 1 September and culminates in London’s West End on 18 November.
The world has changed a lot since Ben last toured five years ago – a whole new existential threat has emerged to challenge our very existence: Artificial Intelligence. Apparently, it’s going to render all human life meaningless, but Ben is here to warn you that AI is not the greatest threat that we face; it’s Authentic Stupidity!
Ben said: “The verdict’s in! Humanity is thick! Homo halfwit. The idiot branch of the Ape family! We need signs to tell us to step off escalators, we elect gibbering fools to lead us and now we’ve invented Artificial Intelligence which is actually going to replace us! I’ve spent 45 years in comedy exploring the outer limits of human idiocy and my mission has never been more timely. Forget AI! It’s AS we need to be worrying about!”
Authentic Stupidity will travel all over the UK & Ireland visiting York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Warrington, Nottingham, Birmingham, Sheffield, Cambridge, Bristol, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Bedford, Colchester, Hayes, St Albans, Basingstoke, Guildford, Leeds, Swindon, Cardiff, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Stevenage, Ipswich, Canterbury, Aylesbury, Salford, Oxford, Folkestone, Woking, Southend, Tunbridge Wells, Poole, Portsmouth, Hastings, Weston-Super-Mare, Barnstaple, Yeovil, Torquay, Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Leicester, Northampton, Worthing, Crawley, Weymouth, Brighton, Lincoln, Chatham, Dorking and London’s West End.
Ben Elton’s multi-award-winning career spans over four decades and includes seminal and groundbreaking television shows (The Young Ones, Blackadder, Upstart Crow), West End plays (Popcorn, Upstart Crow), West End musicals (We Will Rock You, The Beautiful Game, Close up: The Twiggy Musical), best-selling novels (Stark, Dead Famous, Two Brothers) and feature films (Maybe Baby, Three Summers, All is True). In October last year, Ben returned to Channel 4 for a one-off revival of Friday Night Live to rave reviews. The reincarnation of the original smash-hit Saturday Night Live was critically acclaimed and Ben won the BAFTA for Comedy Entertainment Programme 2023. Channel 4 will also broadcast a special recording of Ben’s last stand-up tour – ‘Ben Elton Live’ which will TX on 15 December, to coincide with tickets going on sale for Authentic Stupidity.
