‘Authentic Stupidity’: Ben Elton on how idiotic humans can be
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- Опубликовано: 11 май 2024
- The comedian Ben Elton says he's spent his 45-year career "exploring the outer limits of human idiocy."
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Best known for his work on Blackadder and the Young Ones, as well as writing musicals and novels, will tour this summer with a new standup show he's called 'Authentic Stupidity’.
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"In a democracy, it is necessary for people to learn to endure having their sentiments outraged" - Bertrand Russell
Conflating disagreement with hatred is the calling card of an immature and underdeveloped mind.
True when true. But quite often just an excuse for something more harmful and sinister.
The fact that the police will send seven officers over a tweet and my car was stolen from outside my house and they didn't lift a finger, didn't want to know says it all
"often, people haven't really been listening" - yes
what the UK needs now is Prime Minister Blackadder. That's a cunning plan.
But there are so many immigrants now, the only way they'd get there is if they are a cunning linguist. Helps with the female vote as well.
It cannot fail
We should not have people deciding on what's offensive or not. Assume people have their own opinions and that these will often be different from yours. The era of no debate is over.
Would you defend the rights of Paedophiles to Free Speech?
The era of a Magnum being an ice cream is over. 😢
And Ben clearly pointed out that this is happening on a spectrum. People are not always arbiters of truth and good sense. The over sensitive snowflake is not only more of a myth than is advertised, those dishing out offense very often can't take it themselves.
@@opinion3742 (edit:+1) At 63 years old and being a polyglot with access to lots of words, I find this "Newspeak" (Orwell) uninteresting.
Snowflake, wokist, gaslighting etc. are unnecessary additions to the English vocabulary and are often used incorrectly. They're nearly all aggressive punch-down terms and are a reflection of egotistical and narcissistic tendencies in our (so-called) betters and leaders.
Just sayin'. Bonne journée, macht's gut, نهاركم سعيد ☮️❤️⛱️ 🌊🇨🇵🇪🇺.
@@andrewrobinson2565 Terms will always be abused. As is the case with all serious conflict truth has been the first victim in the culture wars.
Thank God for Ben Elton in this mad world. I've been watching him since the 80s. The Young Ones might be dated now, but everything he says in interviews and in his stand-up is always right up to date.
So you're okay supporting a man who supports the terrorist state of Israel?
Hes far more ahead of the game than I am. I'd never heard of the word cis until I read his last novel. It was like beimg informed of a whole new subculture.
Neil ! Your bedroom's on fire !
@@mattvjmeasuresYoung Ones will never date, its imprinted on my psyche since 10 years old😊
@@totallybored5526agreed but I read it as up to date insofar as what the youngsters are up to and tbh it passed me by until I read his last book. I'm only now noticing the number of young men wearing skirts 😆
No one has a right to not be offended, They do have a right to not suffer abuse. As Ben Elton says, there's a huge difference between the two. Unfortunately a lot of people think they're the same thing.
Almost no one thinks that. Where do you and those like you get this rubbish? There is not a great bloc of society lining up to heap abuse on people, which is why so many people are searching high and low to find offence where none is intended. It really is nonsense.
Like the debating differences of opinion, now meeting 'cancel culture'.
When you have clowns arguing that correctly gendering people is 'abuse' or introducing hate speech legislation based on subjective perception in which all forms of 'abuse' are subject to investigation, then you have to narrowly define what you mean by 'abuse'. Words no longer mean to many people what most of us think they mean.
I think he is equivocating there. Who makes the distinction? Is an Emily Howard sketch from 00s Little Britain merely offensive to some people or is it abusive to those people? Opinions on that will differ but they can all agree with Ben Elton's Barnum statement opinion that people should have opportunity to be offended but never abused, and what is the point in saying something that everyone agrees with regardless of where they stand? He is playing it very safe to say there is a difference between the trivial and egregious yet not say what the difference is or whereabout the boundary is. On analysis, that is quite weak sauce.
Agreed. One way I think of it, is people who suffer merely from hearing words, have severely wounded or undeveloped souls...and instead of healing and developing themselves, due to what could be unresovled childhood self-centeredness, they demand the whole world change so they're no longer hurt as they struggle to interface within society.
Bottom line for me is (and I used to be like this for the first 30 years), if words hurt you, grow up...develop and heal so words no longer cause you self-created inner turmoil.
Everytime I watch Ben Elton it makes me realise how much John Oliver has stolen from him.
Which one is the clone of the other?
Well, how much then?
Any examples?
@@homertangler9529 His face
i've never seen them in the same room together
@@gonzo1354 ...and I've never seen either of them eat or drink ANYthing...and it's already 2024. That's a long time.
They might be androids.
I'm keeping an eye on John Oliver.
The OP can keep an eye on Elton.
"Double seat, Double seat, gotta get a double seat!"
Why don't you like sitting next to people or are you on the larger side of life.?
Oh, yes. I remember that.
Window seat
best stand-up show i ever saw🤣
That phrase lives rent free in my brain to this day
Ben: Can I come on your channel to promote my new tour?
C4: That’s not really news-worthy
Ben: What if I complain about cancel culture?
Nailed it!
Ben Elton wanted Natural Born Killers banned in 1995. He even made play called Popcorn about wanting to ban it.
Have to agree with him. Nice to hear someone whois intelligent. Refreshing change
2024, people who can't control their own emotions want others arrested
Brilliantly concise description of the Woke madness.
Leonardo Carpaccio!! 🤣🤣🤣
Translate to English : - )
Ben Elton should be recognised for his contribution to British comedy.
he's really not that great
He taught me to put a single sheet of loo roll down before having a poo so I applaud him for that.
@wightangel Lack of it, more like.
I agree wholeheartedly with Ben Elton here but it doesn't change my negative opinion of him ruining Benny Hill's career to make a political point back in the 80s.
@@ChuckWind-Saw 100% - Benny Hill's show ended because the public tired of it, not because Elton criticised it. That show had production costs of more than 1.5 million per episode in todays money and it was unsustainable for ITV.
@@nathangriffiths6218 Ben Elton, like a vulture, saw a weakness and went for it to feather his own nest. Sorry about the mixed metaphors!
He expressed his opinion about certain mainstream comics, including Benny Hill. I take it you're anti free speech then?
@Codex7777 He's entitled to his opinion but opinions have consequences. He was an up and coming comic and thought he'd take a pot shot at a legend for publicity reasons. Sadly, it worked and Benny Hill was dumped from ITV after 40 years of hit shows. At least Benny was famous the world over. Elton is barely known in his own country so that's karma, I guess.
@@Codex7777 On the contrary, I am fully in favour of free speech and am using that privilege to express my own opinion about Mr Elton's actions at the time and consider his motivations..
Trigger warning, life isn't all sunshine and ice cream. You may see or hear unpleasant things that you may disagree with. Grow up and deal with it.
I’m offended at We Will Rock You.
Then don't watch it 👍
Five pounds to get into my own bedroom,what have you done turn it into a roller disco? 🤣🤣🤣
Uncanny.... ;o)
He’s one of the parts that started all this lunacy deciding which comedians were offensive and now it’s backfired and everyone’s offended about everything 😂
You sound very offended.
Exactly right : he was the one at the forefront to cancel Benny Hill. Whatever one thinks of BH (I was not a fan) he didn’t deserve the cancellation Ben Elton ( and others) were pushing, it broke him.
elton merely expressed his opinion about bernard manning and benny hill; he didn't ask for them to be cancelled. i think, as elton says, there’s a rather large chasm between the two and if you don’t understand that it's probably because you haven't been listening.
@@brianwilson49 “merely expressed his opinion” : smells of shirking one’s responsibility for one’s actions don’t you think ?
@@TarpeianRock if you’re a bit simple, yes.
Ben, wildly missing the point that Elon Musk has warned that AI is profoundly dangerous!
Also missed the point that Elon is one of the few pushing back effectively against cancel culture.
Elton did a job on Benny Hill years ago….hmmm
yeah.. I remember that....
@@ricardolorrio8228 Mr Elton would like to move on.......
Ben Elton, I'm sure he was the one who helped get Benny Hill cancelled.
The Benny Hill show was cancelled in 1989 due to declining ratings and large production costs at £450,000 (equivalent to £1,414,100 in 2023
@@Bromley68 The spirit of the point is correct.
@@VictorMaxol Yea...it actually isn't. "nightowl7458" has articulated that Ben Elton "helped get Benny Hill cancelled" when the facts are that falling ratings that didn't justify the costs did. Nothing to do with Ben Elton whatsoever.
@@Bromley68 He was cancelled because Elton and his so called "alternative comedy" were calling out the old comedians and Benny Hill in particular for their misogyny amongst others thing, they started the leftovers comedy, viewing figures might have been falling and I'm not sure about production cost? But he was part of Hills cancellation.
@@nightowl7459 Thames TV could not have cared less about Ben Elton.
Everything you've written is incorrect. I'm guessing you're doing this on purpose.
Oh thank god! I thought he was going to go full Gervais. I couldn’t take that. I’m a millennial and huge Ben Elton fan haha
Poor, you.
he probably meant being offended is not a PROOF of a hate crime, although being offended can be a hate crime against yourself in itself. love Elton.
He definitely did mean that. But neither does he want to be an anti-woke culture warrior about the whole thing
I don't think you can commit hate crimes against yourself, even in modern Britain...
no he didn't mean that. he's making fun of people who hate woke culture.
@@rhysperegrine5100 he doesn't like the anti-woke mob, no he didn't mean that
@@biegebythesea6775 He did mean that. You can gently criticize woke culture without becoming a complete anti-woke idiot
old school genius.
I wondered where Elton would fall on it because in some ways he was part of a vanguard of the culture that has become so repressive now - for example he was a key influencer in ending Benny Hill's career, and he was always one of the more prudish of the alternative comedians - although I always thought it a bit ironic that on channel 4's Saturday Night Live he would do a ranty piece about racism in comedy and then hand immediaely over to Stavros ("ello everybody peeps, it's me Stav innit?") which bore all the features of what Elton had been ranting about - and in some ways Elton led us into 80s political correctness whilst Enfield led us out towards the more liberated 00s of Little Britain and South Park - and in some ways the Little Britain team have gone the other way, being terribly edgy in the 00s when it was fashionable to be edgy but apologising for it as soon as the fashion is to be hypersensitive, and I don't think it is very impressive to be fashionable. You know what is fashionable? Clay.
I actually find it quite interesting that Elton is prepared to say there is a problem, whereas Stewart Lee, who I would have expected to be contrarian, seems oblivious to it.
But I think the biggest problem is the way people can self-shelter. Aa lot of my points if evolution in the 90s was due to an idea or counter-argument to a piece of dogma I had been indoctrinated into that I simply stumbled upon, whether it was flicking through TV, browsing in a library or bookshop, listening to the radio, hearing expressed in a small gathering of friends, and I think with streaming, blocking, trigger warnings, deplatforming, social atomisation, discourse moving to online social media rather than pubs and parties et cetera it is so easy for people to coccoon themselves away from challenging views - sure there is a great market in independent podcasts, stand up comics, alternative news et cetera but people have to seek them out and get to tailor their own diet of ideas - it is all available to anyone willing to seek it out, but there is not much opportunity for stumbling upon a challenging view by accident and I think we all need opportunities for accidentally stumbling upon things.
Exactly right: Elton was at the vanguard of the repressiveness. A bit like Frankie Boyle, once at the raw rock-face, now a gatekeeper.
Funny old world. At least Elton now sees how deranged things have become.
@@sirrathersplendid4825
I'm not sure how insightful he is being; I think he is equivocating a bit. Ask yourself who might upon listening to him will hear themselves being disagreed with? Surely even the wokies agree there is a group of people who's feeling of being offended is to be disregarded; they just don't think they personally belong to that group. By being vague he delivers what is little more than a Barnum statement.
@@markpostgate2551- I kinda liked the guy’s energy back when he first appeared on the scene, but he got creepy, repetitive and boring and I’ve avoided him for decades now.
@@sirrathersplendid4825
His lefty pretensions started to look more phony as time went on, particularly as he became more successful with very commercial products like West End juke box musicals.
For me an interesring cultural moment was when Harry Enfield parodied Elton's censoriousness towards Benny Hill with the Benny Elton sketch... in which Elton played himself. Now that was interesting because that was a scathing critique of Elton's variant of feminism that he participated in, so that has always struck me as strange.
Benny Elton sketch! Not seen that one before.
Reinforces my earlier view that the guy’s prurience escaped even out of his own control.
“I auditioned for the director and gave myself the role”, wow
Didn’t think much of Elton, but when he articulately summarised our unelected, deceitful PM, Sunak, he went up massively in my opinion. I’m going to watch his show live!
It's not difficult to point of the flaws and shortcomings of a worthless place holder like Sunak
@@bertbox69 Well he was sold as a “grown up” coming into fix the mess of his predecessors, little did many know he would actually be a whole lot worse.
@@RS-jb1lfhe’s not worse than Truss. But it’s a cesspool alright.
Doesn't he live in Western Australia now... but yeah the ink fingered little desk clerk as George Galloway calls Sunak.
Surprisingly quiet when the Labour Party were killing children in Iraq, however.
Genius 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼brilliant comedic delivery
A man of extremes: The Young Ones and We Will Rock You... Glad to see him return to home territory.
Steve Hughes has been saying this for years.
Still such a great bloke! So glad for his parents parents!!
Thankyou "SIR" Ben Elton!!!
Hey, Ben... if you're reading this... thank you for 'Filthy, Rich & Catflap'. Arguably the best and most important sitcom ever written.
Delighted to see Elton back on the scene. Keep speaking out, we need you mate!
Yep, being offended is not a hate crime
People used to just leave people alone they hate, now we live in a world where people think everyone must like what they hate, and allow threats to them to exist just because people cannot say no today, without thinking you will offend someone.
About time someone in public said this like elton said
Being offended is not a hate crime
People have no way of knowing why people are the way they are, and just because two people hate each other, there is thousands of reasons why can happen.
All people on earth will have a few friends in life if they are fortunate
Alot of people have no friends
Where does this idea that everyone is supposed to like each other come from?
There's no such thing as a "Hate crime"
@@muttley5958
Well there is, obviously, because "crime" is a legal construct and anything legislators say is a thing is a thing because legislators say it is. You may as well say there is no such thing as a class A drug or there is no such thing as a parking offence. The question is should there be?
Ben is that rare thing someone who never utters the phrase 'It was better in my day'
It's interesting, what Ben said about Thatcher. I always said precisely the same thing about Tony Benn. Credit where credit is due.
Right on Ben. Be seeing you so. Johnnie XXX
Offence is never given, only ever taken.
Leonardo Gaspatcho. I think that's what I shall call him.
Hang on...This guy wrote that turgid Queen mu$ical "We Will Rock You"...🙄
Oh well, altogether "Yes-In-Deedy...!!! My name is Ben Elton...Goodnight..!"
Yes Ben Elton
Love Ben Elton, massively talented. Good to see he’s hitting the road. West Australia Elton?
About time he woke up to the insanity.
Nice of that young woman to perform an interview just before she heads out to the shops
I once gave offence and a gate too! Now that's humour!! Don't nick it off me Ben!!!!!!
I mean, that's not what trigger warnings are. It's not too much to ask that we tell people "This production contains scenes of violence" so that victims of social violence can make informed decisions about whether or not to watch. Which suggests that, in this respect, it's good old Uncle Ben who needs to listen to what is actually being said. That quibble aside, this lovely old fart, a comic staple from my childhood, is largely right in what he says here.
It's ironic that in answering that question Ben said something about people not actually listening to what was being said, and you've clearly not listened to what he actually said...
@@bipolarminddroppings Why are you lying about the OP?
Never mind. I am sure you will never even attempt to provide evidence.
Anyhow, I guess you've managed to live up to your name anyhow.
If that was all trigger warnings were used for, then perhaps. But it isn't. Books written a few decades or more ago are awash with warnings of 'outdated attitudes' - are people too stupid to realise that a writer in 1924 probably had different attitudes to a writer in 2024? If people are too fragile to tolerate out-dated attitudes don't read old books. 'Contains scenes of violence' warnings on crime fiction novels - seriously, isn't it kinda obvious that crime novels will contain violence? It's like putting a warning on a packet of nuts that they may contain nuts. Same with comedy - anyone who objects to bad language must surely know not to watch any stand-up from the last half-century. Treat us as if we are intelligent people capable of exercising judgement.
Solid geeza! Wish I was in the UK to watch. Saw him in Leeds once. Nearly split a kidney!!!!! Should be on Netflix !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ben is brilliant in We will rock you. So ‘Ben Elton’ even after all these decades.
A very funny author on top of his stand up routine.
Leonardo Carpatchio is probably the funniest thing Ben Elton has ever said.
Agreed 😂
I agree with him.❤
Always liked this guy. Had his stand up on vhs when I was a kid and always loved Blackadder. Well, once Ben joined Richard anyway.
As a tour guide I have much genuine material to submit to Mr Elton, such as silly statements, ridiculous feedback and hilarious mishaps.
I have never been so conflicted over one person…
You British?
Thank you Ben for being authentically real .
Ben is a wonderful human being. I wish everyone on the planet was Ben Elton! What a f**king great place to live it would be then.
Very well articulated
He’s a legend….
This is entertainment, not news.
When he first started he criticised the great Benny Hill for being sexist and racist ! Now he says,being offensive is not a hate crime and we must maintain a sense of proportion.Complete hypocrite !
Not at all. You just haven't understood the debate.
@@tobleramone The debate has been turned around by Elton to help his wallet grow.I understand that !
@@tobleramone Well please explain to us stupid folk what happened.
@@michaelscales5996 Well I'm not a fanboy, I just don't think it's an either or situation. I can laugh at Benny Hill but I can see the problems with some of his stuff too.
Ben Elton, the British Seinfeld. Sort of. Love him.
Elon Musk's "Starbase" often reminds me of what they were doing in Ben Elton's novel "Popcorn"
Always preferred, Alexei Sayle to be honest!
Go Ben!
Unfortunate description in the thumb nail. What Ben Elton clearly meant was that being offended doesn't necessarily mean you've been the VICTIM of a hate crime. But at the same time, he made pretty clear he doesn't agree with those (including certain comedians) who groundlessly claim that cancel culture means "we can't say anything any more".
And being offended doesn't necessarily mean that you are right.🙂
@@pauldavis3791 true. Also true: free speech doesn't deprive people of the right to be offended, or to say they are offended. And people exercising their right to say they are offended doesn't limit the free speech of others.
Tell that to all the comedians who have been cancelled. Jerry Sadowitz and Graham Linehan - there are plenty of others - are living proof that there are things we can't say anymore unless we are prepared to pay a very high cost. That's not freedom of speech.
@@carltaylor6452 what do you mean by "cancelled"? They haven't been executed for what they've said (as has happened to brave souls in other places or other eras). They aren't in prison. They haven't been convicted of any speech-based crimes. The state has in no way limited their freedom to say controversial or offensive things that fall short of hate crimes. The state has in no way compelled them to say things they don't want. And as a result of their speech, they are not facing any threats to their safety from which the state is failing to offer them protection. All that being so, they have freedom of speech. Freedom of speech has never been absolute. Nor has saying things that others think are controversial ever come without cost to someone. That's the nature of things. You seem to be confusing freedom of speech with the non-existent right to demand to be actively given a particular public platform of one's choice by others, or the non-existent right to speak without others speaking back. Take Sadowitz. The only thing that ever seems to have actually happened to him is that a private venue once decided to cancel a planned series of events with him on the grounds that the people running the venue thought the content inconsistent with their values. If a private venue want to do that, then they are free to do so. Otherwise the private venue and its owners are being compelled to actively promote spoken content against their will - something which would be a clear infringement of their free speech. Doing so doesn't rob Sadowitz of free speech. Sadowitz remains free to stage his act at any venue that will have him. And if he can't find an existing venue that wants him, he's free to start a venue of his own or to propose that others do so. If he can't find a live venue, there's the internet. If he still cant secure and maintain a platform for himself, then like 99.9999% of us, he is not currently someone that people are interested in seeing do a comedy routine, in which case he may want to rethink his routine and its relevance. But according to Wikipedia, the cancellation of Sadowitz's Edinburgh fringe show caused increased sales of tickets for his subsequent UK tour, to which an extra performance was added. A person is not "cancelled" if their comedy act is more popular and more successful than ever.
Motormouth, one of the greatest stand up shows of all time
That has always seemed to be the case - man to make something better than itself, make itself redundant.
Right On !!!
Always been a fan of Bens comedy even though i disagree with a lot of his views, he never offended me , we just laughed together, so to say ❤😂😂
We need Ben to come back and re awaken the idiocracy of this social media age.
He has always been able to illustrate the absurd without alienating anyone.
Todat though, the freaks that want to ruin society further will still protest or be offended.
Always liked Ben.Hes just funny.
I’ve missed Ben Elton.
There is little wrong with Great Britain at the moment aside from perspectives.
'Authentic Stupidity' certainly chose the right channel to host this interview
Ben Elton - surprisingly sensible.
He writes good books too.
If proof was needed how idiotic we are, just look at the numbers of people who watch Eastenders or Corrie
Ah ha! So we're about 8 times less idiotic now than we were in the 80s? Great!
It's clear that social media has given audiences/viewers /listeners a right to respond in a way like never before which can involve pathetic and damaging pile ons. But its also true that todays comedians have MORE freedom than at any point in hundreds of years to say what they like.
He's looking well
Tell that to Channel 4 news!
Clearly the audience of this clip are in midlate 40s +. The comments are on a different plane than the one I currently reside at
@InfernalPasquale eh?
Yes because you live in the social media era of idiocracy and anything goes Aa long as I'm 'expressing myself'.
A embarrassment to the human race basically
haha why haven't i found this guy before.
goodonya Ben...a voice of (t)reason
Channel 4 does take a Guardian approach to journalism. i.e, awful
We need to get serious as a culture and society.
A flatshare? 🤣🤣🤣
How to avoid hateful individuals? Hard without censorship!
Who decides who the hateful individuals are?
@@kamandi1362 you do.
The looney left thought police. 😳
@@muttley5958 next it'll be who is funny or not, and what books can be read. Can give a warning. I'd like it. How do I know if to read or listen or not? When say ban: I need to know why and judge for myself.
Being offensive obviously isn't a crime, that's why they it's called a non crime hate incident.
And should the non crime hate incident be be reported to, and recorded by the police?
Surely there are crimes and not-crimes?
Our world truly is dystopia
Whilst the rest of us call it 🤡🌍
If it’s not a crime it shouldn’t be recorded anywhere. We have the Stasi-adult version of going to teacher when a classmate is rude.
Politics isn’t a pastime, it’s something that should change people’s lives…………..for the better.
Out of Years of politics there is is only one thing that has effected people’s live, and that’s the NHS , cherish it , love it and protect it, it’s the only thing politics has given us after all these years.
Only one thing? Have you been on Mars?
@@lizziebkennedy7505 not yet, have you ?
A "past time" or a pastime?
@@kevinmould6979 sorry, I’ll try and do better.
Agreed being offended is not a hate crime. I am certain history is littered with totalitarian /fascist governments and people who support them who are offended by criticism and political non violent actions.
Silly moo doesn't know you've been on stage before 😮😂🎉.
Nice Ben 👍
Coming from a member of the most 'protected' group in society this is a bit rich.
Millennials have cancelled comedy because they are offended ! The spoiled generation !
Pretty obvious vacuum to fill.
Nobody has the right not to be offended.
A new sensitivity 😂😂😂😂😂😂 ,whatever happened to stick’s and stones?
Also, just because someone if offended, doesn't mean they are right! :)