Review: Ben Elton Live 2021 has satire and stamina by the chortle load

Ben Elton's gravelly tone delivered zinger after zinger. Photo / Trevor Leighton

Ben Elton Live 2021
Regent on Broadway
Saturday, May 22
Reviewed by Damian Thorne

Ben Elton knows satire, and at 62 years old he is still satirically razor sharp, but it is in the stamina department I find him truly incredible.

For more than two hours he oscillated, gesticulated, and moved purposefully the length of the Regent stage without even a glass of water. His gravelly tone delivered zinger after zinger as he danced around topics taboo in the politically correct society we currently inhabit. At times he happily went for the jugular, and we cheered him on.

We learnt things as well. Ben Elton hates Mike Hosking as much as many New Zealanders, and while he made it clear to not give Hosking any more airtime than he deserves, we all enjoyed him being the butt of Elton's jokes.

Did you know an early sketch of Elton's about tampon poverty and lack of tampon advertising actually influenced positive change around the subject? A comedian without boundaries, Elton is happy to deliver an opinion, but savvy enough to say it might not suit everyone listening.

I completely agree with his thoughts on sharing food – it is a reprehensible act with overwhelmingly stupid menus. He misses white bread, common beer, and why are there now 200 gins to choose from? Pink rock salt picked through by toilet fingers; how the internet has ruined gift giving including the ruination of the Parker pen as a desirable object; and how boomers have taken everything and left nothing for millennials, are all topics Elton energetically delivers as punchlines.

It's the cleverness with how he handles gender identity, Me Too, and cancel culture that allows us to hear his opinion, laugh at his ability to struggle with them all, but not end up being cancelled himself.

He is angry about things we can all identify with being angry about, and has wonderfully funny political moments, like his defence of Germaine Greer, we laugh, but his message hits home.

Elton targets his audience precisely, even suggesting the younger folk in the packed Regent are simply there to shop around for casual elder care work from the boomers they are outnumbered by.

His finisher about musical tastes through the eras and corresponding rest home singalongs had the entire theatre laughing out loud, snorting, giggling, chortling and guffawing all the way to the exit with "My neck, my back, lick it" by Khia firmly fastened to our minds for at least the remainder of the evening. Bra-bloody-vo.