His name's Ben Elton
Goodnight!
I didn't even mean to watch it, as Parkinson just makes me sad these days in its soulless dotage, but I switched the TV on and there he was: Ben Elton. I know, nothing unusual there, he's always on. He's the new Billy Connolly. He writes a novel a week and these books needs promoting. He's written a new one called - wait for it! - Chart Throb, which is a satire on the X-Factor, and he was duly wheeled on to talk it up. This is not a crime. He doesn't seem to be very funny or original any more, but that's been the case for a while. (I can pinpoint the death of his stand-up: it was on an edition of The Man From Auntie when he did a routine about how the chocolate vending machines don't work on the London Underground. The only problem was: the chocolate machines did work on the London Underground as they'd been replaced. Ben's man-of-the-people persona was revealed to be a case of the emperor's new suit.) What really depressed me about his appearance was the fact that I used to worship him.
I'm sure I can't be the only one of my generation to have regarded Ben Elton as a guiding light in the mid- to late-80s. His anti-Thatcher, anti-sexism, anti-racism, anti-homophobia schtick captivated me when I was at college, and afterwards, and I considered him a beacon of good, socialist sense. Whether this schtick was sincere or not, I don't know, but with age and success, Ben's edge was blunted, and once he'd sat in for Wogan on Wogan, it was all over.
So when I heard Ben Elton say to Parkinson last night that he supported the war in Iraq, I shouldn't have been shocked, or betrayed, but I felt both. Ben Elton? My Ben Elton? Supporting an illegal war? Part of me died. Many of you will be reading this and saying: what did you expect? He writes West End musicals. He was happy to have a bit of that football one he wrote (The Beautiful Game) performed at George W Bush's inauguration. He sold out long ago. But to know that Ben Elton is actually pro-war is just too much. It was like finding out that Billy Bragg has shares in Esso. He's actually gone across to the dark side.
Is this the fate of all idealists?
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:58 PM
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31 Comments:
Urrggh. How terrible.
I saw Ben Elton live some years back, I laughed more than I thought possible, so much so I ached the next day. This was after his painful Wogan stint (painful but not as painful as Kenneth Williams' stint) but before his appearance at the Royal Variety Performance. And, yes I know after all he's "just" a comedian, but he was part of my teenage years, a heroic light in the darkest days of the tyranny of Thatch, now he's just another sell out, cosying up to Parky and Lord Lloyds-Bank...oh God I've just remembered their duet on Parky, I feel so very ill now.
To answer your question, "No" It's a comfort to know I'm not alone, as my disgust for Ben Elton has grown over the years. A perfect case of hero to zero.
Apparently Tony Benn clubs baby seal pups in his spare time ...
Yup, the sense of betrayal is palpable. For me, it all ended when I saw him out at pub-gig with Rod Stewart... I mean, he can have the friends he likes, but Rod would definitely have been the target of the Elton Ire in the 80s, and it was all the more bizarre because the band they'd gone to see were second rate Faces clones - a musical classification that Rod could only dream of these days.
Writing with Lloyd-Webber? He might as well be shacked up with Pinoche, nursing him after his oh-so-tragic heart-attack.
Sx
Blimey. What sort of alternative reality do you people inhabit? Looking to some gobshite comedian to lead you to a brighter tommorrow of peace love and gumdrops? Oh, and now, sniff, so sad, the crushing dissapointment, to learn that your idol was fallible. A false prophet. Ben, oh how we worshipped your spangly suits and huge specatacles. They're relics now. In the holy shrine o' Elton and assorted other people the saps put on their pedestal. (See also Blair, Charles Antony Lyton, ex-saviour of the gullible.)
And as for "tyranny of Thatch". Why not learn what tyranny actually means instead of throwing around slogans you cribbed of Rik from The Young Ones lapel badges. Work out how many people are free from real tyranny today because of her and compare that legacy to the barely concealed totalitarian instincts of present lot.
Firstly, "Spirit of '79", calm down. Secondly, oh yes, calm down. No need to charge in here and start making generalisations based on a flimsy understanding of the tone of discussion. I think you'll find the "tyranny of Thatch" comment was precisely a slogan cribbed from the Young Ones. That's the point, isn't it? Tyranny comes in many forms. Hers was against ordinary working people, British industry and nationalised services.
I like the link to the blog by the person who creamed themself because they met the ailing Mrs Thatcher by the way, so thanks for the link, and I enjoyed the comment beneath that said she "single handedly saved the free world". Does anyone singledhandedly save worlds outside of superhero comics? It's a different world from the one I live in. And, for my money, getting excited about meeting any kind of politician is misguided.
I can only speak for myself, but I suspect you won't find a lot of support for the "present lot" round here either, as it happens. It's not a party political broadcast. It's an entry about a comedian on a chat show. There are plenty of angry blogs around. This is more of an indignant one. It's certainly not overtly political. I work for the BBC and have to operate within impartial presenter guidelines anyway.
Oh, and calm down. It's amazing what strikes a nerve.
Tyranny: amongst other things "absolute power cruelly administered; oppression; cruelty; harshness." There are several million people (particularly in my half of the country) who would say that that fits the bill for Thatcher. Still at least she stood by Pinochet, eh?
Ben Elton compered the queen's golden jubilee bash at Buckingham Palace didn't he? That says it all really. It would be neat if you could somehow tie the point at which he sold his soul to the New Labour victory in '97, but I suspect it was earlier than that. Something odd happens to some people when they look at their bank balance and realise they never have to work again.
Raises the question 'did he EVER mean any of it, or was he always just an opportunist, riding the counter-culture zeitgeist of the times?' I've never trusted the 'message' of any entertainer since I ended up at an after-show party, many years ago, where the main act - one 'Prolier-than-thou' performer - had changed out of his 'fresh from the picket line' stage gear into head-to-toe Paul Smith (including handmade brogues). The fact that I recognised the clothes as such makes me no better than him, but then I wasn't the one defining my public profile by elightening the masses in a donkey jacket. But that's showbiz!
How the mighty have fallen! Ishouldbeworking raises a good point - did he mean any of it at the time. I think this shows the need not to put people on a pedestal because it can be painful when they fall.
Spirit of 79 - Take a long relaxing hot bath!
I interviewed him once after a screening of the first series of his shitcom The Thin Blue Line. He came on first and greeted all the assembled journos, desperately begging everyone to like it.
Trouble was, it wasn't funny. Afterwards I asked I him if he thought comedy was dead, and he went completely nuts and asked me to leave.
Where he's concerned, comedy is dead. He's not funny.
Andrew
Just out of interest - what were Ben Elton's reasons for supporting the war in Iraq.
Gwen, he said something about believing the overthrow of Saddam was "in the national interest." Clearly, he regrets his support now, but then so do many Tories.
Whether he genuinely cared about the issues he made jokes about in the 80s, I still found his airing of such issues persuasive and inspiring, so he was still important. As a student who didn't much read the papers, a comedian was more likely to pique my interest in politics. Luckily, this was a boom time for political comedy. It awoke something in me, anyway.
Maybe the only tolerable response to Ben Elton, then, is to be as coldly pragmatic about him as he (possibly) has been about the use of political diatribe in advancing his own career. Ie, whatever the reality of the man, he was once a useful catalyst in - advertently or otherwise - stirring some thought among a previously apathetic generation. Even if his own actual aim was always to make shedloads of money, write unspeakable musicals and suck up to the Windsors.
I agree with ishouldbeworking in that he served a purpose as a useful catalyst. Although it leaves me with a nasty taste in my mouth.
As the Redskins were wont to bellow, "Take no heroes - only inspiration!"
X Moor - now THERE was a man who talked the talk and walked the walk. He found the music industry so disgusting that he packed it all in and went back to being a motorbike courier.
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As a teenager growing up in the early 80's in a small town in the Highlands I took my politcal inspiration where I could find it, regardless if it came from a motormouth in a sparkly suit, or a big nosed bloke from Essex on Whistle Test. For many this is their first "in" to what's going on in the world. It may sound very naive to some, but that's just how it was, so to have someone you once trusted voice such sentiments as those expressed by Ben Elton on Saturday night, feels very much like a betrayal.
Blimey, all this over a farty bloke who had a good line in nob jokes, who woulda thunk it?
We all change as we get older, Andrew. One minute you're the NME's cutting-edge writer, the next you're writing about huge soya lattes in Caffe Nero.
Fair point, except that I was never cutting-edge. Also, my political views have hardened if anything since those innocent days. I'm angrier about injustice and corruption and selfishness now than I was in my twenties. I'd write about politics a lot more if I wasn't in a tricky area, being a BBC presenter. I don't want to cross the line and end up like Rod Liddle.
End up like Rod Liddle?
Caught with your pants down and a packet of viagra in the dresser drawer?
I doubt very much that you'd stoop so low...
I'm sure your wife would let you know pretty quickly if you started showing signs of ending up like Rod Liddle.
Money is what tends to change young Socialists. Once the moolah starts to roll in, especially for a nice, middle-class lad like our Benjamin, it does tend to easily turn heads away from social justice towards the direction of school fees, having dinner with the Prime Minister, the next cash-in novel about what the proles are enjoying, and enjoying the good life that your agent says you so richly deserve, as you've worked so very hard. From Ben's generation of comics, the only one who seems to have remained true to their beliefs - and who physically acts on them - is Emma Thompson. I love her.
Not having followed Ben Elton's work that closely I was just wondering if he actually claimed to be a socialist. It's just that, coming to think of it, the small amount of his material that I can recall didn't really require him to be very left wing. Maybe he hasn't changed that much. Probably has though - just interested to know what the evidence was.
Muffykins has a point. Whilst I agree with what you say Andrew, people do change and do 'change sides'.
Is it any different from changing which football team you support or starting to eat meat after 20 years of vegetarianism? I suppose it's harder to take because he was a hero or yours.
I just thought he shouted too much.
Paul, you're right, people do change sides. I'd argue that switching from loudly-advertised socialist ideals to a pro-war stance is a bit more dramatic than shifting football allegiance. (Actually, isn't changing football teams the ultimate crime?) Choosing to eat meat or otherwise is a lifestyle choice, albeit one with political motivation sometimes attached.
I realise I am an idealist. I expect too much of people.
Don't have a go at Elton for supporting Blair in 97, a lot of us fell for that one!
As for the rest, fair game I think!
Hoping for consistency over Big Moral Issues from people you admire isn't really the same as expecting too much. Even if one of the people you admire always did have a hint of being the Jimmy Pursey of comedy about them.
I certainly fell for Blair in '97, IanP. That's what makes it all so galling. The honeymoon didn't last long though, did it? Bernie Ecclestone, anybody?
Was Ben invited to Number 10 along with Noel and McGee and Lenny Henry and the rest? Or was he seen as Old Labour by then? How ironic.
"Actually, isn't changing football teams the ultimate crime?"
It definitely seemed that way around here when Wayne Rooney went to Manchester United.
While I remember Ben's "Thatch" material I also recall that he spent far more time on the "farty" stuff, routines about contraceptives (pudding bowl references etc), student bedsits (a lone pubic hair in congealed tomato sauce wrapped around the top of the ketchup bottle in etc), double seats, small dogs that create giant turds and later on more sedate material about whales mating and so on.
People views and ideas change gradually. Never say never is probably a good adage for people in the public to adopt. I will say the same thing but I would appreciate it if, at any time in the future, I even consider watching Parkinson someone would nudge me so that I can reassess my taste values!
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