Review: Ben Elton’s Authentic Stupidity Tour at Astor Theatre
Ben Elton’s Authentic Stupidity Tour at Astor Theatre
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Fresh off a successful 100-date tour in Europe, legendary British writer and comedian Ben Elton kicked off the Australian leg of his Authentic Stupidity tour at the Astor Theatre in Perth.
More pop culture powerhouse than mere comedian, this is the guy who co-wrote The Young Ones and Blackadder along with a string of other shows, as well as his satirical novels, which sold by the truckload in the 1990s. While it’s great to have him back, this was a show that, while well delivered and crowd pleasing, was hampered by uneven material that didn’t quite reflect the status and reputation of the performer.
From the moment he hit the stage to a huge roar of appreciation, it was clear at least that Elton’s high-octane, rapid-fire delivery has not changed. For over two hours, he energetically paced around the stage, powering through an array of topics from the many indignities of ageing and the merits of different James Bond actors to more serious topics such as the challenges of ‘wokeness,’ identity politics, and cancel culture. For a comedian known for his outspoken left-wing political views, it’s intriguing to get his take on the new global situation drastically unfolding before us in 2025.
We began with a decent routine about how AI is like a James Bond movie-style plot for evil billionaires to take over the world, but Elton then argued that in fact it is the ‘authentic stupidity’ of humans that is the real danger to us all. This led to the real theme of the show—the tension between Elton’s younger, radical self and the challenges of becoming a grumpy, more conservative old man.
This progressed to an extended routine with some fairly crass jokes about losing control of bodily functions overlaid with irritation with the failings of the younger generation ‘who just want to educate us about everything.’ From that, it was a short leap to predictable jokes about pronouns, gender identity, ‘speaking my truth,’ and the rest of it. While much of the crowd lapped it up, it was a fairly steep downward curve.
There were also clear pockets of silence in the room when the ageing material shifted to a routine about voluntary assisted dying, with Elton cheerfully arguing for a ‘death serum’ to be made available for the over-80s to buy in Woolies as ‘no one likes you any more and all your friends are dead anyway.’
A connected joke followed about an irritating young waitress with a nose ring, who asked, ‘Has the menu been explained to you yet?’ and informed the table she is ‘straight-queer,’ which Elton helpfully told us means ‘I like cock but still want to be fashionable.’ Sorry, but this is low-hanging fruit and—always the worst sin in comedy—just punching down.
There were still plenty of genuinely funny lines in the mix, like a great one about ‘boring straight couples’ being allowed to join the Pride parade, only leading to the colour beige being added to the rainbow flag. But this was followed by ‘Then eventually everyone gets in the parade, but no one will be left to watch.’ It’s a deliberate missing of the point from someone who obviously knows much better.
Throughout the show Elton was continually at pains to make it clear that he is still on the political left, but his concern is that the loudest and most intolerant voices are shouting down everyone else and pushing people into the arms of Trump and Musk. Sure, but it’s hardly groundbreaking analysis or breaking news. With the bulk of the show’s political material attacking the excesses and overreach of the far left, in the current climate it feels like a deliberate cop-out, an excuse to keep firing in the wrong direction when the wind has clearly changed.
There’s a point where Elton was mocking identity politics and referred to his own ‘half-Jewish’ heritage. It was the perfect moment for such a gifted political comedian to address a really red-hot issue like the recent rise in anti-semitism, even the complex threads of the Israel/Gaza conflict. He totally has the talent and skill to do it, to put the right people in their place. Instead he retreated into an extended skit about putting out the wheelie bin and how he now believes that it is ‘man’s job’ to take out the rubbish, which contradicts his younger 1980s opposition to gender stereotypes.
The UK reviews for Authentic Stupidity have been overwhelmingly positive, but every reviewer has to honestly call it as they see it. In the end, a lot of this material just seemed to reflect a product of the times rather than a clever or original response to them, let alone a challenge to think differently. It’s what Elton did so well in the 1980s as the leader of ‘alternative comedy,’ a kind of sister movement to punk and indie, aiming to overthrow the sexist/racist old dinosaurs of Benny Hill and the rest. More than anything else, this is what made Ben Elton such a comedy superstar.
A bolder, different version of the show would have cut out an hour of weaker material and maybe brought on a younger, emerging comedian to do an opening segment as a counterweight to Elton’s, setting up an interesting dynamic. Instead, there’s the nagging sense that Elton himself is far too clever not to know he is playing it safe by pandering to the audience, playing to the gallery, and selling himself short in the process. You could almost call it a kind of ‘Inauthentic Stupidity.’ It’s not a bad name for a show, actually. Someone should probably write it.
GORDON JONES