Comic Details

Bennett Arron

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Hilary Watt, Undercover Reporter

Bennett Arron


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Hilary Watt, Undercover Reporter
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CV

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Stand Up: 2005:
Edinburgh show: It Wasn't Me, It Was Bennett Arron
It Wasn't Me, It Was Bennett Arron
Stand Up: 1997:
Finalist in the BBC New Comedy Awards
BBC New Comedy Awards
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Reviews

Colin Cole, Martin Coyote, MC Bennett Arron
Live Review
St Albans Havana

Colin Cole, Martin Coyote, MC Bennett Arron

Glorious weather, light evening and World Cup football have devastated stand-up audiences across the board – and this night in St Albans’ Havana nightclub is no exception. This big room is clearly used to sizeable crowds – you can tell by the fact they use Robbie Williams’s Let Me Entertain You as the pre-show music.

The comics on the bill are likewise more used to the raucous Jongleurs/Highlight style crowds. Yet tonight the audience in this elegant room numbers fewer than 40, and all here to listen. The comedians’ mob-control techniques won’t be needed tonight.

Compere Bennett Arron’s traditional warm-up banter certainly struggles. As he asks around for people’s names and occupations in a series of comedic cul-de-sacs, the effect is like listening in to dull party chit-chat between people you don’t know, struggling to find common ground. It’s accepted practice that this is how you warm up a gig, but when it’s such hard work for everyone – and Arron landed very few comic hits – you have to wonder if it’s really the best way.

When he eventually moved on to prepared material, the results were more rewarding, largely due to his exaggerated vulnerability. With his soft Welsh accent, ‘poor me’ demeanour and tales of being picked on from school onwards, he certainly engenders sympathy. His material is a mix of whimsy and wordplay, occasionally slightly cheesy, and relies on a certain glint in the eye to pull off. It’s affable stuff, rather than killer gags – though in this environment, many acts would struggle.

Certainly Martin Coyote did; but then his unambitious set holds very little interest for those seeking more than reinforcement of gags they already probably know, whether consciously or not. The jokes flow, but they’re all very easy: about the irony of Tony Blair being a peace envoy, about late-night kebabs, about rough areas of East London. It’s a bland amalgam of the most common opinions on the circuit. Most people, for instance, probably pay little concern to the existence of Victoria Beckham in their day-to-day lives, but since she’s somehow become a reflex comedy reference, she gets a couple of familiar jokes at her expense here.

A regular compere and member of the Comedy Store’s Cutting Edge team, the veteran Coyote is a technically adept act, and delivers the material with relaxed detachment that might draw a more raucous crowd in. But here, it seems flat, like he’s going through the motions, not engaging the audience. He gets only one decent laugh, and that’s for a pull-back-and-reveal dick joke (of the ‘and then I got off the bus…’ variety) – the oldest technique in the book.

Headliner Colin Cole had a lot more stage presence, as you might expect from a 6ft 9in Australian ex-wrestler. He grabs the room with his energy and bonhomie, with a compellingly foreceful delivery and a strong sense of timing.

It’s a gag-driven set; some good, some bad, but all told with such conviction that he propels the audience with him. However, there are some less edifying aspects of his material, especially in the barbs directed at air stewards that rely on tired, unappealing anti-gay insults. His attitude to ‘poofs’ isn’t not the only dated thing about his set either, with jokes about Blind Date, Steve Irwin – and even a recycled practical joke his countryman Barry Humphries used to play on planes when a student, which he claims as his own.

Yet there are some great gags in there too, which told with that impeccable, no-nonsense delivery, prove irresistible. If only he gave his act a vigorous spring-clean, he could be unstoppable – but since his routine changes little over the years, that’s unlikely to happen now.

Date of live review: Sunday 4th Jul, '10
Review by Steve Bennett
It Wasn't Me, It Was Bennett Arron
Sunday 7th Mar, '10-
Review of Bennett Arron supporting Mark Maier
Review of Bennett Arron supporting Mark Maier

Thursday 8th Oct, '09- Bloomsbury Theatre
Bennett Arron : Original Review
Bennett Arron : Original Review

Thursday 1st Mar, '01-
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Comments

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Incredible! We watched him in Reading last night and he just improvised with the audience the whole time. I have never laughed so much. Surely the next big thing in the world of comedy.

Sharon, April 2006


He had the whole room in Cardiff in hysterics. All the comedians were great but he just topped them all. And he only swore once

Timothy, March 2006


He was the first comedian on at the club in Glasgow last night and none of the other comedians could follow him. Brilliant material.

Greg Richards, November 2005


He has some of the best jokes I have ever heard. He stole the show in Leeds last night. It's good to know there is still talent like this out there.

Mike Martin, July 2005


Has a presence that few acts can attain. Excellent material and strong delivery.

Ryan D, June 2005


One of the first 'proper' comedians I've seen in a long time. Fantastic material and great banter with the audience. A huge talent waiting to be discovered.

Belinda Gold, March 2005


We have seen him twice now and both times he was excellent. The way he improvised with the audience was really clever and funny and his stories and jokes were great. Highly recommended.

Lisa Garfield, January 2005


We saw him about a month ago and we're still laughing. Great jokes. Really, really funny.

Debbie Sullivan, December 2004


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Where can I see Bennett Arron next?

Where can I see Bennett Arron next?

20:00 - Saturday 1st Jun, '13
Venue: Funny Side Of Covent Garden
Prices: £12.50
Comics:
Info:
Plus: MC Gareth Kane
Show starts: 20:00 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:00 - Saturday 8th Jun, '13
Venue: Highlight Watford
Prices: From £17
Comics: Bennett Arron, James Sherwood, John Gavin
Show starts: 20:00 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
19:45 - Friday 12th Jul, '13
Venue: Birmingham Highlight
Prices: From £14
Comics: Bennett Arron, Pete Johansson, Rob Deering, Romesh Ranganathan
Show starts: 19:45 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
19:45 - Saturday 13th Jul, '13
Venue: Birmingham Highlight
Prices: From £14
Comics: Bennett Arron, Pete Johansson, Rob Deering, Romesh Ranganathan
Show starts: 19:45 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
19:45 - Friday 16th Aug, '13
Venue: Highlight Camden
Prices: From £17
Comics: Bennett Arron, Eddy Brimson, Geoff Boyz, Steve Gribbin
Show starts: 19:45 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
19:45 - Saturday 17th Aug, '13
Venue: Highlight Camden
Prices: From £17
Comics: Andrew Murrell, Bennett Arron, Geoff Boyz
Show starts: 19:45 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:30 - Saturday 7th Sep, '13
Venue: Oxford Glee
Prices: Adult - £14.50, Student - £5.00
Comics:
Show starts: 20:30 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:00 - Friday 25th Oct, '13
Venue: Nottingham Glee
Prices: Adult - £11.00, Student - £4.00
Comics:
Show starts: 20:00 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:00 - Saturday 26th Oct, '13
Venue: Nottingham Glee
Prices: Adult - £14.00, Student - £4.00
Comics:
Show starts: 20:00 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:00 - Thursday 21st Nov, '13
Venue: Cardiff Glee Club
Prices: Adult - £9.50, Student - £6.00
Comics:
Show starts: 20:00 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:30 - Friday 22nd Nov, '13
Venue: Cardiff Glee Club
Prices: Adult - £15.00, Student - £6.50
Comics:
Show starts: 20:30 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
20:30 - Saturday 23rd Nov, '13
Venue: Cardiff Glee Club
Prices: Adult - £17.50
Comics:
Show starts: 20:30 (Doors open approx 30 mins earlier)
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Bennett Arron's Shows:
Edinburgh Fringe 2005
It Wasn't Me, It Was Bennett Arron

Edinburgh Fringe 2011
Bennett Arron: Jewelsh