Ben Elton — Authentic Stupidity
Dunedin Town Hall
Thursday, May 1
If you enjoy feeling a touch uncomfortable at a comedy gig, Ben Elton's Authentic Stupidity is for you.
Elton energetically bounds on to the stage before quickly launching into his theme for the night, declaring ‘humanity is stupid’.
He speculates our future AI overlords would decide humanity is hardly worth saving.
This ‘old git’ has realised ageing is less a ‘gentle journey towards wisdom and understanding’ and more a ‘free fall into complete bewilderment’.
Poking fun at politics, society, culture, gender identity and generational differences, he imagines over-the-top scenarios to spotlight absurd behaviour.
At times these ‘bits’ land but at other times they feel a little awkward.
His machine-gun delivery is both spot-on and scatter-gun — not every round hits the target.
More than once a punchline draws nervous titters rather than the roar of applause a 45-year veteran might expect.
He often opens by calling himself a progressive ‘ally’ — of the rainbow community, for instance — before delving into topics including gender, identity, culture and generational difference.
While he is clearly poking fun with over-the-top examples, some punchlines hit, but others flop like fish on dry land, gasping in the audience’s uneasy silence.
An A&E vacuum-cleaner gag that ends with the suggestion ‘objectophilia’ should be tagged onto ever-increasing LGBTQIA+ acronyms is a bit hard to swallow.
Expounding on the ridiculousness of the ‘new orthodoxy’ to ‘stay in your lane’ he highlights apologies by Tom Hanks for playing a gay man in Philadelphia and Eddie Redmayne for playing a trans woman in The Danish Girl.
When he stretches the point by suggesting Anthony Hopkins apologise for playing a psycho killer in Silence of the Lambs, the joke feels forced.
Elton fares better when mining his own mortality.
Tales of a 65-year-old brain outpaced by a phone, or a long-married boring, straight couple lobbying for a beige stripe on the pride flag are confidently delivered.
Here his self-mockery is easier to enjoy and it draws more relieved chuckles.
A long section on voluntary assisted dying sees Elton argue for the right to die with dignity.
He explores this through an absurd scenario of a final family dinner before Granny selects her own time and place to top herself.
Her frustration with overly familiar waiters and pointless QR-code ordering grows is matched by her relief at anticipating brewing a personal ‘death latte’.
Elton underlines the echo-chamber hazard of talking only to people exactly like oneself.
Yes, the bloke down the street ‘is a total Nazi’, but he is also part of the community.
His point is that humanity may stand a better chance of avoiding AI annihilation if people occasionally reach across the divide.
Although remarks on difference can stall in uneasy anecdotes, leaving the audience unsure whether to clap or cringe, the discomfort is clearly part of the point.
Love it or loathe it, Authentic Stupidity is certain to spark lively post-show arguments.
