Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth dead on arrival

gave it the benefit of the doubt – 2 minutes and it was all over. Terrible show.

Of course it did, it was shit! I switched off after 10 minutes.

Ben Elton is just not very funny.

I think one of the major issues with this show is that every gag (except for the guests) is written BY Ben Elton. No matter who delivers the lines, it all sounds like him. If they REALLY want an all-Aussie deal like the ads said, then they need to diversify the writing. Sure Ben can still be the head honcho, but if all he has is Minge and Bum gags, this show wont last 3 weeks.
ALSO Is Tuesday night really the night for this kind of show?

I didn’t even last through his opening monologue. Switched back after a while, and lasted only a few more minutes. Pure smut. Bring back intelligent comedy.

Well the promo’s were way off weren’t they? The only joke in the ad wasn’t even original let alone funny. Essentially it was “cricket is boring because after 5 days it is still a draw. Why not watch something decent … me?”

Please. We are getting hammered by the Poms in the cricket and in the ad breaks we have to listen to why cricket is shit … from a Pom!

I wanted to punch him but my old man always tole me you shouldn’t hit a bloke with glasses.

Let’s look at the silver lining: if large numbers of people aren’t tuning in, it might be because they’ve previously purchased on of Elton’s books.

Sweet Jebus where does one begin to describe how truly awful this was! A look at the Twitter stream #benelton reveals some, no a great many, reactions like:

Kerry Packer would have had this off by now…
Doesn’t anyone at C9 review this stuff before they air it?…
I can’t take anymore…
Horrifically, devastatingly, gut-wrenchingly bad…

I was late to switch on and by the time the fat chef sketch on found I was starting to feel physically ill from all the cringing to that point, so switched off again…

It was quite possibly the “worst… television… ever…” to borrow from the Simpsons, I cannot for the life of me see it getting another airing.

Please C9, don’t inflict this gawdawful tripe on the country again, Australia has had enough disasters in the last couple of weeks. Just let it die now before someone gets badly hurt.

Were Channel 9 serious in screening this?

I though I hit Channel 31 by mistake.

So bad it will last less time than Warnie.

thats possibly because it was totally shithouse.

Well done Channel 9 for giving Ben Elton this platform; he’s done it before with Friday/Saturday Live and he’s doing it again.

Great observations on modern life that hit the mark everytime.

If you don’t find it funny; find it offensive then use that little button on your remote to change channel and go and watch yet another reality show/cookery show/dumb American sitcom.

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life!!

George Negus is funnier than Ben Elton….marginally.

Apparently they auditioned some great calibre and experienced actors. Then they decided to run with relatively no-named actors who apparently have minimal or no professional experience. Massive risk for a live show and clearly underwhelming results.

The “Elaine Front” celebrity interview was about the only thing that was close to being amusing. Yet even for this segment they could only manage to secure Ruby Rose as a celebrity guest. No offense to Ruby, but surely they could have secured someone with a higher profile.

Double Take on Channel 7 last year opened with about 900,000 and moved to about 500,000 at the end of its season. As we know Aussies are harsh on skit comedy, but that kind of trend means Ben Elton will finish on about 12, if it gets a second run.

Surely there is someone in Australia who can crack the skit comedy show market for TV? Or do Aussies have way too many expectations for this genre of TV?

The irony of Mr Elton bagging American shows and then saying “We aussies”, as a pom was the most hilarious gag of the night.

I’ll be honest, I did enjoy some of the jokes, but this was because they were a parody of old skecthes from the UK. But as orginal Aussie comedy, this has to go down as an Epic Fail.

I was amazed that Channel were willing to put their watermark to it.

I’m afraid this was always going to be a failure. Once again Nine lanches a comedy program straight into primetime with promos and bus shelter ads promising the funniest show ever… and it’s a turkey. How many times will they keep doing it?Television comedies that are a success from episode one are a rare beast – they need to open Off-Broadway first, find their groove then find their audience. The ABC had success with shows like The Chaser because they started late on a Saturday night and were only moved into primetime once they’d figured out what they wanted to be. Seinfeld, Cheers, Top Gear… All were dismal failures during their first season(s). Television programs, especially comedies, need time to evolve – time that unfortunately the talented Mr Elton isn’t going to get. Developing a new television format is an expensive job, so why Australian commercial networks continue with this madness is beyond me.

Terrible, I really tried to like it…..but i felt like i was being shouted at by an unfunny comedian.

Ian, you are Robinson Crusoe here – you don’t work for Channel 9 by any chance, do you?

I’m a young gay guy exposed to a lot living in Sydney and I think that this was distasteful, uneducated, fuddy duddy ramblings that he is trying to pass off as humor by including bad scripted, poorly acted scenes that include sexual connotations as shock value. He’s really just a whinging old pom that is using his accent to try and sound funny and insult others as jokes.
FAIL

Wow. Poor Ben Elton. It was very very shit though.

I love Ben Elton, he’s my favourite author., in year 4 at school I stuck tin foil to my head and went as Vivian to a school fancy dress day… I bought a tape of his stand up in 95 and it lasted a good 2 to 3 years of plays in my car, never got tired… Should never say never…… His comedy was largely the same as then. I really wanted this show to work. Sadly it doesn’t….

I didn’t think it was that bad, and appreciated the ambitious nature of the show. Not every skit can be side splitting, but some of it was really quite funny, and I was just relieved not to be watching another American/reality/cooking/crime show? I enjoy Ben Elton’s books and believe that he is true talent who can improve as weeks go by. I’m clearly not in the majority here, but geez I feel everyone is just so quick to slam something. The idea is ambitious, and the results could be great if we give it a chance? Sadly we won’t, and lets see what gets thrown in instead…

Ian (Comment 11)

Look at the ratings. People did exactly what you suggested.

Fact: Ben Elton WAS funny back in the day
Fact: Computers had less memory than your modern wrist watch…back in the day

Think what was sad is that a lot of Ben Elton’s stand up was recycled from shows he’d done almost 20 years ago. Fine there was a few jokes about NBN etc but some of the other stuff (e.g. yoghurt) I’d seen years ago. Did he think he could just get by on old stuff.

the thing is; they had a long time to prepare this first show – it should have been witty and well…funny.
i can only assume that the calibre of skits on a week to week basis will only get lower and more desperate.
its a shame coz i like Ben Elton but I would much rather zappy and witty dialogue to the cringe worthy and overacted sterotypes that tried to amuse with bum and dick jokes last night

Epic fail for sure. Switched off after about fifteen minutes and won’t watch it again. The worst part of it for me was that the skits seemed like lame copies of other successful, well-written comedy shows: Kath & Kim; Summer Heights High; even a bit of Little Britain. It was like photocopying ABC comedy, mixing in some smutty one-liners, and pitching it to the Footy Show crowd. Fail.

Ben hasn’t really done anything good since Blackadder. His apologising to the Queen for his jokes a while ago was the last straw.
http://theworstofperth.com/200.....ing-elton/

But it’s a shame to see a show – a live show, fail so miserably, but more of a shame that it was so incredibly bad. On the other hand Shaun Micallef did great shows that didn’t rate.

I was rooting for Ben, I’m glad he got a crack at it, but this was pretty awful.

@Ian, did you watch it? It wasn’t offensive, just lacked…well anything funny. There were a few giggles in there somewhere, but you had to sit through a lot of crap.

I hope he gets another shot at it, but one more week will be enough, if it bombs again – kill it

Shit happens.

Of course it didn’t go well. Ben Elton’s books are great, but the promo spots for this show were so horrible that I didn’t even bother to attempt to watch it.

I came across it while channel surfing, and landed in the middle of the Nigella Sauce skit. I have to admit I WAS momentarily distracted, but oh, it was awful. And that Ruby Rose interview! I agree, one more week…

Very embarrassing for Aussie TV…thank God he is a Pom!!

Not surprised – he’s had it in the UK and now he’s had it here. Bye Bye Ben. back to WA.

Poor Fremantle Media for having their name anywhere near it

Crap is being too polite!

It really was very ordinary- Ben’s opening stand up was funny, but it went downhill really fast, I couldnt watch the end of it!! The chick talking about sex wasnt funny at all, the female body builder was margianlly funny, but alittle embarrasing, the school girls were not funny. A shame though, as I love live comedy, Ten does much better with the Int Comedy Festival, and Good News Week, and TBYG.

i watched QI and glad i did at this rate!

From the promos it seems Elton’s show was unlikely to succeed. Whilst Brits might still be amused by ‘Knob’ and ‘Boob’ jokes, I think we Aussies have moved on.

Glad I didn’t bother tuning in.

It was so poor. I watched for about 10 mins and turned off when I hear him telling the gag about Chinese writing tattoos. Geez that joke is almost as old as Blackadder.

I got here late so not sure I can add to anything as I agree with most of it (I was looking forward to the Mumbrella reviews and the thought of them was far funnier than the show, even the secret agent positive remarks from the channel 9/fremantle guy).

Just watched a few clips on YT, Jeez it was bad! I nearly lost my lunch.

At least the Nigella Lawson character DID actually have stupendous mams!

Was willing to give it a shot….was barely hanging in there….then the school “like totally serious” sketch started and I wanted to stab myself in the ear. With something blunt. It just wasn’t funny, the canned laughter didn’t help much either.

Sorry Ben, I wnted it to be funny. But it just wasn’t!

poor Ben thought he was talking to audience that had barely heard of him and thought he could get away with some v. old gags. His style still works but the skits were shocking.
9 will have no choice. He should have picked the ABC and gone for a more cultish effort that would have grown over time.
Think he’s gonna have to rely on the books

While my opinion is based on two minutes while channel surfing, I am confident enough to say that this was truly awful, one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Poor even by channel 9 standards.
Not offensive, not edgy, not funny, not original.

Am a huge fan of Ben. But as Stephen Fry says, he’d benefit from some strong-handed self editing. There’s a fair bit of chaff in there that could easily be chopped – the singer sit com being an obvious example. But bringing Barbara the bank manager her own talk show should be applauded. A bit of polish and that could be gold. I hope we see more of Ben at his best.

Ben Elton has been boring for a long time. He used to get up my nose when he used PC jokes.

When will the programmers not relax in the fact that we have our own cultural identity and are capable of producing uniquely australian humour such as The Chaser and SHH? Ben Elton, talented as he is, in NOT of Australian heritage and is not capable of uniquely Aussie humour.

I love how they are touting that Nigella clip everywhere. Has anyone seen Ronnie Ancona’s version back in 2007. So much better. It’s been done. Ripped off.

I am a massive comedy fan. I watch copious amounts of British comedy not on TV of course but online (you can’t get the current stuff on Aussie TV yet) and it really puts Australia to shame.

Also to be fair to Ben (as with Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear) they don’t realise just what contempt Channel 9 has for its audience. It can put on a glitzy show, but the content and over-commercialization kills just about everything it does now.

I like Ben Elton. I watched Black Adder et al growing up. I’ve read a number of his novels and quite enjoyed them.

But this show wasn’t even offensive. It’s all been done before. Recycled jokes and a format from the ’80’s.

Ben Elton had officially jumped the shark.

One big pile of rubbish!

This confirms something I’ve long suspected; Nine executives are trapped in the 1980s.

Elton should stick to writing books, he’s still pretty good at that.

Australia used to produce excellent satire and comedy programs.

We just don’t do that anymore.

I wonder why that is?

The Elane Front interview was very funny and Ruby Rose was a good sport about it. I think the fact the skits were performed live just created a tinge of ‘cheese’ to the feeling, there were will written and the actors weren’t that bad.

This was never going to work. Even the station promos had Dud written all over them.

Even at they’re peak Blackadder and Young Ones only appealed to an obscure intellectual monority.

Australian humour and variety has moved in light years. We don’t need a has been import to waste precious TV time on.

It’d be easier to bring back Vizard and the like.

I thought a couple of the actors were really good.

However, Elton’s comedy has nothing subtle or interesting about it. Without any self awareness, it made the awkwardness just too much to bear. Another comedian might be able to make the format funny.

I honestly forgot that show was even on last night and looking at the clips, it looks like I didnt even miss anything.

I always comment to friends that its sad that we don’t have our own version of Leno or Colbert and the likes but how can we? The channels never give them a shot in the first place. They get some dated comedian because it seems like the safest bet. When in reality, they should be looking for some fresh talent, its out there. Sadly, its always ABC and SBS finding the talent and taking the risks.

Awful! Awful! Awful! Will not be watching again. Worst comedy I have seen for many years. Stop preaching!!! Make us laugh……..

I am a Ben Elton fan and some of the standup was ok. The sketches, especially the Girl Flat, were so embarrassing that I hope they can it now.

Ben Elton: Live from PLANET DELUDED!!!!!!

I would have loved it to be a talk show. BRING BACK DENTON!!!!!PLEEEESE.

Anything with Arj Barker on the card is usually pretty lame… He is like Phil Jupitus in the UK.

As for Ben Elton, you either like him or you don’t. I cant see Channel Nine watching Aussies understanding the gags – it will go over their heads or will not be conservative enough for them.

I just watched Adam Hills’ new show on ABC and gave it a thumbs up – albeit Arj was on that tpp!!!! ??

Channel 9 has list the plot. Another strong reason to stick with Ten for comedy and Seven for drama.

Hmmm … it’s being repeated on Go! right now.

Another hilarious comment thread

@Trevor Trevorsen (1:33pm) HAHAHA (for your comment AND nickname)

I thought it was hilarious. I’d watch that 10 times over before anything the Chasers guys did.

Mark, you are probably 14 and live in Wollongong

Ben Elton ‘Live’ – hmm someone else stole my line here about ‘dead’ springing to mind. Stilted, unfunny, old (& I am). I tried to watch, I realy did, lasted about 10 minutes – you know how it is when something is so bad amazement and bewildament sets in (that kept me there for the extra 8 minutes).

Absolute insult to Australians for a TV station to believe we would swollow such nonsence. Shouldn’t be surprised though as a script writer I know how the system works.

Viewers will walk with their fingers on this one – except ‘Mark’ – if mum and dad will let him stay up that late.

Why is Channel Nine keep trying to bring up an interview/chat show to TV…they cannot get the format correct with a decent host….I say get Michael Parkinson….

Cambo. Keep Wollongong out of it.

Good t hear – thanks

Well I thought it was extremely good, the skits were well acted, Ben’s monologues were clever and funny and the celebrity interviewer was hilarious.

How can so much money be spent and yet this show still look so cheap.

Friday Night Live on Channel 4 was excellent as Ben did his standup, but was backed up by Harry Enfield, Steve Fry, Hugh Laurie etal all doing their own charaters, not just relying on Ben’s writing.

Full marks for giving it a go, but Nine just can’t seem to break the varitey mould – I was os hoping this would be good, so Daryl would be killed off forever.

Stephen #75 @theworstofperth
Daryl Somers jets in to “workshop” Ben Elton’s standup routine, as Live from Planet Earth bombs. “It’s all in the timing and the jumpers ” s…

This guys won 6 BAFTAS… Let’s stop being so fucking judgmental and give the show a chance to grow and evolve. Seinfeld bombed on its 1st episode too.

The promos for the show weren’t even funny…was there ever any doubt it the show would be humourous when they couldn’t make a 30 sec promo that was?!!All we could say is that the show lived up to the pre promotion expectations of viewers,not funny at all.

This show put me in such a bad mood, hubby missed out on some bedtime fun that night.

Crass is not funny.

Whilst I certainly agree that the show wasn’t great, the harshness of the commentary seems a trifle unfair. At least this was something a bit different, I personally would watch this over GNW hands down. And Ben has the courage to acknowledge facts that most television personalities aren’t; for example, the pathetic behaviour of the Australian media when Oprah visited our shores.

I do think the fact that the sketches are performed live just makes the whole format a little lame. It would be better if there was a bit of pre-recorded material thrown in.

I sat through the entire program, wanting to like it, and keen to see “new Australian talent”. I offer the following analysis.:-
Motor Mouth delivery by Mr. Elton, needs a slower gearing, for the “live” audience and those at home, to find the funny bit. His experience in entertainment, should have told him that words such as ..” tit, fanny, dick, penis, breasts and bum” belong to jokes from adolescent lads or Men’s Smoking Concerts of the 60s.
Genevieve Morris’s ad libbed interview, (the only non scripted item) was the funniest. Characterisations by local actors/commedians proved fatal, with loud squeaky voices, getting through their lines as fast as possible.
In general, the TV show, was amateurish, dis-jointed, embarassing, and worthy of a Logie award as the”Lemon of the Year”.

Absolute shocking show. Jokes were not funny and even made me cringe at times. Trying way to hard and diistasteful. Recommendation would be to take it off air and broadcast it live on planet craptus.

Almost like it was written by the folks at Kraft. Comedy 2.0???!

this was absolute crap
seriously pathetic
yet again ch 9 has shown how out of touch it is with its viewers
the heavy voice over ads for all their shows and the ‘home of comedy’ / ‘home of underbelly’ (god they flogged that horse to death) is pure tripe
the proof of this is the fact that ch 9 got rid of its comments page etc
the only bit worth watching was the absolute goddess impersonating nigella lawson
otherwise totally crap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh dear. I didn’t crack a smile once. This won’t last.

His standup last night was unfunny and the part 2 of “Girl Flat” was totally unfunny…is he trying to do the Young Ones (which is hella funny) with this concept…bombed.

How much is the audience getting paid to laugh? I think TT should do an expose on this show 😉

Australian television doesn’t get much of a chance in this country does it. 2 episodes to air and the headline reads “Dead and Buried”! Wow. So much for giving a show some time to develop an audience.
Hopefully channel 9 won’t be as cynical and reactionary as the Australian Press (who wont be happy until they have killed off all Australian television and have nothing left to write about)

This show has been widely condemned by critics, reviewers and by the public via social media networks – and rightly so. I cringed. I whinged. I was left traumatised and had to strangle two small furry animals to relieve the tension. Never before have I looked forward to, and been thankful of, advertising – a break from the torture.
Perhaps the exodus of Executive talent from Nine to Seven over the last few years is a partial excuse. But surely someone with talent at Nine could hear warning bells? Did someone miss the point when the test audience attempted suicide en masse? Or did the people behind this, lacking any wisdom or comedy perspective, just put faith in Elton’s past success? And Nine are rumoured to be giving Hamish and Andy complete creative control? Charles Darwin help us. Thankfully I had the foresight to wear my tin foil hat and adult nappies whilst watching this second serving of tripe. Next!

I loved it. It demonstrated just what is wrong with our left wing, politically correct, dumbed down, attitude. Political correctness is the new cancer. It is destroying all that makes us different from the rest of the world. Resist it at all cost.

To Dave Oz,

“Never before have I looked forward to, and been thankful of, advertising – a break from the torture.”

Did you see that IINet advert with the shoe throwing? Gave me a laugh! Can’t say much for the programme breaks though.

The only reason 296049 people stuck around till the end was because they fell asleep. If you look at the ratings, the show after Ben Elton probably had a similar amount of viewers.

And people, please don’t call the Ben Elton Show extreme shit because the reality is, it was much, much worse than that. A blind monkey’s arse couldv’e been better

To Lover Of Comedy (#63),

You drew my attention to Adam Hills on ABC1 tonight (no over-run, it started as advertised at ‘8:32pm’, bless Aunty) so I checked it out. Funny, light-hearted, no banging on about a personal agenda. He’s an unassuming bloke who brings the very best of humor out of his guests without shouting or making blatant nob gags. Absolutely made my evening. This calibre of Aus comedy on the teeve is so rare.

I’m oficially hooked. Thanks mate.

Ben Elton the highbrow comedian of the early eighties with all his intellectual political jokes and sneering at the true greats llike Benny Hill. He and his so called New-Wave got Benny the sack from Thames for being too sexist in the Modern Age. Guess what he’s a leper in Britain now and oh how about some knob gags for the Aussies. The man’s a complete charlatan.

A brave and fresh attempt, and If you just stuck with it, it got better, with more gutsy and live variety, once the feeling it was like a stand-up show was gone.
Ben Elton is one of the funniest, cleverest guys. Often hilarious. I am disappointed at the slamming he is getting before he even gets on almost.
“Girl Flat” was almost a classic.

I take it ‘THE SURPRISE HIT OF THE SUMMER’ is a pseudonym for Mrs Elton or maybe even Ben himself? It can’t really be classed as a ‘HIT’ when the ratings are dropping like a stone literally by the minute!!

Funny how Stephen Fry and Ben Elton studied and worked together as students. Now, on different continents, we have Ben Elton shouting in high pitched voice “jokes” and sketches that aren’t really working, but “QI”, bless it, tickling every funny bone with Stephen Fry as the Ultimate Quiz Master – dry, humourous, calm, FUNNY, informative, INTELLIGENT…
Oh it is a shame shame shame… and oh Good Lord, now that Bryn thing married to Jeffery Eddlestone is on – at least it has a dress on. That’s all I can say. Back to QI.

Ben Elton is a terrible terrible host, he is probably the worst stand up comedian I have ever witnessed… god he was unbearable I had change the channel lots due to his stand ups taking 5-10 minutes segments WTF and most the sketches are boring and lame.

Its like they grabbed the rejects, the worst members of the Australian comedy community shoved them all in 1 play.

0/10

Oh Dear!….Goddamn awful!….a little like some of the spelling in this thread!! Genevieve Morris should have her own show suitably developed with interesting characters like the Comedy Company and Fast Forward had in the 1980’s suitably moulded for today’s audience of course.

The skits are very weak and lack serious substance. Some of the themes in the skits should be developed further, as they have potential if exploited properly.

Comedy is a tough nut to crack and unfortunately Australian comedy is nowhere near as sharp as fresh and original British offerings. American comedy is just scripted-to-the-max rubbish. Ben, Please go home! Genevieve!….Develop it!!!

I had to laugh at last nights episode that the “live audience” basically did not laugh at any of Elton’s monologue jokes at the start….and the rest of the show follows that same unfunny thread

Why can’t an Australia comedian come up with a better concept show?

I’m beginning to suspect there’s an orchestrated drubbing of this show from opposition tv. The cast are all very talented. It’s just ridiculous to say they’re the worst of the worst. Ben’s monologues are spot-on social observations.

On the contrary harry, there are a wide range of people on here slating this rubbish.
More likely you are responding on behalf of Ben, his agent or Nine!

No H, I’ve never met Ben in my life, do not work for channel 9 or his agent. I just appreciate an intelligent person’s work and I’m sick to death of reality tv. I’m sick of cooking, fat people and talent shows.

Well Harry, i must agree with your sentiments on the 3 genres your talking about.
Please add to that ‘Beauty’ shows and ‘Home/Gardening’ and you’ve got a full house(no pun intended).
You must agree that Elton is an ‘insignificant’ when you compare his humour to Monty Python, Ricky Gervais, even Barry Humphries also his contemporaries like Stephen Fry Rowan Atkinson etc etc.
If you were compiling a list (another TV genre I detest) he wouldn’t get in the Top 100.

Harry, everyone’s sick of reality tv, cooking, fat people and talent shows. That’s why they are all so angry that Elton’s alternative was so bad. The dismal failure of this show means that we will get more of the same crap and less likelihood that something else local and funny will be tried. Elton is going to contribute to more trash being on the screen, not relieve it. That’s the worst part about the whole thing.

Kochie tweets from Eathquake central “Time to sleep like the dead” and we hear nothing. Elton get’s his show pulled off air and it’s like someone shot the pope. Are Channel 7 immune to Mumbrella???

… there was the figure that Ben Elton got only 1,000 more viewers than the ABC’s QI—surely (yet another) indication of ratings having nothing to do with quality..? Perhaps the ABC should swap ‘Planet Earth’ for their new ‘Adam Hills at Gordon St…’ No-one has suggested yet that Ben may have offended any sponsors (do I watch Media Watch too much ….?). Switch off altogether & listen to ABC Radio.

…just by-the-way…..how come Ch.9 won’t let me watch the first ep. ?

These characters have been going as long/longer then BE but are still funny because … well, err, they’re funny 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

Thing is, they’ve adapted to the modern world, and not remained in the 80s.

Gawd bless ’em.

Ah… where’s all the true talent of this country? Oh yeah. In other countries. Oops.