Ben Elton on Blackadder, Mr Bean & Writing TV Classics

About this episode

Ben Elton joins Romesh Ranganathan to discuss his career in comedy and his new autobiography.

What does the man behind Blackadder actually think about modern comedy? Ben Elton, multi award-winning comedian writer, novelist, director and lyricist joins Romesh to discuss his new autobiography, 'What Have I Done?’' and share with us how he went from being a 10-year old auditioning for amateur theatre, to writing some of the most-loved British sitcoms including Blackadder, The Young Ones and more. From going to University with Rick Mayall, getting the call to work with Queen and how the We Will Rock You Musical really came about, to what happened when Blackadder got cancelled and why he loves Mr Bean so much. Plus: a classic question from Shanthi, a rant about mobile phones and an unexpected modelling pitch to M&S. Don't miss it. A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Platform. 00:00 - Intro 02:50 - Ben’s autobiography 04:49 - On reviews and critics 09:09 - A gift for Ben 12:54 - Ben’s route into writing 15:34 - On stand up 21:32 - Challenging sexism and politics 24:10 - On Improvising 26:13 - The real story of Blackadder 37:55 - Ben’s favourite work 39:30 - On negative headlines 40:56 - Upstart Crow with David Mitchell 43:32 - Triumph and disaster 45:03 - Shanthi’s…

People in this episode

Host: Romesh Ranganathan

Guest: Ben Elton

Topics covered

• comedy
• writing
• British sitcoms
• autobiography
• modern comedy
• theatre

Keywords

• Ben Elton
• Blackadder
• Mr Bean
• autobiography
• comedy
• sitcoms
• We Will Rock You

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: What Have I Done?, Blackadder, The Young Ones, We Will Rock You

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