Ben Elton: LIVE from Planet Earth - Review

Simon Mustoe, an expat now living in Melbourne Australia, provides this review of Ben Elton's new Australian TV show...

It's Ben Elton's first major TV production for Australian audiences since he became a fully-fledged, true blue, green and gold Aussie. In 2009 he moved to Fremantle (just outside Perth) with his Australian wife and kids, joining a list of other distinguished English comedians (Billy Connolly, Jeff Green) who now call Australia home.

LIVE from Planet Earth received a massive build up from Channel 9 over several nights, before it was first broadcast on the 8th February. Breaking tradition and broadcasting absolutely live in front of a TV audience, Elton has ventured where few Australian comedians have dared. The show is a mix of satirical Elton stand-up segues, short skits, a comedic interview with a celebrity, a stage sitcom called Girl Flat featuring look-alikes of Lilly Allen, Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Amy Winehouse (YouTube), and guest appearances by comedians. The first show featured Arj Barker, the second Fiona O'Loughlin and the amazing Tim Minchin (in look-terms, cross a young Bill Bailey with Eddie Izzard).

Elton's own material is refreshingly candid... for Australian audiences. I say that because some of it could appear a bit tired in an English setting, but Australians are very, very conservative and years behind when it comes to political satire.

The closest we've come in recent times, was the celebrated satirical comedy The Chaser. It had a few moments of genius but, overall, it was a poor and unconvincing replica of Brass Eye with senseless stunts like dressing up as Osama Bin Laden and trying to drive into the G20 ... and the funny thing about that ... oh, that was it.

Elton has made a bold move in challenging the status quo. In his first few minutes he ripped into the Prime Minister and then opposition leader, Tony Abbott - a practising Iron Man who canvasses political support wearing only "budgie-smugglers" (pic) and has a history of outrageously sexist opinions. What comedian wouldn't rise to that challenge! Well ... some would say, any comedian who wants to keep his job on Channel 9, especially before mixing in some nob-gags and for the ladies, a routine about yoghurt-shopping and thrush.

Comedy is inciteful though and Elton is the man everyone loves to hate. Not one person I have spoken to absolutely disliked the debut show but everyone was critical.

Reviews on Channel 9's website say it all. On the one hand, "un-funny and an embarrassment to comedy", on the other hand, "f*ing hilarious". Melbourne's The Age says "It was patchy, derivative and obsessed with bodily functions, but there was more to like in Ben Elton's new foray into Australian television than there was to dislike".

It's a tradition in the UK for young comedy actors to appear on screen in shows produced or written by people like Steve Coogan or Graham Linehan. I've always thought Elton was better at writing than stand-up and these skills were put to use in LIVE from Planet Earth. Elton seems to have hand-picked Australian comedians (Lyall Brooks, Shareena Clanton, Michelle Lim Davidson, Emma Leonard, Paul McCarthy, Kate McLennan, Veronica Milsom, Olivia Stambouliah and Genevieve Morris), some largely unknown, shoved them on stage and made them perform live. OMG!

Undoubtedly, pommy viewers will have enjoyed the brilliant take off of Amy Winehouse (Olivia Stambouliah). Recently launched to fame in a banking advert, Genevieve Morris, played interviewer Elaine Front and is a highlight. Her character could be compared, in the most flattering way possible, to a female Dame Edna Everage.

In an interview with The Daily Mail in November 2009, Elton expressed concern about the UK in terms of comedy, politics and finance. He clearly hit a nerve. The piece titled "After 25 years of moaning about Britain, comedian Ben Elton is off to Australia" attracted rebukes from readers. It's true, he's had poor reviews from his last UK tour and he may have burnt his bridges to some extent. Maybe his style of comedy is simply out of date, especially in the UK ... though any of the 60,000 poms who emigrated to Australia since 2007 would agree with his sentiments about a country in turmoil.

So I wonder how he's going to fair down-under? Of the 20 top ranking comedies in 2009 according to Screen Australia, nine of these were Channel 9's episodes of Two and a Half Men (seven in 2008). How can you compete with that level of mediocrity? Ironically, during breaks in LIVE from Planet Earth, we are subjected to adverts for the US comedy Mike & Molly. That's like promoting love-enhancement drugs during CBeebies! If Channel 9's research suggested this would appeal to the evening audience, is it really any surprise that a fair proportion wouldn't like LIVE from Planet Earth?!

Australia blithely declares itself as a 'tall poppy' culture and Elton's been subject to relentless hacking reviews since the first show, simply as a response to doing something different. To his credit, in the second show, he rose to criticism with some modesty (less nob gags) but a healthy twist of venom, saying "I do honestly wonder, whether anything new can actually survive this cultural cannibalism... imagine if they had Twitter on the first night of Hamlet. The word would be out and the news would report that the tweets have tweeted and Hamlet's a pile of crap before the end of Act 1!"

This was an inspired response but will it make any difference? What can we expect from a TV station that forces the lead presenter to introduce comedian Tim Minchin with a warning along the lines of "some viewers may find the following material offensive"? If that wasn't so tragic, it would have been funny.

What hope is there for this series on Channel 9... a station that ships in American comedies where, as Elton puts it, the "laughter comes in a can". I have a sneaky suspicion that he'll end up on SBS (our popular independent station that shows all the best cutting edge TV).

Where satirical comedians before him have lacked gravitas, a comedy cultural hero like Elton could achieve great things. Just reading the blogs and tweets by his own cast, he's clearly loved and is a great influence on those he works with. At the moment, it's the only comedy show with any form of cutting-edge satire about current affairs. That should count for something and only a fool would use Twitter as the yardstick by which to measure the show's success at this stage.

If anything, the strength and also possibly, the weakness of LIVE from Planet Earth, is how it attempts to appeal to everyone. Elton has shrewdly scripted in a variety of performance styles. However, Australia doesn't have a fully-fledged comedy counter-culture like the UK and there may not be the critical mass to carry a show like this. This is why opinions are mixed and whether this is a genius move or folly, only time will tell.

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