Steve Bennett (I)
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 128
Latitude review: Eddie Izzard
Elements of his comedy heroes Monty Python are evident in some of the verbal sketches... his human sacrifice bit, especially, could certainly fit in one of their historical films with the ruling priests made to look very, very silly.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 22nd July 2013Latitude review: Marcus Brigstocke's Policy Unit
Any panel show is only as good as its guests; and this line-up of wannabe wonks, certainly delivered.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st July 2013Latitude review: David Schneider
He presents 'found comedy' from the web, strung along with some unenlightening commentary about how on the one hand the internet is good for us, and on the other hand it isn't, and a suggestion of how social media leads us all to believe our every thought is important, when it probably isn't. There's the occasional joke of his own along the way, but most of the chuckles come second-hand from the screen grabs.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st July 2013Latitude review: Daniel Kitson
A late-night offering of his 45-minute 'adventure poem' Lucinda Ding And The Monstrous Thing, with his long-term collaborator Gavin Osborn on guitar. The Poetry Arena has surely never been more popular - especially at midnight - and for good reason.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st July 2013Latitude review: Russell Kane
Each broad reference of Jemima buying The Guardian at Waitrose, or whatever, is followed with an argument with the critic in his head, accusing him of being simplistic. That fictitious reviewer has a point... but it means Kane gets have his cake and eat it.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st July 2013Latitude review: Terry Alderton
Terry Alderton is far from normal: he's doing groundbreaking things with the form of comedy that no one normal would ever think of.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st July 2013Latitude review: Seann Walsh
Like all observational comedy, the joy is when he exposes, in perfect detail, a universal human foible that had perviously escaped us all, such as spotting yourself on CCTV camera, or using your phone to record video, and he lands several of these.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 20th July 2013Latitude review: Andrew O'Neill
It's hard to pigenonhole a comedian who one minute jauntily rewrites classic pop songs for the colour-blind, and the next rumbles intimidating death-metal lyrics into the face of a terrified front-row punter as part of a routine that started with small-talk at a bus stop - but there is one category you can put O'Neill into: the one marked 'funny'.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 20th July 2013Latitude review: Nick Helm and The Helmettes
Seeing a six-year-old girl merrily punching the air as Helm hollers out his filth is certainly an incongruous site, if not the finest example of good parenting.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 20th July 2013Latitude review: Mark Watson
He realises comedy and tragedy are close bedfellows, and is brilliantly, darkly, fully when frankly describing his own struggles with sobriety - such as the strain of enduring things that, tipsy, he would have let slide, allowing for fruitful strand of observational comedy through the prism of intolerance.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 20th July 2013