Steve Bennett (I)
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 36
Was Soho Theatre right to cancel Chris McGlade?
It's an impossible call, writes Steve Bennett.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 18th July 2021Taboo review
The critic may have a horse in this race. Not only to protect the transgressive force of comedy which she holds so dear, but she, too, has been threatened with 'cancellation' after she was accused of being a 'rape apologist' a few years ago for unsympathetic comments about date-rape of an apocryphal teenager who 'dolls herself up, covers herself in make-up, goes out [and] gets shit-faced'. But she and her contributors throw up many interesting questions about the nature of comedy, the flirtations with offence that can give comedy its bite, the need for taboos for that line to exist, the unfair burden of representation on the shoulders of some comedians, and so much more,.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 11th July 2021Please Help review
The BBC really ought to pounce on this imaginative, hilarious premise and sign Pearman up for a series immediately.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 7th July 2021Michael Palin's Memory Palaces review
Many of these tales might be familiar to fans, but it's good to hear them told, most engagingly, from the Python's mouth. So don't expect great insights into the working of Gilliam's eccentric mind, but an array of entertaining anecdotes that unfold with a little more space that they would get on the usual chat-show circuit.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 7th July 2021The Essay: Adrian Edmondson review
These all-too-brief recollections prove him to be an evocative writer, mature but unshowy, whose short, simple sentences summon vivid pictures from his past.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 5th July 2021Review: Stand Up, Barry Goldman by David J Cohen
Fundamentally, it's about a young man with vague hopes and dreams trying not to occupy such an uncertain place in the world. And of how he struggles to adhere to his easily-stated ideals - whether on feminism or on being an artist - when faced with a messy reality.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 24th June 2021Brighton Fringe review, Gerry Carroll: When I Was Alive
The inventive idiots at the cult Alternative Comedy Memorial Society night have a permitted heckle: 'A failure - but a noble one.' That cry might have been invented for Gerry Carroll.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st June 2021Brighton Fringe review - Ali and Fran: Intense!!
Fran and Ali is a two-hander, rather than a double act, even if their contrasting chalk-and-Swiss-cheese personalities might seem ideally suited for comic juxtaposition.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st June 2021Brighton Fringe review - Aidan Goatley
It's Christmas in June, and Aidan Goatley is full of the 'goodwill to all men' spirit. And why wouldn't he be? He's doing two of the things he enjoys most: telling stories and sharing his love of movies. The Yuletide season itself he was always more ambivalent about, but every show's got to have a theme...
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 21st June 2021Is comedy taking care not to offend such a bad thing?
People are more sensitive about potential offence now than ever before, that's for sure. What's less clear, beyond the default reactionary stance of most print media, is why this is fundamentally a BAD THING and MUST BE STOPPED. For despite the naysayers, this is a pretty good time for TV comedy (at least until Covid put a spanner in the production works). Nostalgia always wins out because we only remember the excellent programmes, endlessly repeated, while the present contains warts-and-all.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 16th June 2021