Steve Bennett (I)
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 47
Review: Behind The Filter
If you're a young, white, middle-class female comedian making a TV show with a frank scene about sex, you're going to be compared with you-know-who. Especially if your first name happens to be Phoebe.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 30th June 2020Review - Michael Spicer: Before Next Door
There is always the risk a comedian-led mockumentary like this will tip into self-indulgence, especially when the central character is so insular and inward-looking, but there's a big enough dollop of quirk in Before Next Door to make it feel fresh and funny. Even the meta moments - acknowledging a flashback or the artifice of a sound effect - are done with a light, deft touch.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 18th June 2020Staged review
After a languid set-up in the first episode, things do pick up a bit in the second which might help Staged succeed for those seeking mild entertainment away from the intensity of the news. But it feels like an understudy for a comedy show rather than the real thing.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 10th June 2020Review - Alan Partridge: From The Oasthouse
He's just been named Britain's top comedy character, and the preview episode of his first podcast gives more evidence why Alan Partridge has the well-rounded subtlety to be worthy of the title.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 5th June 2020Review - Nick Helm: All Killer Some Filler
Hundreds of people in a sweaty, beery venue chanting as one after a night of shared jokes and songs to fire your spirits from a high-octane performer. This special certainly makes you wish you were there at the time... and pine for the time we can do it again.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 4th June 2020Review - Comedians: Home Alone
This must have been one of the easiest comedy compilation shows to curate. With the live circuit in its induced coma, so many stand-ups are pumping out online content online that the whole internet is one giant audition room.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 1st June 2020Review: The First Team
The Inbetweeners rightly raised Iain Morris and Damon Beesley to the comedy nobility. But with The First Team - another examination of young male relationships - they've missed the goal, certainly judging by a relatively flat opening episode.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 28th May 2020What's The Matter With Tony Slattery? review
This story of what happened to Tony Slattery, 35 years after he set screens alight with his dazzling displays of mercurial comedy talent is not always an easy watch, but it is a compelling one.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 20th May 2020Book review: Alternative Comedy, by Oliver Double
This fascinating, well-written and meticulously researched guide to Britain's alternative comedy revolution is probably the most accurate single retrospective of that transformative time that exists. The only problem is, it has been released as an academic title with a price tag that will put this comprehensive history out of the reach of all but the most deep-pocketed of interested fans. It costs - and this is not a misprint - £75. So much for the egalitarianism of the movement.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 19th May 2020Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe review
There's no surer sign that the hairline cracks in the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' all-in-this-together, good-old British pluck response to Covid-19 has fissured into more open derision of government failures than having cynic-in-chief Charlie Brooker return to our screens.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 14th May 2020