Steve Bennett (I)
- Journalist and reviewer
Press clippings Page 6
Spent review
BBC comedy chefs have said they want to make more laugh-out-loud comedies and fewer semi-autobiographical comedy-dramas. And watching Spent you can understand why, as it falls into that familiar gap of being neither consistently funny enough nor emotionally compelling enough to fulfil either side of the equation.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 8th July 2024Rishi Sunak's Doing A Musical! review
Review of a hastily-written topical satire.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 3rd July 2024Review - Kirsty Mann: Skeletons
A tightly written 50 minutes that introduces us to such characters as her humourless boss, reckless best mate, Sloaney agent, dilettante playwright, and bewildered patient convinced he saw her in the local panto - all of which showcase her considerable talents for accents as well as characters.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 27th June 2024Douglas Is Cancelled review
Rows about cancel culture tend to be reductive. A clear binary between those who harrumph "you can't say anything any more" and the righteously censorious. A nuanced path somewhere between the two is probably society's best way forward, but as a savvy newspaper editor says in Steven Moffat's twisty new comedy-drama Douglas Is Cancelled: "Outrage is exciting, nuance is work."
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 27th June 2024Inside No. 9: Plodding On review
For the last episode of Inside No 9, Steve Pemberton got to play one of the most devious characters the show has yet seen: himself.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 12th June 2024Richard Herring: Can I Have My Ball Back? review
Given Richard Herring has built at least some of his long career on knob gags - in Talking Cock he literally wrote the book on the subject - his brush with the disease has given him carte blanche to use every innuendo and silly euphemism for his seed satchels he can, and it's an opportunity he has gleefully seized.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 11th June 2024Jazz Emu review
Jazz Emu surely deserves a knighthood for his contribution to musical comedy.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 10th June 2024A Comedy Tribute To Andy Smart review
Without him around, the world of comedy is a lot quieter, too.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 4th June 2024Tom Greaves review
Fudgey is a fine, and somewhat sympathetic, character study of the privileged upper-middle-class ruling classes.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 3rd June 2024Rik Mayall: Panglobal Phenomenon review
Inspired by punk, he was always seeking to be subversive, which, it is clear, meant not worrying too much about finesse while embracing mistakes.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 1st June 2024