I'm not naturally funny
Ben Elton's confession
Ben Elton has admitted: ‘I don't see myself as naturally amusing.’
Speaking on the eve of an 18-date Australian tour, the 47-year-old comic confessed he had no instinctive urge to be funny.
But instead, he said, he is compelled to perform because he feels he has something to say.
‘I go on stage because I've got material that I want to deliver,’ he told The Australian.
‘I don't go on because I've got this natural urge to sort of show off or be funny. I don't see myself as naturally amusing. It's not like Rowan [Atkinson], who just walks on stage and people laugh.’
But Elton, whose wife Sophie Gare is Australian, said he believed comedy travels well between countries.
‘I think all senses of humour are similar,’ he said. ‘Cultural and national differences really are just skin deep.
‘All individuals are different and entirely unique, but all crowds are exactly the same. Human understanding is universal, and the irritation you feel at being caught in the slow queue is the same no matter what colour or religion you are.’
Elton is making his first tour of Australia in nine years, following 60 dates in the UK earlier this year.
Published: 10 Jul 2006
