Ben Elton features on this week's Radio Times cover
Ahead of Friday Night Live’s revival, the funnyman weighs in on how he changed comedy in this week’s Radio Times magazine.
Television is enjoying a golden age, with more channels, services and choice than ever before. But despite the thrill of the new, there is something reassuring about the familiar and the reappearance in our schedules this week of some big names from the past is no accident.
The return of The Larkins to ITV, the latest adaptation of The Darling Buds of May, is just one recent example of TV commissioners choosing familiar fare from the past to help us escape the grim realities of the present.
But the reappearance this week of Ben Elton to host Channel 4’s revival – for one night only – of Friday Night Live is a different deal. When Elton first strode onto the broadcaster’s stage nearly 40 years ago, he was a bouffant-haired motormouth in a spangly suit with a mission to shake up Thatcher’s Britain.
He then went on to success in writing musicals, including the hugely successful Queen show We Will Rock You and collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber. And before all that, of course, he had helped create two wildly popular BBC sitcoms: Blackadder and The Young Ones.
In this issue, Elton considers how comedy has changed, says he was never a left-wing firebrand, wonders why he was accused of selling out and laments the fact that being nice means he was too quickly written off as uncool. He also explains why he believes the Channel 4 show invented modern TV stand-up.
Also in this week’s Radio Times:
- The creator of Friday Night Dinner Robert Popper on his new comedy I Hate You, remembering Paul Ritter and avoiding clichés in writing female characters.
- Gabby Logan on her memoir, including having suicidal thoughts after her brother’s tragic death, her detrimental party lifestyle, her borderline eating disorder, therapy and coping with setbacks, including her father’s alcoholism and husband’s prostate cancer diagnosis.
- Stuntman Jonathan Cohen on Jodie Comer insisting on being slapped by Sandra Oh, being set on fire on Game of Thrones and being Gary Lineker’s stunt double.
Friday Night Live airs at 9pm on 21st October on Channel 4.
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