Comedian Ben Elton has given an intriguing interview to the Guardian in which he talks about his early days in stand-up, his decision to embark on a new tour at the age of sixty and the problem with being accused of selling out.
One particular remark in the interview has caught some people's attention. When he starts talking about always being questioned about being a sell-out he responds by saying: "I haven’t said anything for 30 years. But it’s been wearying. It just keeps coming around, every interview – ‘So do you feel you’ve sold out?’ Tell me what – apart from that Stewart Lee, whoever he is, thinks I have – might make you ask that?”
People on social media have been wondering if this was a wry ironic joke or does Ben Elton really not know who Stewart Lee is? It might've been intended as a subtle put-down. Admittedly he spends a lot of his time in Australia these days but he must surely have come across the comedian who was recently rated the 41st best comedian of the 21st Century by the Guardian?
In fact some people on Twitter with long memories have unearthed evidence that Elton has mentioned Stewart Lee in print in the past. Comedian Nathaniel Tapley has drawn my attention to a Twitter conversation thread between comedian Steve Hall – @astevehall – and Justin Lewis – @whenisbirths – and others which mentions that Ben Elton had a letter published in an ancient edition of Time Out (1990s, I think) in which he also takes issue with Stewart Lee.
Elton wrote: "I have no idea who comedy writers Stewart Lee and Richard Herring are but i must protest at their comments in last week's Fast & Loose (an old TO slot). They claim that they don't wish to be like me 'doing stuff about chocolate machines and the tube' adding that I clearly haven't 'been on the Underground for years'. As it happens i can't actually remember ever making such a joke and I travelled on the tube only yesterday...As for Stewart and Richard I hope they do well and when they do they are spared the endless sniping that seems to be the price you pay for writing stuff that people sometimes like."
Read the full Twitter thread and see the original letter here.
Watch Stewart Lee talking about Ben Elton here. Buy tickets for Ben Elton's tour here.
