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About Alexander Bennett
First starting to write and perform on the comedy circuit at the age of 15, comedian Alexander Bennett performs his brand of dark, daft, anarchic stand up across the length and breadth of the UK, and is a rising star on the British comedy scene.
Alexander Bennett has performed his stand up regularly at the acclaimed Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, alongside the cult Weirdos comedy group and as part of the excellent Laugh Out London‘s themed nights. In 2014 his debut solo show ‘Follow Me’ put him forward as the voice of his generation. Soon to follow was his cult creation Hell To Play, the comedy game show set in Hell that was an underground Edinburgh Fringe sell out success.
With several impressive Edinburgh fringe shows under his belt, Alexander Bennett has also performed at festivals such as End of The Road where he played the comedy stage as part of a world class line up. Other festival appearances include Leefest, Larmer Tree Festival and Ambition Festival. Making shakes wherever he goes, Alexander Bennett has won praise from the likes of The Guardian and notorious comedy critics at Chortle, as well as from British comedy legend Harry Hill who branded him “witty, weird and dark, the one to watch out for: at the spearhead of a wave of great new comics.”
WATCH ALEXANDER BENNETT’S TERRIFYING SMILE
In 1993, Alexander Bennett won a ‘most beautiful baby’s smile’ competition at Butlins in Skegness. 24 years later, in the absence of any other awards, he’s rounding up his competitors from that day for a rematch. An anarchic, achingly silly hour on the state of a generation from rising cult comic Alexander Bennett.
Reviews and Awards
Alexander Bennet’s show “Hell To Play” was nominated for Best Live Show in 2016’s Midlands Comedy Awards.
‘Warm, insane and very funny’
The Guardian
‘His sharp interpretations of the world around him add a sinister spin to the everyday – Unique and hilarious’
The Reviews Hub
‘Touched with madness…choice laughs…anarchic… refreshingly different material’
Chortle
‘Heart-stopping… A courageous and thought provoking exposure of a hidden darkness’
The Scotsman
‘A stalwart of the London alternative comedy circuit…an imaginative and original performer’
Laugh Out London
Alexander Bennett Tickets
Information on comedian Alexander Bennett’s upcoming gigs and shows can be found here.
Can’t wait to see him live? Stream his full show now
Biography
Based in London and a graduate of the University of Westminster, Alexander Bennett is an avid cartoonist and filmmaker as well as making a career in live stand up. But he started his first foray into comedy at a very young age. He tells Fringe Pig about his debut gig in Derby at the sweetly named Blessington Carriage pub. “I was 15 years old. The audience were so, so nice to me, and I must have been awful. (I think I made a joke about Australian women with hairy legs – 2008 was a very different world). It was a competition-type show, and I got through to the last bit. I was completely hooked.”
With an impressive number of solo shows under his belt, including Housewives’ Favourite, Terrifying Smile, Your Beloved Alexander Bennett, I Can Make You A Moron and Follow Me, in 2016 Alexander Bennett bagged himself a nomination for Best Live Show in the Midlands Comedy Awards for his interactive comedy show creation Hell To Play, co written with Paul Savage. A cult fringe hit since 2015, he describes it as “a game show set in Hell hosted by the Devil. Two comedians compete to save their souls and all of the games revolve around people who live in or are destined to go to Hell.” He told John Flemming “In Edinburgh, at the Fringe, it was a genuine underground success. We had people coming two or three times to see the show and we filled the room nearly every night.” There’s been impressive roll call of comic guests lining up to be in the show too, including Ed Gamble, Andrew O’Neill, Bec Hill, Phil Wang, Fin Taylor, Pierre Novellie, Michael Legge, Danielle Ward, Matthew Crosby and Ben Clark of Pappy’s, John Robertson, JJ Whitehead, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Thom Tuck, and Silky.
Alongside performing his own work, in 2013 Alexander Bennett decided to set up and host alternative comedy gig, THIS IS NOT A CULT, a monthly new material night featuring a fantastic and varied line up of stand up, sketch, character acts.. Recommended by TimeOut and included in their list of the top 10 Cheap/Free comedy nights in London, he tells Broadway Baby:
“TINAC is a night where I book exciting and/or new alternative comics to do exciting and/or new things. It definitely is not an attempt to set myself up as the leader of some kind of cult, whom people should follow unconditionally. It’s a lot of fun, we’ve had live carpentry and all sorts. Usually I try to get the audience to work out the end of the show, I’ve eaten half a tub of butter, tied up a guy, drank water someone bathed in, fulfilled peoples wildest dreams on stage and once the apocalypse happened a bit.” So what’s next for the ambitious alternative comic? With a number of gigs planned across comedy clubs in 2019, we can’t wait to see what lies in store for live comedy’s talented rising star, Alexander Bennett.
Get More Alexander Bennett
Want more of Alexander Bennett? You’re in luck – his full stand-up comedy special is available to watch on NextUp – a digital comedy club where you can stream instantly over 120 comedy specials from some of the exciting names in comedy. Oh, and there’s a 7 day free trial.