Ben Elton was one of the most beloved comedians in Britain in the 1980s. Attacking everything establishment and a leading light on two of the best comedies of the age, Elton could do no wrong. After last night’s disastrous premiere of ‘The Wright Way’ was positively mauled by critics up and down the nation, his star might have been well and truly snuffed out of the sky.
It’s been a few years Elton wrote for a sitcom but it seems more like decades as you trudge through every single cringe inducing second of The Wright Way, a show that seems so old and archaic that it makes his early work look like science fiction.
Jokes like “I wouldn’t wash my bum in the sink, what am I, French?” and ham fisted double entendres on the word ‘erection’ just don’t belong in comedy in 2013, and even the cast look embarrassed to be saying them in public. They must have blindly agreed to take part on the strength of Elton’s past, as anyone reading it would surely have run away.
The co-writer of The Young Ones and Blackadder, Elton was part of the exciting new wave of alternative comedians in the era of Thatcher, not afraid of who he annoyed in the process of making a truly great gag.
The utterly embarrassed cast of The Wright Stuff.Those shows in particular still stand as two of the best sitcoms ever to grace TV screens, both utterly hilarious nearly three decades after they first hit the airwaves and the inspiration behind so many of today’s top comedians. It’s not as if all the credit could go to his co-writers, as when Elton took to being in front of the camera instead, the laughs just kept on coming, with his comedy shows throughout the decade proving him to be one of the most audacious and hilarious comics out there.
So what happened to Elton then? Has he been offed in a clandestine operation and replaced by a robot with programming from 1978? For a man who often railed against the terrible comedies of the time, The Wright Way doesn’t so much as stumble into all the pot holes he used to lampoon but delightfully throw itself into them.
Finally, Mrs Browns Boys might have has met its match when it comes to critical hatred. While ‘We Will Rock You’ had many questioning it, The Wright Way might have finally killed off the final shreds of comedy cred that Ben Elton had to his name.
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