Bennett Arron
Bennett Arron is a Welsh writer and stand-up comedian.
Background
Born in Port Talbot to a Jewish family,[1] Bennett moved to London to attend the drama school, the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. After leaving drama school he formed the sketch group 4-Ply and toured venues around the country, appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Career
In 1997 Arron was a finalist of the BBC New Comedy Awards, alongside Peter Kay. He is a past winner of the BBC Wales New Writer's Award and the TAPS Comedy Writer of The Year Award.
He has written and starred in the BBC Radio series Bennett Arron is JeWelsh and Bennett Arron Worries About..., both of which were nominated for a Celtic Media Award. He presented the BBC Television Documentary The Kosher Comedian in which he traced his family's roots from Lithuania to South Wales and described a reason for the decline of Jews in Wales. In 2007, he wrote, directed and presented the documentary How Not to Lose Your Identity for Channel 4[2] which was based on his own experience of identity fraud.[3] In the programme he proved how easy it is to carry out the crime by dumpster diving and social engineering. He even went as far as setting up a stall at a shopping centre, supposedly selling identity theft insurance, but was, in fact, scamming people into revealing all their identity information. He also stole the identity of the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke and was subsequently arrested.[4][5] Bennett wrote a memoir of his experience Heard the One About Identity Theft?[6]
Bennett also wrote the romantic comedy novel The Girl From The Discotheque[7] which was described as "Funny from beginning to end" by Ricky Gervais and "A touching, funny, page-turning book about what the heart wants – no matter how irrational. This is romance and comedy with a bruised heart" by Tony Parsons.
Bennett has written comedy material for Hale and Pace, Freddie Starr, The Real McCoy, Large, Stop the World, No Limit, The Varrell and Decker Show, Samstag Nacht, The April Hailer Show, The 11 O'Clock Show, Commercial Breakdown, RI:SE, V Graham Norton and Jack Whitehall's Hit the Road Jack.
Bennett wrote and starred in two radio series: Bennett Arron is JEWELSH and Bennett Arron Worries About, both of which were nominated at the Celtic Media Awards.
In 2018 and 2019 Bennett played the part of Morris in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Alone.[8]
He has also written for situation comedies, including Ed Stone is Dead (starring Richard Blackwood) and Sam's Game (starring Davina McCall and Ed Byrne). He was also one of the main writers on two children's series; The Slammer (BBC One) and Genie in the House (the highest rated programme on Nickelodeon.) He also wrote several episodes for the children's sitcom Which Is Witch?
As a stand-up comedian, Bennett has performed at every major venue in the UK as well as performing in the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Poland and Australia. Bennett recently supported Ricky Gervais on some of his tour dates.
He has been described as "Genuinely Original and Funny" by The Times and "One of the best on the Circuit..... a Welsh Seinfeld" by The Guardian.[citation needed]
Publications
- Heard the one about identity theft?. Silly Papi. 2015. ISBN 978-0993357107.
- The Girl from the Discotheque. Silly Papi. 2015. ISBN 9780993357114.
References
- ^ WalesOnline (4 November 2011). "Welsh comedian Bennett Arron brings his tales of being the only Jewish boy in his town to the stage". Wales Online.
- ^ "Bennett Arron – Stand-Up Comedian". Gordon Poole Agency. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
- ^ "Comedy review: Bennett Arron, Glasgow". The Scotsman. 25 March 2011.
- ^ "Anorak – Identity Card: Bennett Arron Is Charles Clarke?".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Arron, Bennett (2015). Heard the one about identity theft?. ISBN 978-0993357107. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ Arron, Bennett (2015). The girl from the discotheque. ISBN 9780993357114. Retrieved 1 March 2019.
- ^ "Alone – Not Listening but Hearing". BBC. Retrieved 1 March 2019.