Friday Night Live

Ben is perhaps best known for being the comedic genius behind iconic British shows such as Blackadder and Upstart Crow.

" It’s where we wanted to raise our children, though I have dual citizenship with the UK, so we could split our time between both countries when the kids have all left home. I was performing with Rik Mayall and she was a sexy female bass player! If you're on Facebook, you can find our dedicated social media group on all things celeb [here](https://www.facebook.com/groups/393445517839575) The family relocated from Sussex to Fremantle in Western Australia in 2009. "We're currently based in Fremantle in Australia, as my wife Sophie is from Oz. Ben is perhaps best known for being the comedic genius behind iconic British shows such as Blackadder and Upstart Crow.

Ben Elton is married to Australian saxophonist Sophie Gare. The pair met in 1986 when the comedian toured Down Under with Rik Mayall in their show, 'A Night of ...

It’s where we wanted to raise our children, though I have dual citizenship with the UK, so we could split our time between both countries when the kids have all left home. They went on to marry in 1994. The pair met in 1986 when the comedian toured Down Under with Rik Mayall in their show, 'A Night of Stand Up Comedy'. After completing five cycles, their first two children, twins Charlotte and Albert, were born in 1999. MORE: Ben Elton is married to Australian saxophonist Sophie Gare.

Ben Elton kicked off his Friday Night Live Channel 4 special with a savage dig at Liz Truss, after she resigned as Prime Minister yesterday.

- [Pound rises against the dollar after Liz Truss resigns](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/pound-rises-against-the-dollar-after-liz-truss-resigns-17603956/) [Liz Truss and James Corden don’t get off lightly in incredible Venn diagram describing chaos of the past week from Love Island star](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/21/liz-truss-butt-of-the-joke-in-love-islanders-incredible-venn-diagram-17613163/?ico=more_text_links) [Have I Got News For You’s Ian Hislop brands rumoured return of Boris Johnson ‘mad’ after Liz Truss ‘dragged out’ of Number 10](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/21/boris-johnsons-rumoured-return-branded-mad-by-ian-hislop-17613872/?ico=more_text_links) [Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to go head to head](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/boris-johnson-expected-to-stand-in-tory-leadership-race-after-liz-truss-stands-down-17604498/) [Metro.co.uk's dedicated page](https://metro.co.uk/tag/liz-truss/). [Will the new Prime Minister be elected by the public?](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/will-the-new-prime-minister-be-elected-by-the-public-or-voted-by-tories-17603720/) [Liz Truss’ speech in full after resigning as Prime Minister](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/liz-truss-speech-in-full-after-resigning-as-prime-minister-17603295/) [stepped down as Conservative Party leader and UK Prime Minister](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/liz-truss-resigns-as-prime-minister-becoming-shortest-serving-pm-ever-17577015/) after just 44 days. [managed to be shorter than](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/things-that-have-lasted-longer-than-liz-truss-as-prime-minister-17604740/) a singular series of [Love Island](https://metro.co.uk/tag/love-island/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P3_LNK1), shorter than Kim Kardashian’s notoriously short-lived marriage to Kris Humphries, and even – would you believe it – [shorter than Jedward lasted in the live shows of The X Factor.](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/liz-truss-quits-jedward-celebrate-lasting-longer-on-x-factor-17605381/) [she was stepping down as Prime Minister,](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/bbc-pointless-asks-question-on-pms-serving-in-office-after-liz-truss-resigns-17606649/) after holding the role for only 44 days, during which the [economy](https://metro.co.uk/tag/economy/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P2_LNK1) crashed and both her Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary departed. [Friday Night Live](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/07/ben-elton-to-revive-friday-night-live-with-harry-enfield-in-special-17524547/) Channel 4 special with a savage dig at [Liz Truss](https://metro.co.uk/tag/liz-truss/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P1_LNK1), after she announced [ her resignation as Prime Minister](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/20/liz-truss-lasted-as-long-as-prime-minister-as-david-blaine-in-that-box-17607390/) yesterday.

Ben Elton is reviving Friday Night Live for a one-off special tonight on Channel 4, featuring a special guest appearance from Harry Enfield.

Jo Brand will also take to the Friday Night Live stage again. The show changed its name to Friday Night Live in 1988, when it ran for a third and final season. The latest special marks a week of celebrations and festivities as Channel 4 acknowledges its 40th anniversary. [Ben Elton to revive Friday Night Live with Harry Enfield for a one-off special episode](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/07/ben-elton-to-revive-friday-night-live-with-harry-enfield-in-special-17524547/?ico=more_text_links) The comedian, 63, will be bringing back the beloved stand-up and entertainment show as part of the celebrations for Channel 4’s 40th anniversary. [Friday Night Live for a one-off special](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/07/ben-elton-to-revive-friday-night-live-with-harry-enfield-in-special-17524547/) tonight on Channel 4, featuring a special guest appearance from Harry Enfield.

Friday Night Live is back for a one-off special to celebrate Channel 4's 40th anniversary and will feature the original comedians from the 80s series.

Grace also likes to explore new places with her friends and family and, of course, watch and read about the latest films and TV series. Grace is a digital writer with WhatToWatch.com, where she writes series guides for must-watch shows and the latest TV news. But that doesn’t mean I’m unaware of the possibility of failure. Who is the Friday Night Live host? Friday Night Live is back for a one-off special to celebrate Channel 4's 40th anniversary and will feature the original comedians from the 1980s series. Friday Night Live is Channel 4's one-off comedy special of the iconic stand-up and entertainment show Saturday Live, which originally aired in 1985.

The comedian and author opened the one-off special to celebrate 40 years of Channel 4 - 34 years after the programme last aired.

@Martin_BELFast echoed: "Channel 4 make this a Normal schedule fixture so funny and blast from the past." Others called for the show to be made a permanent fixture on Channel 4. @AF_SI20 wrote: "How good is it to have Ben Elton back on Channel 4 taking down the tories? Just the tonic we need." Kicking off the show, Ben began: "In these grim and difficult days there couldn’t be a better time to spread love and laughter. @SJT_67 said: "Liz Truss has been a triumph as Ben Elton’s warm up act #FridayNightLive #FNL."

Ben Elton: 'My stuff was so unfashionable as to be morally wrong'. Ben Elton's back. Ben Elton in the Big RT Interview ( ...

“I was used to going to the stage door and seeing people who were my age, but suddenly there are the 50- and 60-year-olds, but they’ve brought their children to the show,” he says. “I had my chance to make an influence,” he says. “I just got a lot of s**t,” he says. “No, but I’m talking about what happened in the old days,” he says. “Comedy that admits that its purpose is to make you laugh went badly out of fashion, and I suffered terribly for that. “I think it’s a shame that there are no rules,” he says when I ask him what he thinks of modern sitcoms. There is now a new way of thinking, and you will be required to think it. “We were so lucky because we had all these very difficult strict rules – ‘you can’t swear, you can’t talk about sex’ – and that meant we had to be very creative to find ways to do just that. “I only ever became a comedian to get my writing around and I always thought that the minute I become a successful playwright I would stop this [stand-up], because it’s horrible. After Blackadder, Richard Curtis went on to write Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and a string of other films, and I had always presumed that Elton and Curtis were both now far too rich, successful and busy to imagine ever working together again. We had a new mindset and wanted to find new ways to be funny.” That was ridiculed then, but time has vindicated them. It probably didn’t help that Elton, whose mother was an English teacher and father a professor of physics, adopted an exaggerated mockney accent on stage, which led some to accuse him of inauthenticity.

Tonight's show featured faces to the young and the old alike, as modern comics such as Rosie Jones shared the limelight with Julian Clary and Jo Brand. Fans ...

His talent for moving with the times as an observational comedian is second to none." There seemed to be something for everyone on the program, as some fans thought the new talent was 'garbage', while others loved seeing modern talent like Rosie and Leo Reich. One viewer said: "Quite the week to reappear!" To celebrate the 40th birthday of the TV channel, the popular comedy show from the 1980s was brought back for one night and one night only - but fans have taken to social media to ask for a permanent return. Fans loved the return of the comedy show, with some saying they wanted it back on their screens permanently. Originally airing as Saturday Live, before being moved to a Friday, the show between 1985 and 1988.

Jordan Gray proved she's quite the icon after ending her Friday Night Live performance completely, entirely, butt-naked.

[Friday Night Live: When did the Channel 4 show go off the air?](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/21/friday-night-live-when-did-the-channel-4-show-go-off-the-air-17610170/?ico=more_text_links) [Friday Night Live viewers praise Ben Elton for ‘speaking the truth’ as he kicks off special with savage dig at Liz Truss and Tory Party](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/21/friday-night-lives-ben-elton-kicks-off-with-savage-dig-at-liz-truss-17614416/?ico=more_text_links) [Friday Night Live ](https://metro.co.uk/2022/10/21/friday-night-lives-ben-elton-kicks-off-with-savage-dig-at-liz-truss-17614416/)performance completely, entirely, butt-naked. [has been open about undergoing her transition](https://metro.co.uk/2018/01/24/first-ever-transgender-contestant-voice-undergo-breast-enlargement-7258342/), which played a part in her song. [Liz Truss](https://metro.co.uk/tag/liz-truss/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P3_LNK1) following her resignation. [The Voice](https://metro.co.uk/tag/the-voice/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P2_LNK1) back in 2016, appeared on the Channel 4 celebration special, which also saw the likes of Rosie Jones and Mawaan Rizwan.

Friday Night Live was always cutting comedy with some close-to-the bone scenes, but old-school comedians Julian Clary and Ben Elton left the shock moment of ...

A fifth said: "Loving even more the folks getting annoyed about Jordan getting naked on #FridayNightLive . and "@Talldarkfriend you aced it tonight on #FridayNightLive you should be proud, that was a brilliant set you aced it, well done!" [What is Friday Night Live and who is Ben Elton?](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/what-friday-night-live-who-25324824) [Why isn't Gogglebox on tonight? A third said: "Wow. @Talldarkfriend #FridayNightLive" and another added: "Holy cow! #fridaynightlive #jordangray."

Friday Night Live returned to Channel 4 with an explosion as transgender comedian Jordan Gray blew away viewers with an incredibly powerful message.

So good to see someone like me just saying “f**k it!” on live TV! I’ve loved you since I first saw you at sparkle! Related:

Ben Elton kicked off the resuscitated Friday Night Live by bigging up his old adversary “Mrs Thatch”. “I miss her”, he said, wearing his signature glittere.

If you were young in the 1980s, Friday Night Live was the cool, anarchical party to be “at”, the comedy version of The Tube, a high-octane Elton sticking it to the government in his mullet hairdo. Ben Elton kicked off the resuscitated Friday Night Live by bigging up his old adversary “Mrs Thatch”. Ooh, “bit of politics”, as Elton used to say.

This revival was uneven but, at times, thrillingly urgent. Let's hope it's not simply a one-off exercise in nostalgia.

Or could it return full-time to rival the BBC’s Live At The Apollo? The rose-tinted glow of nostalgia means we often forget how hit and miss Friday Night Live was first time around. British-Pakistani talent Mawaan Rizwan was first to impress with his rap “Are you checking me out or are you just a racist?”. The original series kickstarted the careers of Harry Enfield, Jo Brand and Julian Clary. [Channel 4](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2022/04/10/channel-4-lost-way/) bigwigs must have already been punching the air and popping prosecco corks (well, there is a cost of living crisis on). A spirited defence of political correctness segued into a riff on cancel culture and social media mobs. The topical panel show bowed out with perhaps the least topical of its 200-plus episodes. On with the show. He bookended proceedings with a pair of his trademark rants. Channel 4 marked its 40th anniversary by blowing the dust off its Eighties entertainment favourite, with Elton squeezing into his sparkly suit to host. Cannily, he ticked off the hoary old catchphrases straight away: “little bit of politics there”, “yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen” and, of course, “Mrs Thatch”. Towards the end of her soaring song about being proudly transgender, Gray said: “The best thing about live TV is that I can do stupid stuff like this.”

'The best thing about live TV is I can do stupid stuff like this,' comic said before taking her clothes off.

“It would be easy to think that Gray’s work is light-hearted, crass and fun – because it is. [Ben Elton](/topic/ben-elton) was back at the helm, along with former Friday Night Live cast members Enfield, Brand and Julian Clary. [Terms of use,](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/user-policies-a6184151.html) [Cookie policy](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html) and [Privacy notice.](https://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html) [Privacy policy](https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en) and [Terms of service](https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en) apply. [a five-star review of Gray’s Fringe show](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/reviews/jordan-gray-review-edinburgh-fringe-b2148360.html), The Independent’s Isobel Lewis wrote that the moment of nudity was “as shocking as it is hilarious”. [Jordan Gray](/topic/jordan-gray) stripped naked on [Channel 4](/topic/channel-4) as part of the revived special episode of Friday Night Live.