Ben Hurley is a stand up comedian from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Hurley started his comedy career in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

as resident host of The Wellington Comedy Club. After winning the

Billy T Award The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognizing up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T ...

he moved to London and worked on the comedy circuit there between 2005 and 2008. He has supported the likes of

Andy Parsons Andrew John Parsons (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian and writer. He regularly appeared on ''Mock the Week'' from Series 3 to Series 14. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he has written and presented nine series of ''Parsons and Na ...

Stewart Lee Stewart Graham Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English comedian, screenwriter, and television director. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, deadpan delivery, and consistent breaking of the fourth wall. Lee b ...

and Ed Byrne on their UK Tours. He is a popular act in his home country of New Zealand where he has performed as part of the

New Zealand International Comedy Festival {{Short description, Annual comedy festival in New Zealand The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is held simultaneously over three weeks during April/May in Auckland and Wellington. From its beginnings as a 2-day event, the Festival has n ...

10 years in a row. His comedy is largely based on his experiences growing up in the rural

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

region of New Zealand but also deals with topics like relationships, religion, music, politics and his family. He is constantly touring having played all over the UK, Ireland, parts of Asia and Australia and, of course, extensively in New Zealand. Ben's TV credits in New Zealand are numerous, including work on a TV3 panel show called ''

7 Days Seven Days or 7 Days may refer to: * Week, an amount of time Film * ''7 Days'' (2010 film) (''Les 7 jours du talion''), Canadian thriller film * ''7 Days'' (2021 film), American romantic comedy film * ''Seven Days'' (1925 film), American silent ...

'' as a writer and core cast member. He has also featured in 8 NZ Comedy Festival Galas, in the AotearoHA series ''Funny Roots'' and his own stand-up comedy special called ''After Hours''. In 2021 he appeared on the panel show ''

Patriot Brains ''Patriot Brains'' is a New Zealand comedy panel game show, airing on TVNZ 2 in New Zealand and SBS Viceland in Australia since April 2021. The show, hosted by English comedian Bill Bailey in series 1 and Sue Perkins in series 2, focuses on ...

''.

NZ Comedy Festival Shows

*2002 "Comedion" (with Steve Wrigley and mrs.peacock) *2003 "Bigger than Ben Hurley" *2004 "Political and Stuff" *2005 "Comedy Convoy" (with

Rhys Darby Rhys Montague Darby (born 21 March 1974) is a New Zealand actor and comedian, known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects of things such as machinery and animals. He was nominated for ...

, Michèle A’Court and Carl Barron) *2006 "Here I go again on my own" *2007 "The Big Show"(with Mickey D and

Alun Cochrane Alun Cochrane (born 8 February 1975) is a Scottish comedian. He was born in Glasgow and raised in Mirfield, West Yorkshire. Career Stand-up comedy In 2004 Cochrane's first Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, ''My Favourite Words in My Best ...

) *2008 "Boom!" *2009 "Actually, I do Mind" *2010 "Ultra mega alright" *2011 "Do the Evolution" *2012 "Live and Unleashed" (with Steve Wrigley) *2013 "More Live and More unleashed" (with Steve Wrigley) *2014 "The Reckoning" *2015 "Ben defend New Zealand" (with guests) *2016 "Earth, Planet, World" *2017 "22 Rants About F**k"

Awards

*2002 TV2's Pulp Comedy Best New Face *2004

Winner *2004 NZ Comedy Guild Best Male Comedian *2008 Fred Dagg Award Winner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurley, Ben New Zealand comedians New Zealand male comedians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Taranaki