Bennett Arron
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Bennett Arron is a Welsh writer and stand-up comedian.


Background

Born in
Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...
to a Jewish family, Bennett Arron is an Award-Winning Writer, Comedian, Actor, Author and a BAFTA shortlisted Director and Presenter. He moved to London to attend the drama school, the
Academy of Live and Recorded Arts The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) was a British drama school. It had two sites: ALRA South on Wandsworth Common in south London and ALRA North in Wigan, Greater Manchester. It was founded in 1979 by director and actor Sorrel Carson w ...
. 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 The BBC New Comedy Award first took place in 1995, and it is considered to be one of the top UK comedy newcomer awards. It was axed in 2006, being replaced by a nationwide talent hunt that places its emphasis on sketch writing and filmed perform ...
'', alongside
Peter Kay Peter John Kay (born 2 July 1973) is an English actor, comedy writer and stand-up comedian. He has written, produced and acted in several television and film projects, and has written three books. Born and brought up in Bolton, Kay studied ...
. 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 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
which was based on his own experience of
identity fraud Identity fraud is the use by one person of another person's personal information, without authorization, to commit a crime or to deceive or defraud that other person or a third person. Most identity fraud is committed in the context of financial ad ...
. In the programme he proved how easy it is to carry out the crime by
dumpster diving Dumpster diving (also totting, skipping, skip diving or skip salvage) is salvaging from large commercial, residential, industrial and construction containers for unused items discarded by their owners but deemed useful to the picker. It is n ...
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 The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...
,
Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life T ...
and was subsequently arrested. Bennett wrote a memoir of his experience ''Heard the One About Identity Theft?'' Bennett also wrote the romantic comedy novel ''The Girl From The Discotheque'' 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 Hale and Pace were an English comedy double-act that performed in clubs and on radio and television in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo was made up of Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, with the ''Hale and Pace'' television sho ...
,
Freddie Starr Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell; 9 January 1943 – 9 May 2019) was an English stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Starr was the lead singer of Merseybeat rock and roll group the Midniters during the early 1960s, an ...
, ''
The Real McCoy "The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies. History The phr ...
'', Large, Stop the World, No Limit, ''The Varrell and Decker Show'', ''Samstag Nacht'', ''The April Hailer Show'', ''
The 11 O'Clock Show ''The 11 O'Clock Show'' is a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4 which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items. It ran between 30 September 1998 and 8 December 2000, most notably hosted by Iain Lee a ...
'', ''
Commercial Breakdown ''Commercial Breakdown'' is a light entertainment show that shows humorous television advertisements from around the world and ran from 29 December 1989 to 3 August 2008 and aired on BBC One. British adverts were initially not allowed because ...
'', '' RI:SE'', ''
V Graham Norton ''V Graham Norton'' is a British chat show broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom starring Graham Norton, broadcast every weeknight as a successor to the weekly ''So Graham Norton''. It aired from 6 May 2002 to 28 December 2003. It featur ...
'' and
Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series '' Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series '' Bad Education'' (2012–2014, 20 ...
's ''Hit the Road Jack''. Bennett currently plays the part of Morris in the
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
sitcom '' Alone''. which is now in its 4th series He has also written for situation comedies, including '' Ed Stone is Dead'' (starring
Richard Blackwood Richard Clifford Blackwood (born 15 May 1972) is a British actor, presenter and rapper. Between 2015 and 2018, he played Vincent Hubbard in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders''. In 2020, he began portraying the role of Felix Westwood in the Chan ...
) and '' Sam's Game'' (starring
Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show '' Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's ''Streetmate'' (199 ...
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 Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
.) 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 The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
, Germany, Poland and Australia. Bennett recently supported Ricky Gervais on some of his tour dates. Most recently Bennett was a presenter on
BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable. According t ...
and he presented the BBC Wales Radio Documentary ''Bennett Arron's Cymru Knish'' He has been described as "Genuinely Original and Funny" by
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
and "One of the best on the Circuit..... a Welsh Seinfeld" by
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
.


Publications

* *


References


External links

* http://www.bennettarron.co.uk/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Arron, Bennett 21st-century Welsh comedians Welsh stand-up comedians Welsh male comedians Jewish male comedians Jewish British comedians Welsh comedy writers Jewish comedy writers Welsh Jews Alumni of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts People from Port Talbot Living people Year of birth missing (living people)