Welcome to my website you smasher. Here are my particulars…
Ben Van der Velde is a comedian and host with a historian's brain. He finds the comedy in the past - from the catastrophic to the quietly absurd - and brings it into rooms, podcasts, festival stages and boardrooms with wit, warmth and genuine expertise.
Over the past decade he has spread joy and nonsense to all four corners of the British Isles, as well as Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Norway.
“Perfect: a master of audience interaction. The audience were hysterical.” Huffington Post
"A sharp and crafty gagsmith, with wittily obtuse takes on an impressively wide range of topics bringing flair and confidence to them all." Chortle
Ben is a regular act for respected British comedy clubs such as The Comedy Store, Komedia, The Glee, Headliners, Up the Creek, The Stand, Just the Tonic, Top Secret Comedy, Outside the Box and Comedy Club 4 Kids, as well as performing at Bestival, Festival No.6, End of the Road and Sunday Papers Live.
“Wonderfully improvised riffs showcasing his impressive spontaneity and sharp tongue.” Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
He also has experience of performing at RAF Bases, large corporate events, hosting comedy workshops and doing audience warm-up for Deal Or No Deal. His eclectic career has seen him perform everywhere from the FIFA Museum in Zurich (he didn’t accept any brown envelopes) to the main stage at Nudefest, the UK’s premier naturist festival (he kept his kit on…mostly.)
“On flights of fancy, he pushes ideas to extremes and displays a crackling, spontaneous energy in which we're swept up.”Fest