Last Monday night was great I had a gig in my hometown of Melbourne.  So often I am flying all over the country for shows it’s nice when it’s just a drive away.  At the Hilton in Melbourne I was there to do a comedy routine for Betta Home Living.  They were having a conference and to kick things off I did a half hour comedy spot. I did mention they were one of the Betta gigs I have had.

To be honest they were a fantastic crowd and they loved Tim Tam as well.  I asked the audience has anyone ever seen Tim Tam from Vietnam and one guy yelled out, “He works for us”.

It was a great gig and being a cocktail environment at least assured that I was going to get a standing ovation no matter what.

Then on the Friday I was privileged to be a part of a Fundraiser for a Preschool in Burma. This was held at Waverley Christian College where my kids attend.  They have such a fantastic theatre in there, the PAC.

Again another close gig to travel to and a really fun crowd, they loved it.  I love it too when there are kids in the audience who can get in to all the kids voices I do like Manny, Sid the Sloth, Homer, Shrek, Donkey, Gru, etc.  I think the adults enjoy it too.

Photos to come soon

One of the things I say on stage is, “If I offend some people it’s not my intention, because I want to offend everybody equally… I don’t want to leave anyone out.”

Well I had a gig for Comminsure part of Commonwealth Bank whom I’ve worked for many times before.  I was told to make sure I didn’t offend anyone or upset any races etc.  I thought they maybe wanted me to do a 3 minute routine.  But that was cool, I do love to send up many nationalities including my own and all in a fun way.

So during Sydney daytime in a hotel function room at Olympic Park I had a fantastic crowd.  For about half an hour we could have been downtown New York in a Comedy Club on a Saturday night.  I had a great time at the gig. As cheesy a line as I know this is I loved using it by saying, “I wasn’t sure if I was at the right event and I saw this guy and he said ‘Come in sure’ (Comminsure). They took a couple seconds to get it but they loved it.

After chatting to Arnie on the big screen, he came out and mingled with the guests for about 45 minutes.  Well he said he’ll be back.  It’s fun speaking in the 3rd person.  Easy when you have 100+ personalities.  So overall a terrific gig and great when it’s a day one and you can fly back home in the same day.

A few days later came a dream gig.  Well a gig in Dreamworld anyway. I MC’d a Gala Dinner for Plumbing Plus.  Imagine the jokes I could do about plumbers, I know a few cracks 😉

It was great to escape a cold Melbourne winter day and go to the Gold Coast even if it was just 1 day and to top it off I was staying at the Sea Temple in Surfers Paradise.  An amazing place!

Before the gig at Dreamworld I got to hang out backstage where all the costumes are for all the Dreamworks characters such as Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, King Julien, Alex the Lion etc.  Many of the impressions that I do. I couldn’t resist putting the Kung Fu Panda head on me while I was waiting backstage which made a fun photo for the kids and maybe a tad scary also.

The first part of the gig was roving around Dreamworld as Borat…as you do.  This involved getting photos with the crowd and mingling in character and yes even riding on the Dodgem Cars.  At this point I thought I have the best job in the world.

Then I MC’d the rest of the night as myself and about 50 characters and even had a chat to Arnie on the big screen.  It was another great gig.  Apparently the audience had all had a huge night the night before as often happens with some audiences when they are on a conference and so they were a bit of a tired audience.  But still they were fun and it was a great experience to do a gig in Dreamworld!  Made me think how I’d love to do a show there at some point just for kids and doing all the characters from Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, Madagascar and more.

About a year ago I was in Wagga Wagga MC’ing a night for the HIA Awards.  That was a great evening and awesome crowd. I met a lady there Kim Ellings who came and told me about a charity she’d started a couple years ago called ‘Creating Hope in Cambodia.’ 

They are dedicated to improving the life of families in the most poverty stricken areas of Cambodia by providing housing, safe water, education & sponsorship.  She does an incredible job.

Last Saturday, Aug 17th I went to Wagga Wagga again (NSW) and I was thrilled to be able to help such a great cause by MC’ing their Black Tie Ball for Creating Hope in Cambodia and work with Kim who not only put together a fantastic event, but you could see that she put her heart and soul into it all.

I flew there with Rex Airlines who very kindly sponsored my flight.

Whilst being there I met Pastor Sara San from Cambodia. He is such a humble man and just a genuine awesome guy.  Not many eyes were dry when he was telling his heart-breaking story of growing up in Cambodia.  But I was wrapped to see from chatting with him that he had hope in God and could see the evidence of Romans 8.28  ^‘And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.’

With Pastor Sara San and Oum Meng

The event was a great night held at the Wagga Wagga RSL. They had 350 people there, it felt like the whole town. They were a very loud crowd but a fun one to perform to and not only was it a great gig for me but more importantly they raised 75K! Wow! Imagine what they’ll do when they get into some of the big cities

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All the great photos by Sarah Mifsud www.smpd.com.au

They want me back next year again.  So hopefully they can raise over 100K and see more lives saved.

It’s always a bit exhausting travelling around the country to do shows, but I love doing what I do and when you work with great people it makes it all worthwhile. Plus it’s always so good to come home and see my wife and kids.

Since doing my live DVD things have slowed down only a little bit. I had a really nice break for a couple days with my wife and went away to the Mornington Peninsula. Then it’s been non stop with corporate gigs.

I have done a couple Borat appearances and Arnie appearances at gigs as well as MC events and some live comedy spots and some voice-overs.

Last Tuesday when the Virgin Australia system went down I missed out on doing a big gig at Homebush in Sydney for a corporate event. But the good news is that they will be getting me back for a later date. Then I had 2 corporate gigs in Melbourne’s Northern suburbs. One at the Manor on High and the Darebin Arts Centre. The one at the Manor was great. I was Borat and MC’d part of the night and performing on the same night was the Nelson Twins (AGT), Pommy Johnson, Tim Smith and Sam Kekovich who I also imitated. It was a full on night but 2 awesome gigs.

Then the next night I flew to Coffs Harbour. Awesome weather! Felt like a perfect Spring Day. Up there I MC’d the Park Beach Plaza Retail Awards for about 300 people. Fantastic crowd! Was Arnie to start off the night telling a story that involved every retailers name and then I was into my comedy as me for the rest of the evening and they were a fun crowd. Such a diverse crowd they were also having everyone from teenagers to the almost retiring age. A full on weekend of gigs. But glad that I had no flight delays and pleased a lot of people!

Well what a show! Thank you to everyone who came and saw me at the Drum Theatre in Melbourne @ the Drum Theatre in Dandenong on Saturday July 27th. It’s one of the nicest suburban theatres I’ve ever worked in and the crew were fantastic also the crew who I used to film the live DVD. It was a huge buzz to walk out on stage and have over 500 people laughing and cheering. You’ve really made the DVD sound and no doubt when it’s all done look good. I was wrapped to be able to perform the same show that I had done earlier in the year in the Comedy Festival. A lot of people always ask me when I will be doing a live show seeing as I do so many corporate gigs. This DVD will give people that opportunity to see one and also I hope to bring it soon to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth maybe. It’s a lot of work but if there’s a demand for it I’ll go. Be patient I will definitely let you know when that will be.

I really appreciate all those who came to support me, I’m overwhelmed. It was a lot of work that went in but I wanted to give people value by providing over 50 characters in a quality show, provide an MC to get people into the comedy mood. Col Cameron was fantastic! We should do more work together. And I really wanted and always will offer clean comedy that people can feel safe that they can bring the whole family to.

I said at the end but I really cannot do what I do without God. As Phillipians 4:13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I honestly have seen that. Nothing to do with my strength or effort, it’s the enormous help I had from God. I give all credit to him.

So thanks again and I hope to hear from you with your feedback. Tim Tam and Arnie were usual favourites but I really loved the response I had from DeNiro, Owen Wilson, Liam Neeson, Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Tom Cruise, John Cleese and I really love doing a Jason Statham. I know he’s not as well known, but such a fun voice to do as is Christopher Walken.

Make sure you order the DVD on here and lookout for yourself in the crowd. I estimate that it will be ready for Father’s Day. You can pre-order now. Plus buy the CD also called Celebrities’ Got Talent. 100% proceeds of that go to Zoe Foundation Australia. Check out the link. I hope to have another CD out by Christmas with a whole bunch of new voices amongst other projects that you’ll hear about. I have quite a massive hit list of characters to do. I still get excited as I did when I was a teenager learning a new voice. I can’t wait to bring many more characters, shows and more DVD’s, CD’s etc. Speak soon!

Hey everyone.  Well it’s been a non stop year.  It all began with a TV/radio campaign as Bear Grylls for the Caravan and Camping Show, a few TV appearances on The Today Show Channel 9, a short tour of New Zealand and then New York performing at Dangerfield’s Comedy Club.  The same comedy club where Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock and many others got their start on.  It was an amazing experience.

Ben at Dangerfield’s Comedy Club in New York City

In April I  had The Comedy Festival with 3 packed shows for my show Ben Price in Celebrities Got Talent.  Then more corporate shows all over Australia.  Plus one of the biggest shows of my life warming up for Arnold Schwarzenegger on his Australian tour.  I was dressed as the Terminator and on stage at Hordern Pavillion Sydney and The Plenary in Melbourne to packed stadiums respectively. The show was a huge success to thousands of Arnie fans and the great man himself loved it too.  I got to meet him as him a bit like Twins 2.  It was surreal and also incredible.

The past couple months have also been full on in preparation for my live show Ben Price in Celebrities Got Talent Live at the Drum Theatre in Dandenong.  It’s a wonderful theatre and so I am having it filmed for a new DVD.  This is going to be one fantastic show.  I can’t wait to get out there and if anyone can’t get there, the DVD will be out very soon.

Arrggh! My back!