New York City-based comedian Ben Miller books Benmiller shows
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
In 1861, an entrepreneurial young man named Ben Miller travelled to a picturesque nook of Huron County and proceeded to construct a woolen mill. The mill proved prosperous, Miller grew prominent, and, after a time, the village itself became known simply as Benmiller. Now, 163 years later, it is happening again. There is another entrepreneurial young man, also named Ben Miller, that is on his way to the village of Benmiller to ply his trade. But unlike the original Ben Miller, this new Ben Miller doesn’t weave raw wool into high-quality woolen blankets for retail sale - he weaves raw humour into high-quality comedy for audiences all over the world. The modern day Ben Miller has done his act in a veritable variety of venues, ranging from an active volcano to Dayton, Ohio, and, on April 25, he’s bringing his unique brand of science-oriented stand-up comedy to Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh for not one but two shows at the Benmiller Community Hall. It’s always an auspicious occasion when a case of same-naming brings a comedian to town, and so The Citizen conducted a quick Zoom interview with the New York City-based funnyman in order to immortalize this historic moment.
Miller has been doing stand-up full time for two years, and, like most comedians, he started out as a scientist. “I knew pretty early on that I wanted to do stand-up comedy,” he recalled. “I started somewhere after my sophomore year in college, gosh, almost nine years ago at this point.” At times, the urge to trade labs for laughs felt irresistible. “Even when I was very bad at comedy, I was like - ‘should I drop out of college?’ And the answer is no - I should not have dropped out of college. It was good to stay in for two more years, and get my degree, and then figure out how to actually tell jokes and such.”
There was a lot Miller loved about being a scientist. “I really enjoyed being in the lab, doing experiments - day-to-day stuff,” he disclosed.
You may not find him running tests in a white coat these days, but Miller’s comedy has a distinctive streak of science running through it. Whether he’s talking about milk, skeletons, or thermodynamics, audiences are almost guaranteed to learn something whilst being entertained. “I just happen to have an interest in knowledge of science, so that happens to be the thing that I gravitated towards,” he explained. “Everything is funny. If you spend the time to find something interesting or unique or quirky to write a joke about, I think you can tackle any subject, as long as it’s the right angle… There’s no barrier to entry for the science jokes that I do - I try to make them as accessible as possible.”
His most recent show concerns itself with the subject of volcanoes - a subject he became intimately familiar with in 2023, when he was chosen to be the artist in residence at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, the first comedian to receive the honour. Miller spent a month studying active volcanoes in the name of comedy. He met with park rangers, scientists, and local people, and wrote an entire show about the experience. “It was truly incredible and ridiculous that they would accept me,” he said. “Hawaii is a beautiful, incredible, spectacular place. Every night, I could go and look at this burning lava lake and you sort of feel this connection to this like raw, powerful, still-active earth.” For his debut appearance in Benmiller, Ben Miller has put together a special set of all his favourite science jokes from over the years.
Accompanying Miller on the Canadian leg of his tour is comedian Mark Henley, who will be opening the show in Benmiller. “We’re very opposite personalities,” Miller explained. “Science vs laid-back Jersey beachbum.” Pairing with an opposite but equal comedian is a move that makes perfect sense to Miller. “We had like a grilled cheese battle - I made a sandwich from scratch, with pesto, provolone, paprika…and then he put flaming hot Cheetos in his grilled cheese. It’s the yin and the yang.” Talk about science!
Unlike the original Ben Miller, who found his way to Benmiller using a compass and a hand-drawn map, comedian Ben Miller found Benmiller using the internet. “I kept getting suggestions for Benmiller weather,” Miller explained. “Eventually, one day, I was like, ‘okay, I’ll click on that’. And it was Benmiller, Ontario! I thought ‘this is ridiculous - I need to do a show here’.” He called Cathy Gibson at the Benmiller Community Hall and asked about booking a show there, and the rest is history.
Miller feels lucky to have his namesake town located in such an agriculturally-rich part of the world, and he’s excited for the chance to entertain the people that live here. “Agriculture is the backbone of our society,” he pointed out. “We would not have the time to exist, or evolve as a culture, without agriculture, and a certain amount of people putting the time in to make food so that other people have time to do other things… I don’t know how it is in Canada, but in America, the farmers definitely get screwed a lot by big corporations. So yeah, I have a deep respect for people that make our food, and make our society possible.”
He also thinks that maybe farmers and comedians aren’t really that different after all. “With a farmer, you’re planting a seed, you’re nurturing it, you’re letting it grow, and, eventually, you’re reaping the harvest. It’s the same thing with a joke - it starts with an idea, you’re writing, you’re growing, you’re watering it with some time on stage. Eventually, hopefully, it’s this great thing that people enjoy, and it nourishes them. So honestly, maybe comedy is more important than agriculture.”