About
Ben Russell is a graduate of The Second City Chicago and iO (formerly Improv Olympic) theatres in Chicago. He started Melbourne’s premier improv show Something Good which features famous guests from Australian comedy, stage, TV and radio.
Prime time television appearances include Channel 10’s Thank God You’re Here and the Channel 7 sketch show We Interrupt This Broadcast.
He has made numerous TV appearances including Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun on Netflix, as well as their ABC series Coffee Cafe. He hosted Time to Die on Channel 10, Home Alone Together on ABC, True Story with Hamish and Andy on Nine and The Letdown on ABC and Netflix. He has also written for Australia Talks as well as been head writer on the cult comedy classic The Aaron Chen Tonight Show also on ABC. Ben was also co-creator and lead in the Screen Australia funded webseries Hug The Sun which was nominated for Best Comedy Webseries ACTAA in 2021 and winner of a WA Screen Actor award for Best Innovation in Online Webseries.
He was cast as the lead villain in the comedy action film The Emu Wars by Hot Dad Productions that premiered at Monster Fest in 2023.
A guest on popular podcasts Don’t You Know Who I am? with Josh Earl, The Little Dum Dum Club, The Mug Off, The Aunty Donna Podcast. Ben co-hosts his own regular sketch comedy podcast The Grub with Anne Edmonds and Greg Larsen.
Starting as a stage actor in Perth, Western Australia, Ben honed his acting craft performing at The Blue Room Theatre, Spare Parts Puppet Theatre Company and as a part of the Black Swan State Theatre Company’s emerging artist program. It is here he began working as a stand up comedian and improviser leading him to support Martin Short during his Australian tour leg. He later moved to Chicago to study improv and sketch comedy at various theatres including The Annoyance and The Playground.
His debut solo show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Tokyo Hotel was nominated for Best Independent Show and went on to tour nation wide plus being invited to perform at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Due to it’s success the show was turned into a radio play series for ABC radio.
Ben continues to work with long time collaborator, writer Maggie Looke and comedian Xavier Michelides, creating a succession of critically acclaimed, award nominated shows (No Show and Restaurant F*ckheads), which toured nationally. His 2023 show Ultimate Hollywood Tours won the Moosehead award and sold out with 2 shows a night back to back.
Ben and can be seen on various Aunty Donna sketches on Youtube, web panel show Gamey Gamey Game and sketches for Hot Dad Productions.
