Tony Bennell Entertainments

Information

Comedian

One of the first black comedians on the UK circuit, Ian’s humour is as fresh, original and contemporary today as it was when he first came on the scene. Able to tailor his performance to suit any audience or occasion, Ian is the professional’s professional.
Rising to prominence as a stand-up comedian in the eighties, Ian first appeared on Cilla Black’s Surprise Surprise before going on to perform on talent show, New Faces. The resulting success catapulted him into his very own theatre tour where he captivated audiences nationwide. Since then he has never looked back.
He has been a warm up artist for TV shows including Blankety Blank, Fast Friends with Les Dawson, sitcom Brush Strokes with Carl Howman, In Sickness and in Health with Warren Mitchell and Carla Lane’s Bread. Ian has also performed live on Pebble Mill and Kilroy.
He is now one of the UK’s most in-demand after dinner comedians, specialising in corporate hospitality and events, sporting functions, new product launches, awards ceremonies and charity fundraisers. Ian’s comedy has taken him all over the world and seen him work with sporting legends including, Seve Ballesteros, Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Henry Cooper, Frank Bruno MBE, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt.

After Dinner Speaker

A raconteur who can call upon 29 years’ worth of experience in the entertainment business, Ian specialises in corporate hospitality and events, sporting functions, new product launches, awards ceremonies and charity fundraisers.
Ian is one of the most popular and sought after entertainers on the after dinner speaking circuit with blue chip clients including: Nat West Bank, Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Abbey National, Barclays, Mercedes Benz, Ford UK, Vodafone, Carphone Warehouse, Sony (UK), The Belfry, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Hilton Hotels Group, Wentworth, Woburn, St Mellion, British Airways, Aon, Hitachi, Lloyds TSB and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Whatever the brief, Ian prides himself on working closely with organisers to make sure he gets the measure of the room before a performance. In doing this he is able to get the audience relaxed and on board immediately, knowing instinctively that nothing is more important than a happy and receptive room.

Recently Ian has achieved the following:

He entertained a full house of over 300 boxing enthusiasts at the British Boxing Writers dinner held at the Savoy Hotel in London. Another prominent speaker at the event was the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Among the major boxing personalities was Double Olympic gold medallist Nicola Adams, Rio Olympic Silver medallist, Joe Joyce and bronze medallist Joshua Buatsi, among the other world Champions in the room were Carl Froch, Barry Mcguigan, Amir Khan, John Conteh, Lloyd Honeyghan to name but a few.
The last few months haves been very varied in terms of work and venues seeing Ian entertaining on a cruise ship around the Mediterranean with over 2800 onboard, On the Charity front Ian performed After Dinner comedy at the BT Tower in London for the British Asian Trust in aid of the Give a Girl a chance Charity, In Wales he entertained for Bobath Childrens Thearapy Centre, and was chosen to host the Women’s international challenge Professional Golf Association pre-tournament dinner, the Help for Heroes Golf Day and Dinner in London and another charity golf day at Galgorm Castle, Belfast in aid of the Lords’ Taverners.

Here's a sample of Ian's act:
IAN IRVING - Youtube

Carry on scrolling down for some recent testimonials:

Dear Ian

Thank you for your support last Friday.
You did a great job holding the room during the auction, your efforts were very much appreciated by the committee and hopefully we can book you for next year.

Richard Baker
Chairman East Sussex LT
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Hi Ian,

I just wanted to thank you for your brilliant performance on Friday! You were wholly professional, funny and appropriate, and conducted the auction superbly well.

I appreciate very much how you worked with us with the logistics of fitting Vasili in around the running order, which wasn't easy! Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

We would very much like to sign you up for next year. Would you let me know if you are available

With my very best wishes

Novello Noades
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Ian,
Thank you so much for joining us last week - it is clear that everyone enjoyed the lunch, but your performance was definitely the highlight, and will make the occasion stand out in people's memories!

The delay in getting back to you at least allows me to add a couple of comments from my inbox in the last few days ...."Ian Irving was superb as the after lunch speaker/comedian!" ...... "good choice of comedian" ..... "The speaker was really excellent - very funny indeed!
So on behalf of all the OIPs, many thanks for such an entertaining lunch; and I'd like to add a personal thank you, I was very anxious that my first lunch should be a success and on that front you did us proud!

Ian Mashiter
Chairman OIPs
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Hello Ian

First and foremost thank you so much again for being our superb auctioneer on Monday and helping to make so much money for our charities. You were brilliant!
I always enjoy listening to you – you make me laugh so much! What a great day it was for everyone and I feel pleased that it went so well after all the last minute hitches that we had.

Jane Rogers
Administrator
Aircraft Golfing Society

Ian has been fortunate to help raise record funds in a variety of roles including Auctioneering, Hosting, Compere, and providing his comedy routine for several charities and also had the pleasure to entertain at many wide and varied events,
Hopefully you can help Ian add to the list below?

>St Georges Day Lunch
> Potters Holiday Venue
> Varied Sportsman's Lunches
>Army Generals Annual Dinner
>Lords Taverners Charity Dinner
>Wooden Spoon Charity Golf Day
>Isle of Man Bankers Annual Dinner
>Wentworth Golf Club Captains Dinner
>Presidents Sporting Club Charity Dinner
>Road Haulage Assocation Annual Dinner
>Children with special needs Charity Dinner
>Variety Club Charity Golf Dinner at Loch Lomond