Ben Elton has announced his first UK and Ireland stand-up comedy tour in five years – about the stupidity of the human race.

The 54-date tour titled Authentic Stupidity will start at York Barbican on September 1 next year and will see him travel across the UK, including venues in Brighton, Bristol, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Cambridge.

The comedian, best known for co-writing Blackadder and The Young Ones, will perform his last show at the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End on November 18.

Ben Elton
Ben Elton to set off on a 54-date tour across the UK and Ireland (PA)

Elton, 64, said: “The verdict’s in! Humanity is thick! Homo halfwit. The idiot branch of the ape family!

“We need signs to tell us to step off escalators, we elect gibbering fools to lead us and now we’ve invented artificial intelligence which is actually going to replace us!

“I’ve spent 45 years in comedy exploring the outer limits of human idiocy and my mission has never been more timely. Forget AI! It’s AS we need to be worrying about.”

It comes after Elton described Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “mendacious, narcissistic sociopath” earlier this year.

Bafta Television Awards 2023
Ben Elton (centre) with the award for Comedy Entertainment Programme, Friday Night Live, at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)

Elton won a Bafta Award in 1990 for comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth, and again in 2023 for comedy entertainment programme following his one-off revival of Friday Night Live, which aired on Channel 4.

He also wrote the original script for We Will Rock You, which features Queen’s most recognisable songs, and starred as the Rebel Leader in its return to the London Coliseum this summer – two decades after its debut.

A special recording of his 2019 UK tour titled Ben Elton Live will be broadcast on Channel 4 on December 15 to coincide with tickets going on sale for his Authentic Stupidity tour at midday.