Mitch Benn to record comedy album for Comic Relief

Mitch Benn has announced plans to write and record a comedy album within a 24 hour period in aid of Comic Relief.

Announcing the project on his website, the musical comic, best known for his work on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show, intends to work from 9am on 15th March – Comic Relief Day – to deliver an album of “at least 30-minutes” by 9am the next morning.

The album will then be made available via his online store, with all proceeds to Comic Relief.

The idea was inspired by a feature of his live show, in which he improvises a song during the interval taken from audience suggestions at the end of the first half.

The mechanics of how the public can submit ideas for this album – in a way that Benn could not see them in advance – are yet to be finalised.

He plans to work in an open space so that people can visit and watch him work. The location has yet to be confirmed, but is likely to be in the vicinity of Richmond/Kingston-upon-Thames. The project, however, is expected to be also broadcast via webcam.

In announcing the project, Benn, whose debut science fiction novel Terra will be published in July, said he was “making the biggest rod for my own back yet.”

Mitch Benn is currently touring his Reduced Circumstances show.