Comedian Ted Hill hopes to wow Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell tonight - and champion neurodiversity at the same time. The 32-year-old was the golden buzzer choice of Ant and Dec after wowing the boys with a funny audition made up of comedy using a PowerPoint presentation and speaking about his real-life experiences with autism and ADHD.
Ted says he is taking their advice and pushing things even further for laughs and success this weekend. Ted said: “I’m really excited and I told Ant and Dec about a couple of different ideas that I had and what direction to go in. And their advice to me was to be weird, to really go for it.”
“I’ve decided that I just want to be as authentic to myself as possible, and if I don't get through because I was too much like myself, then I don't think I will have any regrets. I've decided to fully commit to the weirdness of my personality. And I've done something a little bit sciencey that involves my science knowledge to make a special gift for Simon Cowell. Because I got the golden buzzer from Ant and Dec I didn’t get any feedback from Simon in my audition so I’m hoping he will like this one.”
Ted, who lives in London, also works as a science presenter at the Royal Institution, performing science shows in schools. He said: “I'm like, the sort of cool scientist figure, which is something that I do alongside comedy, those are, like my two big passions. So even if I did win Britain's Got Talent, I wouldn't stop doing school stuff.”
Asked what it would mean to win Britain’s Got Talent, Ted hopes it would change his career but also inspire others. He said: “My dream is to sort of find a bigger audience, to find people out there that like comedy that's a bit different. Then to be able to go on tours where I can perform in bigger venues. I would love to perform PowerPoint comedy for the king.”
“Also I would love for neurodivergent people to see that, not necessarily that they can be a comedian, but I would just like them to see that the things that make them different can be good as well as bad. Because there are aspects of being neurodivergent that are difficult, but there are lots of ways in which we are better than other people and are more fun than other people. And I think an attitude of celebrating neurodivergence, rather than tolerating it, is something that I would love to help other people feel, because I'm very proud to be neurodivergent. I love it.”
