Man City, England football team, Kanye West and now Blatter: Brodkin's delightful history of pranks

Remember Jason Bent? Former English football team striker? The blond-haired former No. 9 for Manchester City who got arrested by cops on the day he made his debut for them against Everton at Goodison Park in 2013? Does it ring a bell? No? [caption id=“attachment_2354552” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Simon Brodkin’s character Lee Nelson/Jason Bent crashes Blatter’s press conference. AFP[/caption] Try this, then. He was in Zurich on Monday for the all-important FIFA press conference where Sepp Blatter announced that he is definitely, for real, quitting his presidency of football’s governing body — but not until February 2016. Yes, Jason Bent was there and he even had a chance to meet the FIFA supremo. Of course, Blatter was not too pleased with the meeting. Indeed, why would he be, if a washed out former footballer walks in to the press conference and showers him with fake notes? Yes, that’s the guy. And no, he’s not actually a former footballer, and he didn’t actually make his debut for Manchester City at Goodison Park. In the world of comedian Simon Brodkin, nothing is serious.

Excited to be at FIFA meeting Sepp Blatter to secure the #NorthKorea2026 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/7UV6spP8wc

— Jason Has Moved Page (@Jason9Bent) July 20, 2015

Jason Bent is the comedy character played by stand-up comedian Brodkin in his own show Lee Mason’s Well Funny People which aired on BBC Three in 2013. Brodkin’s Jason Bent is an over-priced and arrogant Premiership footballer with a Liverpudlian (Scouse) accent. He thinks the world about himself, he celebrates own-goals if they are special and top-corner strikes, and he swears at referees with a barrage of expletives. When the referee doesn’t respond, he thinks he’s being disrepectful. As an extension of his character, Simon managed to dupe the guards as Jason Bent, dressed in his full Manchester City kit and spent a good four to five minutes on the pitch warming-up and training alongside a bemused group of City players, including the likes of Kolo Toure, David Silva and Edin Dzeko. Once the security guards caught on to it, he was dragged off the pitch, despite his cries of “My agent told me I have signed for city, lads!” Of course, without him realising, he had broken legal rules laid down by the English FA and had to be arrested before being bailed. The court case was later withdrawn, luckily for Brodkin/Bent.

Did he regret taking it too far? Well, not really. “Funny rules. If it gets a laugh, you’ve gotta do it,” he was quoted as saying by The Mirror. That’s not Jason’s only tryst with real-life footballers either. In June 2014, Jason Bent bought himself a fancy suit and joined the English national team squad as they were flying out of Luton to Miami, prior to the Brazil World Cup. Brodkin explained that to The Mirror: “That was Jason obviously reckoning himself as one of the top Premier League footballers, thinking, ‘I should be on that plane too’.” “I was standing there – they were just happily carrying on around me,” he says referring to England players Steven Gerrard, Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson. “I’m sure I could’ve got on that plane.” Simon Brodkin also has another character Lee Nelson who has some high-profile gate-crashings to his credit has well, the most famous being getting on stage with Kanye West during Glastonbury 2015. Living the high life, is Simon Brodkin a.k.a Jason Bent a.k.a Lee Nelson.