The Benny Award is bestowed on a New Zealand variety entertainer. It is presented annually by the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, a non-for-profit organisation and showbusiness club, founded in 1966 and awarded to a variety performer who has achieved "A lifetime of excellence in their field of the performing arts".

Sir Howard Leslie Morrison was a New Zealand entertainer. From 1964 until his death in 2009, he was one of New Zealand's leading television and concert performers.