Comedy in Liberty's Name (Secret Policeman's Ball)

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Comedy in liberty's name
A song about bin Laden and two sensitive Nazis top the bill at a packed Secret Policeman's Ball
David Smith
The Observer,
Sunday October 5 2008

An Osama bin Laden ditty sung in the style of George Formby and stars of TV's Gavin and Stacey pirouetting to the strains of 'Orinoco Flow' were just two of the turns last night at the event often called the 'Woodstock of live comedy' - the Secret Policeman's Ball.

More than 5,000 gathered at London's Royal Albert Hall for Amnesty International's occasional fund- and awareness-raising event. Thousands more were watching live at more than 50 cinemas across this country and in Australia and Canada, as Amnesty celebrated this year's 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The official programme quoted Mark Twain's line: 'Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.' The sixth Secret Policeman's Ball maintained the tradition of successfully combining serious messages about human rights with surreal, risqué and downright dirty humour.

The show opened with the disembodied voice of God, alias John Cleese, one of the most esteemed alumni of the ball, which began as West End benefit for Amnesty more than 30 years ago. It became the stuff of comedy legend thanks to the likes of Peter Cook, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly and Lenny Henry.

With such line-ups there has never been much chance of the show becoming po-faced, and the same was true last night as Frank Skinner, Ed Byrne, Alan Carr and rising stand-up star Sarah Millican drew from a bottomless well of sex jokes to applause and laughter. Skinner produced a ukelele and sang in George Formby style about Osama bin Laden. 'He had one big hit then he went away, like Macy Gray,' ran one lyric. Another wondered why the world's most wanted terrorist, who puts dire threats out on video tape, can't afford DVDs.

Perhaps the biggest cheer was reserved for James Corden and Mathew Horne, stars of comedy hit Gavin and Stacey. To the earnest strains of Enya's 'Orinoco Flow', they executed a dance routine that was part ballet, part Strictly Come Dancing, part elephant impersonation.

Another highlight was Iranian-born stand-up Shappi Khorsandi, who thought she had probably been invited by mistake ('I think they thought I was Shami Chakrabarti'). She returned later to urge the audience to send text messages in support of the Iranian Women's Campaign for Equality.

Comedy duo Mitchell and Webb reprised a TV sketch as angst-ridden members of the SS retreating from the Soviet advance. Mitchell muses: 'Our caps have got skulls on them. Are we the baddies?' Webb replies that a 'rat's arse' would be a worse symbol. But Mitchell concludes: 'I'm increasingly uncomfortable about our place in the narrative structure of this war.'

Germaine Greer gave a sober speech about torture: 'In 1948 the UN got most countries to sign the Declaration of Human Rights. Sixty years later Amnesty has documented the ongoing use of torture, or cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment, in 81 countries.' She was followed by Ball veteran Eddie Izzard, who mused: 'That was fucking heaven, now we're all feeling shit,' before going on to wrap up the show with some typically surreal flights of fancy.

The ball will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.

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I'll have this available as a download after broadcast tonight...

[faceless]

well I just watched it but only Eddie Izzard and Sean Lock stood out for me - I'll not bother uploading it...

[luke]

thats disappointing, its been good the bits i've caught from it in the past

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The Secret Policeman's Ball
Tom Horan doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at The Secret Policeman's Ball at Albert Hall
06/10/2008

By the time you read this you may have made up your own mind about this fund-raising variety show, the highlights of which were broadcast on Channel 4 last night. It has become something of a great British institution, not unlike Amnesty International, the charity that puts on the event and whose human rights agenda is sprinkled rather uncomfortably through three hours of gags and music.

In many ways, the Ball draws on the best qualities of the British character: a sense of humour and a sense of what is just. But what struck me this year was how seldom the two now come together. The anti-establishment edge that defined the inaugural events of the late Seventies has vanished. For the most part this was a night of cosy "isn't-it-funny-hows" and ribald gags. Of satirical, political or confrontational humour there was barely a trace.

I guess a society gets the comedians it deserves. To wit, in the first half, Frank Skinner, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross - all three as well known for their staggering contracts with the BBC as for the polish with which they reflect back at the British public its own fascination with smut, celebrity and the banal. In contrast, the Iranian Shappi Khorsandi, with her Lonely Planet Guide to Iran, offered something fresh and unusual. I smiled at the line when she asked us all to sign up to the Iranian Women's Campaign for Equality, but that turned out to be for real, with people dutifully texting their names to a petition.

The dilemma between the funny and the earnest only got trickier. Indie band Razorlight could be said to personify the thin line between heartfelt and laughable, although singer Johnny Borrell reined in his pompous tendencies to deliver two fine songs. The next act was introduced as Boris Johnson. But it was comedian Jon Culshaw, with an eerily lifelike impression of the mayor.

Mancunian stand-up Jason Munford was next, and he closed with one of the best yarns of the night, the true story of a footballer who dislocates his hip and finds that one of his testicles has dropped into the empty socket. As he left the stage to cheering the tannoy announced Dr Germaine Greer. I assumed this must be Culshaw back, this time in drag. But after a while it became clear it was Germaine herself, with a lecture about human rights. Yet she showed great dignity, and thoughts of the testicle eventually faded.

James Corden of Gavin and Stacey fame did some hilarious dancing to Enya's Orinoco Flow, but final act Eddie Izzard was the pick of the night. His unique performance style is all about pulling together the wildly incongruous and creating something rich and intelligent that leaves a warm feeling. This curious night needed just that, and Britain's finest comedian delivered it with his usual effortless panache.

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I'd say this review was pretty much how I saw it, though to say James Corden's dancing was hilarious makes me shudder like a dying swan... it was shite!

Luke, you can probably see it on C4 on Demand if you've not got a brick you'd rather crack against your head... haha