1976 – A Poke in the Eye In early 1976, the British section of Amnesty International was seeking a way to simultaneously raise funds for itself and elevate the very low profile of human rights issues in British public discourse. It decided to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Amnesty parent organisation with a simple one-night benefit show with a few entertainers contributing services as was the norm with charity events in that era. There was no anticipation that the event might be filmed or recorded to be shared with an audience beyond the people attending the benefit, and no anticipation that it might be anything other than a one-off event. Amnesty's Assistant Director
Peter Luff approached
John Cleese of the
Monty Python comedy troupe to seek his participation. Cleese was taken with the idea and volunteered to assist the event by helping to "round up a few friends". Cleese's "few friends" turned out to be colleagues in Monty Python, pals in the earlier British comedic ensemble
Beyond The Fringe, his
Footlights and ''
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'' peers (including
The Goodies), and other members of the British comedy community from the 1960s and 1970s (primarily those described as "
Oxbridge" comedians). Luff, working with his Amnesty colleague David Simpson, obtained the use of
Her Majesty's Theatre, free of charge. The tickets for the show were advertised solely in the satirical magazine
Private Eye and were sold out within four days. The other member of the production team was
Martin Lewis, a young record industry executive who initially undertook to produce a record album of the show and then became closely involved with Cleese, Luff and Simpson on the show production – which evolved into a three-night run. TV documentary maker
Roger Graef, approached the team offering to make a "fly-on-the-wall"-style documentary about the production of the show and to film the show itself. The resulting film was titled ''Pleasure at Her Majesty's''. Lewis also undertook responsibility for publicising the show and its film and record spin-offs.
Show The show – titled by Cleese
A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick) – took place on 1–3 April 1976 as a series of late-night galas at
Her Majesty's Theatre in London's
West End theatre district. The show was directed by
Beyond The Fringe alumnus
Jonathan Miller. The shows started at 11.30 pm, after the performance of the theatre's regularly scheduled play. Being late-night events became a hallmark of subsequent shows. In addition to Lewis' audio recording team, Roger Graef, used a small 16 mm crew, to film rehearsals and performances. The footage was later assembled into the film ''
Pleasure at Her Majesty's, which premiered in November 1976 at the 20th annual London Film Festival, and was broadcast by the BBC in December 1976. Subsequently, the film received a modest theatrical release at art-house cinemas in 1977. A record album of the show, titled A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)'', was released in November 1976 by
Transatlantic Records and was a commercial success. The original working title for the show had been
An Evening Without David Frost – an allusion to the fact that most of the performers had worked with, or for,
David Frost early in their careers.
1977 – The Mermaid Frolics In May 1977 a second Amnesty benefit was held to build on the success of the first show and with the intent of developing momentum for a regularly scheduled benefit show. The returning production team included Amnesty Assistant Director Peter Luff and Martin Lewis. The show was directed by Monty Python member
Terry Jones. This show was unlike the first show and its primary successors in three key aspects. It was a single-night event rather than consisting of multiple performances, it started at 8:00 pm on a Sunday evening, and the show was videotaped as a TV special rather than filmed for theatrical release. The show took place at London's
Mermaid Theatre and was titled
An Evening Without Sir Bernard Miles, an affectionate reference to the actor/manager who had founded the Mermaid Theatre. The title grew out of the discarded working title of the previous year's show. The comedic performers in the 1977 show included several who had performed in the first show – such as
Peter Cook, Terry Jones, John Cleese – joined by his then wife
Connie Booth – and some newcomers including Sir
Peter Ustinov. There were also a handful of musical performers including classical guitarist
John Williams, actress/singer
Julie Covington and folk troubadour
Pete Atkin. The album of the show and the TV show were given a fresh title by producer Lewis:
The Mermaid Frolics. The album was released on
Polydor Records in December 1977 and the TV special was shown on the
ITV network that same month through
Granada TV. The title of the TV show and record album has since become the name by which the original stage show itself is referred to.
1979 – ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' Amnesty decided not to present a benefit show in 1978, in order to consider how to make better use of the performing talent so favourably disposed to assist it in raising funds. Peter Luff left Amnesty in 1978 and the organisation's new fund-raising officer, Peter Walker, was deputed to work with Lewis on reconfiguring the show to raise more money and greater awareness of Amnesty. Lewis and Walker determined that the third show needed to be produced in the same vein as the first show (i.e. multiple performances, late-night and filmed for theatrical release) but with a more professional approach to exploiting the film. They approached John Cleese who agreed to be involved again. He also agreed to direct the show, though requesting that his credit read "
slightly directed by John Cleese." He also recruited the majority of the comedic performers – including Peter Cook and fellow Pythons
Michael Palin and
Terry Jones. He also selected a newcomer on the British comedy scene named
Rowan Atkinson. Lewis recruited Scottish comedian
Billy Connolly with whom he had worked while employed at Transatlantic Records. Connolly was the first non-
Oxbridge comedian to perform at an Amnesty benefit – a distinction he made fun of at the show. Lewis proposed to Cleese that in addition to the comedy performances the show should feature some contemporary rock musicians. Cleese delegated this responsibility to Lewis who recruited
Who guitarist
Pete Townshend to perform, as well as
new wave singer-songwriter
Tom Robinson. Cleese and Palin promoted the forthcoming show in an interview conducted by
Michael Billington, transmitted on BBC television on 22 June 1979. Cleese and Palin explained their support for Amnesty and their reasons for doing the shows. The shows took place over four consecutive nights at
Her Majesty's Theatre in
London on 27–30 June 1979. The shows were again filmed by a rudimentary 16 mm documentary crew and the resulting 100-minute film – also titled ''
The Secret Policeman's Ball'' was released theatrically by
ITC in June 1980 heralded by a special preview attended by many of the show's participants. (A one-hour television special drawn from the performances aired on Britain's
ITV network by
London Weekend Television in December 1979, to coincide with the release of ''The Secret Policeman's Ball'' record album on
Island Records, produced by Lewis, of the comedy performances.) A second record was released to coincide with the release of the film, a 12-inch
EP containing eight musical performances from the show including three Townshend songs. Peter Cook's nine-minute parody of the summing up of
Mr Justice Cantley in the
Thorpe Trial, "Entirely A Matter for You," was so successful that the audio recording of the live performance was released as an album on Virgin Records entitled
Here Comes the Judge: Live. The film and record albums enjoyed critical and commercial success in the UK and sparked international interest. The film was released in several countries with notable success in Australia. For the first time there was also interest in the US with the EP of the musical performances being released as an album by
Atco/
Atlantic Records and the US movie rights being acquired by fledgling independent distributor
Miramax Films. The iconic ''Secret Policeman's'' cartoon character used to promote the show, film and record albums made its first appearance in 1979. It was created by
New Statesman cartoonist Colin Wheeler who had been commissioned by Peter Walker. This film, plus four others, is included on the ''Secret Policeman's Balls'' DVD.
1981 – ''The Secret Policeman's Other Ball'' Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/
Monty Python/
Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson's colleagues from the BBC TV show ''
Not the Nine O'Clock News'' including
Pamela Stephenson and
Griff Rhys Jones; comedian
Victoria Wood and regional comic
Jasper Carrott. Lewis secured a return appearance by Billy Connolly and a debut appearance by "alternative" comedian
Alexei Sayle whom Lewis had recently discovered and was managing. Building on the success of Pete Townshend's 1979 appearance Lewis recruited other rock musicians to perform at the 1981 show including
Sting,
Phil Collins,
Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck,
Donovan and
Bob Geldof. The show was presented at the
Theatre Royal Drury Lane on four consecutive nights on 9–12 September 1981. Cleese invited theatre director
Ron Eyre to co-direct the show with him. Walker secured funds to have the show filmed (at Lewis' suggestion) by new wave filmmaker
Julien Temple. For the first time an Amnesty show was filmed with a full 35 mm film crew. The resulting film was released in the UK by
UIP in March 1982. It became a commercial success on both its theatrical release and its subsequent home video release. The film was also released in theaters in the United States. Two record albums were also released by Springtime/
Island Records. One featured highlights of the comedy material, while the other featured the musical performances. In addition to the movies and albums,
Methuen published a large coffee-table book edited by Lewis and Walker, featuring transcripts of the sketches from the show, photographs and some specially written comedic notes by Michael Palin and Terry Jones.
Distinctive elements of early shows The reputation of the original four shows has endured and grown over the years. In September 2006, 30 years after the first show, a profile in the respected British newspaper
The Daily Telegraph referred to the "talismanic power of the words The Secret Policeman's Ball" and "the show's folkloric status". There are many factors that contributed to the reputation of the shows, particularly those of the 'first wave': • The galas were the first stage shows in the UK to feature a broad cross-section of the
baby boomer generation of contemporary comedic performers who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Media reviews at the time described the 1976 show as a gathering of the tribes. • They were the first stage shows in the UK to present comedic performers (such as
Monty Python and
Rowan Atkinson) in the same setting and shows as their contemporaries in rock music. • Solo live performances by rock musicians of their hits was not a familiar phenomenon prior to the ''Secret Policeman's'' shows. This changed with Townshend's performance of "
Pinball Wizard", Sting singing "
Message in a Bottle" and "
Roxanne",
Phil Collins performing "
In The Air Tonight". • The shows presented unusual permutations of performers, in the 1976 show,
Peter Cook of
Beyond The Fringe became an honorary member of
Monty Python for their
Courtroom Sketch.
Terry Jones of
Monty Python took the place of the absent
Dudley Moore in ''Beyond The Fringe's
Shakespeare skit
. In a later show, Rowan Atkinson was a guest performer with three members of Monty Python
for the Four Yorkshiremen sketch''. John Cleese had the opportunity to perform in "two-handers" (skits for just two performers) with two of his mentors:
Jonathan Miller in 1977 and Peter Cook in 1979. In 1981, it was Cleese's turn to fulfil the role of mentor in a two-hander with Rowan Atkinson. • The out-of-the-ordinary pairings extended to musical performers. In the 1979 show, producer
Martin Lewis arranged for rock guitarist
Pete Townshend to duet with classical guitar virtuoso
John Williams on
The Who's "
Won't Get Fooled Again". Lewis also arranged for new-wave rock performers
Sting and
Bob Geldof to perform in a specially assembled super-group (named "The Secret Police") with 1960s guitar icons
Eric Clapton and
Jeff Beck on a grand finale performance of
Bob Dylan's "
I Shall Be Released". • Much of the material performed in the much heralded first four shows (1976–1981) came from the repertoire of sketches and skits created in the preceding 15 years by
Beyond The Fringe alumni, and by
Monty Python and its radio and TV antecedents, this radio or TV material was presented on stage. For example: several skits from the cult 1960s TV show
At Last the 1948 Show were resuscitated by John Cleese (one of that show's creators) and performed by him with cast members, including fellow Pythons (
Michael Palin,
Terry Jones,
Graham Chapman) and other peers (
John Bird,
John Fortune and
Tim Brooke-Taylor (the last also an
At Last the 1948 Show writer and performer), along with younger performers (
Rowan Atkinson,
Griff Rhys Jones), and Cleese's then wife, actress/writer
Connie Booth. • The shows were also the first to present a new wave of comedians to a wider audience, such as
Billy Connolly and
Alexei Sayle. By the time of the second and third waves of ''Secret Policeman's'' shows (in 1987–1989 and 1991–2001, respectively),
"alternative comedians" had become the new mainstream, succeeding the
Oxbridge comedy school of the 1960s and 1970s. The later Amnesty shows followed the lead of the earlier shows in presenting the most popular comedy performers of the era, such as
Ben Elton,
French & Saunders, and
Eddie Izzard.
Aftermath Following the success of ''The Secret Policeman's Ball
shows, there was a substantial increase in the number of benefit shows and charity projects in the UK in the early to mid-1980s – for a wide variety of causes. Many of the shows were modelled on the format of the Secret Policeman's Ball'' shows. At a certain point the media started to refer to a phenomenon described as "benefit fatigue" a term coined to describe the attitude towards the glut of benefit shows – many featuring the same group of performers – that were taking place each year. By 1982, Amnesty had lost the services of two key staff members, Peter Luff and Peter Walker, who had guided the first 4 benefit shows. The British Section of Amnesty responded to these two factors by taking a break from staging new benefit shows for six years. When it restarted the ''Secret Policeman's'' series in 1987 it scaled back from producing theatrical movies of its shows to making them into TV and home video specials. == 1987–2001 shows ==