The Secret Policeman's Balls - First Four Shows - Distinctive Elements

Distinctive Elements

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 have contributed to the reputation of the shows, particularly from the first wave (1976–1981):

• 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 (such as Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton and Sting).
• The shows became famous for presenting unusual permutations of performers. By way of example 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. 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.
• Much of the material performed in the heralded first four shows (1976–1981) came from the rich repertoire of sketches and skits created in the preceding 15 years by Beyond The Fringe and the subsequent work of its alumni, and by Monty Python and its many stage, radio and TV antecedents. In some cases, material that had been created for radio or TV shows was revived and 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 various Amnesty show 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/star), younger performers (Rowan Atkinson and Griff Rhys Jones), and Cleese's then wife, actress/writer Connie Booth.
• The out-of-the-ordinary pairings were not limited to the comedic 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.
• 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 were also the first to present the new wave of working-class comedians (sometimes described as "alternative comedians") such as Billy Connolly and Alexei Sayle to a wider audience. 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, and many of these were the newer, alternative comedians such as Ben Elton, French & Saunders, and Eddie Izzard.