Emma McAlpine attends the star-studded comedy bash laid on by Human Rights charity Reprieve.
Comedians are a fairly liberal bunch so it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise that Human Rights charity Reprieve managed to secure the cream of the circuit to perform for them for free on Monday. Director Clive Stafford Smith sets the tone of the evening as he walks on stage clutching a pair of oversize orange pants – a joke referring to his run-in with US authorities last year, who accused him of smuggling contraband underwear in to his clients at Guantánamo Bay. The aim of tonight – a celebration of the ten years of dedicated work Reprieve have done on death row and Guantánamo – is to ‘laugh in the face of adversity’. After all, what’s more infuriating to the school bully: you getting upset or smirking in his face?
Hosting the show is Alistair Barrie, who has a sharp line in deprecating humour and David Cameron snipes: “Hug a hoodie – have you ever taken the night bus you wanker?!” He makes a good point that we Brits are very good at patronising the Irish by doing rubbish impressions of them (“Diddly dee, Michael Flatley, go wan, go wan” etc) yet would never dare do the same to a Pakistani or a Chinaman, launching into equivalent impersonations which would have any self-respecting Guardian reader running for the hills.
Charming comic and songstress Isy Suttie deviates from the political subject matter by reading us an amusingly banal letter from her mother about council tax brochures and her father’s new found respect for a spider that won’t flush down the loo. She does some pretty amazing things with her voice too, imitating Amy Winehouse trapped down a well and the guttural growls of a death metal singer with amusing clarity.
After the musical whimsy of Suttie comes liberal defender Robin Ince, who declares he is in a good mood today and delighted with his media label as a member of the ‘liberal intelligentsia’. After all, it’s hard to get upset when your only criticism is having a high IQ and celebrating such deplorable ideals as freedom and equality. He paints a comical grumpy pastiche of himself, from getting propositioned outside a sex shop: “Does anything about my face suggest I’m looking for a good time?” to declaring that “the best thing about being over 40 is being able to walk down the street tutting loudly.”
Political satirist and cricket enthusiast Andy Zaltzman sticks to the theme of the night, even managing to make a quip about torture: “The only difference between water-boarding and a stag weekend is a sense of forced bonhomie.” Zaltzman may be rather more softly-spoken than his predecessor Ince, but he is no less passionate about human rights and democracy, telling us all with gusto about his ‘ecstasy’ at the polling stations around election time, where he got so excited he wrote X by every box in his own blood plus the names of the entire 1981 England cricket team.
Penultimate act of the night Stewart Lee performs a stand-out 20 minute routine from his 2009 show including a bit about people who move to the British colonies for a better standard of living. This final part has a lot of Lee’s trademark repetition in it and he almost turns into a caricature of himself, seeing how long he can make us laugh using such a rudimentary technique. Tonight, it has the effect of dividing the audience into hysterical cackles and furrowed brows.
Luckily Tim Minchin is last, as even with this stellar line-up, anyone else would have been an anti-climax. Barefooted and backcombed, with a die-hard number of female fans in the audience, the comedy rock star takes us through hit songs If I Didn't Have You, The Good Book, and Prejudice with awe-inducing musical talent and wit before ripping his shirt off (and moving a small fan under his feet) for the closer Canvas Bags.
It’s an impressive finish to one of the best comedy line-ups so far this year. While the subject matter is serious, the tone has been anything but. Stafford Smith should be content: the face of adversity has been well and truly hooted at.
See more London stand-up
See more big names
Return to the London Comedy homepage
Add an event
Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
Frieze have today announced details for the 2012 edition, their tenth art fair in London. Taking place...