Amnesty finally found their feet with their third benefit show in '79. Much more tonally consistent and with some rivetingly atmospheric music dotted throughout the inaugural Ball has a palpably anarchic and politically charged atmosphere - with Tom Robinson's still shockingly acerbic Glad to Be Gay and the lengthy scathing parody of the Jeremy Thorpe verdict from Peter Cook (used to great affect in the recent dramatization of the affair). The comedy sketches are pretty much all great and the very brilliant and the presence of a very young Rowan Atkinson acts as a semi-intentional baton-passing into the next decade of comedy. The only off point really seems to be the omission of the only-non-Oxbridge comedian, Billy Connolly, from the footage. Where's that gone?
Review of The Secret Policeman's Ball
