Pleasure At Her Majesty's
Encyclopedia
Pleasure At Her Majesty's was the name given to the filmed release of A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)
, the first of the Amnesty International
comedy benefit galas. The title is a play on the phrase at Her Majesty's pleasure
(the show was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre
, London
). In America
, the film was originally called Monty Python
Meets Beyond the Fringe
.
This show came to be considered part of the Secret Policeman's Ball
series of shows that it inspired, although it pre-dated the first show in the series by three years.
The event was organized by a team of three: Monty Python member John Cleese
, Amnesty's Assistant Director Peter Luff
and Transatlantic Records
executive Martin Lewis. It featured the cream of Britain's comedic talent of the era, setting a precedent that would inspire many subsequent Amnesty galas, as well as Comic Relief. The concept was also the inspiration of similar events, also in aid of Amnesty International in countries around the world as far away as Australia
, in the case of the Stand Up For Your Rights Comedy Galas.
The film consists of both on-stage and back-stage footage, taken from all three nights of the run (1 –3 April 1976).
Luff and Lewis collaborated on producing the successor show - video-taped in 1977 as The Mermaid Frolics. Then Cleese and Lewis teamed up (with Amnesty's new fundraising director Peter Walker) in 1979 to create The Secret Policeman's Ball
- the first show to carry what became the iconic Secret Policeman's Ball title.
The above item titles do not appear anywhere in the film but are the titles ascribed to the skits and songs on the cast album released by Transatlantic Records in 1976.
A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
A Poke In The Eye is the title of the first show in what became the iconic Secret Policeman's Ball series of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International...
, the first of the Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
comedy benefit galas. The title is a play on the phrase at Her Majesty's pleasure
At Her Majesty's pleasure
At Her Majesty's pleasure is a legal term of art derived from all legitimate authority for government stemming from the Crown. Originating from the United Kingdom, it is now used throughout the Commonwealth realms...
(the show was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
). In America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the film was originally called Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
Meets Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe
Beyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
.
This show came to be considered part of the Secret Policeman's Ball
The Secret Policeman's Balls
The Secret Policeman's Balls is the collective name informally used to describe the long-running series of benefit shows staged in England to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International...
series of shows that it inspired, although it pre-dated the first show in the series by three years.
The event was organized by a team of three: Monty Python member John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Amnesty's Assistant Director Peter Luff
Peter Luff (campaigner)
Peter John Roussel Luff, Chairman of the European Movement UK, and director of Action for a Global Climate Community; formerly Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society ; Director of The European Movement UK and Vice Chair, The International European Movement Funding and Marketing Director of...
and Transatlantic Records
Transatlantic Records
Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. It was established in 1961. It started began primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records - by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom. Within a couple of years, the company had...
executive Martin Lewis. It featured the cream of Britain's comedic talent of the era, setting a precedent that would inspire many subsequent Amnesty galas, as well as Comic Relief. The concept was also the inspiration of similar events, also in aid of Amnesty International in countries around the world as far away as Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in the case of the Stand Up For Your Rights Comedy Galas.
The film consists of both on-stage and back-stage footage, taken from all three nights of the run (1 –3 April 1976).
Luff and Lewis collaborated on producing the successor show - video-taped in 1977 as The Mermaid Frolics. Then Cleese and Lewis teamed up (with Amnesty's new fundraising director Peter Walker) in 1979 to create The Secret Policeman's Ball
The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)
The Secret Policeman's Ball took place over four consecutive nights in London in June 1979. It was a successor to the 1976 show A Poke In The Eye and the 1977 show The Mermaid Frolics.The show was directed by Monty Python alumnus John Cleese and producers Martin Lewis and Peter Walker...
- the first show to carry what became the iconic Secret Policeman's Ball title.
Sequence of skits in the film
- John Cleese, Michael PalinMichael PalinMichael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
- Pet shop (aka the Parrot Sketch) - Alan BennettAlan BennettAlan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
- T.E. Lawrence - Barry HumphriesBarry HumphriesJohn Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
as Dame Edna EverageDame Edna EverageDame Edna is a character created and played by Australian dadaist performer and comedian, Barry Humphries, famous for her lilac-coloured or "wisteria hue" hair and cat eye glasses or "face furniture," her favorite flower, the gladiola and her boisterous greeting: "Hello Possums!" As Dame Edna,...
- Spunk! - John FortuneJohn FortuneJohn Fortune is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John...
, Eleanor BronEleanor BronEleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress and author.-Early life and family:Bron was born in 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a Jewish family of Eastern European origin...
- Happy Darling - Peter CookPeter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
- Miner - Monty PythonMonty PythonMonty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
(Guest appearance, Peter Cook) - Courtroom Sketch - John Fortune, John BirdJohn Bird (actor)John Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
- You Say Potato - Neil InnesNeil InnesNeil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...
- Protest Song - John CleeseJohn CleeseJohn Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Jonathan LynnJonathan LynnJonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...
- The Last Supper - The GoodiesThe GoodiesThe Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
- Funky Gibbon - Alan Bennett - Telegram
- Desmond Jones - Hamlet (mime)
- Peter Cook, John Fortune - Asp
- Graham ChapmanGraham ChapmanGraham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
, Terry GilliamTerry GilliamTerrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, Terry JonesTerry JonesTerence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, Michael PalinMichael PalinMichael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, Carol ClevelandCarol ClevelandCarol Cleveland is a British actress/comedienne, most notable for her appearances as the only significant female performer on Monty Python's Flying Circus.-Early life:...
, Bill OddieBill OddieWilliam "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
, John Cleese - The Japes Lecture - Eleanor Bron - Appeal
- Beyond The FringeBeyond the FringeBeyond the Fringe was a British comedy stage revue written and performed by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller. It played in London's West End and then on New York's Broadway in the early 1960s, and is widely regarded as seminal to the rise of satire in 1960s Britain.-The...
(guest appearance, Terry Jones) - So That's The Way You Like It (Shakespeare Sketch) - Monty Python and the entire cast - The Lumberjack SongThe Lumberjack Song"The Lumberjack Song" is a song by the Monty Python comedy troupe. The song was written by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Fred Tomlinson.It first appeared on the ninth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, "The Ant: An Introduction" on BBC1 on 14 December 1969...
The above item titles do not appear anywhere in the film but are the titles ascribed to the skits and songs on the cast album released by Transatlantic Records in 1976.