Don't get the publican started

10 April 2012

The London Comedy Festival went out smiling last night, with a three-hour epic fundraiser for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. More Laugh Aid than Live Aid, the marathon line-up required two comperes, producer John Moloney and Pim Fortuyn lookalike Tim Clark.

Jo Brand was advertised as the headliner, but she strolled onstage after 30 minutes. Motherhood seems to be more of a priority these days than top billing. A brisk set tackling the gender wars meant she could be home and indulging in baby talk and cake before dusk. Brand displayed the odd flash of pithy brilliance, despite being fleetingly wrong-footed by a scattershot heckler. She explained that she does not hate men, she thinks they are fantastic as a concept. Gandhi once said a similar thing about western civilisation.

A dazzling supporting cast also included predictably fun-sized turns from Jenny Eclair and Bill Bailey, but Men In Coats were the surprise package.

This silent snorkel- and parka-wearing duo specialises in inventive physical comedy. Their irrepressible absurdism and classic clowning defies boundaries and has tremendous cross-cultural appeal.

It was left to Al Murray to wind things up with his sublimely xenophobic monster the Pub Landlord, although more hecklers nearly rained on his tirades. Murray's alehouse gaffer ranted about the Germans, raged against the French and harangued Holland for the heinous crime of lacking hills.

Imagine Steven Berkoff as Alf Garnett. As virtuoso displays of ignorance go, the Pub Landlord takes some beating. Although the noisier knuckleheads in the audience ran him a close second.

Breakthrough To Comedy

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