Abstract
This chapter provides a performer’s view of political benefit gigs in the 1980s alternative comedy scene. Brian Mulligan, who was half of left-wing musical comedy duo Skint Video, recalls his experiences of performing for a range of causes including striking coal miners, trade unions, Nicaragua solidarity, War on Want and Live Aid at the Hackney Empire. He draws the distinction between big, prestigious benefits and smaller ones in community venues—conveying how poorly organised some of these were—and also differentiates between simple and more complex causes. All of this is illustrated by images from Mulligan’s personal archive and explained via humorous and evocative anecdotes, paying particular attention to a show in aid of the Free the Birmingham Six campaign in April 1990.
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Notes
- 1.
The Barron Knights were a cabaret act who achieved chart success with parodies of the then-popular songs. My favourite being a rewriting of Leo Sayer’s ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing’ into ‘I got these brand new pants on’ (mimicking the original high vocal style while suggesting its cause).
- 2.
This hostage to no huge fortune sometimes led to a huge row on the night.
- 3.
To paraphrase Brando in The Wild One.
- 4.
A TV show made by Granada Television broadcast from 1974 to 1977, showcasing working men’s club entertainers performing in a fictional working men’s club.
- 5.
Mike Elliott was a comic who circuit (like Jasper Carrott/Mike Harding) mainly played in folk/working men’s clubs rather than the altcom. He later found international fame as the boxing coach in the film version of Billy Elliott, and before his sadly premature death he hosted a talk show on Metro Radio in his native North-East.
- 6.
The Trade Union Movement pre-2000 was a patchwork of both large and small organisations, including the National Union of Tailors and Garment workers. Subsequent mergers created the current mega unions (seamlessly in the Tailors case instance, one hopes?). The unions’ week-long conferences (along with the Labour Party’s) booked a wide range of entertainment for their daily socials, presenting an opportunity to play to huge audiences in historic venues such as Blackpool Winter Gardens (capacity: 2000 plus), and the cavernous Brighton Centre (capacity: 1000 plus).
- 7.
National and Local Government Officers’ Association.
- 8.
Fire Brigades Union.
- 9.
National Union of Public Employees.
- 10.
‘Godzilla vs. the Tetley Bittermen’ was a comic poem by the ranting poet Seething Wells (AKA Stephen Wells), imagining the giant lizard monster trying to pick a fight with a pub full of working-class northern men.
- 11.
An exceptional graphic artist and promoter, Addison Cresswell started Off The Kerb Productions in 1981, representing stand-up poet John Hegley. Alongside Joe Norris, he grew the business into the dominant force in UK comedy. He died in 2013 but was the architect behind the dominance.
- 12.
George Galloway—general secretary of the London-based charity War on Want from 1983 until his election as Labour MP in 1987. He has had several high-profile media appearances, from an impassioned defence of his character to a Senate Committee in 2005 to pretending to be a cat on a reality show Celebrity Big Brother. He broadcasts on Russia Today.
- 13.
Long Kesh prison used to house paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland, and was sometimes called The Maze/H Blocks. Different groupings were allocated separate blocks.
- 14.
Footage of a news report on the Pit Dragon event shows a few seconds of Skint Video’s performance. This can be found towards the end of the following YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkW40B5MUfM.
- 15.
One of the earliest comedy venues was the Monday night show at the Earth Exchange, a vegetarian restaurant on Archway Road in North London. Chat’s Palace is an arts centre in East London which ran cabaret nights in the 1980s.
- 16.
The Kincora Boys’ Home affair in Northern Ireland was a huge scandal involving Unionist MPs, Mayors and Councillors revolving around the cover-up of historic sex abuse.
- 17.
Rock Against Racism.
References
Connor, John, 1987, ‘The Final Taboo’, City Limits: 279.
Skint Video, 1983, Cops On 45 [7” single], UK: Off The Kerb.
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Mulligan, B. (2022). Trends with Benefits. In: Double, O., Lockyer, S. (eds) Alternative Comedy Now and Then. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97351-3_6
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