Скачать или смотреть School Master - Rowan Atkinson - from The Secret Policeman's Ball

When this was filmed in June 1979, Rowan Atkinson was almost completely unknown outside Oxford University. Given that the other performers at The Secret Policeman's Ball were the likes of Peter Cook, Billy Connolly and members of Monty Python, it was remarkable in itself that he was included in such illustrious company. They must have recognised then what we know now. His ability to get laughs here from the audience before he has even spoken demonstrates amazing comic power. Then to get big laughs from reading out a register of unusual names proves it. A star was born that night.

His friendship with Richard Curtis, with whom he wrote the material for this - and on the brilliant LP Live In Belfast (on which Curtis was his straight man) - turned into the perfect partnership of performer and writer, which would prosper for many years to come: on Not The Nine O'Clock News, in the film The Tall Guy, as the vicar in Four Weddings and a Funeral - and best of all, of course, in four series of Blackadder (the final three co-written by Curtis and Ben Elton).

The vinyl LP of The Secret Policeman's Ball was a very important part of my comedy upbringing and my ambition to become involved in comedy - along with Monty Python At Drury Lane (which I knew - and still know, I expect, although I haven't tested it lately - off by heart) and the aforementioned LP Live In Belfast. It was a great era for comedy LPs.

To quote Wikipedia, "The Secret Policeman's Ball took place over four consecutive nights in London on 27–30 June 1979. It was a successor to the 1976 show A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick) (the film of which was titled Pleasure at Her Majesty's) and the 1977 show The Mermaid Frolics."

I will be uploading other sketches from The Secret Policeman's Ball, and then the show in its entirety.

Please subscribe to my channel    / @billbobmatthews  , which is home to many rarely seen comedy gems from the early to mid 1980s, when only early adopters had VCRs – as well as my own work as a writer and producer in TV and radio since that period. There are also riches from other decades too. The best way to navigate all the videos on the channel is via the Playlists...    / @billbobmatthews