Utterly Utterly Live Comic Relief
Louise Gold featured as Spitting Image’s portrayal of
Sarah Duchess Of York, WEA Records recording of Comic Relief, live at The
Shaftsbury Theatre, 4 5 and 6 April 1986.
Catalogue number: (LP) 240
932-1, (Cassette) 240 932-4
Cast
Afrodiziak, Rowan Atkinson, Chris
Barrie, Frank Bruno, Kate Bush, Billy Connelly, Angus
Deayton, Ben Elton, Dawn French, Stephen Fry, Bob
Geldof, Louise Gold, Howard Goodell, Lenny Henry, Howard
Jones, Nigel Planer, Raw Sex, Cliff Richard, Jennifer
Saunders, Midge Ure, Theophilius P Wilderbeast, and, The
Young Ones
The Young Ones - Rik Mayell, Adrian
Edmondson, Nigel Planer, and, Christopher Ryan
Raw Sex - Simon Brint
and Rowland Rivon
Cassette Extra Feature - Michael Palin
Production Team
Produced by
- Stuart Colman and Geoffrey Perkins
A Rockmasters
production
Writers - Lionel
Bart, Kate Bush, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Billy
Connolly, Richard Curtis, Adrian Edmondson, Ben Elton,
Dawn French, Bob Geldof, Howard Goodall, Rob Grant,
Lenny Henry, Ian Hislop, Howard Jones, Rik Mayall, Lise
Mayer, Doug Naylor, Nick Newman, Nigel Planer, Geoffrey
Perkins, Christopher Ryan, Jennifer Saunders, William
Shakespeare, and, Midge Ure
Track Listing
LP 240 932-1
Side 1
1. Spitting Image’s Royal Address
(Grant, Naylor, Hislop, Newman, and, Perkins) - Chris Barrie and Louise
Gold (as Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson)
2. Big Love
(Mckenzie, Fuller, and, Henry) - Lenny Henry present Theophilus P.
Wilderbeast
3. A Dangerous Place
(Connolly) - Billy Connolly
4. Breathing (Bush) -
Kate Bush
5. Romeo and Juliet and Harry (The
Frank Bruno Shakespeare Players) - Frank Bruno and Lenny
Henry
6. The Young Ones/Living Doll
(Elton, Mayell, Mayer, Curtis, Edmondson, Planer, Ryan, Bart) - Cliff
Richard and The Young Ones with Raw Sex, Howard
Goodall and Midge Ure
Side 2
1. A Bit Of A Downer
(Trad. arr Planer) - Nigel Planer (as Neil)
2. The Train Set
(Elton - Ben Elton
3. Life In One Day
(Jones) - Howard Jones and Afrodiziak
4. Merchant Banker
(Cleese, Chapman)- Stephen Fry, Bob Geldof, and, Midge Ure
5. Do Bears... (Curtis,
Goodall)- Rowan Atkinson and Kate Bush with Howard Goodall
6. Friendly Advice (French,
Saunders) - Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
7. Fatal Beatings (Curtis,
Elton) - Rowan Atkinson and Angus Deayton
8. Feed The World
(Geldof, Ure)- Bob Geldof and Midge Ure
Cassette 240 932-4
Side 1
1. Spitting Image’s Royal Address
(Grant, Naylor, Hislop, Newman, and, Perkins) - Chris Barrie and Louise
Gold (as Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson)
2. Big Love
(Mckenzie, Fuller, and, Henry) - Lenny Henry present Theophilus P. Wilderbeast
3. A Dangerous Place
(Connolly) - Billy Connolly
4. Breathing (Bush) -
Kate Bush
5. Romeo and Juliet and Harry (The
Frank Bruno Shakespeare Players) - Frank Bruno and Lenny
Henry
6. The Young Ones/Living Doll
(Elton, Mayell, Mayer, Curtis, Edmondson, Planer, Ryan, Bart) - Cliff
Richard and The Young Ones with Raw Sex, Howard
Goodall and Midge Ure
Side 2
1. A Bit Of A Downer
(Trad. arr Planer) - Nigel Planer (as Neil)
2. The Train Set
(Elton - Ben Elton
3. Life In One Day
(Jones) - Howard Jones and Afrodiziak
4. Merchant Banker
(Cleese, Chapman)- Stephen Fry, Bob Geldof, and, Midge Ure
5. Do Bears... (Curtis,
Goodall)- Rowan Atkinson and Kate Bush with Howard Goodall
6. Friendly Advice (French,
Saunders) - Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
7. Fatal Beatings (Curtis,
Elton) - Rowan Atkinson and Angus Deayton
8. Feed The World
(Geldof, Ure)- Bob Geldof and Midge Ure
9. Biggles Goes To See Bruce Springsteen
(Michael Palin) - Michael Palin
Note: There are some writers the webmaster has not
managed to identify, who are: Fuller, McKenzie, Trad?
Voice-artists Louise Gold and Chris Barrie,
and writers: Rob Grant, Ian Hislop, Doug Naylor, Nick
Newman and Geoffrey Perkins, represent Spitting
Image on this recording. They were also all involved in their respective
guises on the album Spit In Your Ear.
Louise Gold, Chris Barrie, Ian Hislop, and, Nick Newman
went on to speak about their work on Spitting Image on Spitting Image: Must See TV.
Adrian Edmondson has also worked on Spitting Image .
Ben Elton worked on the Spitting Image Pre-Pilot.
Richard Curtis has written on both, the Spitting Image Pilot and Spitting Image
itself.
WEA records also produced Spitting Image’s
first single, Da Do Run Ron , which also
features to voice-artistes Louise Gold and Chris Barrie, and the
work of writers Ian Hislop and Nick Newman
Louise Gold and Chris Barrie
also helped out, on occasion, with the politically-minded semi-professional Fall Out group’s shows.
Nigel Planer went on to appear in Man Of La Mancha, his recording credits include
The Greatest Musicals of
the 20th Century.
Michael Palin may have gone on to
appear in Comedy Tonight
Stephen Fry may have gone on to
appear in Will Aid.
Christopher Ryan had previously appeared
in Rachel And The Roarettes, and
went on to appear in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and, Alice In Wonderland.
Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis,
and, Howard Goodall were all worked one way or another on BlackAdder.
Rick Mayall went on to appear in A Kick Up The Archive.
John Cleese’s
film credits include The Great Muppet Caper.
Billy Connelly and Jennifer Saunders’s film credits include Muppet Treasure Island.
Adrian Edmonson’s television
credits include Rita Rudner.
John Cleese had previously
been a Guest Star on The Muppet
Show.
Review
by Emma Shane
This
is really a record for people who are keen on classic 1980’s alternative
comedy, ranging from French and Saunders to Lenny Henry,
with spoofs from Spitting Image’s Royal Family to The
Young Ones’s adaptation of Living Doll.
Spitting Image’s leading puppeteer Louise Gold’s contribution to the recording
is to voice Fergie, Duchess of York, looking for her hair slide in Prince
Andrew’s jockey shorts “Well that’s where it was last time”. As Prince
Andrew, Chris Barrie does most of the talking on their track, although Gold
gets in a few characteristic shrieks.
Cliff Richard
and The Young Ones did an adaptation of Living Doll,
which starts off with some jokes about John Craven. At first Cliff
Richard might appear out of place with all these Political-Satirical comedy
people, however, he is singing a hit song written by Lionel Bart who
actually got his start in showbusiness, in the early 1950’s, via the world of
political satire (the International Youth Centre, Unity
Theatre, and, Stratford East Theatre Workshop).
Of
the rest of the album: The Merchant Banker sketch is quite
amusing, but then it does appear to have originated with The Pythons.
Meanwhile Curtis and Elton’s Fatal Beatings is
rather amusing if you have a dark sense of humour and is read masterfully by Angus
Deayton and Rowen Atkinson. And I particularly liked French and
Saunders’s very funny sketch about two schoolgirls supposedly discussing “contraception”.
Links about Utterly
Utterly Live Comic Relief
Some of The Corpses Are Amusing http://corpses.comedynetuk.com/?u=http://www.corpses.comedynetuk.com/editnews/comicrelief.html page about the album and the video.
