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Blimey! They'd better not wait another 15 years because judging by the smiles wreathed across the faces leaving the Royal Albert Hall, The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006 was a thigh-slapping, bodice-tearing, rip-roaring success! And you can't argue with a good bout of bodice-ripping, especially when it's for charity.
So, what made this year's Ball in the Hall so ruddy marvellous?
How about the cream of celebrity talent forgetting their lines and hamming it up mightily in the star-stuffed sketch Murder At The Vicarage, as Richard E Grant, ably assisted by Stephen Mangan, sifted the alibis of Jessica Stevenson, Jo Brand, Graham Norton, Julia Davis, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Seth Green.
Dylan Moran well, he was a teensy-bit drunk wasn't he? Wasn't he? Lucky there were some doctors in the house courtesy of Julian Rhind-Tutt, Stephen Mangan, Tamsin Grieg and the bonkers Michelle Gomez from Green Wing - and sweet lord we needed them. Whole tiers of girls collapsed in a hormonal tiz as first Russell Brand and then The Mighty Boosh exploded in a riot of sword fights, discussions of voodoo dolls in prisons, mirrorball catsuits and tragic Russian plays about baked goods.
It pretty much could've ended there and everybody would've been happy, but like a mighty dinosaur emerging from the depths of the ocean, there was much more to come!
YouTube phenomenon, David Armand, was joined by Natalie Imbruglia, to take the piss out of er, Natalie Imbruglia. We had music from The Zutons, The Magic Numbers and Martha Wainwright, who did a funny thing with her leg. Julia Davis and Jessica Stevenson managed to form a Country supergroup *and* have a hip-replacement from a dog.
Jimmy Fallon struggled to get past Shaun Williamson's doorman; newcomer and star of one of our viral videos, Andrew Maxwell literally got the entire Hall humming, (face it guys, we sounded filthy...), Ronni Acona and Jon Culshaw delivered the ultimate history of the charity event, Sarah Silverman dug up her dead grandmother, Omid Djalili presented a day in the life of a dictator, and like a fat child in a Dickens' novel, there was still more!
The French, poncy names and the world of marketing ("Just a secretary with a catalogue"), was taken to task by Al Murray aka The Pub Landlord, Jeremy Irons exhorted us all to fight the good fight, Shobna Gulati checked into Chevy Chase's Guantanamo Bay Holiday Camp - as written by the lovely users of 4Laughs, and finally, finally, Eddie Izzard brought the whole shebang to a close.
Fan-bloody-tastic, but maybe the real reason 2006's show was so marvellous was because, after 15 long years the ball had finally returned - cheers!
