We laughed, they laughed... even the polar bear laughed

Amy Golledge

22 November 2011

And....relax. OK I'm not quite so laid-back I'm horizontal, but I am slightly less frazzled than I was a week ago. Then we were just days away from our huge comedy fundraiser, Laugh or the Polar Bear Gets It.

I'm part of the project team behind the gig - so this blog post is of course totally biased. But I'm happy to report that the evening - last Friday - was a resounding success. The Friends of the Earth office is absolutely buzzing. Everyone is really chuffed with how well it went and how genuinely funny the whole evening was.

Scottish comedian Danny Bhoy stepped in to fill gaps left by the sadly absent Russell Howard, Lucy Porter and Rob Rouse. Despite him being an unexpected addition, the audience absolutely loved Danny... apparently. Sadly, I missed him and many of the acts, as I was caught up backstage. But I could hear the constant raucous laughter which was good enough feedback for me.

I did catch some of Greg Davies, Francesca Martinez and Dan Antopolski - all excellent. Dan was a real treat and let's just say I won't be able to look at a Maisy Mouse book the same again.

Tim Minchin, Josie Long, Richard Herring, Badly Drawn Boy and Jeremy Lion (Justin Edwards) completed the line-up beautifully. Anecdotal feedback from audience members was gushing. Marvellous to hear, let me tell you.

Like most big events we had our stumbling blocks - some acts had to pull out at the last minute, all with profuse apologies and genuine reasons. But ultimately the famous Hammersmith Apollo was packed and our strong line-up went down a storm.

We couldn't have done the event without the help of lots of people behind the scenes, the artists donating their time and talent and of course the audience. So I'd like to offer a big thanks to everyone who played a part in making this a real success for Friends of the Earth.

We got some great photos and exclusive interviews with some of the acts backstage - worth checking out for a flavour of the evening. If you're too impatient to click the link, here's our interview with Tim Minchin:

Just time for a quick celebratory drink...before we get cracking on the 2012 event. Bring it on.

Amy Golledge
Communications & Media Team

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