Comic Relief began its biennial TV tradition in 1988 and we at the Monkhouse were there to jump on the bandwagon and be part of charity fundraising history. At two quid a ticket I can't imagine what a help we were to the cause.
As our star act we brought back Lindsay Moran, who'd been a total hit in our October 87 show, and if memory serves he didn't disappoint this time. As for Graham Summers and Bodgers Mate, I think they may have been friends of local comedy legend Arnold Bolt.
If this is the same Bodger's Mate, then they survive to this day as a working Ceilidh Band. Graham Summers would appear to be in a folk band called Just The Dust. So our first, and indeed only, Comic Relief line-up was lighter on the comedy and heavier on the folk than later bills might be.
This is a good reminder of how recently the "alternative" comedy scene of the 1980s had grown out of the thriving Folk Club scene of the 60s and 70s which had given us such names as Jasper Carrott, Max Boyce and Billy Connolly, long before the notion of a Comedy Club as we knew it was even a twinkle in a jongleur's eye.
Also musicians were more prepared than comedians to play for free.
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