The Secret Policeman's Ball is a long-running series of comedy (and later music) benefit shows created to raise money and public awareness for Amnesty International and its human-rights work - wikipedia.org 
# Why is it about policemen The title is a joke with a sharp edge. One layer is the idea of the “secret policeman” as shorthand for Secret Police: the kind of state apparatus associated with intimidation, political repression, and torture — precisely the abuses Amnesty campaigns against. Another layer is an older, darker comic idiom: where a “policeman’s ball” is “donation” when bribing a police officer. It is the kind of phrase you’d say with a wink while slipping cash to make a problem go away. Both readings fit the show’s tone: comedy as mischief, pointed at power.
# Origins and first era (1976–1981) The project began in April 1976 in London as a late-night benefit run at Her Majesty’s Theatre, originally titled “A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)”. It was pulled together with major help from John Cleese and other leading British comedians, and it rapidly grew beyond a one-off into filmed and recorded spin-offs.
The name The Secret Policeman’s Ball was first used for the 1979 show, and John Cleese publicly credited producer Martin Lewis with coining the title. The early run (1976, 1977, 1979, 1981) is often treated as the “classic” era because it generated widely distributed films, albums, and TV specials that travelled far beyond the people in the room. A crucial innovation was mixing top-tier comedy with headline musicians. This wasn’t just “comedians doing a charity gig”; it became a cultural format that many later benefit events copied: elite entertainment + a cause + mass distribution.
# Later eras and revivals After the early peak, Amnesty benefit shows returned in later waves, with some events using the Ball name and others keeping the spirit without the title. A notable modern revival was the 2006 show at the Royal Albert Hall, explicitly framed as a reprise of the 1979 breakthrough moment. There was also a one-night U.S. edition in New York (Radio City Music Hall) in March 2012, tied to Amnesty’s anniversary programming.
# What it changed (beyond fundraising) The Secret Policeman’s Ball is widely credited with helping normalize the idea that comedians and rock stars could publicly align with human-rights advocacy — not as a one-off pledge, but as part of their public identity. Multiple prominent artists have described it as formative in their later activism. It also helped establish the template for “cause entertainment” that scales: live event → recording/film/TV → international audience → more money and more awareness — and then, crucially, more future volunteers who want to be part of the lineage. # See - Amnesty International - Comic Relief and Benefit Concerts - Top Secret and Secret Police