The Secret Policeman's Ball is a series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International.

The shows of the first era (1976–1981), featuring five members of Monty Python and newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson, yielded films, television specials, home-videos, and albums that have since been widely seen and heard internationally.

However, in 2019, the show was adapted as The Secret Policeman's Tour, performing at Hackney Empire in London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Manchester Palace Theatre.

After this, Cleese and Lewis worked on the next two shows (1979 and 1981) with Luff's replacement at Amnesty, Peter Walker – using the Secret Policeman's Ball title for the first time in 1979 and developing the series identity.

The tour was headlined by a mixture of British and Irish artists – Sting, The Police, Peter Gabriel and U2 – with American and Canadian musicians Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, The Neville Brothers and Bryan Adams.

The final concert featured additional artists including Bob Geldof, Joan Armatrading, Rubén Blades, Carlos Santana, Howard Jones, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell.

It decided to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Amnesty parent organisation with a simple one-night benefit show with a few entertainers contributing services as was the norm with charity events in that era.

It was a single-night event rather than consisting of multiple performances, it started at 8:00 pm on a Sunday evening, and the show was videotaped as a TV special rather than filmed for theatrical release.

For the first time there was also interest in the US with the EP of the musical performances being released as an album by Atco/Atlantic Records and the US movie rights being acquired by fledgling independent distributor Miramax Films.

Building on the success of Pete Townshend's 1979 appearance Lewis recruited other rock musicians to perform at the 1981 show including Sting, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Donovan and Bob Geldof.

In addition to the movies and albums, Methuen published a large coffee-table book edited by Lewis and Walker, featuring transcripts of the sketches from the show, photographs and some specially written comedic notes by Michael Palin and Terry Jones.

When it restarted the Secret Policeman's series in 1987 it scaled back from producing theatrical movies of its shows to making them into TV and home video specials.

The line-up of musicians included several who were already veterans of earlier Amnesty benefits in the UK and/or USA: Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Jackson Browne and Lou Reed.

Comedic performers included: Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones, Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax, Hale and Pace, Lenny Henry, Rory Bremner, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton and the Spitting Image puppets.

The Nelson Mandela concert had already lined up appearances by many of Amnesty's most prominent supporters in the music community – including Sting, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Jackson Browne, Steven van Zandt, Midge Ure, Simple Minds, Youssou N’Dour, Joan Armatrading – all of whom declined to partake in the new Amnesty show taking place just one week later.

Amnesty's Festival of Youth weekend featured: Aswad, Joe Strummer, Big Country, The Stranglers, Aztec Camera, Motörhead, The Bhundu Boys, Go West, The Damned, Spear of Destiny, Martin Stephenson and the Daintees, New Model Army, The Icicle Works, Rhythm Sisters, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Transvision Vamp, So, World Domination Enterprises, Runrig.

Several performers from the 1987 show returned including: Adrian Edmondson, Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders, Lenny Henry, Rory Bremner, Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane, Willie Rushton and the Spitting Image puppets.

The performers were primarily alternative comedians including: Tony Slattery, Lee Evans, Simon Fanshawe, Martin Soan, Eddie Izzard and Richard Vranch.

The cast included Ben Elton, Lenny Henry, Steve Coogan, Julian Clary, Frank Skinner, Paul Merton, Vic Reeves and comedic music from Spinal Tap.

[25] Musical guests included Dave Stewart, Seal, Tom Jones, Morrissey, EMF, Jason Donovan, Kim Wilde, Rick Astley, Daryl Hall and Lisa Stansfield.

Performers included Izzard, Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Vic Reeves, Sean Lock, Harry Hill, Jeremy Hardy, Phill Jupitus, Richard Blackwood, Dom Joly, Simon Day and Jonathan Ross – with cameo appearances by actors Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Richard E. Grant, Tim Roth, Emma Thompson, and Julie Walters.

Coordinator Eddie Izzard also acknowledged the show's heritage in an interview in London's Evening Standard (31 May 2001) saying: "The musical elements will follow the previous format because it's the son of Secret Policeman's Ball – so they're more acoustic than electric..."[24] Explaining the show's new title, Izzard told the Evening Standard: "The title is designed to streamline the message of Secret Policeman's Ball, which was a bit more ambiguous.

The one internationally known British performer – Eddie Izzard – headlined a roster of locally popular acts – including Russell Brand, Jon Culshaw, Al Murray, The Mighty Boosh and Meera Syal.

The 2006 edition of The Secret Policeman's Ball was not filmed for international theatrical release, but was instead videotaped for a UK TV special of highlights that was broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 on 31 October 2006.

The show included appearances from Frank Skinner, Alan Carr, Graham Norton, Sean Lock, Kristen Schaal, Fearne Cotton, Matt Berry, Katherine Parkinson, Mitchell and Webb, Jason Manford, Shappi Khorsandi, Russell Howard, Katy Brand, Tim Minchin, Sarah Millican, Kayvan Novak, Meera Syal, Shaun Williamson, Sharon Horgan, Nick Mohammed, Dan Clark, David Armand, Eddie Izzard, Ed Byrne, Deborah Meaden, Jon Culshaw, Gok Wan, and Mike Fenton Stevens.

After a taped introduction by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the live comedy lineup included US comedic performers: Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Bobby Moynihan, Jay Pharoah, and Taran Killam (from Saturday Night Live), Rachel Dratch, David Cross & Bob Odenkirk, Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Hader (as Julian Assange), Rex Lee (as Kim Jong-un), comedic music by Reggie Watts.

Participating UK comedians were : Russell Brand, Eddie Izzard, Peter Serafinowicz, David Walliams, Jimmy Carr, Catherine Tate, Noel Fielding, Matt Berry, Micky Flanagan, Jack Whitehall, John Oliver.

Tim Minchin Joan Armatrading, Chet Atkins, Kate Bush, Bob Geldof, Phil Collins, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Morrissey, Tom Robinson, Sting, Pete Townshend, John Williams, Neil Innes, Donovan, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel and Jeff Beck U2, Duran Duran, World Party, Stereophonics Public figures who have made cameo appearances in the shows: Adaptations of the shows have been released in various film, video and audio formats over the years.

The US compilation The Secret Policeman's Private Parts (1983) – that featured special additional content and outtakes not included in the original UK films – has not been available in any format since the early 1980s and was only released in the US.

Tagline: "The very best of British comedy, from Monty Python to Russell Brand in one amazing anthology" Publisher: Canongate UK (ISBN 978-0-85786-736-0) Book containing transcripts of skits and monologues, lyrics of songs, photographs, of the 1987 show.