Amnesty comedy event for jailed Burmese comedian (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Amnesty comedy event in Balham for jailed Burmese comedian

1:15pm Friday 8th July 2011 in Comedy

Top young comedians will ‘stand up for stand up’ at a night of comedy and dancing to raise funds and awareness of a comedian imprisoned in Burma.

Rising stars appearing for free at the event include James Acaster (previously showcased on Russell Howard’s Good News on BBC Three), Andrew Doyle, James Mullinger and Patrick Cahill. Organised by South London Amnesty, the event aims to raise money for the charity and awareness of the plight of Burmese comedian Zarganar who was sentenced to 35 years in jail in 2008 for criticising the response of the military junta to Cyclone Nargis.

Sara Mason from Amnesty’s Wandsworth group, said: “Comedy is the ultimate freedom of expression, which is an essential human right. Amnesty is campaigning for the release of the Burmese comedian Zarganar and we hope that this night will raise essential funds for the organisation to carry out its work as well as raise awareness of the plight of those imprisoned for daring to speak out.”

The comedy will take place upstairs in the Ballroom of the Bedford pub in Balham, Wandsworth on Saturday, July 16. Doors open at 7.30pm with food available and the comedy starts at 9pm. From 11pm till 2am there will be dancing and music by DJ Retro Electro.

Tickets for the event are only available in advance in the form of donations at www.justgiving.com/standupforstandup. The email donation confirmation email counts as the ticket. Capacity is limited to 150 people.

Guests can also sponsor a song for the party playlist by adding £1 per song to donations and naming the song in donation messages.

They can also buy themselves a bespoke joke on the night for £50 by emailing pauldonohoe1000@yahoo.co.uk