Hilarity helps the homeless as a host of comics including Stewart Lee perform at the SIMON COMMUNITY FUNDRAISER.

As is well documented, Monday night is the new Friday night for us urban free-wheelers, so what could be more natural than a night out at a comedy gig in aid of charity? Absolutely nothing.

This fundraiser for the Simon Community, an independent charity that has been helping the homeless since 1963, provided a varied and interesting line-up of laughs headlined by the masterful Stewart Lee.

First up was the multi-lingual Eric Lampaert, whose hilarious diatribes were reminiscent of a young Eddie Izzard with attention deficit disorder. Then came Ray Guns Look Real Enough, made up of, predictably, Ray Gun and Luke Real, who provided some quick fire covers of chart hits whilst one of them was dressed as a tiger. Finally, Elizabeth Hotson’s elegant and velour-clad northern lass Psycho Julie Jones performed a strip tease to close the first half.

After a drinks break, Lou Sanders took up the mantle, an accomplished comedian whose arrogant swipes were a good contrast with the next act Sara Pascoe’s more timid approach, although the latter’s subject matter was fairly post-watershed and not for the faint-hearted.

Finally, the main man stepped up to the plate. Clearly trying out some Edinburgh fringe material, his routine consisted of cerebral and thoughtful dissection of the Osama Bin Laden’s assassination. And a song about Russell Brand’s wedding. Mr Lee’s downbeat approach is not to everyone’s taste but proved the perfect foil to the more bombastic stuff that had gone before him. As compere, opera-singer turned comedian Lloyd Griffith was the glue that held the night together.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening was made even better by the news �1000 was raised for the Simon Community.

* Performed at The Grand Union, in Highgate Road, NW5 on Monday, June 6.