Law Smash: Lawyers do stand-up comedy

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On 9 October 2014 I was in London for Law Smash. Nine people associated with the law in one way or another took to the stage at the basement bar in the Star of Kings to do stand-up comedy for the first time.

The comedians for the night (pictured above from left to right and in order of appearance) were: Jeremy Hopkins, Simon Harper, Tim Bratton, John Miller, Rachel Agnew, Sean Jones QC, Daphne Romney QC, Myles Jackman and Laurie Anstis.

Law Smash was organised and compered by Steve Cross and was a spin off from LawFest.

The comedy we heard at the Star of Kings included tales of social media, bed & breakfasts, death, lying like politicians, star trek toilets on trains, life as a QC, Pulp Fiction analogies, the path in life we may have taken and bestiality. So a good mixture of topics and not a huge amount directly to do with the law, which was probably a good thing. The routines and delivery were top class across the board. They created a lot of laughter from the audience.

I am no stranger to comedy performances with my own show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013. But there I was surrounded by professional comedians with me being the butt of their jokes. I did have to think up, hopefully, funny retorts on the hop. But it was nothing to what being on stage on your own must be like. Terrifying I expect. All nine acts at Law Smash pulled it off remarkably well and appeared like polished professionals. Well done to them all and I am looking forward to Law Smash 2015 already. Steve Cross asked me at the end of the night whether I would be up for performing at Law Smash next year. I will sleep on it for now!

The night ended with a turn by professional comedian Tiernan Douieb. There was then a chance to catch up with some friends old and new over drinks.

All in all an excellent night out. I would give it 5 stars.

Law Smash was a fundraiser for the National Youth Arts Trust, who work to make the arts accessible to kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. All the profit made went to them.

Update: Jeremy Hopkins has published audio of his routine. Enjoy:-

Update 2: Audio of John Miller’s routine now also available. More to enjoy:-

Update 3: Audio of Sean Jones QC’s routine now available as a result of his #billablehour pledge (see: Lawyer’s Billable Hour raises over £100,000 in 3 days to help refugee crisis)