Some experiences are critic-proof, and they include being coerced into impersonating a birthing goose by the wife of spoof metal legend Derek Smalls. Fans of Spinal Tap or The Simpsons attending this charity one-off to see Harry Shearer in action got more – or less – than they bargained for. In an evening of music, scarce comedy and participative carol-singing (hence the geese-a-laying), Shearer played second fiddle to the evening's host: his wife, the singer Judith Owen. Mind you, had Father Christmas himself appeared for this festive bash, I suspect Owen would only reluctantly have relinquished centre stage.
Fair enough, she can sing. Owen applied her jazz stylings to a song about Satan's experience of Christmas, and to a new In the Bleak Midwinter arrangement by Mark-Anthony Turnage, performed with Turnage's wife, the cellist Gabriella Swallow. Elsewhere, Shearer performed the mildly amusing Bailout for Santa, as well as Jill Sobule's song about Christ's Jewish roots, Jesus Was a Dreidel Spinner. Ruby Wax was drafted in for – and wasted on – the latter; she also caterwauled a tuneless Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, which may have been meant as a joke.
Alex Lowe's octogenarian cockney alter ego, Barry from Watford, provided the comedy highlight, squawking off-colour dismay at the modern world. Owen, too, possesses a mordant wit, but she oversold it, and everything else, in a performance of domineering bonhomie. "Scream, people," she urged as each guest was introduced. Or: "Let's get groovy." Imagine a Yuletide singalong ring-led by a glamorous David Brent, and you've got the second half in one. It was well-meaning, often pleasant, and contained almost nothing for fans of Mr Burns or Derek Smalls to get excited about.
