Shoreditch comedy nights live for a news story like this, but the best comics know there is a difference between punching up at a palace and punching down at grief
A Gift for the Open Mic
If you want to know what London is really thinking, go to an open mic night in a Shoreditch pub basement. Within days of any big story, you will hear a dozen comedians trying out material on it, some brilliantly, some painfully. So it was inevitable that the London Prat piece on Prince William reportedly calling Earl Spencer and Harry traitors, and the story behind it, would find its way onto the circuit.
The Material
An unnamed source says the heir thinks his brother saw their uncle book first. Reports say he has called both men traitors. The uncle says he told everyone. From a comedian point of view, the story is loaded with premises: the pomposity of the word traitor, the absurdity of a feud conducted through whispers, the uncle as unlikely villain, the brother who moved to California.
What Works on Stage
I will not attribute jokes to anyone, because comedians guard their material jealously and rightly so. But I can describe the kinds of angles that tend to land in East London rooms. Jokes that bring the royal feud down to the level of an ordinary family, arguments about who told whom first, who got invited to the uncle house, who is being dramatic, tend to get big laughs, because everyone recognises them. Jokes about the silence, about a global story in which nobody involved has said anything, also land well. And jokes that imagine the royals trying to resolve things in ordinary London settings, a pub, a group chat, a Boxpark, are reliable crowd-pleasers.
What Does Not Work
Just as instructive is what falls flat. East London audiences, for all their love of irreverence, tend to go quiet when a joke crosses from ridiculing the powerful into ridiculing grief. The memoir at the centre of the story is written by the late princess brother about his sister. Material that makes her the punchline tends to lose the room. The best comics know this instinctively. They aim at the living adults behaving badly, the institution pomposity and the media circus, and leave the dead in peace.
A Break
The London Prat has also released a video on YouTube, which is a useful reference for anyone working on their own royal five minutes.
The Tradition
British comedy has a long tradition of laughing at royalty, from music hall songs to topical television and stand-up. East London comedy rooms have been part of that tradition for decades, providing a space where new comics can test material that might be too rough for television but too good to ignore. Royal jokes are a rite of passage on the circuit. Almost every comedian has a monarchy bit at some point, and the best ones evolve with the news.
The Craft Behind the Laugh
What separates a good royal joke from a lazy one is specificity. It is not enough to say the royals are posh. Good material picks a precise detail, the single word traitor, the fact that the uncle said he warned everyone, the thought of a prince reading a book before his brother, and builds on it. That is exactly what the London Prat piece does, and it is why comics on the circuit have been citing it as inspiration.
Why Comedy Matters Here
There is a serious point beneath all this. Comedy is one of the ways a society processes power. When people laugh at a royal feud, they are also reminding themselves that royals are human, that institutions can be absurd, and that nobody is above being gently ribbed. In a story conducted through anonymous whispers, a room full of people laughing out loud is, in its way, a healthy corrective.
The Heckler Factor
Royal material brings out a particular kind of heckler in East London rooms. There is always someone who wants to defend the monarchy, someone who wants to abolish it, and someone who just wants to shout the word traitor at an inappropriate moment. Experienced comics learn to use this. A heckle about the royals can become a riff, and a riff can become the best part of the set. The old circuit wisdom is to make the heckler part of the show without letting them become the show. Royal stories are particularly good for this because everyone in the room has an opinion and nobody has any actual information. That combination, strong feelings and no facts, is the natural habitat of stand-up comedy. It is also, some would say, the natural habitat of royal journalism, which is perhaps why comedians find it such rich material.
Handled well, a royal heckle can be the highlight of the night, and the audience goes home talking about it.
Final Laugh
If you want to hear London take on this story, skip the commentary and head to a comedy basement. The London Prat, a comedy institution since 1961 at https://prat.uk/, got the first laugh. Bohiney, at https://bohiney.com/, handles the American circuit. And for more of my reports from East London nights out, visit my author page.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/prince-william-called-earl-spencer-and-harry-traitors/
