TV REVIEW : A&E;’s ‘Biggest Ball’ Rarely Gets Rolling

The hourlong special “The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball” (today at 5 p.m. and again at 9 p.m. on the A&E; cable network)--documenting the latest in a series of London benefits for Amnesty International that began a decade ago--has been dubbed with something of a misnomer. “Deflated Ball” is more like it, as the pickin’s here are slim.

With no musical interludes this time around, and the best comedy resurrecting classic skits from the early ‘70s, it’s rerun city. The main attraction is Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, reunited to resurrect their “One-Legged Tarzan” and “Frog ‘n’ Peach” sketches, the former of which has its moments. During the latter, Moore strains with every muscle in his face not to crack up, a little more convulsive than perhaps the underwhelmed viewer will be.

John Cleese and Michael Palin, meanwhile, reteam for a pair of Python skits--the first a severely truncated version of the dead parrot sketch, and the second a revival of the classic confrontation between the Pope and a poetically overlicensed Michelangelo (which, in the current requestioning-of-art climate, does have its relevance). These bits never cease to amuse, but heaven forbid they might work up a couple minutes of new material between bad movie roles.

The Spitting Image puppets show up briefly between acts--as Cleese, the queen and Jeffrey Archer, among others--though not nearly long enough to offer any real satire. The lesser-knowns who appear in stand-up routines are a mixed lot, with some universally funny gibes as well as punch lines that will pass over the heads of all but the most dedicated Anglophiles.