IS PHYSICAL disability a sign of evil? According to Liverpool-based comedian Laurence Clark, many film-makers think it is. “If you look at the James Bond films, most of the villains have a disability of some sort,” he points out. And it is not just Bond films. Movie villains are in wheelchairs, have mechanical hands, facial defects and a host of other things. It got Clark thinking, as he is in a wheelchair himself. The result is his latest comedy show, Twelve Per Cent Evil, which he will premiere on Monday in the Liverpool Comedy Festival. So why 12%? “It just sounded good,” he admits. He has done his research, too. “It’s not a new thing. In the 14th and 15th centuries, disabled people were burned as witches. There was a sort of guide book on how to spot a witch and there was a whole chapter which said that disability was a sign of witchcraft and evil!” Happily for Clark, he has a well- developed sense of humour, and can not only laugh at such nonsense but make other people laugh with him. He was still writing the show when I spoke to him, although some things are sorted. He tends to use film and audio clips in his shows (this is his fourth for the festival).“I don’t think anyone is going to sit and listen to me for an hour and I use them to break it up and make it more interesting.” Clark has cerebral palsy – “I have it, I don't suffer from it,” he corrects when I use the latter word. One developed from a situation when, holidaying in Africa, he was sitting minding his own business when a woman dropped two coins in his sun hat. “I have a theory about charity that people put money in buckets without looking to see what it is.” So he was filmed with buckets carrying slogans like “Pay Off My Mortgage”, “Buy me a Caribbean Holiday” – and even “This is a scam”. As he predicted, people still dropped money in the buckets. “We did give the money back, otherwise we would have been breaking the law,” he says. Originally from the North East, Clark moved to Liverpool 15 years ago “when I married a Scouser”. His wife Adele, who also has cerebral palsy, works at Liverpool University. She doesn’t help with the scripts: “But she does give me ideas.” LAURENCE CLARK is at the Unity Theatre on Monday, June 11, 7pm. philkey | 
