Kit and The Widow were a British double act, performing humorous songs in the vein of Tom Lehrer or Flanders and Swann; they also cite Ana Russell as an influence. Kit Hesketh-Harvey (singer) and Richard Sisson (The Widow, pianist) performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and in West End theatres, and accepted private bookings. They have issued a double CD album, Les Enfants du Parody, and 100 Not Out. They were both members of the Cambridge University Footlights society.
Their style combines musical classicism and an understated Cambridge urbanity with often outrageous satirical content. Targets of their humour range from stereotypes, such as the English white van driver (“White Van Man”) and new-agers (“Dog on a String”), to the more specific, such as the Transportation Security Administration (“Bring It On”) and even particular individuals such as Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Somebody Else”). Their poignant song “Swansong” sets a poem about the damage to the environment caused by rubbish, over a version of The Swan from The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens.
It always helps to be well-versed in both the classics and popular culture to get the most out of Kit and the Widow – with songs exposing Edith Sitwell as the godmother of modern rap and Andrew Lloyd Webber as a serial nicker of tunes. Erudition and a keen wit are always on display. Trading on satire, parody, double entendre, a hint of campness and extremely clever word play, they are masters of setting what is essentially good conversation and storytelling to music with The Widow (Richard Sisson) providing the accompaniment to Kit’s (Kit Hesketh-Harvey) rounded baritone vocals to which he adds a range of interesting characterisations and, at times, caricatures.
They performed several items at the BBC Comedy Prom 2011 hosted by Tim Minchin. Kit and the Widow sang from quite another page of the comic songbook, making merciless fun of Lloyd Webber’s light fingers and, just to be even-handed, rounding on the melody -free hyperactively rhyming Sondheim too. “People who like Sondheim,” sang Kit Hesketh-Hervey, “always keep their buttocks clenched.” And that was just the opening line.
In 2012, they announced on their official website that after thirty years they had ended their partnership.
