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The Best…comedy chat-show host

Al Murray as the Pub Landlord
  • Posted at 1:15pm
  • 18 January 2008
  • by RhodriMarsden-RT
  • 5 comments

If the first rule of chat-show hosting is "Don't embarrass your guests", and the second is "Don't embarrass your audience" (and I have to confess that I've got no means of verifying these, as neither Jonathan Ross or Terry Wogan would return my calls), then you might imagine the Pub Landlord's attempt at the genre in Al Murray's Happy Hour to fall flat on its face in a puddle of weak lager.

The jovial, bullet-headed bigot has made front rows of comedy audiences across the UK writhe in discomfort for well over a decade, as he cheerily rips into anyone who fails to conform to his own British bulldog standards: you've got to have a proper job (ie you're fine if you're a fireman but beware if you're an IT consultant), you've got to conform to gender stereotypes (ie women can only be employed as secretaries and drink white wine), and heaven help you if you're French - or worse, German.

But the skill of the Pub Landlord - creation of the fiercely intelligent, mind-bogglingly witty Al Murray - is that he shows enough self-deprecation to turn a potentially offensive character into a lovable bloke. He reveals that his wife left him for a French man. He seems to be confused about his sexuality. He blubs like a child at the smallest sign of patriotism. He's human.

So when he picks on your size, your nationality, your name, well, you might want the ground to swallow you up as the rest of the audience roars with laughter. But it's OK, really - they're laughing with you, and with Murray himself, at all our British prejudices. The Pub Landlord unites us all - albeit as slightly unpleasant individuals of questionable moral fibre.

Of course, when celebrity guests are introduced into the mix, his knack of brutally cutting to the chase makes for some hilarious and merciless encounters. "All right," he might say, "why not tell us all about your new television show, so we don't have to watch it." The audience squeals with delight. The celebrity laughs along. But there's a twinkle in Al's eye. He knows it's true. We know it's true. And when he lays into, say, Westlife's music in front of their founder, Louis Walsh, he's only doing what most of us would love to do in front of Louis Walsh. Someone needs to do it - and frankly, if it has to be a shaven-headed comedy character in a maroon jacket, that's perfectly fine with me.

Some might baulk at the fact that the Pub Landlord has brought male chauvinism and mild racism back into family entertainment. But they're missing the point - and after an hour of relentlessly brilliant stand-up, very few people could fail to be won over.

Me? I'm doing exactly what I'm told, and taking my drinks back to the bar.

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Comments

  • Posted on 10 March 2009
  • at 10:45am
  • by fatanky

Time Gentlemen Please is still as much fun on the fifth viewing as the first..why they can't release it all on DVD I don't know. I find the Pub Landlord stage show a bit dumb in the way Baddiel and Skinner were dumb..the audience tends to think they themselves are funny and they ain't. The new Multiple Personalities has started well..the guy is some kind of comic genius..I saw him at Gatwick once and he ain't half tall!

  • Posted on 14 March 2008
  • at 12:11pm
  • by mancrob26

Its on ITV, not BBC. And only the most fragile could be offended. The Pub Landlord is hardly Bernard Manning, he's a deliberate cartoon character not to be taken seriously. And he's hilarious.

  • Posted on 01 February 2008
  • at 5:53pm
  • by Viceory
And by the way, you still have to pay your tab:1 Glass of white wine 1 Glass of red wine (sent back) A packet of ready slated crisps, Co-Op brand (sent back)Stop being a time waster, and grow up.
  • Posted on 01 February 2008
  • at 5:52pm
  • by Viceory

Kenneth Sands:

Don't know who you are, but, shut the f*** up, watch Al Murray and sip your white wine. You big girl.

  • Posted on 19 January 2008
  • at 5:53pm
  • by KennethSands

This is exactly what I've come to expect from the so-called "liberal" BBC, supporting racist bully boys under the guise of irony whilst silencing the real voice of the hardworking honest Englishman (and forcing him to pay for it!!!).

Disgusting.

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