11:19am Saturday 11th April 2009
By Will Carson
AL Murray became an overnight success with his great comedy creation the Pub Landlord, and it’s in this patriotic publican guise that he took to the stage in Bournemouth.
His TV creation is the epitome of Little Britain – and lives by strict rules of beer for the fellas, glass of white wine or fruit-based drink for the ladies.
Murray’s skills as an entertainer are plain for all to see – his destruction of the brave (and possibly a little foolish) front row audience members proves his acerbic wit is as sharp as ever.
Within minutes of starting, Murray has drags into his act Lawrence the posh scaffolder, Ian the fat hairdresser and “Pops” who “doesn’t have much time left”.
God forbid anyone walk in to the show late because Murray doesn’t hold back, asking two “joy boys” who rocked up ten minutes after starting if they were there for the “Tuesday disco”.
A lot of the first half of the show – in fact probably too much – is dedicated to audience members.
“What do you do?” questions Murray, and woe betide any woman who isn’t a nurse or a secretary, or any man in insurance or banking.
When Murray does move away onto other subjects he proves God’s existence three times, teaches us how to unleash the power of the brain through beer, gives his view of Broken Britain and why the 2012 Olympics wont be as good as the Beijing Games (“It’s amazing what you can do with no human rights and 1,000 child slaves”).
It’s a funny enough show but two and half hours of the Landlord’s boozy talk of British exceptionalism eventually wears a bit thin.
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