Al Murray brings the Pub Landlord to Venue Cymru, Llandudno

Nov 19 2009

IT’S official – Al Murray is massive. How else can you explain the immense popularity of his new show The Pub Landlord’s Beautiful British Tour, which calls into Llandudno this month?

The Guv, as he’s known to his fans (himself being the number one), performed to an audience of over 22,000 at London’s O2 earlier this year. The show went down an absolute storm.

"It was an incredible experience," Al beams. "The audience seemed to love it.

"People got the jokes and threw themselves into a singalong. It was brilliant to move on to a bigger scale and find that everyone still gets it. It was a real eye-opener."

He’s now back on the road with an 80- date tour, and will be scaling back the show to suit the smaller venues.

The comic reckons the Pub Landlord resonates with everyone: "He’s a universal figure. Everyone can relate to him, if only because he spills beer and spouts garbage, and everyone knows someone like that!

"There’s nothing like the buzz you get from a live audience. , who has made three series of the British Comedy Award-winning ITV1 chat show, Al Murray’s Happy Hour. The audience has come along to see me, so we get off on the right foot and it builds from there.

"The other thing I like about live comedy is that it’s perfectable, in a way that television never is. If you’re doing 51 gigs in a row, you can constantly fine-tune stuff."

Above all, Al adores the opportunity stand-up affords him to improvise. When it comes to conjuring material out of thin air, he’s just about the best in the business.

"Improvisation means every night is different. You can go off on a tangent with an audience member without having an autocue saying ‘get on with it’.

"Improvisation is the one element stand-up has that no other art form has. There’s no fourth wall, so the improvisation is woven seamlessly into the fabric of the show.

"I love seeing stand-ups who are quick off the mark. It’s the thing that really excites me about live comedy.

"The show is about ‘broken Britain’," reveals the comic, whose sketch-show, Al Murray’s Multiple Personality Disorder, went out on ITV1 earlier this year.

"Who broke Britain? And what are we going to do to fix it? At the end, the Landlord applies his Five Golden Rules to mend Britain. What are they? You’ll have to come and see the show!"

The Pub Landlord will also be reflecting people’s anger about the current financial crisis caused by a bunch of greedy bankers.

"People are genuinely furious about that," observes Al. "They’ve lost our money, and now we’re having to use our money to bail them out!"

During the show, the Pub Landlord will also be proving that God exists and fulminating about youth crime. "Most kids are really nice – it’s absurd to think they’re all going to knife you!," laughs Al. "The Pub Landlord comes up with this catchphrase – ‘is that what Churchill died for? ‘People go, ‘yeah!,’ and then realise he’s talking complete nonsense. In fact, Churchill died peacefully of old age!"

Al has also been busy working on a new book and DVD. Think Yourself British by Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, was published by Hodder and Stoughton in October, and is his unique contribution to the self-help market. He is providing guidance on subjects such as: Health, Nutrition, Dating, Wealth, Success and Happiness.

The author sees it as, "a self-help book or a help yourself book. It’s full of rotten advice, such as: ‘help yourself to success - really lower your expectations and then your goals will be attainable. Set yourself the goal of having a third piece of toast for breakfast. If you manage that, then you’re successful’. We’ve also invented the concept of Brain Space - de-cluttering your brain. All you do is come up with these buzz words and instantly you’re a guru!"

Al Murray, Llandudno Venue Cymru, November 25. Tickets sold out but call box office on 01492 872000 for returns. New DVD The Pub Landlord’s Beautiful British Tour Live at the O2 is out now; from 16th November.  For further info and live dates: details at thepublandlord.co.uk