Live at The Apollo (TV Recording): Hammersmith Apollo, London, 2009
Al Murray: The Pub Landlord: Pleasance Over The Road, Edinburgh, 2009
Al Murray’s Southbank Jukebox: Royal Festival Hall, London, 2010
Al Murray’s Compete for The Meat: Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, 2010
Al Murray’s Compete for The Meat: Assembly @George Square, Edinburgh, 2011
Al Murray: The Pub Landlord – The Only Way is Epic: Assembly George Square, Edinburgh, 2012
Al Murray: The Pub Landlord – The Only Way is Epic: Udderbelly Bristo Square, Edinburgh, 2012
Al Murray: One Man, One Guvnor: Assembly George Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 2014
Always Be Comedy (2 shows): The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2018
Al Murray: Landlord of Hope and Glory: Assembly George Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 2019
Always Be Comedy Christmas Show: The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2019
Always Be Comedy Online (3 shows): Online: 2020
#SaveLiveComedy: (3 shows): The Clapham Grand, London: Online: 2020
Always Be Comedy: The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2020
Just The Tonic Working From Home – Good Riddance 2020 New Year’s Eve Special: Online: 2020
Always Be Comedy Online: Al Murray’s Lockdown Lock-in: Online: 2021
Leicester Comedy Festival: Happy Hour Q & A Interview with Al Murray: Online: 2021
Always Be Comedy: The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2021
Al Murray the Pub Landlord Live: London Wonderground, 2021
Always Be Comedy: The Tommyfield pub, Kennington, London, 2022
Ealing Comedy Festival: Walpole Park, Ealing, London, 2022
Headliners Comedy: George IV pub, Chiswick, London, 2022
Downstairs at The Kings Head 40th Anniversary Show: The Kings Head pub, Crouch End, London, 2023
Musical: Idiots Assemble: The Spitting Image Musical (writer/voice): Phoenix Theatre, London, 2023
Play: The Crown Jewels: The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, 2023
Al Murray is an English comedian well known for his stand up persona and wordplay. His best-known character is The Pub Landlord, a chauvinistic publican. I have seen The Pub Landlord on stage many times over the years and have laughed out loud at his antics.
I first saw him compere the TV show Live At The Apollo in 2009 and also watched him appear in a show which combined music and comedy in 2010 – Al Murray’s Southbank Jukebox also featured my favourite band Madness. I have seen him present his popular quizzes Compete for The Meat at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010 and 2011 where the first prize is a frozen chicken that appeared on stage with him. I also saw him deliver his two shows The Only Way Is Epic in 2012 and One Man One Guvnor where he was on a mission to solve the nation’s issues, meanwhile building a government from the audience.
Al Murray The Pub Landlord has become one of Britain’s most popular comedians. Each time I have seen him live he is joyous to watch effortlessly creating laughter from an audience with his banter and his unique take on the British way of life.
Murray made a very welcome special appearance at Always Be Comedy in March 2018. As he bounded onto the stage, beer swilling in hand and spilling the alcohol onto me and the rest of the front row as he went, one of the greatest and funniest things Murray did was skilfully incorporate audience interaction. The responses he gave to each audience individual after a brief interaction he had with them was outstanding and consistently funny. Murray is one of the best and funniest acts I have seen play at Always Be Comedy and the forty-five-minute set he delivered at the club was a comedy masterclass and worthy of my standing ovation which when it happened, he gave me a very funny look of bewilderment.
He returned to Always Be Comedy in October 2018 billed as a special guest where the audience were treated to over an hour of him on stage. He proved again to be the greatest audience banter character comedian by playing the perfect comedy room and by the end of the set after sitting in my usual front row seat, I was exhausted from crying with laughter.
Since making his debut in 1994 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Pub Landlord has gone on to enjoy incredible success, including selling out some of this country’s biggest venues. It was therefore an absolute joy to see Murray once again return in August 2019 at the Edinburgh Fringe where he effortlessly remonstrated on subjects including Brexit, politeness and decency. All the trademarks that have gone into making the Pub Landlord a much-loved British comedy institution returned in this latest show. Murray was still matchless in audience interaction and having a young band on stage with him gave the ability for crowd sing-alongs.
In December 2019, Murray starred in the Always Be Comedy Christmas Charidee Show (in aid of www.dkms.org.uk) where once again he had the audiences in stitches. Whilst Britain was waiting for the results of a major general election. Murray gave his intelligent and hilarious view and prediction of the state of the country. His ability to make ridiculous points seem disturbingly believable was as commendable and unsettling as ever.
Murray headlined Always Be Comedy Online for two shows in June 2020. He delivered an inspirational speech on how to cope with lockdown during the worldwide pandemic and was thoroughly engaging and extremely funny with the virtual front row ‘audience’.
Due to the coronavirus epidemic in 2020, the future of live stand up comedy is in grave doubt because of social distancing rules. In August, three massive comedy shows – #SaveLiveComedy featuring a wealth of comic talent were streamed live from The Clapham Grand in London to help raise money to keep live stand up comedy from non-existing and Murray, together with Jayde Adams co-hosted all three events. For show 1, the acts who appeared on video link were musical comedian Lorraine Bowen, London Hughes, Jessica Fostekew, Tim Vine and Louisa Omielan. Acts live on stage were Naomi Watanabe, Garrett Millerick, Eleanor Tiernan, Charlie Partridge, Thanya Moore, Nigel NG, Josh Jones, Rich Wilson, Sindhu Vee and Fern Brady. For show 2, the acts who appeared on video link wee Aisling Bea, Nish Kumar, Sarah Callaghan and Joe Lycett. Acts live on stage were Kerry Godliman, Dane Baptiste, Kwame Asante, Helen Bauer, Carl Donnelly, Rosie Jones, Don Biswas, Mawaan Rizwan, Ed Gamble, Shappi Korshandi, Sue Gives A F*ck and Nathan Caton. Murray exceled in audience participation of the lucky interactive Zoom audience and was hilarious through the proceedings.
Murray was also wonderful to watch live again at a social distanced show for Always Be Comedy in September 2020. His rants cheering everyone up during a very difficult year were inspired as ever.
In December 2020, Murray headlined the Always Be Comedy Online Christmas Charidee Special (once again in aid of www.dkms.org.uk) where he cheered the audience up with Christmas songs and comedy in his own inimitable way. He appeared again at the Just The Tonic Working From Home – Good Riddance 2020 New Year’s Eve Special looking back on a horrible year and looking forward in his unique style.
In January 2021, Al Murray’s Lockdown Lock-In was a new weekly show for Always Be Comedy Online. Murray delivered a quiz in his unique style – brilliantly interacting with the virtual front row, and where different prizes each week included a Fray Bentos Chicken Pie.
I watched an interview with Al Murray for the Leicester Comedy Festival, which took place online because of the Coronavirus epidemic in February 2021. Murray talked to founding director Geoff Rowe about his comedy career, his highlights and views on the future of live comedy.
In April 2021, after competing in Murray’s weekly Monday night quiz at his Lockdown Lock-In for Always Be Comedy Online, after weeks of trying I finally won a giant Butternut Squash and a winners certificate.
The comedian made a triumphant return to live stand-up at Always Be Comedy in July 2021 and at London Wonderground in September 2021 where he performed wonderful material about the worldwide lockdown and the state of the country. The audience banter was incredibly funny, and the routines were confident and hysterical as ever.
In February 2022, Murray performed for two hours at Always Be Comedy in aid of the DKMS charity, deservedly headlined the Ealing Comedy Festival in July 2022 and appeared as a special guest for Headliners Comedy in November 2022. With tales of lockdown survival and as ever, superb with audience interaction, Murray delighted the audiences with trademark humour and wit.
Murray was a special surprise guest for Downstairs at The Kings Head 40th Anniversary Show that I saw in April 2023. Delivering a wonderful performance, and gloriously showering me with beer as I sat in the front row seat, the audience banter was, as ever, inspirational building hysterical comedy from finding out some unique occupations from members of the public.
Murray co-wrote (together with Matt Forde and Sean Foley), Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical that I saw at The Phoenix Theatre in London in August 2023. Originally running on TV from 1984 to 1996, (created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn), and re-booted in 2020, the stage version of Spitting Image featured over100 puppets. It was a very funny, well written and well produced satirical comic spectacular.
I saw Murray make his stage debut in the play, The Crown Jewels. The play written by Simon Nye, is about the attempted robbery of King Charles II’s crown jewels by an Irish rebel. Murray played the King with a sleaziness and a commanding presence and brilliant audience participation that is his comic trademark.
In my view, The Pub Landlord is currently the greatest character comedian in Britain. He is a brilliantly executed comedy staple, who is extremely popular with audiences and long may he continue.