Comedy review: Al Murray Pub Landlord at The Hexagon
Liz Crosthwaite • Published 7 Oct 2011 09:30
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From the moment he strolled, slightly weaving, on stage, sloshing his pint, a massive grin plastered over his gob, it was clear - from the roars and cheers (and the slightly unsettling number of Landlord-look-a-likes in the crowd) - that Al Murray was among friends.
Settling into a much more risque line of banter than those who have seen him on Michael MacIntyre et al will be familiar with (this show was billed as strictly adults-only), the Pub Landlord concentrated much of the first half on meeting the audience - with some hilarious results. From the poor man who let on that he hadn't been present at the birth of his child, and was therefore sent on seemingly endless errands to the bar for a pint for Murray and a 'glass of wine or fruit-based drink' for his wife, to the women on the receiving end of being labelled 'nurse' or 'teacher', whatever line of work they admitted to, Murray fed off the audiences responses with snappy, un-politically correct banter and even a little slapstick. The unsuspecting gig-goer might be offended by his nationalist, right-wing character, but the humour lies in just that - though we were quite glad to be sitting a couple of rows too far back to be picked on!
The second half was all about giving us Broken Britain-ites 'fire in our bellies, pride in our hearts and steel in our backbone', and thus we had the existence of God 'proven' to us, and sang the National Anthem, and, um, Incey Wincey Spider, with gusto.
This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 07 Oct 11
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