Al Murray
Born	(1968-05-10) 10 May 1968 (age 44) Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, England
Medium	Stand-up, Television
Nationality	British
Years active	1994-present
Genres	Parody, character comedy, insult comedy, musical comedy
Subject(s)	French and Gender stereotypes, Society, British politics
Influences	Frank Skinner
Spouse	Katherine Perry (1998-2000) (Divorced) Amber Murray (2000-2008) (Separated)
Notable works and roles	The Pub Landlord Time Gentlemen Please Fact Hunt Multiple Personality Disorder

Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray (born 10 May 1968), is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2007 he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 25th greatest stand-up comic.^[1]

Early life[link]

Murray was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Ingram Bernard Hay Murray (through whom he is a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl) and Juliet Anne Thackeray Ritchie (through whom he is a great-great-great-grandson of William Makepeace Thackeray).^[2] His grandfather was diplomat Sir Ralph Murray.^[3] Murray attended Bedford School and is a graduate of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he studied modern history. There he performed in the comedy group, the Oxford Revue in a show directed by Stewart Lee.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Murray married Amber, in 2000. The couple, who have two daughters, Scarlett and Willow, separated in 2008.^[5]

Career[link]

Murray has toured with other comedians including Harry Hill and Frank Skinner. He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999, after being nominated in 1996, 1997 and 1998.^[6] He started out with an act that involved sound-effect impressions, including of guns, animals and a particularly impressive car boot; a combination that prompted an equal number of plaudits for vocal skill and complaints of tastelessness.

The Pub Landlord[link]

The Pub Landlord is a stereotypical, right-wing, British Patriot with a dislike for anything "un-British". He has a particular dislike of Germans and the French; he will challenge the audience to name any country in the world before producing some plausible instance of Britain bettering it. The character also has a great love for the British 1970s rock band Queen, often getting musician(s) on his show to perform a song of Queen's in their own style.

The character is very different from Murray's real life public-school and Oxbridge background and first appeared in 1994 when Murray was the tour support act for Harry Hill.^[4] At that time part of a comedy band called "The Pub Band International" in which he played the drums, they were looking for a link to Hill's act. After trying out a character which they decided didn't work, on the eve of performing at the Edinburgh Festival, Murray created the Pub Landlord.

Murray then made his first television appearances on Hill's TV show playing his big brother Alan ("If it's too hard, I can't understand it!"), and subsequently featured in a short film, Pub Fiction (1995).

Murray's theatre show with the pub landlord character My Gaff, My Rules was short-listed for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2002,^[7] and he has also appeared in character as the central focus of the television series Time Gentlemen Please, as well as a number of other television appearances, including the An Audience with... strand. Subsequent theatre tours, ...A Glass of White Wine for the Lady (another catchphrase) and Giving it Both Barrels also ran to critical acclaim. When asked about the sitcom during live shows, in character as the Pub Landlord, Murray claims to be unhappy with the television series, a joke some have taken literally.

A quiz show, Fact Hunt presented by Murray as the Pub Landlord and named after the fictional quiz machine of the same name from Time Gentlemen Please was shown on late-night ITV in 2005.^[8]

From January 2006, Murray filled in for Tim Lovejoy on Virgin Radio on Sunday afternoons, in character as the Pub Landlord, and broadcast his final show on 24 December 2006.^[9]

His chat show Al Murray's Happy Hour began airing 13 January 2007 on ITV.^[10] The show has won a British Comedy Award and was nominated for a National Television Award. A new series returned on 12 September 2008, and of this Murray said:

"It goes without saying ... the trouble with telly these days is that the viewer is not credited with enough intelligence and the fact I'm back on is proof they know what's good for them".^[11]

Murray was the headliner on 11 July 2009 episode of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, which was filmed at the Brighton Dome.

On 18 December 2009, Murray hosted the BBC One TV show, Live at the Apollo.

In May 2011, Murray began hosting a new quiz show, Compete for the Meat on the UKTV channel Dave. The show will be co-presented by ex-Blue Peter presenter, Zöe Salmon. The prizes will be a frozen Chicken for 1st place, Sausages for 2nd place and Shame for the Losers! (3rd & 4th places).

Other work[link]

As a teenager, Murray was a drummer in a band with his schoolmates.^[12] He played drums on the music for his Pub Landlord TV series and during an appearance by Phil Collins, they performed a duet. He also plays the drums for the rock cover band T-34 and appeared at the Download festival in 2010, returning once again in 2011.^[13]

In 2003, Murray appeared on an episode of the BBC's Time Commanders alongside Kate Silverton, Raji James and Ricky Groves.

In 2004, Murray appeared as a contestant in the first series of Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay's cookery based reality show on ITV, and in 2005 appeared as a contestant on Comic Relief does Fame Academy on BBC One.^[14] Murray presented Al Murray's Road To Berlin on the Discovery Channel. This was a series about the last phase of World War II, taking him from the beaches of Normandy, through Arnhem and up the Rhine, ending in Berlin. In the series he drove around in a restored Willys Jeep, and interviewed survivors from both sides of the war. In the episode about Operation Market Garden he parachuted, together with veterans, from a plane, to commemorate the battle.^[15][16]

In 2007, Murray published the book The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense. It consists of The Pub Landlord's opinions and views on a number of topics such as James Bond actors, religion, politics, television, films and Churchill quotes.

Murray starred in Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, a sketch show, which aired in early 2009.^[17]

In late 2010, Murray made a documentary on German culture for BBC4 Al Murray's German Adventure^[18] in which he sought to find a different side of the German nation than the one portrayed by his Pub Landlord character.^[19]

Also in 2010 Murray was a guest as a 'Star in the Reasonably Priced Car' on Top Gear.

Murray is the Patron of The Cambodian Children's Charity^[20] which is a development and relief charity for children in Cambodia.^[21]

Murray attended the London protest against the Pope's visit in 2010 and said, "The Pope's opposition to condoms kills people. It is all very well him lecturing us on morals but he should look at his own organisation's view."UKAP^{[dead link]}

Murray became the host of the BBC Radio 5 Live show 7 Day Sunday in March 2011, taking over from Chris Addison.

Murray has his own crisps named 'Steak and Al Pie' which he is entering in a crisp competition with the host being Gary Lineker. He is up against 'Jimmy Con Carne', (Jimmy Carr), 'Stephen Fry-Up', (Stephen Fry) and 'Frank Roast Dinner', (Frank Skinner).^{[citation needed]}

Murray sat in for Dermot O'Leary Saturday show on BBC Radio 2 on 3 September 2011 and 26 November 2011.

Stand-up DVDs[link]

Books[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Pub Landlord (Official site)
• Chortle page (including any forthcoming dates)
• Al Murray at the Internet Movie Database