‘If I had to do stand-up as myself, I wouldn’t know where to start’: Life according to… Al Murray

Ahead of his latest Pub Landlord tour shows in Scotland, we chatted to Al Murray about the election, his relationship with his iconic character, and his hit podcast.

What can you tell us about your new tour show, Guv Island?

The Pub Landlord is about putting the world to rights, setting the record straight, coming up with common sense answers to things you never knew needed answering. There’s the usual sort of dealing with the issues of the day, but in a robust manner and the audience are very much part of the show. There’s a lot about politics at the moment because there’s a big moment about to happen.

There’s stuff about TikTok as well. Young people. There’s stuff about the British, that we all have a superpower of being able to hold two contradictory thoughts in our minds at all times.

It’s been an interesting year because I wrote it in January based on what I thought might happen this year and it hasn’t happened. It’s having running repairs done on it all the time but it’s good fun.

How do you feel about the timing of the election right in the middle of the tour?

I’m going to be up all night watching it, drinking with friends. The next day, it’ll be how much do I have to cut? There’s a lot of the show that’ll go from the present tense into immediate past tense. That’s the challenge. If I will insist on it being topical, then I have to deal with it…

You stood against Nigel Farage in 2015 – were you tempted to do it again?

Absolutely not! I found it to be a really weird six weeks of my life which threw up all sorts of things that I never could have expected.

I ended up, and this will amaze some people, actually feeling quite sorry for politicians. Everyone’s waiting for them to fail and trying to trip them up and get them to say something stupid. To live with that relentlessly would be terrible.

© Gareth Fuller / PA

You have Scottish ancestry and the Pub Landlord was born as a character in Edinburgh. How important is Scotland to you?

There’s lots of sentimental reasons. My eldest daughter was born in Edinburgh at the festival. With all the Fringes I’ve done it’s probably the place I’ve been in the longest apart from London. I must’ve done 15 months there so I’ve lived there for more than a year, I guess.

I love Glasgow too and I’ve played in a band for a while with a bunch from all over Scotland, Fat Cops. It’s a place I feel sort of tangled up with one way or another.

Having Scottish friends and hearing the gossip from Scotland and the politics is a really cool perspective to have access to. It’s great that Scottish politics has finally caught up with English politics for being mental.

Does the Pub Landlord go down differently between England and Scotland?

With that character, you’ve got to go in guns blazing or people will say ‘what are you suddenly afraid of?’ It’s fun. I hate using the word banter, but it’s that old needle. I think you can do that in good humour. I am a comedian after all, I’m not there to upset people. Not really. When people start talking about edge and offence, hang on a minute, I’m an entertainer! We’re here to have fun.

Winding the audience up, you’re doing it because that’s the expectation, that’s the sport. I always feel more English when I’m in Scotland and so the Anglo element of when the Pub Landlord talks about being British is fun to play with.

© Pete Dadds/Avalon/PA

Has the Pub Landlord evolved over the 25 years?

The main change is I let him know he’s famous. You can’t pretend he’s just some bloke who’s coming off the street out of a pub anymore. It’s silly when you’re playing the King’s Theatre to do that. He’s basically mutated into a man of the people politician type who I always think are hilarious because how can they be? They’re politicians!

How do you feel about the Pub Landlord?

I’m obviously very affectionate for him. He’s sort of an extension of me, or a reflection because I find having firm points of view doesn’t come naturally to me. I often agree with the last person I spoke to. He’s not like that. There’s a freedom in that on stage which I don’t possess. That’s what comedians do on stage because they’re sure of things. I can’t do that. If I had to do stand-up as myself, I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ve always felt that.

How important is it to give audiences a good night out?

It’s everything, it’s the core of it. We’re there to have a party, to have fun. Steve Martin wrote a really amazing book about stand-up a long time ago where he said that when he started playing arenas, he got the hump because he thought he’d come up with this amazing thing that’s so brilliantly subtle and clever and subversive, but people would just shout the punchlines out.

It used to make him really angry and then he realised, actually, he’s just hosting a party. Enjoy them enjoying it. It’s a piece of entertainment and people have spent a lot of money.

I always have to pull myself up on this – some people go to the theatre once ever, or stand-up every other year. You really have to remember that.

The other thing that’s really changed is that now with social media an audience member can tell you that they’d wanted to come and see you for 10 years, finally got round to it and loved it. You’d never know that before and that’s a really brilliant thing. That’s one of the reasons I love social media.

How pleased are you with the success of your podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk?

The podcast with [historian] James Holland has been the most incredible five years of my life. It’s been the most brilliant experience and the listenership and community that’s grown up around it.

They call themselves Independent Companies. In the last year, they started doing these sponsored walks for the charity my brother-in-law set up called Finley’s Touch because him and his wife lost their son a couple years ago, to a very rare childhood cancer. These ICs have started doing sponsored marches, it’s incredible.

The Highland IC are doing one, there’s a northern one, there’s a bloke in America walking the Grand Canyon. It’s not just that people are listening but they feel involved in the community, it’s amazing and a total surprise that came out of nowhere.

Al Murray, Glasgow King’s Theatre June 28, Perth Concert Hall July 12, Dunfermline Alhambra July 13, thepublandlord.com