No one wants to be bald. You're made fun of regularly and there's even research that shows bald people are discriminated against when it comes to employment. So for those of us that are the thought of a man deliberately shaving his head to appear bald makes us fear that he must be some sort of super-villain as only a deranged megalomaniac could possibly want to appear bald when they are not.
Yet this is what Al Murray has been doing for over a decade now and rather than attempt world domination he simply wants to appear bald for his alter-ego character of the Pub Landlord. And thankfully rather than being deranged he is instead extremely funny, very likable and seemingly, despite his huge success, a very down-to-earth individual.
I last saw Murray in Vicar St over 10 years ago and unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I had to leave before the end of the show. Back then the Pub Landlord screamed across the stage for his entrance on a specially constructed drive-able bar, throwing lettuce and booze over the front few rows.
This time the entrance was much more sedate, with his helper "Igor" simply leaving a pint of lager on a single table with the Pub Landlord meandering his way on stage a few minutes later. Murray doesn't use a warm-up act, an act in itself which is seldom seen with top name comedians these days, but he does not suffer from not having one. The ease with which he immediately engrosses his audience is masterful, even with a character that most will have seen before and whose act has not changed to any great extent since its inception 20 years ago.
This iteration of the Pub Landlord seems to be toned down from previous outings, with the earlier theatrics that I mentioned missing and less of the bounding around stage we saw previously. Perhaps it's just because Murray is now approaching 50, and that can be excused but the act in no way suffers from the lower levels of energy that it previously had. In fact now that the Landlord seems to have mellowed slightly it enables Murray to use the character to delve deeper into the everyday things that frustrate him and provide a more detailed satirical look at them and his act is all the better for this.
Murray's greatest assets are his memory and intelligence. He effortlessly memorises at least 10 audience member names and will call on them at any time throughout his act. Of course he will pick someone young, someone old etc. to incorporate that into his comedy but the feat of remembering all these people's names while performing your act (and having a few pints at the same time) is unique in today's comedy world and Murray deserves special praise for it.
While he may play a character whose intelligence is somewhat suspect, which of course is the point, Murray's can only be described as encyclopedic, especially when it comes to World War 2. He makes great use of this intelligence in his act but never once comes across patronising or sanctimonious and he can go on a thunderous monologue about extremely detailed geopolitics and military issues, which if most of the audience read outside of the show would leave them asleep instead here has them in raptures as the energy and comic timing with which Murray delivers it is superb.
Murray hasn't fallen into the trap of angry old man as have, unfortunately, many of his peers and he doesn't only go down one road when mocking any issue, be it politics or anything else, everything is up for discussion. For this he should be commended as it is something seldom seen in comedy these days.
We are continually subjected to horrendously dire comedy on TV these days, be it Michael McIntyre telling us that he's very smart and has funny hair so we should laugh, or the awful Dara O'Briain wallowing in his own sanctimony and helpfully providing pauses which I am not sure whether he wants us to laugh during or instead tell him how magnificent he is. Al Murray isn't on TV as much as he used to be but thankfully this means he continues to tour and we are all the better for that. You should go and see his show if you get the chance, he truly is a masterful comedian and in my view one of the best working today.
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