A public figure

Al Murray’s comic alter ego is an oafish and outspoken landlord of questionable opinions, says Richard Fitzpatrick

AL MURRAY, known for his show The Pub Landlord, is bringing his innkeeper banter to Irish audiences next weekend at the Vodafone Comedy Festival in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens.

Murray is one of the UK’s most popular comedians (and one of its tallest, at 6ft 3in). He won a coveted Perrier Award at Edinburgh’s Fringe festival in 1999, having being shortlisted four years in a row, and figures in the top quartet of Channel 4’s occasional 100 ‘greatest stand-ups’ polls.