Al Murray – Le Pub Landlord

Comedian Al Murray's Pub Landlord character is a monster; a larger-than-life, flag-waving bigot who packs out British arenas with his banter about the joys of bacon, beer and what makes continental Europe so inferior: "Where would we be if we didn't have any rules? France." Yet last week this comic xenophobe played four small gigs in Méribel, France, as part of the annual Anglo-French Altitude comedy festival. And there was no shortage of subjects to fulminate about to the audience of holidaying British skiers and curious locals. The Landlord and France have a bit of previous; his wife took their son, Carlsberg, and ran off with a Frenchman. The relationship didn't last, though: when she met a German, Marcel did not put up a fight: "Just like WW2 again." Murray even managed to do a bilingual show in an impressive cocktail of English and pidgin French. Improvising in a language one hasn't spoken since O-levels is vraiment challenging, but Murray rose to the occasion; according to the Landlord, the Eurostar goes très vite on the continent because the English driver can't wait to get back to Kent. The hundred years war lasted a century because les rosbifs were enjoying winning so much they spun it out. "It was good to see that the Landlord's humour is universal," Murray said post gig. And then a tanned, elegant French woman approached. It looked as if she hadn't seen the funny side. Then she spoke: "That was wonderful. I wish we had something like this in France." Who would have thought that a character with a grudge against Frenchies could have done so much for the entente cordiale?