Al Murray's new creations are mint

Mar 9 2009 By Mark Layton

Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder continues on ITV1 on Friday March 13. We talk to the funnyman about the series and the weird and wonderful characters featuring in the show.

After all, how often is it that you see him out of his well-known Pub Landlord persona?

With cries of "...beautiful British name!" and "Pint for the fella; glass of white wine/fruit-based drink for the lady!" the character represents the stereotypical working class British nationalist in all his larger-than-life glory.

But however funny they might find his routine, there are still critics who remain under the impression that this character is the sum of Al's ability.

Well, there's more to this comedian than meets the eye.

"The thing is that the landlord is such a big character, that along the way people assumed that's what I'm like and that's the only kind of acting I can do," 40-year-old Al says.

He admits that the character's popularity hasn't done much for his chances of trying his hand at more dramatic roles.

"He's larger than life and that's what makes it work, not because that's the only way I can perform.

"I get offered a lot of bouncer parts and cab driver parts and other unimaginative spins on skinhead blokes, and I could probably do different things."

You need look no further than his appearance on The One Show recently, where Al impressed hosts Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley with informed opinions on the Magna Carta and British manufacturing, to prove there's more going on upstairs than a few gags about Frenchmen and student layabouts.

Maybe the start of his new sketch show, Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, which gives him a whole bunch of new characters to play around with, will herald a change for the better.

"Hopefully people will maybe have a look at it and go: 'Ooh gosh, he can do more than one thing'."

The new characters include West Country dad Peter Taylor, who likes nothing more than to talk about sex at inappropriate moments; Barrington Blowtorch, the quick-witted Victorian gentleman-thief; and Hitler's most trusted, though incredibly camp, aide Horst Schwull.

"It's an old-school sketch show with a central lead person in every sketch, pretty much," Al explains.

"Funny voices, wigs, familiar characters you may have run into in your lives, others you may not have done. We've got sketches with Victorians in them and modern footballers to tramps and stuff. It's quite broad as well I think.

"It's the first sketch show ITV have done like this since Russ Abbot, I think I'm right in saying that, so it's quite a big thing for them. It's quite a big deal for me too."

Barrington Blowtorch particularly stands out as a strong character, but Al says he doesn't have any favourites among the fresh crop of alter egos. He also believes it's one of the most challenging things he's ever worked on.

"The thing is, you're doing one scene, and you're not thinking about the rest of it, and then you tend to not end up with favourites because there's so much to do.

"It's the most intense thing I've done. I mean, Happy Hour, we would shoot the show as you see it, and that's intense with a live audience and having to juggle all the balls. I don't get to come off and sit in a chair in the dressing room and figure out what I'm going to say next.

"But this is much more intense, because it's different characters and I've got to go off, come back on and be someone else, remember loads of lines and work with actors, which I'm not used to. It was such a fantastic challenge, so I'm not for one second going to complain."

Maybe more importantly, the Pub Landlord is nowhere to be seen.

Was this is a conscious decision to get away from the infamous character for a while?

"Yeah, or just broaden things out," Al says.

"I mean, there's no way I'm retiring him, I'm doing a giant tour, so that would be stupid wouldn't it?

"But it is nice to do different things, because I've got him to the point where it's not difficult anymore, touch wood.

"That's why, in a way, doing the arenas is a good spin on what I've been doing for a long time, a way of challenging myself with a thing I'm less familiar with."

The current 'Pub Landlord's Beautiful British Tour' sees him stopping off in a number of cities across the UK.

He's got a lot on his plate, but Al says he doesn't have enough time to be worried about it.

"I don't have the luxury of being nervous... I wish I was. It's just stress, because there's so much to get ready and write and tidy up and finish off.

Whether or not the new show succeeds in moving Al further away from the Pub Landlord, he reveals that the character will still be around for some time to come.

"We're hopefully going to do some more Happy Hour, but we're waiting to find out exactly how, when and where and with whom."

"I'm doing a book for Christmas," he adds.

"We've written another bloody book, yeah. It's a self-help book; he calls it a 'help yourself' book. It's filled with all sorts of essential advice. I think it's quite funny actually, but I would say that wouldn't I?"

AL MURRAY - EXTRA TIME

Al was born Alastair James Hay Murray on May 10, 1968.

He is the great-great-great-grandson of acclaimed English novelist and satirist William Makepeace Thackeray, who wrote Vanity Fair.

In 2003, The Observer listed Al as one of the 50 funniest British comics of all time, while a 2007 Channel 4 poll placed him at No 16 in a list of the top 100 stand-ups ever.

Al cut his TV teeth playing Harry Hill's younger brother Alan on The Harry Hill Show.

He is a self-confessed history fanatic and is an Oxford graduate, where he studied the subject.