Al’s still ‘The Gov’ner’

Al Murray’s ‘Pub Landlord’ character took Shanklin Theatre by storm again on Sunday, with two sell-out shows as part of his Guv Island tour.

The stand-up comic, whose popular act is based on social and political satire, included ‘Tiny Tim’, teaching assistants, retail managers that ‘work in a shop’, social workers, a ‘veteran’ that couldn’t remember D-Day alongside Angelo, Nate and Otis, named after a lift, among his targets.

Audience participation is at the heart of his performances for those brave enough to sit in the front rows. In Shanklin, Peter, a builder who couldn’t remember how many houses he built the previous week and Lucy, a post-person, who Al recruited to deliver crisps and peanuts to a ‘unit’ in the second row, played their parts. As well as being provocative, parts of the two-hour show were also thought-provoking, especially when talking about Brexit, Rwanda and having two opposing thoughts at the same time, with the NHS in the firing line.

The Oxford University graduate, who studied modern history, displayed quick wit about a wide range of subjects including Tik Tok, balloons and how the British invented small boats crossing the Channel with the evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II.

He was rewarded with laughter across the auditorium and left the audience demanding he returns to Shanklin in the not-too-distant future.