27 october 2011 venue - Varsity

8 NEWS
21st October 2011
www.varsity.co.uk
News Editors: Tristan Dunn & Samantha Sharman
news@varsity.co.uk
Everyone’s favourite Pub Landlord
Al Murray, one of Britain’s greatest comedians and the self-styled “Guvnor”,
speaks with Charlotte Okten about comedy, Cambridge, and Ricky Gervais
“Comedy can do
everything. It’s
escapism, it’s protest, it’s
mischief.”
Al Murray is a man of many
guises. At 43, he has long
been on the comedy circuit
portraying characters as
grotesque as a life-sized baby and as
offensive as a gay Nazi officer.
Murray first caught attention for his
interesting taste of satire whilst in the
Oxford Revue, a comedy group similar
to the Cambridge Footlights. So similar,
he explains, “that people would go
‘are you in the footlights?’ No, I’m not
in the bloody footlights. We used to get
really frustrated about that.”
In Cambridge, Murray is touring
in character as an old favourite: the
pub landlord, or the “guvnor”, a white
working class British landlord who is
personal, brusque, and so sure of himself
that he cuts quite a confrontational
figure. Murray explains that what
he finds really funny about him is his
“certainty”.
But what is funny to some can be
offensive to others. His jokes parody
a range of stereotypes that many commentators
have argued act to reinforce,
rather than satirise, his characters.
Murray is not concerned: “I honestly
don’t care.” He tells us that people will
always take certain things away from
an act: “You can’t control this. You can
only try to make sure your artistic conscience
is clear.”
Sparking controversy while eliciting
laughs is part of everyday life
for many comedians, and Murray
highlighted the recent case of Ricky
Gervais, who has faced furore for
his use of the word “mong” on Twitter,
a word that has often been used
abusively to describe the disabled.
Murray notes that Gervais has “tried
to take back control with his use of
that word. Good luck to him with that.
His problem is he’s said it now.”
While all this attention is focused on
the power comedy has to offend, aren’t
we really asking ourselves what role
should comedy play in society? Murray
is clear when he tells us: “Comedy
can do everything. It’s escapism, it’s
QUICK-FIRE
Career highlight?
“In terms of sheer raw holy shit
moment, playing two nights at the
O2”.
Oxford or
Cambridge?
“Both. I’m not tribal about either”.
Pre-stage ritual?
“Cup of tea, bit of telly, quiet time
on my own. I’d probably watch the
One Show”.
Al Murray reclines in the green-room of the Cambridge Corn Exchange before taking the stage
protest, it’s mischief, and it’s none of
these things.” But Murray insists his
comedy is not a form of protest. He
says: “It is purely about humour.
If you believe a word a comedian
says you’ve got a problem.”
He does agree, however,
that comedians have similarities
with politicians,
noting with a smile that
as “performers you
have to stick to a line,
tell a story. The difference
is we have no
responsibility.”
Murray has fun
onstage. He delivers
clear and concise
punch lines, drawing
laughs from diverse
audiences. Asked about
reports that comedians
are prone to mental
illness - take for example the
2010 suicide attempt by US
comedian Artie Lange-
Murray answers in a jokey
manner: “It’s seen as a big
problem in comedy. John
Cleese wrote a book about
how mad he was... a
couple of comedians
committed
suicide. That’s
three people!
The standups
I know
are a broader
cross-section
of different
kinds of people
than anyone else;
family men, shaggers,
political people,
apolitical people... the
one thing we’ve got in
ANDREW GRIFFIN
common is we like showing off.”
And so to showing off, does Al not
get nervous before performing? He
answers: “No, can’t afford to.” He compares
the process of going on stage as a
ritual, much like a religious ceremony,
mentioning that the “armour” of a
character helps: “I don’t know what
I’d do if I had to go on stage as me...I
don’t know what kind of joke I could
sell sincerely.” Despite the comfort
of his characters, Al has often ventured
into more serious work, such as
the BBC4 documentary Al Murray’s
German Adventure, so where will he
be going now? He answers with passion:
“I really love doing stand-up.
And to me it’s an end in itself. I’ll stop
doing it when it’s not interesting anymore,
but to me it’s still fascinating.”
Murray spoke at The Cambridge
Union on Wednesday 19th October.
Humans descended
from animal with
sixth sense
Peter Storey
NEWS CORRESPONDENT
Humans are descended from an
ancient fish-like creature which
possessed a genuine sixth sense, a
recent study in evolutionary biology
suggests.
The publication of the research,
lead by Melinda Modrell of the University
of Cambridge’s Department
of Physiology, Development, and
Neuroscience, is the culmination of
many years of scientific enquiry.
The aquatic predator, which roamed
the oceans approximately 500 million
years ago, had the ability to detect
electric fields in water and used this
‘electrosense’ both to communicate
and detect its pray.
Humans are by no means the sole
surviving progeny of this ancient
beast, and it is thought that around
65,000 living species are descended
from the creature.
Some semi-aquatic descendents,
such as salamanders and the Mexican
axolotl, retain a certain level of
electroperception.
However, fully land-dwelling creatures
such as reptiles, birds, and
mammals of this lineage lost the ‘electrosense’
of their ancestors as it was
no longer of use.
Professor Willy Bernis of Cornell
University, a senior author of the
research paper, has said the discovery
“caps questions in evolutionary biology
that I’ve been working on for 35
years”.
He added: “Researchers can now
build a picture of what the common
ancestor of these two lineages looked
like and better link the sensory worlds
of living and fossil animals.”
What’s happening in Cambridge?
@richardmarcj
Richard Johnson, CULC Chair
I seem to have misplaced
my Elton John wig. Does
that count as an issue
requiring LGBT welfare
support?
@rhystreharne
Rhys Treharne, Varsity Co-Editor
You’d swear that some
people in Cambridge had
never even SEEN a bicycle,
let alone developed the
sense to move and let one
pass.
@Zoah_HS
Zoah Hedges-Stock, TCS Editor
Filing. Naked. I know how
to make admin edgy.
@JuandeFrancisco
Juan Zober de Francisco, ‘Celebrity’
Sweatpants to tux to sweatpants
to tux and now back
to sweatpants. In a word:
Cambridge.