Causing a certain amount of surprise and a definite source of amusing on Christmas Day was Al Murray’s The Pub Landlord’s Book of British Common Sense.

I went off comedy books a few years ago when I was heartily disappointed by Wayne’s World, and hadn’t really recovered – Murray’s tome has restored my faith in the genre, however.

The character has so much about him, from his sexism and nationalism on one hand to depths such as divorce and insurance scams on the other that it is impossible not to love what is a mirror image of the type of pub landlord that we’ve all encountered at some point.

Covering such issues as running a pub, a page representing how the introduction would look if Germany had won WW2, the best sitcom titles, pub quiz help, religion and why football isn’t as good as it used to be, The Pub Landlord’s Book of British Common Sense is a big read.

It’s also a laugh out loud read packed full of typical Murray genius such as: (more…)

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The age of the comedy spinoff is most certainly with us, with companion guides and kerching cashins a-plenty in Borders and Waterstones last Christmas.  Most notable of these was Al Murray’s The Pub Landlord’s Book of British Common Sense which I’ll be reviewing once I’ve cleaned up all the wee.

Previous years have seen chimps such as Karl Pilkington (Gervais and Merchant’s comedy bitch from their podcast – no way is he the stupidest bastard on the planet in anything other than agreeing to be some sort of comic ladyboy foil for the pair) reach the top of the comedy book charts, while even lardarsed talent vacuum Chris Moyles got someone to write him a book.

Imagine having to transcribe that one.

But you know as much as I love them I can’t help feeling that these literary entries in the whole are a bad thing – and what’s worse they were pioneered by the Pythons.

It would be nice to see some real comedy gold in print, and not DJs ranting on their radio show for listeners to buy their books.

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