Al Murray's Happy Hour
| Al Murray's Happy Hour | |
|---|---|
 Titlecard for Al Murray's Happy Hour | |
| Starring | Al Murray |
| Opening theme | Queen - "Don't Stop Me Now" |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 13 January 2007 |
Al Murray's Happy Hour is a chat show presented by comedian Al Murray, and the first series aired in early 2007. It is on the British terrestrial TV channel ITV1 and is broadcast on Saturday nights at about 22:00. Murray presents the program in his Pub Landlord character, a stereotypically nationalistic, chauvinistic character.
However, from 2008, the show will air on Friday nights at 10pm.
The show contains stand-up, guest interviews and live music. The show ends with Murray performing a Queen song with the musical guest.
Layout of each episode
The show has a large studio audience, and at the start of the show Al interacts with them, talking to some of them in the front row, and usually remarking that they have "beautiful British names" even if the name is clearly not British (such as "Dominique"). He often points out any celebrities in the audience, such as Vanessa Feltz and Uri Geller, and the members of the local pub of the week.
Around this time Al points out a regular audience member on the show by the name of "Big Bob". Al Murray always addresses Big Bob after he has spoken with other members of the audience, and has given him his own gimmick chant that the rest of the audience join in with which goes 'Big Bob, Big Bob, Big Bob Big Bob Big Bob' at which Big Bob gets out of his chair and provides the crowd with a dance with Mrs Big Bob watching on his left hand side. He also makes a passing joke about Big Bob's weight, usually sending up excuses other overweight people use. Examples include Al Murray saying "It's a slow metabolism, isn't it, Bob? And a very fast pie arm", or "He's got a weight problem; he can't wait till dinner time", or "It's big bones, isn't it, Bob? Yeah – big bones covered in fat".
He will then often give a speech about the greatness of Britain. During this segment Al will say along the lines of 'You see, Britain is all about rules. If we had no rules where would we be?' The audience then shouts out 'France!' 'If we had too many rules where would we be?' 'Germany!' For the third time of enquiry it usually features Spain. For example: 'If we had rules forcing you to take a nap in the afternoon where would we be?' The audience then proclaims: 'Spain!'.
After his speech there is a commercial break, before beginning to interview the three guests. In the middle of the interviews, before a commercial break, the musical guest will often sing one of their own songs. Often when a female guest comes on, his friend Gary phones him up (or vice-versa) or makes contact in a variety of ways and asks the guest to say filthy, and then Al says Gary owes him £15.
At the end of the shows, after the interviews he will join the musical guest in singing a Queen song. In the final episode of the first series, this was the cast of the musical about Queen - "We Will Rock You", and then the band Queen actually came on and did a special performance. Every episode ends with Murray saying "please take your glasses back to the bar".
Al Murray appeared as a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show on Channel Four in November 2007, where he confirmed that Happy Hour will return for a brand new series in early January on ITV1 although it will be broadcast on Friday nights, and not Saturday.
Episode Guide
Series 1
Series 2
| Air Date | Episode Number | Guest(s) | Musical Guest/Songs performed | Related Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 11, 2008 | 1 | Barbara Windsor, James Blunt, Cerys Matthews & Marc Bannerman | Cerys Matthews (Sung Don't Stop Me Now by Queen) | |
| January 18, 2008 | 2 | Ben Miller | Scouting For Girls | |
| January 25, 2008 | 3 | TBA | TBA | |
| February 1, 2008 | 4 | TBA | TBA | |
| February 8, 2008 | 5 | TBA | TBA | |
| February 15, 2008 | 6 | TBA | TBA | |
| February 22, 2008 | 7 | TBA | TBA | |
| February 29, 2008 | 8 | TBA | TBA | |
| March 7, 2008 | 9 | TBA | TBA | |
| March 14, 2008 | 10 | TBA | TBA |