I Wonder

[fiat_knox]

I found myself staring at an image on a packet of crisps this morning: the comedian Al Murray, The Pub Landlord, glowering out at the reader in mock hate, wielding a rolling pin in an aggressive gesture. I have seen other comedians with similar implements in similar postures on other crisp packets, all a part of a Comic Relief promotional.

I found myself thinking "Wonder if they had to lie to him and tell him that they only planned to aid white starving African children this year or something?"

Y'see, Al Murray has followed on in the long-standing British tradition of the Odious Character Comedy Actor, putting on a bigot act perhaps to lampoon it, playing an Alf Garnett or an Archie Bunker (to give you Usarians on my f'list a taste of what Al Murray's act feels like - bile washed down with a pint of Watney's).

And therein lies the problem. Because I don't know whether this comedian puts on an act, or behaves like this in real life.

Does he have this personality on stage and go home afterwards to a light salad with balsamic vinegar and a light white wine spritzer, spending an hour in the bathroom washing out his mouth at night before crying himself to a fitful, troubled, guilty sleep? Or does he wear the mask of vulgarity all the time, only not as a mask - as his true face - and spend his off stage life as he does on, pandering day and night, in the street, in the pub, in church, to the braying foghorn jeers of a room full of drunken, unreconstructed hooligan bigots?

Does this man slip off his troubled, odious persona and become someone else, as Sasha Baron Cohen does when he takes off his Ali G guise? Or has this man no more redeeming features at home than, say, a Mel Gibson or Jim Davidson?

And a side note. What does Danny Glover think of his former Lethal Weapon co-star now? Any chance of a Lethal Weapon 5?

Edit: The crisps tasted rank. Minging.

Comments

[wolf-heart9.livejournal.com]

The brilliance of Archie Bunker is that Carroll O'Connor was no more a racist and bigot than I am. Later he played the character on the TV show In the Heat of the Night, and not only did he discourage racism on the show, he eventually married an African-American woman. It was fantastic (a lot of fans were pissed...one of those fans who was pissed was one of my aunts, I'm sad to say).

Hopefully your comedian there isn't like Mel Gibson. And I have a feeling that Danny Glover would no more do another Lethal Weapon with that man than most sane actors/actresses would do any movie with him.

NMS2

[pete23.livejournal.com]

I hate those crisp packets. Offered in our machine, and so now I eat Quavers instead and soothe myself with the idea that they're Bill Bailey's groin scabs.