Al Murray: ‘If comics become respectable, they’re no longer funny’

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with my degree [in history, at Oxford]. I knew I didn’t want to commute like my dad did, and that was the extent of my ambition. Now, though, I have to drive to Manchester and Hull and wherever to do gigs. So I’ve probably spent more time travelling than he ever did in an attempt to avoid that. That’s life.

I had really fluctuating self-confidence as a teenager, and performance is a way of controlling how you present yourself, and how you’re seen. I did a lot of acting in school, and I played in bands, too.

I’ll admit to being a show-off. But I accept I can’t make everyone laugh – that’s actually the deal. You go out and you find the people who can make you laugh, who do share your sense of humour or way of looking at the world. People applauding me makes my tail wag. It’s very simple.

If comics become respectable, they’re no longer funny. If you’ve gone on I’m a Celebrity, you’re part of the problem. You’re not commenting on the problem. We’re supposed to be making mischief, flicking Vs at things.

A great deal of my sense of humour comes from my mother. She has a very wry, eyebrow-raised way of looking at the world. And she gave me a sort of phlegmatic view of it, too. My dad worked for British Rail. We didn’t live in a stately home. When people think I’m twirling a cane and a top hat, it’s entirely unlike my upbringing. We had some posh cousins, who were ghastly.

A lot of what happened in my election campaign in 2015 [he stood against Nigel Farage in South Thanet] was like having a peek at what was to come – the torrent of abuse, and the conspiracy mindset that exists out there. Apparently, I was a representative of the Deep State. The BBC were paying for me to do it with EU money, and the Conservatives were in on it, too. I was also first cousins with David Cameron.

I’m in a band called Fat Cops. Some of the guys used to be in a band called Fat Corpse, and then I think there was a Scots accent mishap. It just sort of fits us – we do look like six out-of-shape narcs. I like drumming for the same reason I like standup. It’s emotional and direct.

Harry Hill gave me the best advice I’ve ever had. I worked with him in 1993, and he said: “I know you’ve got into standup because you think it’s going to be a laugh, but you’re going to have to work really hard.” It is a laugh, but I had to figure out that I was going to have to work really hard. And write an awful lot, all the bloody time.

Comedy probably doesn’t change anything. But it’s worth a punt, isn’t it? ■

Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz is now being shown exclusively on Quest