The Pub landlord, Al Murray, has been on our screens delivering his own special booze-soaked brand of comedy for close to 30 years now.

With the launch of his brand-new pub quiz show on Quest imminent, we thought it was time to look back at his career and remember some of the fantastic laughs he has given us over the years, cementing himself as a household name in British comedy, as well as some of his other ventures too.

Place your orders, sit back and enjoy some of Al Murray's happiest hours over his career.

Career Beginnings

Al Murray first got his career off the ground by touring with some of the biggest comics on the circuit, supporting the likes of Harry Hill and Frank Skinner long before he had made a name for himself.

His original act consisted of him making people laugh via an array of different sound effect noises, such as guns and animal noises, which is a far cry from the pub landlord persona he is best known for today.

He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1999, the prize which is given each year to the show deemed the best at the festival. This was the first time Murray had got some serious recognition on the main stage, despite already being a well-known face in the world of comedy for years prior.

It was from this point that it became clear Al Murray was destined for big things.

The Pub Landlord

The Pub Landlord was the act that would become Murray's most recognisable and the one which really catapulted him into the mainstream.

The tartan blazer wearing publican, who would appear on stage with a pint on hand and bar tap on wheels (from which he would refill his drink throughout the performance), became a regular fixture on our TV screens throughout the late 90's and early Noughties.

The concept of the Pub Landlord revolved around a satirical exaggerated version of the stereotypical geezer pub owner, who would hold strong British values and an animosity toward the Germans and French and would laud the victories of the British over any other nation in the world.

In his guise as the Pub Landlord, as well as performing in his own stand-up events and tours, Murray would also appear on his own TV show, Time Gentleman Please, as well as making guest appearances on various other shows during the era. He wasn't only frequently spotted on the box, but could also be found in bookshops across the country, ghostwriting four separate books as the Pub Landlord, as well as a theatre show, My Gaff, My Rules, which was shortlisted for the Olivier awards in 2002.

The Pub Landlord could easily be considered Al Murray's best and most notable work to date in terms of popularity and widespread praises. It would be interesting to consider how Murray's best-known act would have fared if first created in the modern climate. Would he have been as successful with the modern audiences of today? How would his act have fared in this technological focused world where we can watch or play games online whenever and wherever we want? Who knows!?

Outside Comedy

The Pub Landlord act was so successful that it has, in some ways, taken over Murray's personality and it could be argued he has become pigeonholed to some extent as that character. However, he has partaken in numerous other ventures outside comedy, some of which are of a more serious nature.

He has created two documentaries focusing on Germany, one focusing on World War 2 and another celebrating German culture, taking a paradoxical stance to that of the Pub Landlord and highlighting his previous role as mere satire, which might have gone unnoticed by some audiences beforehand.

As well as this, he also performed in a celebration of 400 years of Shakespeare as the character Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream opposite Judi Dench.

He is also quite heavily involved in the music world, performing at festivals and founding a drum company of his own.

Even when Murray has been concentrating on other projects, he has not completely left the comedy scene altogether. He launched a sketch show in 2009 and also has frequently appeared as the host on various comedic quiz shows, such as Have I Got News For You.

In 2015, he donned his Pub Landlord persona once more to run for parliament in a parody campaign against UKIP Leader Nigel Farage with his Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP), winning 318 votes.

Al Murray's New Show on Quest TV

It was announced earlier month that his next venture will be making a comeback to our TV screens with a pub quiz based TV show in collaboration with Quest. It could be said that such TV shows are developing as a result of the boom in online gaming and games for TV entertainment.

The show's production comes after a successful year for the channel, which specialises in game shows and TV competitions, but this will be the first original comedy show from Quest.

Seemingly the channel is in for the long haul though, with 21 hour-long episodes being filmed. As well as celebrities on each team, the show will also feature Shaun Williamson, aka Barry from EastEnders, who will on the show week in, week out. He is somewhat of a TV quiz expert, previously winning Celebrity Pointless, Celebrity Mastermind, Celebrity Eggheads and The Chase in recent years.

Al Murray himself said about the new show, "It's very exciting to be putting the Quest into Question with The Great British Pub Quiz. You're going to see some of the finest quizzing minds in the country duking it out as well as the most knowledgeable barman on the planet, Shaun Williamson, do his quizzing thing."

This latest venture from Al Murray is likely going to entail a combination of both comedy and knowledge, perfectly encapsulating the two sides of Murray's on-screen personas. As such, we certainly can't wait for this shows premiere at some point in 2019.