THERE are two Pub Landlords, (all right, technically there are thousands, but we’re talking Al Murray’s comic creation here.) First, there’s the one that millions will know from the hit TV show – a cheeky chap with a twinkle in his eye and a song (usually something by Queen) in his heart.

Then there’s the Landlord that is playing to over 100,000 fans on his current tour, eventually finishing in May with two dates at the O2 Arena.

It was this second incarnation that appeared at a packed BIC. He’s very much Mr Hyde to TV’s Dr Jekyll. Freed from the constraints of being beamed into people’s living rooms, even post-watershed, he’s louder, lewder and ruder … but, thankfully, just as hilarious.

Heaven knows why anyone would want to sit in the first few rows, but they do... and they pay in a big way for their close-up view. Because while they can see Al, he can see them too.

So he chucks crisps at a big bloke (“Oh no, he’s dropped ’em... and now he can’t pick ’em up!”), speaks in a strange Star Wars (was it Wookiee?) tongue with a teenager with a floppy fringe and blames teachers and old people for “Broken Britain”.

As for the poor bloke that admitted to working for a bank, he got it with both barrels, plus a finger-pointing “Shame on you!” from the audience – although he also got a T-shirt asking, “Where’s the money?!” (expletive deleted for family newspaper purposes.) The Landlord is a truly great character, funnier than anything in the latest Split Personality TV series. But it could be soon be time to mothball the trademark maroon blazer, at least for a while.

He’s a Jekyll and Hyde all right, but maybe Murray is more like Dr Frankenstein, and this particular monster could soon be out of control.