Rob Brydon at 50

So, Rob Brydon is 50? Wow, I wonder what that feels like(!)

MUSIC: If I Only Knew by Tom Jones

This programme contains strong language

APPLAUSE Good evening.

# Yeah, yeah, yeah. #

I just think of him as a very, very funny man.

You know, I think he really has got funny bones.

Ooh. Very pleasurable.

He's a showman and he has a personality...

Zar-la! Illa-ar!

..he's the traditional all-rounder.

I think Rob would like to be a cross between Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

What an audience!

CHEERING

He's a brilliant comedian, brilliant writer,

the man is really something.

And he is a fellow Welshman.

Now, how better than that can you get?

# If I only knew what I should do

# To make, make you love me... #

Rob Brydon first came to national prominence

as the hapless taxi driver Keith Barret

in the BBC Two series Marion And Geoff.

Since then, he has rarely been off our screens.

As an award-winning comedian, an accomplished actor,

singer and presenter, Rob is now a major A-list talent

but his road to success was a long one

that began in a Welsh seaside town.

IMPRESSION: And for Rob returning to Porthcawl

after so many years,

couldn't help but ruminate on the passage of time.

A visit to the Welsh Riviera is an opportunity for a catch-up

with his parents, Howard and Joy.

-What do you want, Rob?

-A 99, please.

A 99 for you.

WOMAN: Hello, an ordinary ice cream.

Is it on? Is it recording?

-CAMERAMAN:

-Yeah, yeah, we're recording.

That's a family joke. You go, "Is it on? Is it recording?"

It'll be lost on your viewers but, to us, it's very funny.

Robert Brydon Jones was born in 1965,

the eldest son of a car salesman and a school teacher.

I was at private school in Swansea, Dumbarton,

and then we went to Porthcawl, and I went to Porthcawl Comprehensive.

And I was nervous of it because my idea of a comprehensive

was Grange Hill which I thought was barbaric.

I was quite... I've always been quite soft

so I was a bit worried about it

but in fact it was lovely.

The sun, sea and sand of Porthcawl

proved to be something of a distraction for the schoolboy.

It was a bit like suddenly being in school in California

because you could come at lunchtime,

you could literally go down to the beach and...

-And you did.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-For an extended lunchtime.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-You didn't rush back, Rob.

-But I still got five O-Levels, Mum.

-You did!

-I don't see what the fuss is!

It was quite glamorous coming in.

Well, Porthcawl has always had a hint of glamour, don't you think?

Yeah, I think it has, yeah.

He was naturally a very bright boy

but allied with that was asserted laziness

and lack of interest in academic life, I think.

I'm 50 this year, I feel 12.

PARENTS LAUGH

Not in a good way.

But while Rob lacked interest in academic studies,

he discovered a passion for drama and comedy

when he met the drama teacher, Roger Burnell.

Roger was definitely a pivotal character, definitely because...

I feel emotional, you know, saying it because he...

..gave me confidence.

I'm walking naturally.

ROGER LAUGHS

Unselfconsciously. How are you?

Good. How are you? Lovely day.

-Great to see you.

-Yeah, and you.

Well, well, well. Here we are, then.

I've become more conservative, you've become more flamboyant.

I mean, surely I'm the one who's embraced show business,

I should be coming down dressed like a peacock, not you.

-Bloody hell.

-This is just for you, of course.

-Thank you. Thank you.

Now, they want us to turn that way

but if I do that my bald patch is going to be revealed so can you...?

-Shall I turn this way?

-We'll work like that, yeah. Nice place.

Nice place. I like it. I like what you've done with it.

ROGER LAUGHS

-Shall we go inside?

-Yeah.

This is, er...

This is very strange because it's exactly the same.

-Hasn't changed much, has it?

-No. Well, not at all, no.

-No.

This is sort of where everything began and where I got a taste.

-Really?

-Yeah, for being on a stage.

I have so many memories of here.

-Yeah?

-Oh, God.

-Good ones?

-So many...

No, they're all bad.

ROGER LAUGHS

THEY SING

Under Roger Burnell's leadership,

Rob's new school put on an annual show at the Porthcawl Pavilion.

I always remember when I went with my mum and met with the headmaster

when we were changing schools and he said...

AS THE HEADMASTER: "Well, we have a very good drama department here."

-Mr Ebsworth.

-I think it was Mr Ebsworth. He said...

And we're not Nelson Mandela, it sounds like it might be him.

It was not Nelson Mandela.

And he said, "We're putting on West Side Story this year."

NORMALLY: And I thought, "Oh, wow!"

And I came along and most of the parts were already gone

which I thought was a little foolish on your part but...

So I auditioned and I got to play one of the Jets.

-I had one line, I think, which was, "It hurts! It hurts!"

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Yeah?

-The Snowboy or something.

-Snowboy, yeah.

-Yeah, that's it.

I'm doing West Side Story here next February strangely enough.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah. Good if you could come, if you're available.

I would love to come

because I would like to critique the boy playing Snowboy.

I would like to pull him to pieces.

"You, boy, what are you doing? What are you doing?"

Well, I pity the boy that has to play that part in my shadow.

Rob was not the only rising star at the school.

Ruth Jones, who would later find fame as co-writer

and star of Gavin And Stacey, was a contemporary of Rob's.

-I remember thinking, "Oh, he's very good at acting."

-Really?

-I did!

-Just by saying, "It hurts! It hurts!"?

-Yeah.

-Good Lord.

-I did.

And you said, "In 25 years,

-"I will cast him in my award-winning, cultural phenomenal sitcom."

-Yes.

-You thought that then.

-Those exact words, I thought.

I'm glad you did.

How's the arrangements coming along?

It's got to the point now where I'm inviting people

-I know for a fact she doesn't even like.

-Not Jean.

Oh, Bryn.

'The next year was Sweet Charity and I got the lead role in it.'

Mwah-mwah!

And the year after that was Guys And Dolls,

I got the lead role in that. Mm-hm!

'And the year after that was Carousel, I was the lead in that

'and I loved it.'

# And I never knew how to get money

# But I'll try, by God, I'll try! #

I remember standing here singing the Soliloquy and that huge note

at the end and wanting to hold that note as long as I could.

# Or die! #

And then you go, "Yeah!" And then you'd walk off there, light-headed

because I'd held the note so long but you didn't want to let it go

but I vividly remember that, about the walking off,

feeling like Elvis and being light-headed.

# You can't deny me... #

As an early fan of Rob's singing,

Ruth Jones made regular use of Rob's enthusiasm,

giving Uncle Bryn plenty of opportunities

to get up and belt out a song.

That singing voice, well, it still is brilliant,

even back then you were like, "How on earth does he do it?"

# I wonder what he'll think of me... #

The one thing I do remember is playing lead roles here

and then auditioning for the National Youth Theatre of Wales,

got into the National Youth Theatre of Wales

and that was a bit of a rude awakening

because I played tiny, tiny roles,

you know, which I wasn't happy about.

-Not appreciated?

-Not appreciated.

-No.

And then there were other people playing the meaty roles

and I was thinking, "Well, that should be me." And that...

But that's, in a way, you know,

-is good preparation for the realities of life in the business.

-Absolutely.

At the National Youth Theatre of Wales,

Rob formed a life long friendship with actor Steve Speirs.

It was really interesting, the Youth Theatre, because we were,

I suppose, sort of, more...

I don't know if we were sort of emotionally or sexually more stunted

than the other young 16 or 17-year-olds

but when they were all, sort of, going out with girls

and spent their times in dormitories,

sort of, playing the guitar,

Rob and I were going off to see, like, Star Trek films

and looking through his catalogue of Sylvester Stallone

so we must've come across as a couple of weirdos, actually.

See, now when I was a boy, I didn't drink alcohol.

I didn't drink alcohol until I was 35

and I came to your birthday party in Merthyr.

-Which one was it?

-I was 18.

-Your 18th.

I'd never drunk in my life and somebody, that night...

-Oh, yeah, I forgot about this!

-..spiked my drink.

"I'll have a Coke!" You used to say, always, "I'll have a Coke."

So I decided it would be quite good to put a load of vodka in it

and the night was getting better and better for you, wasn't it?

I do remember singing in the streets going back to your house.

-Yeah, it was fantastic. Yeah, you came to stay at my mother's.

-Yeah.

We had everybody there at my mother's,

people lying on tea towels, anything at all. "Have that, go to sleep."

-And... Yeah, were you ill that night?

-Yes!

Of course I was ill! I'd never drunk before.

AS STEVE SPEIRS: "Were you ill that night? Were you ill?"

-NORMALLY: Yes!

-It might have something to do with

that half a bottle of vodka I'd snuck in his Coke.

But I do remember you saying, "I'm having a great night!"

At the age of 19,

Rob went on to win a place at the Welsh College of Music & Drama.

It was in 1984, I came here

and I was only coming from Baglan, which is only about...

I'm going to say 30 miles, it's something like that

so that's not far, you know,

but it was... I felt it was a big deal coming to Cardiff.

Rob has been invited back to the college

to talk to the current students.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Please, that's...

No, that's very generous.

I think it'll be about 20 minutes before you realise

quite how generous it was.

I auditioned for Rada, Central and the Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Rada and Central were in London, the Welsh College is in Cardiff

and I didn't get into Rada and I didn't get into Central

but I got into Cardiff. And when I auditioned for Cardiff

I felt far more at home there, you know.

Who has a question?

Yes, you.

Is there a piece of advice that you've received that's been helpful

for you to go back to over the course of your career?

Take a leaf from the Americans.

I mean, I've just been in America and those actors, my God,

they take it seriously. They're so professional.

IN AMERICAN ACCENT: If they're going for a casting,

they've learned it, you know.

NORMALLY: And we tend to go in, "You don't mind if I read, do you?

"No, I tell you again, Roger,

"he's been having an affair with your wife and you don't know it.

"Well, you may well feel that, Roger, but I..."

"Sorry.

"You may well feel that, Roger..." You know, the Americans -

IN AMERICAN ACCENT: "I don't care, Roger, he's having an affair

"with your wife and I'm telling it to you right now. Oh, really?!"

NORMALLY: And they'll dress like the part and they'll do it.

Get a little bit of that going on, make it easier for the people.

Having said that, I've never got a single thing I've auditioned for.

So I'm maybe not the man to ask.

APPLAUSE

-RUTH JONES:

-I always sort of thought of Rob as the person

that was going to make it

and he was going to actually become professional

and, of course, that is what happened

because he went to drama school

and then whilst he was at drama school, he got a job at the BBC.

It's 7.30 on a cold, damp night here in Usk.

We're at Cliff Richard's second home, Savva's nightclub,

where, tonight, it's the final of the karaoke championships.

Already inside the club they're limbering up,

flexing those vocal cords.

Let's go inside and get a piece of the action.

# Spend a little time with me! #

We may find tonight a new Rick Astley or Samantha Fox.

What a frightening thought.

Of course I was then, like, so in awe of this,

that Rob had got a job at BBC Wales, it was like, "Oh, my God!"

I remember going back to the college with a leather jacket

that I'd bought and I remember one of the tutors there looking at me

and saying in a not entirely approving way,

"Yes, you look very successful."

And I thought, "Ooh."

And I also remember my last ever tutorial at the Welsh college,

they said, "We worry you're drifting towards light entertainment."

How right they were.

INVASION THEME PLAYS

Over the course of six years,

Rob would present a variety of TV and radio shows for BBC Wales.

Good evening and welcome.

My name's Rob Jones, welcome to the only game show

on television in which we ask you to invade your country.

APPLAUSE

During this period, Rob discovered another Rob Jones

already making his way in showbiz and changed his name to Rob Brydon.

Isn't it a nice house, eh?

It's like one of those ones you see in the magazines.

'Great to see you.'

Shortly after, he was teamed up with Alan Thompson

to present the late-night radio show, Rave.

'The Love Minute here on Rave.

'If you've had a personal tragedy in your life

'or parted from a loved one recently, then I'd love to hear about it.'

Look at those two good-looking guys there,

they look like a sort of version of Haircut 100 meets Wham!

So that's what we look like in 1991.

We had about 3,000 of these printed up, the BBC did,

which we used to sign because the show was very popular

and send them out. But when it came back from the printers,

if you notice, my name is actually above Rob Brydon's name.

Rob wasn't happy about this, he won't mind me saying this,

he wasn't amused and, in fact, the line,

"I'm not having anything to do with THOSE" springs to mind.

Rob used the late-night show to explore a range

of improvised comic characters, quickly winning a cult following.

The Rave stuff, I didn't realise it

but it was sort of breeding ground or testing ground for stuff

because just thinking that a particular voice was funny like...

AS JEREMIAH FANNY: ..Jeremiah Fanny talking like that,

I just thought that in itself was funny.

Nothing more than that, just, you know,

and then him being in the Fine Fanny Four.

NORMALLY: Well, fanny is a funny word.

'Because, of course, you toured with Marley, didn't you?'

AS JEREMIAH FANNY: 'I toured with Ron Marley, that's right.

'No, he wasn't a singer, he had a performing dog act.

'Ron Marley and his Poodles and they were very big at the festivals,

'the Bristol Kite Festival, very big...'

After two years, Rave came to an abrupt end,

obliging Rob to leave BBC Wales and make his move to London,

in search of fame and fortune.

MUSIC: Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson

# Everybody's talkin' at me

# I don't hear a word they're saying... #

London was always where I wanted to be so it was always a question,

"Well, how do I get there?" And I was helped on my way

by being let go of by Radio Wales at the BBC there.

Erm...

And I slowly, sort of, started to pick up TV presenting jobs up here

on The Shopping Channel, which was never a great goal of mine.

-Rob.

-Yes.

-You know the Satellite Shop?

-Yeah.

-Well, you know they sell all those different products?

-Yeah.

Well, how many of those wonderful products can you remember?

Well, there's cycle rowers, diamond rings, washer/dryers...

While Rob was looking for his big acting break,

his financial fortunes seemed to turn when he and Steve Speirs

were cast in a series of commercials for a chocolate bar.

We got cast in a Toffee Crisp commercial.

And we were a double act sort of thing in it

and we were really excited, we filmed in Pinewood.

Well, filmed at Pinewood, that was a thrill

-because the Bond movies are made there.

-Yep.

Hellooo.

-I've taken over your mind.

-Oh!

-We fish are superior beings.

-Oh!

You must give me your Toffee Crisp.

Oh!

Executives later binned the campaign

and these adverts never made it onto TV...

..until now.

I've warned you before about that goldfish.

'These adverts were going to change our lives financially.'

'Yeah, and we were going to get paid a lot of money for it.'

You took out a loan on the strength of it, didn't you?

I went into the bank in Treharris, South Wales and I went

and said to the bloke, I just said, "Any chance of five grand?

"I've just had a big commercial." And he went, "Yeah, course, mate.

"No problem whatsoever." I've never recovered from it.

-And then we did the ads and then it all went very quiet.

-And I blame you.

-Why?

-Well, I think, you know, why didn't they come out?

One of us must've been no good.

And I thought I was pretty good.

Although struggling to get credible acting roles,

Rob found he was able to use his vocal talents to support himself

and his growing family with plenty of well-paid voiceover work.

Soho, where we are now, is where all the voiceovers happen

and I always thought,

"Well, I can do stuff with my voice, this is where it's all happening."

And for a few years, this, all around here,

was like a golden square mile

because you would literally go from one voiceover to another,

sometimes four or five a day.

For a while, it really sated my creative desires, you know,

cos I couldn't get acting work, nothing of any note, you know.

I think when you're trying to get ahead,

-I think you have a very strange idea of how it might happen.

-Yeah.

I wrote to Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

when I heard they were casting that Kevin Costner movie, with my CV.

I was a shopping channel presenter at the time.

I mean, in what alternate universe are the makers

of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves going to cast a man who's...?

"Right, hang on, never mind about those CVs,

"I know he's done lots of films.

"What about this guy from the shopping channel? Can we...?

-"Put him at the top of the list."

-But I sent it off, you know...

And you did, you got a thing in, well after that though, wasn't it?

-I ended up in a film called First Knight with Richard Gere.

-That's it.

'I remember that and how excited you were about that.'

-We went to the cinema to see it together.

-Exactly, we went together.

And we sat down, we went with our partners, it was exciting.

Richard Gere, Sean Connery - they weren't our partners.

We went with our partners and we sat there and I remember it coming on

and my scene is at the very beginning and I was thinking, "This is it.

"This is the beginning of my Hollywood career."

Go on. Yes!

I stank the place out and I kind of went...

oh... And I couldn't wait to leave.

I made a big fuss about being there and once I saw his work

I moved a few aisles along.

I said, "It's a fucking embarrassment, quite frankly."

I was terrible. It was terrible, and I don't think I was in another film

after that for a long time.

But that was the main thing, there was so much impetus,

there was so much...

desire to get somewhere cos I was heading to 35 -

I was heading to my mid-30s and I hadn't made it.

You know, I...

And I thought that I would have done.

And people said always said I was good, they always encouraged me.

I thought, "Why is it not happening?" You know, so...

I was...

"Let me show you what I can do."

Rob sent me this videotape, a showreel. I watched it

and there was some bits that were OK

and then there some bits that were very, very good.

And one of the bits that was very good

was him being this taxi driver, talking directly to the camera.

Mrs Thompson.

Going to see her boy, Alan. He's a cabbie. Got admitted last night.

Assaulted by two blokes he picked up.

At a vegetarian restaurant.

I went in to the BBC

with my, you know, heavyweight credentials...

and banged my fists on the table

and said, "You need to give this guy a series." And they, uh...

They went for it.

OK, where am I going to?

Marion and Geoff told the tale of naive but optimistic Keith Barret

whose wife, Marion, left him for her lover, Geoff,

taking their two children with her.

What a month.

Doctors, lawyers, divorce.

Then I get a call at the house from the DSS.

"We want to see you." I troop down there. They say,

"Mr Barret,

"you've been working, you've been doing a job, earning a wage."

I said, "I've been TRYING to earn a wage.

"But I haven't had a single fare."

They didn't believe - what's going on here? - they didn't believe me.

So I took them down to the cab office.

They nearly jumped out of their skin.

They didn't know what had happened to me, they'd been trying to contact me.

I had the radio on the wrong channel.

I loved it because it was funny and poignant and moving.

And I was a little bit envious of it because the stuff I'd been doing

up to that point had been funny but not really moving.

It's not that the kids think of Geoff as their father, because they don't.

They think of him... as an uncle.

Special uncle. A new uncle.

I like him. If you like someone, you like him, you can't help it.

I mean, I actually said to him, "I don't feel like I've lost a wife,

"I feel like I've gained a friend."

I would never have met Geoff if Marion hadn't left me.

Not a chance of it. We're in different worlds.

He's in pharmaceuticals, I'm in cars.

Literally, I'm in the car.

I bear you no ill, sir.

I bear you no ill.

I first really was totally hypnotised by Rob

in Marion And Geoff and I thought that was really

a deep, deep performance.

Wonderfully apparently throw-away

but it was...really an incredibly impressive piece of work, I thought.

And I was worried that it might be too much - that it was too violent.

But like his mother says, you know,

"He's a very violent child."

It wasn't only Marion And Geoff that was receiving critical acclaim.

After years of slow and stilted progress,

Rob suddenly found his career was gathering momentum.

I had a 15 or 16 week run of me being on the television.

Because Marion And Geoff were ten episodes, ten minutes each.

And then before that I had finished, Human Remains started.

The darkly comic series documented the relationships

of six different couples, all played by Rob and Julia Davis.

She was mowed down three nights before her birthday.

We've a hunch it was a neighbour. Bob Crawfis.

Ginger hair, dressed like a cat, but...

-he denies it.

-Claims he was stationary. Says that Val ran at him.

Says it was a suicide attempt.

-She was thrown 20 feet.

-He says she was in training.

I mean, some people do plan their suicides very meticulously.

Still, we get a carers allowance for her, so...

We do, it's a nice touch and we think it's what Val would want...

If she were able to speak...

..we go out once a month for a film and a meal.

We used to actually bring little titbits back for her,

little doggy bag back from the restaurant.

But there's only so much you can administer intravenously

-from a typical trattoria menu.

-Mm. It's a shame.

There's some smashing dishes out there.

She seems happy, though.

And we all like a lie-in.

With Human Remains I remember these characters just poured out

cos I had 30-something years of wanting an opportunity like this.

I want it white, right? I want this to be up higher and tighter,

so we're seeing the top of her legs, like that, right?

It's a short dress he wants.

Here, now, right - top of the tit visible right? Here...

-long hat over the front of the face.

-The veil?

-Long hat.

'I loved the process of creating'

these characters.

And I do sort of feel that I kind of used up all my archetypes in there.

There were six characters in Human remains.

And nowadays when I try to come up with something it tends to start

a bit like one of the Human Remains characters cos there's only so many

you can come up, or so many attitudes you can come up with.

And they were very varied, the Human Remains, you know, there was

some very different types in there.

Sadly, Vicar David cannot be with us this evening.

-However he does send his very special prayers.

-Amen.

Particularly to Joyce whose husband, Brian,

lost his short battle to cancer this weekend,

-when he was snatched by Satan's claws.

-Satan won.

Satan won.

Satan 1-0 Brian. There'll be no rematch, take it from me.

He has a capacity to reveal a darker side...

a perfectly normal one, we all have it, it's just he seems to have

an access to it that, again,

I think's part of the dark Welsh part of him.

My first marriage was...

It was...

in a bad place and was...

was ending. On the one hand I was going to the British Comedy Awards,

the South Bank Show Awards, all these things - winning awards -

everything was wonderful but at the other side it was awful.

So it was upsetting, really.

With moments of, you know...

egotistical happiness.

With two critically acclaimed series to his name, doors were now opening.

When he was cast in the comedy drama Cruise Of The Gods,

Rob found himself among people who were

all on the verge of becoming household names.

We were filming on this cruise ship

and the cruise ship actually hit the ground coming out of port,

and a big hole appeared in the hull.

Which meant we had to get off that boat and on to another boat

and there weren't enough rooms to go round.

And me and Rob elected to share a room.

And so we got to know each other very, very well, very, very quickly.

We were both going through some things in our personal lives

and we were both sort of shoulders to cry on for each other,

but also, we just laughed a lot together.

And...he used to do funny things like,

if he'd get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom

and I heard him,

I would just start going, "Oh, my, Rob! Oh, my, Rob!"

just to make him laugh.

And so it was a very, very intimate friendship

based a lot on making each other laugh.

And he is one of the funniest people you could ever meet.

Britain, Britain, Britain.

Shortly after Cruise Of The Gods, David Walliams called upon Rob

to advise as script editor on the massive hit Little Britain.

The first series had, you know, become this really big success

and you're really in danger of...

..well, not listening to people any more.

So, someone like Rob, he's very sensible, he's a little bit older -

he is, in fact, 50 years old - and he'd be very, very honest with us.

And he does it in such a way that you'd never, ever be offended

if he said he didn't find something funny.

At Hill Grange Health Spa,

former Miss Botswana Desiree DeVere is relaxing

after her fried onion foot scrub.

Oh! Hasn't that Victoria Beckham put on weight? She looks grotesque.

Rob moved in front of the camera in the third series,

playing Roman, Bubble DeVere's ex-husband.

-..Because your skin is quite sensitive.

-Yeah, that's lovely.

It's very soothing.

They were very, very hard shoots, those Bubble sketches,

and me and Matt both had to get up at about 3am

and have the prosthetics put on for about four or five hours.

Then we'd have to film for 11 or 12 hours

and then it would take a couple of hours to get off.

So, we were in quite low moods,

because we were hot, we were tired and we had a lot to do.

Do I have to pay extra for this?

No, no. It's all part of the service.

Ooh!

And Rob, in the middle of it, was fantastic,

because he just kept our spirits up the whole time

by being hilarious, by being a brilliant actor,

by giving us great ideas.

So, I've always felt very, very lucky to work with him.

-Bubby! What are you doing, bubby?

-Hello, darling.

-It's not what it looks like.

-Get off him, you Jezebel.

Now, bubby, I will go.

Hope I haven't spoiled your honeymoon, darlings.

SHE CACKLES

How could you do this to me, bubby, with your ex-wife?

-I was tricked into it. I'm completely innocent.

-Is that what you want?

-You want to get back with that harlot?

-No, no, honestly.

I-I hated every minute of it.

SHE SPLUTTERS

Naughty!

After years of struggle,

Rob Brydon was finally gaining the recognition he desired,

but now felt a need to carefully consider the roles offered to him.

When his old friend Ruth Jones approached him

to play the part of Uncle Bryn in Gavin And Stacey,

he was initially unsure.

Ruth and James wrote it for me and I read it.

And I thought it was really good.

But I wasn't going to do it, because I thought,

"Oh, you know, I'm going to be doing another Welsh character."

Cos Bryn is not a million miles away from Keith.

It's a different character, but it's not a million miles away, you know.

There I was, having a bath, when the phone goes, it's Glenda.

She says, "Gav's mum and dad have pulled up outside Gwen's."

I said, "Don't be daft, Glenda." But lo and behold,

she was right and there you are.

-Here we are.

-Here we are.

-Wait there, I'll get dressed. I'm naked.

This is when, you know, I was still thinking, "What will people think?"

as opposed to just doing what I wanted to do, you know.

I mean, you know, thank God I DID do it.

Ooh!

-Ever seen one of these?

-What?

No film in there. Digital.

One of the first speeches that we wrote, before it became a script,

when we were just kind of finding the characters,

ended up in episode six of the first series, in the wedding,

which was the digital camera speech.

Oh! Digital, it is, you see?

There's no film. Look. I take that, it's a picture of my hand.

I don't want that, delete it.

I've got night mode.

Black and white. Use that later, probably, for effect.

Sepia. "Seepia", "sepia" - I don't know how you say it.

Got a feeling it's faulty.

Just makes everything go brown.

# Baby, when I met you There was peace unknown

# I set out to get you... #

Hailed as essential viewing and the best sitcom of its decade,

Gavin And Stacey propelled Rob and Ruth

firmly into the mainstream and into the nation's hearts.

While performing a duet at a barn dance in the second series,

little did the pair from Porthcawl realise where it would lead to.

When it came to us a few years later

that Comic Relief wanted to do something

that was set in Gavin And Stacey world,

it just seemed like the obvious choice, really.

And...what an amazing experience.

We basically decided to go big and said,

"Can we go and film this in Vegas?"

and to see if Tom Jones will do it.

And it was that thing of reach for the stars

and you might get the moon kind of thing.

And, weirdly, it all worked out.

What's occurring, pussycat?

I will never forget...

One of my best, best memories ever in my life and career

is when Rob and I hear this incredible voice and we look up

and Tom Jones is just walking towards us through the crowds.

# Sail away with me...

# Sail away with me

-# Islands in the stream

-Islands in the stream

-# That is what we are

-That is what we are

# No-one in between... #

Both of us just went completely cold,

goose bumped and filled up, actually.

We got quite emotional, because, you know, you think about it,

it's like, essentially, two kids from Porthcawl Comp

in Las Vegas,

singing what was to become a number-one hit with Tom Jones.

And...

it was a really special moment, and beautiful to share it with Rob.

Singing with Rob and Ruth on Islands In The Stream,

singing with Ruth was wonderful.

With Rob, ehhhh.

I don't know.

-Rob.

-How are you doing?

Good to see you. Have a seat. Tom Jones.

AS ELVIS: I'm going to do one of my very early songs, Tom...

NORMAL VOICE: Please don't laugh.

AS ELVIS: ..when I was with Sun Records...

-NORMAL VOICE: What about that?

-Sounds like him.

-Thank you. And the looks?

-No.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

All right.

-# Well, that's all right, Mama... #

-Yeah.

# That's all right for you

# That's all right, Mama Just any way you do

# That's all right... #

'I've loved Tom Jones for as long as I can remember,

'and that really is the case.

'I mean, long before he sort of, you might say, came into fashion again.'

# Well, Mama, she done told me

# Papa done told me, too... #

You know, there's that saying, don't meet your heroes,

but singing with Tom Jones, when he came on my chat show

and we did a thing where I played the guitar

and my dad and my brother were in the audience, I mean, that's...

that's brilliant.

# ..Any way you do. #

Sir Tom Jones.

CHEERING

I think Rob has got a very good voice, actually.

He does Tom Jones very well. I mean...

if you closed your eyes

and put a bit of cotton wool in your ears and stuff,

you would actually think Tom might be in the room.

He has actually been infused with an essence of Tom Jones.

I think part of Tom Jones' spirit lives in Rob Brydon.

When I hear Rob do an impersonation of me, I don't believe it,

because he coughs and I don't.

HE COUGHS

He was at my wedding. He did...

Tom Jones didn't make the wedding in the end,

so Rob Brydon decided to sing Mama Told Me Not To Come

in Tom Jones' voice at the wedding,

with Ronnie Wood and Paul Weller playing on stage,

and Rob was being Tom.

And I think he enjoyed that for the day,

because, you know, he does like doing his Tom Jones impressions.

A lot.

AS TOM JONES: Oh!

From DJing on Radio Wales to hosting prime-time comedy shows,

the road to success may have been rocky for Rob,

but it wasn't without its lessons.

You've got to present confidence, otherwise the audience smell it.

Cos, you know, you'll be on a stage

and you'll say some things that are meant to be funny

and they won't get anything.

And I think if you're inexperienced, and you are me,

you would have panicked at that.

But nowadays, I'll just relax,

cos your natural instinct when that happens

is to speed up and tense up,

and then if the audience sense that,

they tense up and they don't have any faith in you.

So, now I'll smile and go even slower.

And I think that a percentage of the audience looks at you and goes,

"Well, I don't think he's very funny, but he seems very relaxed,

"so maybe it's me.

"Maybe I just don't realise he's funny."

Home birth is different, and when a child is born this way,

the first thing to...

# When a child is born. #

I think you fluctuate between moments of confidence

and moments of insecurity.

I think that the underlying thing is insecurity.

And I think you learn...

You develop ways to deal with it.

I've had times when I've been on stage

and in my head at the back, I'm going,

"What? What? You know, oh, my God, look at all those people."

Confidence is everything.

You know, if I lose my confidence, I can't pay the bills.

You know, it's how I look at it.

So, when I sense insecurity,

in relation to my work, coming in,

I get angry with it and I tell it to go away.

I really do.

One area in which Rob has never lacked confidence is voice work.

From schooldays to the present day,

he has always been able to bend his vocal cords

around impressions, archetypes and characters.

It is something that still provides the bedrock of his work.

I've always been completely secure with my voice, yeah. Far more...

You know, more than my looks or acting ability.

A gruffalo?

What's a gruffalo?

Following on from his role as the Snake in the star-studded

Gruffalo animations, Rob has been asked to voice some

of the characters for a new film based on the popular Stick Man book.

Stick Man? Oh, Stick Man!

Beware of the swan!

HE CLEARS THROAT

Stick Man! Oh, Stick Man!

Beware of the swan!

The problem is that he is actually not helping Stick Man once

Stick Man gets woven into the nest

so it's sort of a bit like with the snail,

"I really want to help you but I'm too late, I'm too late."

The director, who is lovely chap, was talking about the motivation

of these characters and you could say,

"Well, you know, it's a story about a man who is a stick, you know,

"don't read too much into it,"

but I buy into that and it's part of the process.

The second "Oh, Stick Man" he's going to be like almost jumping

up and down so that you get that feeling of he's really trying

to attract his attention.

Stick Man! Oh, Stick Man! Beware of the swan.

On the surface, all you've got to think about

when you're voicing a character is the voice but you can often,

you know, you'll put a physicality into it.

HIGHER VOICE: The shape of your face, you know, can affect the...

If you want to do that sort of voice then you want to

change your face a little bit, a bit like that.

RESONANT VOICE: You know, the different ways

you...you...you can get different sounds coming from your voice,

STUFFED UP VOICE: Or if you want to put the voice right back there,

you could, or whatever you want to do. So you would...

NASAL VOICE: You might want to...

SCOUSE ACCENT: You might want to put it right up to the front, like that

and have that sort of sound coming out of your voice. You may want to...

DEEPER: Slightly...

I don't know why I'm doing Paul McCartney but, you know.

You just change your face and then...

GRUFF VOICE: I mean, different things sort of come out, you know...

There is a physicality to it and that will alter how you sound.

And, you know, you may want to sort of move yourself

as all that goes on as well.

OWN VOICE: So...

But, but, the face, you do that when you're doing commercials

and stuff, you smile.

I mean, it's sickening but, you know, if you talk with a smile,

it does sound different.

HE CHUCKLES

Keen to establish a bigger presence on television, in 2009, Rob became

the host of the long-running comedy panel show Would I Lie To You?

I had been worried in the past about, "Well, how am I going to be

"taken seriously as an actor if I'm also hosting a panel show?"

But then a few years ago I thought, "No, I'm just going to be me

"and I'm going to do what I do and all the things that I can do

"and I'll do them to the best of my ability."

Mr Rob Brydon!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Good evening and welcome to Would I Lie To You?,

The show where fabrication is the name of the game.

BUZZER

Oh, me. Right.

I used to put on a different voice on the telephone

and pretend to be my own agent.

LAUGHTER

-Let's have it, then.

-The voice?

-Imagine I've just rung up.

Hello, I'm the people that want to book Rob Brydon, yes.

How much would he cost?

His name... I used to call him Richard Knight.

ENGLISH ACCENT: And Richard used to talk like this, and he'd say,

"Listen, I'd love to help you out but, at that price, we're really

"not going to make much movement."

I once did a charity gig and...

It's a lie, he's never done a charity gig.

LAUGHTER

..I got money for it because Richard said,

"Listen, Rob's an angel and if he knew I was doing this,

"he'd never forgive me, but I've got to get a bit of money otherwise

"I wouldn't be doing my job."

-Did you have a real agent at the time?

-No.

So how many phone numbers...?

Do you have a separate phone number for your fake agent?

I used to work at the BBC in Cardiff.

I was on the radio, used to be a DJ, and if they got through to

the office I would then the phone back under the guise.

When it came to important meetings, did you have to,

like, take a disguise and sit there and go,

"Rob's in the toilet at the moment but when he gets back...

"I'll go and get him now."

-EXAGGERATED WELSH ACCENT:

-"Oh, I believe my agent said I could do it.

"I do all the voices!

"Ask me what it would be like if I was talking to Ronnie Corbett.

"Ask me! Or Tom Jones. I can do it.

"If you don't believe me, ask my agent. I'll go and get him."

When you decided this charade had to finish, did you take yourself

out to dinner and tell yourself you were letting yourself go?

-KEVIN BRIDGES:

-Did you sign a contract?

Right, it's time to guess.

First of all, Lee

and those bastards.

What are you going to go for?

I would say true.

-You think it's true?

-Yeah.

-You're saying it's true.

-In the words of Rob Brydon...

-AS ROB:

-I think that's true.

You're saying it's true. David and these arses,

what do you say?

-I think it's...

-True.

-Yeah, I think it's true.

Well, let me buck the trend by telling you...

it's true.

There are some people who would not touch a panel game cos it would

affect them...

Or some people just can't do it, that's the real truth.

It's not everyone's forte.

But some people who could do it would still turn it down

because they would feel it might present them as being too

light for other things, like movies or serious acting roles.

Rob seems happy to embrace that world of light entertainment

and the more serious stuff,

so fair play to him.

This is the sweatshirt that my wife and I put on together

when we are cosying up on a chilly evening.

We call it the cuddle jumper.

LAUGHTER

True!

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

When Rob got this job, if I'm going to be completely honest,

I thought it's going to be perhaps too many voices trying to battle

for position, and literally from day one, Rob's generosity was amazing.

He's quite happy to play the part of the host

rather than the butting-in comic.

But at the same time, he comes up with some brilliant stuff,

so he genuinely is like the perfect host for the show.

It's very divisive to say that. I'm not going to say whether Rob Brydon

is the best panel show host.

He is one of the very excellent ones.

One of the, you know...

He's top equal with everyone else I've worked with.

Before Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday in 2008,

David Beckham sent this message.

AS DAVID BECKHAM: Mr Mandela...

I'll do it nicely.

I'll do it as Sean Connery.

Do it as Ronnie Corbett or Terry Wogan.

LAUGHTER

I'm joking. Terry Wogan.

Do Frank Spencer.

LAUGHTER

The message went like this.

Rob, I think you're probably safest,

tell us first who it is and then we'll know...

LAUGHTER

I'm not going to say who it is.

I'll just say he's a bit of a tit, OK, and then you go with it.

AS DAVID MITCHELL: Mr Mandela, happy 90th birthday.

Sorry I can't be with you but I'm sure you'll have an amazing day.

'When he's doing me, I know he's doing me.

'But it doesn't sound the same as me,'

to me. You know, but also...

also everyone is then laughing at me.

"Ha-ha-ha, you're like that.

"Like he's doing, that's what you like."

So it's an awkward moment. But he doesn't do...

He does to Ronnie Corbett in front of Ronnie Corbett, I've seen that.

But there's more...

The country has so much more warmth towards Ronnie Corbett than

it does towards me that there's a different feeling in the room.

You have one of the most recognisable voices,

-I would say, in British cultural life.

-Oh, my God.

And I would say, Ron, that your voice...

AS RONNIE CORBETT: it's maturing like a fine, old whisky.

It's getting very deep.

And I think your voice could make anything sound good.

For me, the vowel sounds are quite important.

There's that sort of very assertive upper-class Edinburgh sort of...

Well, I think it is. So it's...

DEEP: Oh. Oh! Oh.

And there's a lot... It's become quite nasal.

Ron's old now so the voice has gone very, very deep.

He can do all those things, you know.

One... All that stretching out.

And then going quite quick. Very, very slow and then quite quick.

I don't think I've ever spent time with him

and he hasn't done Ronnie Corbett or Tom Jones.

These are the two standards he does.

He really can't help himself. It's almost like a kind of Tourette's.

It's almost like a wasted opportunity if he's spent any time

with you and not done those two impressions,

but they are really, really entertaining.

I've always impersonated people that I like

so it's a sort of form of affection, I think, with me.

So, you know, Ronnie Corbett and people make jokes, you know.

"He's been on for ten minutes, he hasn't done his Ronnie Corbett yet."

But I love Ronnie Corbett and I kind of enjoying doing him.

Rob's Ronnie Corbett impression became a staple of The Trip,

A semi-improvised series that saw Rob and Steve Coogan play

distorted versions of themselves.

AS RONNIE CORBETT: Not one of my repertoire.

Wow, that was the most...

obtuse segue into Ronnie Corbett.

I don't put him up there with Ron.

It's very lovely to hear it, actually,

cos, you know, I don't need to be there for that.

He's delivering me

impeccably without my presence, which is lovely.

I would adore driving around Italy...

'It's like you being there.

'It's so good,'

your presence is there, you know.

While I sit at home, there am I on The Trip.

Ronnie wasn't the only celebrity to be mimicked in the acerbic comedy.

-AS AL PACINO: Oh, bring it on! Pour it out!

-Would you like to taste?

Thank you, yes. My apologies for my colleague's behaviour.

My buddy will taste.

'We came to a gentlemen's agreement'

that we would be allowed to make fun of each other

and needle each other

and we weren't to take it personally.

Which is easier said than done.

'I have to say Rob took to it

'like a duck to water, he really did.'

AS MICHAEL PARKINSON: When we think about you,

-we think about the '90s, don't we?

-Yeah. What?

What a wonderful period that was!

We think Oasis, Blur,

you're smacked off your tits in a Central London hotel,

trying to get your life together.

But you've turned it around now. Tell us about your recovery.

Well, I'd rather not. I'd rather talk about my new film.

Cos you are still acting. I want that to come across for the viewers.

Yeah, I've done a lot of things. I've done some brand-new...

Always lovely to catch up with Steve Coogan.

Michael Buble has a new record that is about to come out.

It's called Christmas Is A Special Time For Me And It's A Special Time For You.

He's going to sing a track from it now

called Holly Leaves And Christmas Trees.

Michael Buble! Steve, please, for fuck's sake, don't talk over me.

Of course, there is some truth in what you see in The Trip.

We take a kernel of truth and we water it and nurture it

so it grows into this ugly, distorted, funny tree of...comedy.

I assume your Michael Caine would be something along the lines of...

-AS MICHAEL CAINE:

-My name's Michael Caine.

That is where you are so wrong

and you can look at my video for proof

because that's the very thing I don't do.

-I say that he used to talk like that...

-Do your Michael Caine.

-OK.

AS MICHAEL CAINE: I say Michael Caine used to talk like this in the 1960s, right?

But that has changed and I say that, over the years,

Michael's voice has come down several octaves... Let me finish.

And all of the cigars and the brandy... Don't, let me finish.

-Can now be heard in...

-OK.

-I'm not fucking finished.

In the back of the voice and the voice now... I'm still not finished.

-The voice...

-You're panicking. And I am about to...

Cos you look like you're about to bloody talk! Let me finish.

Right, so Michael Caine's voice now, in the Batman movies

and in Harry Brown, I can't go fast

because Michael Caine... talks...very...very...slowly.

I was known as an impressionist 25 years ago.

I did Spitting Image and all that stuff

and then Rob started to do impressions as part of his act,

but I'd always tried to get away from them

so they'd always been a slight curse to me, a slight sore point,

but what's funny in The Trip is when Rob starts doing impersonations.

Even though I loathe them as being lowbrow,

I can't resist joining in because the competitive side of me

wants to show that I'm as good at impressions as he is

and sometimes better.

Right, this is how Michael Caine speaks.

-AS MICHAEL CAINE:

-Michael Caine speaks through his nose, like that.

He gets very, very specific. It's very like that.

When he gets LOUDLY, it gets VERY LOUD INDEED. It gets very specific.

It's not quite nasal enough, the way you're doing it, all right?

You're not doing it the way he speaks.

You're not doing it with a kind of...

And you don't do the broken voice when he gets very emotional,

when he gets very emotional indeed. She was only 16 years old!

She was only 16...

You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

-IN HIS OWN VOICE:

-That's Michael Caine.

I think Rob's Michael Caine impression is good,

particularly the way he's shown Michael's voice

has aged over the years, but there's something just slightly disconnected

about it that just lacks a little bit of truth,

whereas I think when I do it,

I really live Michael Caine for that short period that I do the voice

and I think that's what makes mine just slightly better than his.

I think Rob would like to be a cross between Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

I think if he could be both of them,

the entire cast of those films, then he'd feel that's him.

But then, actually, I think then he'd think,

"Oh, I want to go and do something very, very serious and Daniel Day-Lewis-y

"where I rip my own eyes out and win an Oscar."

So I think he just likes, you know,

doing stuff, doing something that's interesting and a challenge

and that people might like.

And in 2012, Rob won plaudits as a serious actor,

playing a paralysed soldier in the drama The Best Of Men.

I can manage, I'm not a bloody basket case.

Wynne, mate, don't take it out on the nurses.

Don't you EVER tell me what to bloody do, Lord Snooty!

You've got it so easy. What do you know?

It's the perfectly balanced Welshman - a chip on each shoulder.

Well, better than being a spoilt brat who is sulking

cos he can't accept he's just like the rest of us -

a hopeless, helpless invalid for the rest of his life.

It sort of happened quite late for Rob.

Remember, he started out doing sort of shopping channel stuff,

but I think he wants to make sure he doesn't fade away.

He got his talons into as many things as possible

and I totally understand that.

One of the scariest things is to look at an old copy of the TV Times

or the Radio Times from the '70s or '80s or even the '90s

and go through the names.

I go, "Oh, my God, they were huge! Where are they?"

That's pretty terrifying!

Rob was first drawn to the world of entertainment

through school plays staged in the Porthcawl Pavilion.

Now, Rob is set to draw audiences in London's West End.

Following a successful first run in Belfast,

Rob is returning to the stage,

appearing at the Garrick Theatre alongside Kenneth Branagh,

for a new comedy, The Painkiller.

There's actually quite a bit of wing space here

when you think of our set,

which was a little clumpy in Belfast at the sides.

And then it's really quite deep there

and then this is sort of 700-770...

-What were we in Belfast?

-We were 400.

-Oh!

-Yes, so we've got a few more seats to fill.

I don't think I'd done a play for years, since the college days,

and there I was with you,

-but I wasn't as nervous as I thought because of the preparation.

-Yeah.

Cos I do a lot of things on the hoof in my career.

A lot of what I do is by the skin of the teeth, right?

You've got nerves of steel, my friend.

I'm always very glad that you're on stage with me

in case it all goes pear-shaped cos you'll be able to improvise

and I'll be able to have a moment to think.

You've got to get yourself out there, boy.

From acting to singing to stand-up comedy and hosting,

Rob has utilised his many talents to secure his place

as one of Britain's most popular entertainers -

a deliberate strategy that stemmed from an incident early in his career.

Ever since I was let go by Radio Wales,

that instilled in me

a need to have eggs in lots of baskets.

But I love doing what I do

and I think I can appreciate it cos it took so long and it was so hard

that I don't think I've ever lost a feeling of, "Isn't this great?"

# Well, that's all right, mama

# That's all right for you

# That's all right, mama

# Just anyway you do

# That's all right

# That's all right

# That's all right now, mama

# Anyway you do... #

I think this idea that I should be selling the ice creams

before the show as well, which you put in the contract, was a shock.

Yeah, but, you know, what I like about that,

I feel you're very much a man of the people.

I believe they love you, they love what you stand for

and I think a lot of them love your ice cream as well.

I like to APPEAR to be a man of the people

and that's the important distinction. It's the appearance.