Brydon's enjoying thrills of stand-up life
AND I’ll tell you for why… In the great lexicon of comedy catchphrases this one uttered by Uncle Bryn throughout the remarkable rise of BBC's Gavin & Stacey may not carry the same weight as Catherine Tate’s ‘Am I bovered?’ or Jim Royle’s ‘My ar*e’, but there’s no doubt it too has burrowed its way into the British consciousness.
The lilting Barry Island/Billericay-based sitcom hit its greatest heights so far with the recent Christmas special, gleaning seven million viewers.
Now Rob Brydon, who plays the child-like, loveable uncle of ditzy Stacey, is enjoying the most prosperous phase of his career to date.
Buoyed by the success of his first ever stand-up tour as himself in his homeland, the Port Talbot-raised comedic actor will now brave the Seven Bridge and take his material to the rest of the British masses.
Ahead of his Palace Theatre shows, CityLife caught up with him to talk Welsh humour, RADA, Steve Coogan and achieving success later in life:
I have a picture of you sitting round the telly with the family watching the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special - was that the case?
Yes I watched it with my wife, which was lovely as I didn't get to the test screening. It was nice to be part of the Christmas schedule - for some reason I've always thought that was important - and a nice way to round of the year. I usually appear on the Big Fat Quiz at Christmas but I was touring this year, so it was good to have Gavin and Stacey.
You must be thrilled with the response and audience figures it got?
Yes it got 7m viewers I think. It great to watch how the show's grown. I guess you can me more subjective when you've worked on something that's successful, you can stand back and the whole fuss goes on around you.
There's obviously a few loose ends to be tied up - particularly Smithy and Nessa's (Gavin and Stacey’s respective best friends) relationship - what's the news on a third series?
Yes they left a couple of things nicely open. We're going to start recording the third series in the summer - so it's good to have that to look forward to.
How were you originally approached to appear in the show?
I was sent a script by Ruth (Jones) and I knew straight away it would work. I was just wary of not type-casting myself as this naive Welsh character actor after all the Keith Barrett and Marion and Geoff stuff though. But the script was so strong I just couldn't pass it up.
One of the most memorable scenes in the show's history is you and Smithy in the home gym - were you a bit wary of filming that?
That was great fun to film I can remember being in the bus going to the set and thinking about it, it was just one of those scenes that jumped off the page because it was so visual - a lot of people talk to me about that scene.
The running theme of what went on the fishing trip is great too...
Yes, it nice there's this underlying storyline that keeps cropping up, but I don't know what happened and I don't think Ruth or James (Cordon, co-writer who plays Smithy) do either. I hope it never gets revealed, as its great to have that tension. We did find out a little more at Christmas though - that is was cold, whatever the connotations of that are!
I saw the BBC programme about you trying to rediscover you Welshness by going on tour there - it gave a real insight in to how nerve-wracking stand-up comedy must be...
Yes it was really nerve-wracking as I'd only done character tours before and although they went really well - we played Manchester twice - that was all about escaping that and writing and performing material as myself. On that show I think I was so conscious of escaping those character actors that I went a little too far the other way and was a bit mean. So I reined it in a bit and blended in a bit of that gentle side and it worked better.
Gavin and Stacey had done great things for Wales’ image too...
Yes people have really connected with it haven't they. This gentle, lilting humour - it's the acceptable face of Wales I guess. The Scots and the Irish seem to always have lots of TV shows and stand-ups, but the Welsh haven't had much exposure. We have our own shows like Satellite City and High Hopes, which the BBC could commission across the network but don't. There's this great untapped mine, which perhaps now people will be more inclined to look into.
...And more Welsh comics too?
Yes, I mean I'm seen as the Welsh comic I guess and for a long time apart from Max Boyce who was massive everywhere in the ‘70s there hasn't really been anyone in the way there was in Scotland and Ireland. Now thanks to people like Rhod Gilbert and Noel James, we're making good progress. There's a great tradition of performers from Port Talbot where I'm from too - Michael Sheen, Anthony Hopkins, Richard Burton - I'm not putting myself in Hopkins and Burton's league, but I think I'd run Sheen close!
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You toured Wales again last autumn, pleased with how the material went down?
I was pleased with it. I'm trying to make a name as a proper stand-up, I think I can become a really, good one - I hope I can. I just need to keep working, I want to be more conversational - a proper stand-up and I was pleased with how that tour progressed, which was really satisfying.
At the end of the run - I guess stand-up must have got under your skin?
Oh it did. I think you need to do a long run for it to work properly. That was you can mould and change your act and add little bits in, take little bits out each night until your happy with it - iron out the bumps. You have certainly tent poles which you build the set around but there's bit you can play with. For example there's a joke in the show built around my son, who had a home birth. Now it's mainly a true story, but with a few fantastical bits and there's a line I was forcing a bit, but when I said it as a throwaway line one night it got a big laugh - that was tremendously rewarding.
You started out doing impressions, which was your best one as a kid?
There was a Welsh comic when I was kid who had his own TV show called Ryan Davies and I used to copy him. I remember going to see him in panto in Swansea and just crying with laughter, it's a really vivid memory. I used to do Kermit the Frog and Bert and Ernie (proceeds to do uncanny impression), plus people like the Fonz and Elvis.
You auditioned for RADA too didn't you - how big a blow was that not getting in?
As soon as I turned up really I knew I wouldn't get in. I just felt uncomfortable. It's funny, speaking to Steve Coogan years later and he said the same. He said he arrived and there were students in long coats looking like Byron, it was another world to where we came from. Saying that though Sheen got in - he's a proper actor though I guess, where's as I do a bit of everything.
You left the Royal Welsh College to join Radio Wales - was there much opposition from your parents.
Not at all, they were tremendously supportive. From a young age I always felt I was talented and could be successful, and people around me kept telling me or my parents so too - it was “Robert's good isn't he?”.
Was there a time when you doubted it?
Yes just before I got the part in Marion and Geoff. I'd always worked and was very really short of money. I did radio shows in Wales and presented on Sky and on shopping channels, plus I did voice over work, where I earned a fortune - but for a while there the big break never came. I didn't want to have small parts in The Bill and all the parts I was offered had geek before them, these geeky little roles that were never going to get me where I wanted to be. I used to watch the Comedy Awards and it seemed like another world.
You also starred in Cock and Bull Story - how was working with Steve Coogan?
It was great to work with Steve and Michael (Winterbottom). I've always had a tremendous affinity with Steve, we're only a few months apart in age and it was good to work on such an interesting project together. I know I'm showing my age here, but it was a lovely job all round really, because we stayed in these lovely cottages in Norfolk and it was a really pleasant way to work.
Rob Brydon plays the Opera House on Thursday, September 17. £17.50. Call 0870 401 9000.
Published: Thu, 14 May, 2009
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