Funny man recalls tougher times
Rob Brydon confesses that the memory of his first stand-up gig more than two decades ago still sends a shiver down his spine.
The charismatic Welsh comedian recalls that, ‘‘I was performing at a notoriously tough London venue called Up The Creek. It didn’t go well.
‘‘As soon as the audience realised I was from Wales, the inevitable happened. It started with one sheep noise and within a minute everyone was doing it. It was like Spartacus: ‘I’m Baatacus!’ ‘No, I’m Baa-tacus!’ ‘‘
Sadly, things did not improve for Brydon when, desperate for any work in showbiz, he took a job as a presenter on a shopping channel.
He recollects that, ‘‘We had to sell things in a studio that was so hot our make-up would melt under the lights. I still remember that very distinctive smell.
‘‘On another occasion, I was demonstrating a hover mower and saying how brilliantly made it was. At that moment, I unclipped the main bolt and heard the producer in my earpiece scream, ‘No!’ as 12 different components fell out of the mower and crashed to the ground.
‘‘I didn’t feel much validation in that job.’’
But Brydon did not remain in shopping channel hell for long.
Before you could say, ‘‘Moneyback guarantee’’, he had been catapulted from selling hover mowers on cable TV into the big time with starring roles in comedy shows such as Marion And Geoff, Gavin & Stacey, Would I Lie To You? and The Trip.
Now Brydon has been given the ultimate celebrity status symbol – a one-hour special in the company of Bear Grylls. In Bear’s Mission With Rob Brydon, screening on Choice TV, the comedian has to learn survival skills in the wildest part of Wales. He makes for a highly entertaining travel companion.
Venturing into remotest Snowdonia with Grylls as his guide, Brydon goes way outside his comfort zone as he indulges in such acts of derring-do as leaping out of a helicopter into an icy lake, abseiling into a sinkhole, spending a freezing night in a derelict miner’s cottage, and undertaking an escape climb up a near-vertical mineshaft.
The comedian is also obliged to rescue a sheep trapped in a giant sinkhole.
Before embarking on the wilderness challenge, Brydon acknowledges pre-match nerves.
‘‘This is reminding me of when I was six,’’ Brydon, 52, laughs.
‘‘I joined the Cubs for a week, and I left because it was too rough. There is a fear of bottling it. Still, if I have to die anywhere, it’s Wales.’’
During the mission, Brydon speaks candidly to Grylls about how the many reverses he suffered early on in his career nearly persuaded him to quit comedy altogether.
The father-of-five opens up to Grylls, confiding in him that, ‘‘I’m always telling my kids about my failures and embarrassments – that’s a big thing. I took years to break through in comedy. I was 35.
‘‘I remember when I was trying to get commercial work. I sent my photo in to this guy that cast commercials. I walked into the office and he looked at me and he went, ‘Ooh dear, I didn’t realise your skin was quite so bad. It doesn’t really come across in the photograph’.
‘‘Almost all actors suffer incredible knockbacks. They have to keep their self-belief.’’
Despite all the blows, Brydon managed to hold on to his selfesteem. Now he displays an admirable sense of perspective about the world of showbiz.
He muses that, ‘‘I’ve discovered that the greatest happiness is not winning awards, or someone writing something nice about you, or audiences cheering – as lovely as that is. It’s a big dinner round a table with the people you love.’’
However, the droves of Gavin & Stacey fans around the world will doubtless be disappointed to learn that Brydon’s plans do not include a movie spin-off of the widely adored sitcom.
The comedian, who played the hilarious Uncle Bryn in that show, thinks that, ‘‘A movie of Gavin & Stacey is unlikely. My view is that we should let it go. People still love it and we wouldn’t want to risk spoiling that. They talk about it as if it’s still on now. I’d leave it be.’’
As he looks back on his life, Brydon is still keen to emphasise the hard times. He says his story is about, ‘‘My struggle and keeping going in the face of failure. People relate to that far more. People can’t identify with me boasting, ‘And then I said to Rod Stewart . . . ’
‘‘There is far more drama in stories about me getting up on stage and being baa’ed with sheep noises.’’
Bear’s Mission With Rob Brydon, Choice TV, Sunday, April 8