The Daily Telegraph - Features
Rob Brydon serves up cosy tunes and old-school charm
His impressions of Tom Jones and Steve Coogan are archly mocking yet affectionate
Rob Brydon: A Night of Songs & Laughter
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
★★★★★
Midway through Rob Brydon’s performance full of cheery bonhomie and his favourite songs, he shares the final joke told to him by one of his heroes, the late Barry Cryer. “Uncle Baz”, as he was known to many, was one of the last links from the golden age of light entertainment to modern comedy, a generational bridge on panel shows.
Like Cryer, the Would I Lie To You? host has worked with some of the greats but never lost his fan’s appreciation, his impressions of the likes of Tom Jones and Steve Coogan archly mocking yet affectionate, his neediness to share a tiny portion of their spotlight reflecting the relatively long time it took him to enter their orbit.
With shades of Cryer’s avuncular persona, Brydon has kept himself in touch, with a “Sugar Daddy Ken” cameo in the Barbie movie no less, a winningly amusing interview podcast and darker television comedy fare thanks to his collaborations with Coogan and Julia Davis.
But he’s a showbiz lag of the old school, down to his proudly Welsh soul. This cosy night of music and chuckles culminates in him leading his eight-piece band through a karaoke-style medley of audience requests, such as Hey Jude, Bohemian Rhapsody and Sweet Caroline, before taking on the mantle of his Gavin and Stacey character Uncle Bryn, sharing a duet with the crowd on the popular sitcom’s spin-off version of Islands in the Stream. Of the hit comedy’s recently reported, then hastily denied return, he said not a jot.
The crooning and considerable musical backing does feel selfindulgent, even before Brydon perches atop his stool, acoustic guitar in hand.
But if his vocals aren’t first-rate, they are arrestingly versatile, swelling for a barnstorming performance of Elvis Presley’s
Hurt, sashaying slinkily through
Everybody Wants to Be a Cat and eschewing mawkishness on a straight, sentimental rendition of Billy Joel’s Lullaby, a tribute to his eldest daughter.
Very loosely tracing his career trajectory, from his first kiss on stage to the present day, Brydon smoothly moves between the impassioned lyricism of George Martin’s musical adaptation of
Under Milk Wood, to a daft mash-up of the Spiderman theme tune and Les Miserables’ Bring Him Home, his masterful chat with the crowd the lubricant that oils the night.
Like some sort of Ronnie Corbett-Bruce Forsyth composite, he perennially deprecates about his modest height while never missing the chance to tease his crowd about their advancing years, yet ventures beyond shtick to contrive an impressive, improvised tune about the various punters he’s engaged with.
Throughout, his excellent mimicry is seldom kept restrained, be it Dustin Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins or Ken Bruce. Or Richard Burton morphing into Kenneth Williams, while his “silverback” Jones lustily grunting his way through Delilah is an absolute delight. As an all-round entertainer, Brydon is very much in the throwback vein, at home if also a little insecure in the company of the best.
Touring until March 26; robbrydon.live