We play it more like a married couple
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are back for another foodie-themed road trip, this time eating and bickering their way through Spain – writes
NOW the clocks have gone forward, thoughts turn to summer getaways, so it’s the perfect time to embark on a Spanish adventure with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, with the third series of The Trip.
For their first outing, in 2010, the pair travelled to the Lake District, and in 2014, ventured to Italy. Now the duo - who appear as exaggerated versions of themselves in the award-winning series - are setting out on a coast-to-coast odyssey, taking in food, culture and history on their 1000-mile road trip from Santander to Malaga.
Here, Steve, Rob, and series director Michael Winterbottom, share their musings on ageing, playing for laughs and the journey...
MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM
ROB and Steve used poets Wordsworth and Coleridge as inspiration for their first adventure, and Byron and Shelley for their second. This time it’s the novel Don Quixote, “the most famous story from Spain”, explains Michael, 55.
“I thought it fitted Steve and Rob well. They could actually play a version of those characters (Quixote and Panza). It’s a comic novel and the two characters are not massively different from the personas of Steve and Rob. It gives them things to think about and hopefully be funny about.”
Michael insists that what you see on screen is simply “a version of their natural relationship”. “When we were planning The Trip we had a series of lunches, and those were very enjoyable because they share a lot,” he recalls. “They also have very different views on the world. They can just naturally generate a lot of arguments that are also funny.” The series has also been described as a ‘poignant pilgrimage’, and Michael notes they don’t want to use humour “as a way of deflecting anything”. “Steve hates using irony to avoid talking about things. He’s quite passionate about a lot of issues, and he wants to express them directly and intentionally,” he remarks. “Rob perhaps does tend to be more deflective and make jokes out of things. That’s one of the ways they handle each other, not only in the conversations, but in the shape of the experiences.”
ROB BRYDON
IT was a “very easy” decision for Rob to return for a third series. “No arms needed to be twisted,” says the Welshman.
“I like the fact there’s a decent length of time between each series, so that we look older and perhaps a little more battered. I think that on its own is interesting.”
In the second series, his character enjoyed a holiday romance, but this time he’s settled down. “I think that was what a Tory politician would call ‘a moment of madness’,” deadpans Rob, 51, adding that the series is very much Michael’s “baby”.
“He’s the one who decides where we’re going, which restaurants we go to and the broad themes we’re going to talk about. But then we invent the majority of the dialogue.”
And, despite the seemingly free-flowing conversation and improvisation, this does involve preparation.
“Every time we’ve done The Trip, I’ve thought ahead a bit, done some research and learned a few new voices,” says the actor and comedian, who starred in Gavin & Stacey. “I thought it would be quite funny to do Andy Murray talking about the meal he’s just eaten in the same way he talks about the match he’s just played.”
He also “stumbled upon” Bee Gees frontman Barry Gibb, which made Steve laugh, “so I did a lot of him”.
“People always ask me what the food was like, but to be honest, that is the last thing on my mind during a scene. I’m thinking about what I’m going to say and asking myself if I am going to be funny,” reveals Rob, who insists making the show is harder than it looks. “On many levels, of course, it is a jolly, but equally there is pressure. You’re constantly in a state of trying to invent some fiction. Or a half truth, or find a truth and bend it a little bit to make it interesting.”
Not least during their musings on ageing.
“I think that’s what it’s all about. In series one, we were in our mid-40s, and I would say that is perhaps when the decline begins. Somebody of 70 may scoff at this, but I think Steve and I both feel that. We both feel the passing of the years and that is something we talk about.”
STEVE COOGAN
STEVE believes the show’s appeal lies in its universal themes. “It has to mean something to other people, so it’s about middle-age and getting older, life and family life, love and unrequited love,” says the actor, 51, who describes the on-screen conversations between himself and Rob as akin to “sparring”.
“You put your gloves on and your gum shield in and we have a little round. It’s quite frenetic, the pace of the whole thing, but it’s also very enjoyable and we got to see a lot of Spain, so what’s not to like?”
In terms of preparation, “we might learn quotes from books that we’re supposed to be referencing, or discuss doing a new impersonation, but I don’t stand in front of the mirror practising impressions,” says Steve, who, like Rob, is full of praise for their director. “Michael manages to make some sense out of our mad ramblings. It’s always hugely impressive because he makes it seem to have more scope and gives it a depth that goes beyond just the funny voices, barbs and exchanges,” he remarks.
And then there’s the trust he and Rob share.
“If he goes off on a tangent, I will follow him, or he will follow me, so it’s a lot of fun... Rob probably makes me laugh more than I make him laugh. He’s probably more naturally funny than I am,” he muses. “I’m the more cantankerous one and he’s more flippant – although we exaggerate these things quite a lot.”
But the comedy’s often the result of friction.
“We have moments where we agree about things, and moments where we’re a bit tetchy,” says Steve.”
The Trip begins on Sky Atlantic on Thursday, at 10pm