Rob Brydon

The BBC is onto a good thing by celebrating this comedy legend while he's still very much alive and kicking. National treasures are usually whored out by broadcasters until every last drop of funny (and money) has been squeezed out of them, or ignored until they've passed away.

With its subject still in the land of the living, the mood of the programme was celebratory and jovial, with Corbett himself appearing as the star talking head. Of course there was plenty of retrospect as he looked back over his career, but the fact remains that Ronnie has clearly retained all his faculties and is still a very funny man.

For those who enjoy analysing and dissecting comedy - as opposed to merely laughing at it - it was a sweet little study of what makes this man so funny. His height (or lack thereof) is, of course, a major factor, but his natural talent is undeniable.

Corbett looked back fondly and honestly on his long career, with the help of more fashionable comedians like Stephen Merchant and Rob Brydon. Happily, given the many programmes the BBC is dedicating to him over Christmas, he suffers neither from the startling arrogance, nor from the false modesty that seems to afflict so many stars.

It's true that his particular style of comedy isn't to modern tastes and the old clips will look like camp variety acts to young eyes, but with everyone from Miranda Hart to Bill Bailey claiming to have been inspired by The Two Ronnies, it's hard to deny their appeal.

Given the insight promised by the title Being Ronnie Corbett, it's tempting to make a Ronnie-esque joke about what the weather's like down there for the vertically challenged comedian, but I won't. That doesn't count...

He's the man they turned to when Brucey was too ill to present Strictly. He was caught taking drugs in Extras and entertained Bubbles DeVere in Little Britain. This year, to mark his 80th birthday, he'll have his own Christmas Day sketch show. Yes, it can only be unlikely national treasure Ronnie Corbett, the short comedian with the long career, charted here with loving input from his hordes of admirers including Miranda Hart, Rob Brydon, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas and Michael Palin.

Charming and entertaining documentary Being Ronnie Corbett pays homage to the nation's favourite vertically challenged comedian.

Ronnie celebrated his 80th birthday at the start of this month, and he is in sparkling form here as he looks back on his career spanning half a century.

It goes from his early days feeling up Danny La Rue's boobs during West End cabaret shows, to his snorting cocaine off a toilet seat in Extras, via his famous chair where he delivered his signature shaggy dog stories.

Fellow comedians including the likes of Rob Brydon, Matt Lucas, David Walliams and Catherine Tate queue up to give him a not insubstantial verbal pat on the back.

Affable comedian Rob Brydon (The Trip, Gavin & Stacey) asks cranky colleagues Jo Brand and Jack Dee to spread festive cheer on this light-hearted entertainment show. The two guests play up to their bah-humbug personas, with Brand suggesting an unusual way to get rid of unwanted relatives. Sozzled children's entertainer Jeremy Lion (Justin Edwards) offers a hilarious, wine-fuelled take on The Twelve Days of Christmas. And gothic rocker Alice Cooper shares the sofa with charismatic baritone Bryn Terfel.

Radio Times review

Even more brutally self-lacerating than Simon Amstell's portrayal of himself in Grandma's House was this extraordinary confessional from Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

A shapeless, talky, part-improvised thing with the will-this-do premise of the pair touring the north of England to review restaurants, The Trip saw Coogan play a needy, competitive egotist, terrified of career stagnation and depressed by his wrecked personal life.

Brydon, equally bravely, presented a comedian who's addicted to easy laughs, constantly doing impressions to avoid being himself. Yes, it was incredibly funny - a whole half-hour could be dedicated to Coogan and Brydon trading impersonations and improvisations, and many episodes weren't far off doing just that. But The Trip stood out as one of the most uncompromising celebs-as-themselves comedies ever.

Never take a TV hit for granted. I'd raved about The Trip and for five weeks it was brilliant, but am I allowed to say I thought the final episode was the weakest, that it teetered on the edge of sentimentality much like Steve Coogan teetered on those stepping stones over the river at Bolton Abbey?

No show is absolutely note-perfect and it's only because Coogan and Rob Brydon set such a high standard for themselves that I raise this minor grump. Real or pretend, Coogan went into The Trip mildly haunted by Alan Partridge, then laid down his best post-Partridge work. Who won the battle of the impressions? I loved Coogan's submarine noises and his Liam Neeson ("I WILL hunt you down"). The Michael Caine, Roger Moore and Woody Allen face-offs probably ended in draws but I think I'd have to give it to Brydon for his Al Pacino, his Ronnie Corbett and his generic Bond villain.

Come, come, Mr Bond, you like food-based comedy love-in travelogues just as much as I do.

The competitive comedians are up early to visit Bolton Abbey: "I liked Bolton Abbey before you liked Bolton Abbey," carps Steve Coogan to Rob Brydon, before they launch into a scene, standing in the graveyard, where they imagine Brydon's funeral and what Coogan might say at it. This is the prelude to a delicious pratfall, a sunlit breakfast and a lot of singing (about the only thing the pair agree on is a love for Abba's The Winner Takes It All.) It's all enjoyable and, as a muted meditation on celebrity and friendship, less insubstantial than it looks.

Rob Brydon stars in £13m Kellogg's ad campaign

Kellogg's has hired comedian Rob Brydon to front a £13m marketing campaign for its Crunchy Nut cereal brand.

The Trip gives tourists a taste for the Lakes

The Trip, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, has given a huge boost to visitor numbers in the Lake District, Lancashire and the Dales.

On paper, The Trip sounds bloody awful: a cosy, luvvie giant in-joke for Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, showing off their impressions and them eating ridiculously fancy meals. So why is it so completely brilliant? "It's not about the destination, it's the journey," as 'Steve' described his refusal to use satnav, but referring also, surely, to the incidental banter and bickering between them which is gradually revealing their true selves. Or 'true selves'.

And it's also hilarious: their Michael Caine-off, "we rise at dawn-ish" and last night's ABBA duet may soon replace Alan Partridge's most quotable lines as the things fans greet Steve Coogan with. Which will be some small compensation for him still not being able to do Rob's "I'm a small man in a box" voice.