The Rob Brydon Show. Rob Brydon. Copyright: Arbie
The Rob Brydon Show

The Rob Brydon Show

  • TV chat show
  • BBC Two
  • 2010 - 2012
  • 21 episodes (3 series)

Entertainment show fronted by Rob Brydon. Features stand-up from the host and a guest comedian. Stars Rob Brydon.

Press clippings Page 4

The Rob Brydon Show needs YOU!

Rob Brydon's chat show is back and he's looking for funny people to banter with via the medium of audience participation.

BBC Comedy, 13th April 2011

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.

The Telegraph, 23rd December 2010

Last week, likeable comedian Rob Brydon's main guest was Terry Wogan. This week it's Ronnie Corbett. Legends they may be, but Brydon is hardly seducing us with dynamic line-ups. His chat with a bemused Corbett is a disappointing mix of smut and silliness. Things continue to go downhill when Brydon submits glamorous singer Paloma Faith to a baffling Spanish-style serenade. A slice of stand-up from perky comedian Lucy Porter livens things up for a few minutes. But there's no escaping the general whiff of mediocrity.

Toby Dantzic, The Telegraph, 15th October 2010

Rob Brydon gets seal of approval from Parky

Chat show icon Sir Michael Parkinson has marked out Welsh comic Rob Brydon as his heir apparent.

Wales Online, 13th October 2010

Without his impressive range of eccentric characters to hide behind, endearing comic Rob Brydon comes over bland. His opening schtick with the audience is light-hearted and amusing enough, and he's sufficiently quick-witted not to be overshadowed by his main guest, a gently sardonic Terry Wogan. But nothing about this old-fashioned set-up really sparks. And Brydon's duet with singer Sharleen Spiteri is horribly misjudged.

Tony Dantzic, The Telegraph, 8th October 2010

While it comes across as far more scripted than Jonathan Ross's show, there's still much fun to be had from watching Brydon perform his shtick in the company of a live audience and willing celebs. Tonight's main guest is "the king of the maracas", Stephen Fry, who amiably revisits one of his better entries in the new word definitions round of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: "Countryside, which is to kill Piers Morgan." Seasick Steve and fresh-faced stand-up Daniel Sloss also appear.

The Guardian, 1st October 2010

It's good to see that this chummy chat show is offering a regular slot for new young comedians. This week it's the turn of promising 20-year-old Daniel Sloss, who is sure to come armed with some good gags about the teen years he's just left behind. Seasick Steve provides the music but the main event is Stephen Fry, who is doing the rounds following the release of the latest instalment of his autobiography.

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 1st October 2010

Tonight's episode is as much The James Corden Show as it is the eponymous host's, with Brydon's employer on Gavin & Stacey getting the bulk of the sofa time as star guest. The rapport between the acting buddies leads to a few laughs, but does slip into cosy when Brydon asks Corden about texting with David Beckham. The format needs tightening too: the interaction with the audience doesn't work as well as it did on Frank Skinner's Opinionated. Music comes from Mark Ronson.

Vicki Power, The Telegraph, 24th September 2010

The BBC deserve an ambivalent shrug for The Rob Brydon Show, which is, at best, objectively "alright". Faint praise is the dullest weapon in the critic's armory, but it's all this lighthearted chat show deserves.

Last time Brydon presented something in this vein he was in character as hapless cuckold Keith Barrett of Marion and Geoff renown. This time he's being himself, the likeable, witty, waspish Welshman whose eagerness to please is as endearing as it is occasionally overbearing - during his opening "banter with the audience" segment, I thought his unfunny Pingu impression was never going to end.

There is, to its credit, something pleasingly old-fashioned about the programme's format. Oddly, what it reminded me of most was - pace Wogan and Harty - Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge, starring Steve Coogan. But whereas that was a parody of traditional chatter-tainment, this is the real, undemanding deal.

So, a few gags, a sycophantic chat with a showbiz chum - David Walliams doing his lazy faux-camp schtick - a self-indulgent duet with a musical hero - Tom Jones - and a showcase for an up-and-coming comic - Tom Deacon, a nondescript child. And, inevitably, as many impressions as Brydon can cram in. If Jones' involvement was anything to go by, expect future guests to include others the host can "do". Ronnie Corbett is probably ironing his cravat as we speak.

Paul Whitelaw, The Scotsman, 21st September 2010

Interview: Rob Brydon unveils his new chat show

The comedian has just finished a run of his panel show Would I Lie To You?, started his own talk show, The Rob Brydon Show, and he's got The Trip, a new comedy with buddy Steve Coogan, in the pipeline.

Wales Online, 19th September 2010

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