Rob Brydon

The tall stories (some true, some not) comedy panel show returns for an eighth series. Its longevity has much to do with the way host Rob Brydon, plus team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell, get close to the knuckle without taking things too far for primetime, a tricky balancing act when Mitchell discusses the lead-up to an alleged vomiting incident ("There was definitely drinking, I think there might have been crisps ... "). First guests are Fiona Bruce, Micky Flanagan, Steve Jones and Claudia Winkleman.

Rob Brydon: 'Michael Caine loves my impression'

Rob Brydon has said that Sir Michael Caine enjoyed being impersonated by the Welsh comedian and Steve Coogan in The Trip.

The drama His Master's Voice (Saturday, 2.30pm, Radio 4) stars Rob Brydon as ventriloquist Peter Brough. Back in the 1950s, up to 15 million Britons would tune in regularly to keep up with the adventures of Brough and his sidekick Archie Andrews. The latter was notionally a 14-year-old schoolboy; in fact, he was made of wood and voiced by Brough. For some unaccountable reason, vent acts were big on the radio in those days, but when television arrived, Brough failed to make the transition (the actress Dora Bryan assured him that she couldn't see his lips move, except when Archie was speaking). Most forms of showbusiness have their funny little ways, and the people who owe their fame and fortune to the smartly-tailored log on their knee are more given than most to losing their grip on reality. In the case of Brough, however, it seems his family was also badly affected by their timber breadwinner.

Radio Times review

At the height of its success, the BBC Light Programme series Educating Archie attracted 16 million listeners. Peter Brough provided the voice, but the star of the show was his wooden doll, Archie.

And so it was also in Brough's life -- Archie was the one everybody wanted to meet, not the man with his hand up a miniature Savile Row-made tailored jacket. Rob Brydon gets two gifts in this biographical drama -- to play Brough and Archie.

The play opens after the funeral of Brough's father -- symbolically, the very night he decides to lock Archie away for ever. But this manic-eyed doll is not going without a fight.

His Master's Voice preview

"There's no great satire going on," says Rob Brydon, who expertly voices both characters in His Master's Voice. "But it was done with aplomb. I suppose in that time somebody being cheeky to authority was very appealing."

The Trip is such a pleasure to look at - from the meals to the wine and the sweeping Italian vistas - that it's easy to forget just how unusual an idea it is. Part improvised comedy, part foodie travelogue, all built around the testy charms of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing heightened versions of themselves, outdoing each other with impressions of Michael Caine and Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight, or Parky. They've redefined the idea of what a half-hour sitcom can be, with non-stop gags, and just a hint of drama around the edges - Coogan's son, Brydon's dalliances - to add a touch of pathos in the Italian sunshine.

Is there anything Rob Brydon can't do?

Sometimes it seems like Rob Brydon is everywhere in the comedy world. And that's a good thing.

Whilst I initially thought that 50 Years of BBC 2 Comedy might be a serious insight into some of our most loved comedies, instead it was a whistlestop tour of everything that the BBC's second channel has done right over the past fifty years. In fact at times the show was too self-congratulatory for my liking and there was no admissions over some of the channel's more questionable comedies such as Heading Out and It's Kevin. Instead the series saw the channel take credit for airing the first sitcom that didn't include a comedian, that being The Likely Lads, and for giving us classic characters like Alan Partridge and David Brent. Indeed, the documentary really let Gervais talk about how excellent both The Office and Extras were but unsurprisingly Life's Too Short didn't get the same treatment. Additionally there were some questionable inclusions throughout the course of the two hours most notably The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy which I personally never classified as a sitcom. The programme also took time out to demonstrate how many BBC One sitcoms started on the channel whether it be the first series of Ab Fab or the pilot for Porridge. I personally was annoyed that, while the first series of The Royle Family got a mention, there was no room for Craig Cash's equally impressive Early Doors. Later, the documentary focused on BBC Two being the channel that aired Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show not mentioning that they gave both fairly bizarre places in the schedules. The one thing I was happy about was the inclusion of Rob Brydon's excellent Marion and Geoff, a programme that definitely deserves a large amount of praise. But predictably the most praise went to Fawlty Towers, the sitcom that many still hail as one of the best British programmes of all time. Ultimately, while it had some humorous moments, 50 Years of BBC2 Comedy was too long and featured far too much back-slapping for my liking.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon Q&A report

The Q&A, screened live to over 180 cinemas across the UK, saw the pair talk about their Mediterranean jaunt, re-uniting with Michael Winterbottom, their relationship on and off set, growing old gracefully and more.