Rob Brydon

The Trip to Italy, BBC Two, review

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's follow-up to 2010's The Trip is infantile, inspired, and as inconsequential as it was inveterately un-PC, says Mark Monahan.

The Trip to Italy was travel porn with smiles. Knowing smirks, occasional laughy guffaws: but good smart tetchy humour throughout, as Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reunited to busk off each other's ego - quite how close to those being their alter-egos is uncertain, though I suspect the difference has long been moot - but this time in Italy, eating roisteringly good food in the famous Trattoria della Posta in Langhe (near Barolo, yum, and splendid it looked) and alarming only slightly the lieges with sudden impressions of Ronnie Corbett, Al Pacino or, wonderfully improvised, mumbling Batman characters. Never less than clever, and promises much as the weeks roll on, not least the glorious intercut views of red-boiling kitchens and sweet, warm seas.

Apparently this paper, The Observer, sent both of them there as food/holiday critics. Not true (or is it? Ref! I haven't had a hol for three years). One thing's certain. We did send Kim Philby as a correspondent to Beirut, where he was finally cornered by his friend Elliot. We were founded in 1791; occasional mistakes have been made.

Following semi-improvised gem The Trip, where Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon played versions of themselves in northern eateries, Michael Winterbottom returns to direct this follow-up, set in rooms containing Italian restaurant-goers. Expect more impersonations, including a superb riff on Tom Hardy's Batman villain Bane stealing Brydon's voiceover work.

Radio Times review

I had some sympathy with those who thought 2010's first series of The Trip was too self-referential and up itself. They'll probably think the same of this second series, where Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan play versions of themselves pootling through Italy dining in high-end restaurants. None of this alters the fact that it's helplessly, hilariously funny.

Both men are obviously a bit older and a bit more aware of the passage of time. Coogan's worried that his career might be hitting the doldrums and that he doesn't have his old pulling-power now that women see him as middle-aged.

He and Brydon have a good-naturedly barbed friendship as they chat amicably over dinner, kicking around each other's insecurities. The best bits are their competitive impressions - Brydon doing a B&Q advert voiceover as Tom Hardy's Batman villain Bane is a hoot.

The Trip to Italy: Britain's best ever improv comedy?

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's culinary travelogue comedy The Trip to Italy may well be the most sustained and successful example of genuine ad-libbing that Britain has ever produced.

What it lacks culinary wise it makes up for in laughs

Ever since the imperium of Fanny Craddock and her sidekick/ victim husband Johnny, Britain's culinary TV history has been replete with comedy double acts. Lately added to a roster that includes The Two Fat Ladies, The Hairy Bikers, Loyd Grossman and his irritable vowel syndrome and all the others is the unlikely gastro-team of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

Rob Brydon interview

Rob Brydon is reunited with pal Steve Coogan to sample the culinary delights of Tuscany and Rome in BBC Two's The Trip to Italy. We speak to the Welsh wonder about booze, bungee jumping and BBC Three.

Steve Coogan spent most of his time on the original series of The Trip getting irritated by travelling and dining companion Rob Brydon.

But it hasn't put them off embarking on another culinary journey together, this time in Italy.

Apparently, much has changed in the lives of the two comedians since their virgin voyage around the Lake District in 2010.

"Rob, tired from the responsibilities of being the father of a young child, is looking for some adventure," reveals a show insider.

"Steve, meanwhile, has been living a life of abstinence and hard work in Los Angeles but, now on a hiatus from his job there, has the time to come back to Europe and wants to see his children."

This second series is again directed by acclaimed documentary maker Michael Winterbottom, and it takes in the stunning scenery of Capri, Tuscany and the Amalfi coast.

Otherwise, it's business as usual, complete with their impersonations of the likes of Tom Hardy - who they're both rubbish at! - Michael Caine and Robert De Niro.

Beautiful views, mouthwatering food and guaranteed sunshine - it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it...

Even though the original Trip was basically just Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon being Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, performing endless impressions over gourmet meals you couldn't possibly afford, there was a prickly knowingness to it that made it a bit of a dry comedy gem. So we're thrilled that the veteran comedians have once again teamed up with Michael Winterbottom for another restaurant crawl, this time over in sunkissed Italy. With the vino flowing, we anticipate exchanges that are more scathing and impersonations that are more exuberant to be showcased in The Trip to Italy.

Rob Brydon & Steve Coogan's Italian trip

After their Yorkshire gastro-odyssey in The Trip, Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan set off for the next series - around Italy in a Mini, to stuff themselves silly (again). Here, Brydon gorges on the glamour of it all...