Rob Brydon (born Robert Brydon Jones, 3 May, 1965, Swansea, South Wales, United Kingdom) is a Welsh actor, comedian and impressionist most famous for his role as Keith Barret in the BBC comedy Marion and Geoff and its spin-off The Keith Barret Show, as well as the host of panel quiz Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive.
Brydon is famous for bizarre or unsettling black comedy, and has worked with a number of comedians and actors with a similar taste, perhaps most notably Steve Coogan.
In 2003, he was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
Early Life
His mother was a school teacher, and his father was a car dealer. Brydon grew up in Baglan, in Port Talbot, and was educated at the private Dumbarton House School in Swansea until the age of 14, then at Porthcawl Comprehensive School on Park Avenue in Porthcawl, in Bridgend County where he became a member of the school's youth theatre group.
He attended the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, but left to join Radio Wales at the age of 20 without graduating from the college. Brydon's career began with radio - his early broadcasts included DJing on BBC Radio Wales, when his Saturday morning shows included contributions from Welsh standup comedian Pete Park-Walker. Also on Radio Wales - where he stayed for six years, he was the main presenter of Rave, one of BBC Radio 5's youth magazine and music programmes, between 1992 and 1994. Following this, in 1994 and 1995, he appeared in numerous episodes of the original Radio Wales version of the cult comedy show Satellite City with Boyd Clack.
Though he stayed with radio as a comedy performer on BBC Radio Five Live's The Treatment, he was initially known mainly as a voice artist. He provided several voices for the Discworld computer games and continuity announcements for BBC 1. Rob also does occasional stints as a stand-in presenter on BBC Radio 2, where he has even stood in for Ken Bruce, one of the people he impersonates.
In the early 1990s he spent a brief stint presenting for the Home Shopping Network, and began to find small roles in several successful films and television series. He finally made his mark in television comedy in 2000 with Julia Davis when the pair wrote and starred in Human Remains for the BBC.
Current Acting Career
He is also known for his voice-over work on numerous television advertising campaigns, including those for Renault, Tango, The Times, Tesco, Abbey National, McDonald's, Toilet Duck, Cahoot, Mint Card, Pot Noodle, Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and The Observer. Additionally, he voiced the main character, Lewton, in the Discworld computer game Discworld Noir.
In 2006, he first appeared on the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, in which he showed off an unusually good singing voice (especially by the programme's standards), during a rendition of Tom Jones's Delilah in the Pick-up Song round, where his remarkably accurate performance earned him one of the longest rounds of applause in the show's considerable history. He has since returned to the show several times, and has become its unofficial Tom Jones specialist with renditions of Sex Bomb and She's a Lady, and recently performed a particularly good rendition of Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler?, to the tune of the Carpenters' Yesterday Once More, which was also featured on the 2007 Highlights broadcast. His voice has even earned previously unknown accolade of being described by host Humphrey Lyttelton as "Not bad". He also hosted a show recorded on 22 April 2008 at the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, when Lyttelton was in hospital to repair an aortic aneurysm. A message was played to the audience in which Humph commented on his absence with his usual humour. Three days later, Humphrey Lyttelton died in hospital, following his surgery.
Brydon has also presented an episode of Have I Got News for You, and appears occasionally on BBC Radio 4's panel game Just a Minute. He also appeared in the popular BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey as title role Stacey's uncle.
Brydon also narrated the 2 part radio programme on BBC Radio 4, The Pain of Laughter: The Last Days of Kenneth Williams. It explored the latter part of Williams' life, featuring many of Williams' friends and contemporaries.
Rob sat in for Ken Bruce on BBC Radio Two for one day only on 25 August 2008.
He has made a number of appearances on the TV quiz show QI. In his first appearance (A series, episode 5), his talent for mimicry was displayed with impressions of Alec Guinness, James Dean and Michael J. Fox. In the 2008 Christmas Special he also gave impressions of Richard Burton and Tom Jones.
Personal Life
On 6 October 2006 Brydon married Claire Holland, a former producer on the South Bank Show, at Windsor church. They live in Strawberry Hill in the London borough of Richmond. He has two daughters, born c.1994 and c.1999 and a son born c.1996 from his first marriage. He also has a son from his second marriage born in April 2008.
Brydon is a life long Swansea City Fan and is even an ambassador for their youth set-up the 1912 Foundation.
Brydon can often be mistaken for Anton Du Beke due to their similar appearance. He is also often mistaken for Ben Miller.
