Rob Brydon: ‘Ruth Jones is the closest thing I have to a sister’ | Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon was born in Baglan in South Wales in 1965. His father was a car salesman and his mother a teacher. He attended the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama but left at 20 to work for BBC Radio Wales. Jobs followed on regional television, shopping channels and advertising voiceovers before his break at age 35 with his one-man sitcom, Marion and Geoffand Human remainsa series with Julia Davis; both were produced by Steve Coogan’s production company, Baby Cow. Today he mixes primetime game show presenting with acting, reprising his role as Uncle Bryn on Christmas Day in BBC One’s Gavin & Stacey: The Finale.

Uncle Bryn, a role written for you by Ruth Jones and James Cordenis such a beloved character. Be honest: how much of you is into him?
I think it’s probably quite a lot. But what I realized a while ago is that the best acting is when you see where you and the character meet – and I heard Al Pacino say this, so it must be true! Still, when Bryn is fascinated by something like technology, or when he’s a little wide-eyed, I wonder if it’s something they’ve directly observed in me.

Well, in your first Observer interview in 2002, you got excited about your iPod, which Uncle Bryn does a few years later…
(laughs and goes into Uncle Bryn’s character) “I only went for a Nano!”

You met Ruth Jones at school 14 years old, plays in musicals together as e.g West Side Story. How were you both different as teenagers?
Our old drama teacher recently got an MBE, came to mine afterwards for lunch and he said: “You know, Rob, you were quite quiet in class. You just wanted to look and listen.” As for Ruth, she might correct me on this, but I don’t think she wanted to do this for a living then, I did. She was always very talented, and very talented as well.

As she has shown recently, a critical acclaim plays Mother Superior i Sister law in the West End. How was she?
Oh she was amazing and she absolutely loved doing it. Most friends who do the West End tire of it after about a month, but she would pop back and do extras like go on the Popemobile and wave! I love Ruth, you know. She is still my closest friend and the closest thing I have to a sister. Shoot the final Gavin & Stacey especially with her was such an emotional thing.

Last year you had one six second cameo in Barbie as Sugar Daddy Ken. What’s it like to be in a billion-dollar movie?
At the risk of sounding a little precious, I’ve been in movies with movie stars before, like Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain (as a midget debt collector in The Huntsman: Winter’s War), and I was with Kenneth Branagh Cinderellaso it wasn’t my first rodeo. I also know that most movies don’t make money. They come and go in an instant. Someone once told me that the best time to be in a movie is the week before it opens, and it was very true for Barbie.

But how was it on the candy-pink set?
It was lovely. I was only there for one day very close to the end of the filming, so it was kind of the end of the term. Plus Margot Robbie loves Gavin & Stacey and Greta (Gerwig) beloved Human remainsso they asked me questions about them. Then I left, went on vacation, and months later I started hearing things like, “Oh, they had a test screening of it and it scored really high.” Then word of mouth started: “Oh, Rob, I hear it’s actually very good.” I was lucky to have been a very small part of that phenomenon.

In a 2020 interview you did along with Steve Coogan, the writer said that you dream of bigger roles in a Succession-type show or a Wes Anderson movie. Do you still do?
I mean, who wouldn’t want to join Succession? When I saw it, I thought, oh my god, that makes sense – I’d love to be in something like that. But all actors would love to do something different from what they’re known for, I think, which to me is a kind of warm-hearted naivety. I played a very menacing character years ago in a BBC film about Napoleon and I did a series recently, My Lady Janewhere I’m very sneaky, but it’s just been cancelled. My problem is that I am not driven enough or hungry enough to make an effort. And yes, maybe part of it is, oh, I’m not failing if I don’t try.

What is the second part?
That the life of an out-and-out actor is not conducive to family life. You’re away from home, up at dawn, and the days are very, very long. I mean, boo-hoo, poor me, but they really are.

And you are the father of five (Brydon has three adult children from his first marriage and two teenagers from his second). What is your best parenting advice?
Oh, Christ! I have no idea. What would my tip be? All your children are their own people, as much as you might think they will be versions of you, I suppose. My friend (singer-songwriter) Martyn Joseph has a great line in his lovely song Driving her back to Londonon his college-aged daughter: “Just take away my best and leave the rest.” As a parent, you hope they haven’t just taken you.