Rob Brydon

Robert Brydon Jones, MBE (born 3 May 1965), known as Rob Brydon, is a Welsh actor, comedian, radio and television presenter, singer and impressionist. He played Dr Paul Hamilton in the Australian/British comedy series Supernova, Bryn West in the sitcom Gavin and Stacey and Keith Barret in the BBC comedy series Marion and Geoff and its spin-off The Keith Barret Show. He has appeared in a number of shows for the BBC with Steve Coogan such as The Trip series in 2010, released as a feature film later that year; and The Trip to Italy in 2014, also edited and released as a feature film. Since 2009, Brydon has presented the BBC One comedy panel show Would I Lie to You? He played himself in Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a satirical series about a fictional panel show, which ran on BBC Three from 2006 until 2007. Between 2010 and 2012, Brydon presented his own BBC Two late-night chat show called The Rob Brydon Show. Since April 2014, Brydon has hosted the Saturday-night game show The Guess List for BBC One. Early life and studies Robert Brydon Jones was born on 3 May 1965 in Baglan, Port Talbot (now the county borough of Neath Port Talbot), Wales. His mother, Joy Jones (née Brydon), was a school teacher, and his father, Howard Jones, was a car dealer. He grew up in Baglan in the town of Port Talbot, with his younger brother Peter (born 1973). Brydon was educated at two independent schools: St. John's School in Porthcawl, which Eddie Izzard also attended, and Dumbarton House School in Swansea until the age of 14. This was followed by Porthcawl Comprehensive School, where he met Ruth Jones (with whom he later worked in Gavin and Stacey) and became a member of the school's youth theatre group. While at Dumbarton, he once stole the lunch money of fellow pupil Catherine Zeta-Jones (which he admitted while participating in a series 4 episode of Would I Lie To You?). Brydon has said that his primary childhood influences in comedy were Barry Humphries, Frankie Howerd and Woody Allen. He has also said that he used to memorise entire sketches by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Peter Sellers. Career Brydon attended the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff. He left after a year, to join Radio Wales at the age of 20. His early broadcasts included work as a disk jockey on BBC Radio Wales, when his Saturday morning shows included contributions from stand-up comedian Pete Park-Walker. Between 1992 and 1994, 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, with Alan Thompson. He developed his Marion and Geoff story from this. In 1994 and 1995 Brydon appeared in numerous episodes of the original Radio Wales version of the cult comedy Satellite City with Boyd Clack. Although he has stayed with radio as a comedy performer on BBC Radio Five Live's The Treatment, Brydon also does occasional stints as a stand-in presenter on BBC Radio 2. He has stood in for Ken Bruce, one of the people whom he impersonates. On 1 April 2011 he appeared in Ken's place on his show as an April Fools' Day joke. Between September and October 2011, Brydon starred alongside Sir Kenneth Branagh in Francis Veber's play The Painkiller at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. He will reprise his role with Branagh in March and April 2016 at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End. Personal life From his first marriage Brydon has two daughters, Katie, born August 1994 and Amy, born July 1999, and a son Harry, born October 1996. After being divorced, 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 upon Thames. They have two sons, Tom, born in April 2008, and George, born in June 2011. A fanatical golfer, Brydon is also a Swansea City fan and is an ambassador to their 1912 foundation. Brydon has often been mistaken for comedian Ben Miller (and vice versa). As a reference to that mix-up, they dressed in similar outfits and shared a narcissistic kiss in the QI episode "Future", first broadcast on 20 February 2009.