Rob Brydon: Why I Love Making People Laugh | GREAT MOMENTS

0:01My perfect day as sand, salt, water, and friends. But my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to SkyRizzy. Riz and Kizum at RZA, a prescription-only 150mg injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy. With SkyRizzy, most people saw 90 % clearer skin and many were even 100 % plaque-free at 4 months. SkyRizzy is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Don't use if allergic to SkyRizzy. Serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis.

0:38Tell your doctor about any flu-like symptoms or vaccines. Thanks to SkyRizzy, there's nothing on my skin. And that means everything. Nothing is everything. Ask your doctor about SkyRizzy, the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. Visit SkyRizzy.com or call 1-866-SKYRizzy to learn more. Close your eyes. Focus. Listen to work getting done with Monday.com. Relax as AI does the manual work while your teams are aligned on a single source of truth. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform. So flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Notice you're limitless.

1:24Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally breathe.

1:57and you're good to go. And the best part, it's super easy and so affordable. Each mani breaks down to$2. So let's skip that$80 salon appointment and get the salon quality look at home for so much less and on your schedule. Head to oliveandjune.com slash DIYgel20 and use code DIYgel20 for 20 % off your first gel mani system. That's oliveandjune.com slash DIYgel20. code DIY gel 20 for 20 % off your first gel mani system. This is Kat and Nat from Kat and Nat unfiltered. And this episode is sponsored by Michaels, your destination for all things, 2026 graduation. If you've got a graduation coming up, the party shop at Michaels is your new best friend.

2:41It's your one-stop shop for everything. Graduation balloons, party decor, tableware, DIY gifting, and more literally everything you need all starting at just$1.99. We're all about making life easier and Michaels has made it super simple with ready-made balloon bundles, 2026 numbers and even free helium inflation on select styles. Plus, you can shop same day delivery or buy online and pick up in-store. Michaels, everything to celebrate anything. Visit Michaels in-store or shop online now.

3:16Hello everyone, I'm Jamie Lang and this is Great Moments.

3:23Hey everyone, welcome back to Great Moments. Really excited for this little episode today because it's with Rob Brydon. Now I'm a huge, huge fan of Rob Brydon. Always have been. From Gavin and Stacey to The Trip, which was Steve Coogan. It's one of my favorite shows ever. He's so good. And when he came into the studio, I was kind of like overexcited. Because being a fan of him, it's kind of strange to interview him. And he talks a lot about how he's always been an entertainer. Always wanted to entertain. which kind of I relate to a lot. He does his very famous small man in a box which I try and replicate.

4:00It doesn't go as well as he can do it. I'm not even going to try and do it again because you've got to wait for the show for that to happen. But it's an amazing episode. And if you like this little great moments you'll love the full episode. So all you've got to do is click on the show notes and it'll take you to the full episode. Plus there are so many more episodes like this that you will enjoy. So check them all out. Okay, here we go. Enjoy this great moments. with Rob Brydon.

4:24Rob, do you think you were, truthfully, do you think you were put on this earth to entertain? I would never make so self-aggrandizing a statement, but it's certainly what I like to do. What do you love about it so much? What does it do to your body, to your mind, to make you feel? That's a great question. No one's ever asked me that. Just a caveat, just for a second, and I want you to... Because, Rob, I don't find you entertaining, but I know there are people who do and I just want to understand it because every single situation whenever I've met you whether it's on a TV show or when we go for our dinners that we go for or in rehab all those times we've had to get sorry if you have been to rehab I'm sorry I'm saying it because I'm not a rehab person where we've met in rehab all those places but you love to make people laugh in such a beautiful way And when you do Would I Lie to You And for lots of people know There are breaks And certain things like that That you have to Reshoot something Or do whatever You even make the audience laugh You really do And so you have this Innate ability Firstly to entertain But So back to my question Do you think you were put on earth To do this?

5:37No I'm not going to say that You can say it though Then that's a quote I was put on this earth No but I do you're absolutely right I do on that very basic level yeah like and sometimes it's almost a dirty word you know to say or entertainer I think it's very noble and I like that and yeah yeah I do I do what do you love so much about it I suppose how it makes me feel you know ultimately I suppose it's a selfish thing because that's how I like to be I like to have that interaction. Although I suppose then when sometimes I think that, you know, we have a, we have a group of friends, my wife and I, and they're the parents with three other couples who are the parents of fundamentally our 13 year old son, our youngest.

6:34And we, we really hit it off with them. And we have holidays that we hang out together with barbecues and stuff. and it occurs to me that yeah with them i probably don't either now and again i will try and be funny but generally i i sort of don't with them i i like just just being you know that makes sense that makes total sense that's interesting because then i tell you what i had for a bit um because i did a reality show for so long which i don't know if you've seen it um we actually we we won a bafta You haven't, but that's fine. And you know what? That's true.

7:18Well done. What can I say? Well done. I'm still trying.

7:25But I, because it was so much, it was 160 days a year we were filming, right? Was it? 160 days a year? Yeah, 160 days a year we'd film. So what would happen was is that I was in this constant, like, entertainment mode all the time. So then when I was off camera, I would still feel like I needed to entertain. And so that became quite psychologically, I suppose, quite like exhausting in a certain way. And what I realized is that I just didn't feel comfortable that much being in my own skin. So if I could entertain, that made me feel more comfortable. Here we go. Now we're getting deep. Now here it comes.

8:00So do you think that within yourself, that when you are your true comfortable self, you can sit back and relax? and maybe that you find entertaining easier in a sort of social situation. This is where he doesn't like to go deep. No, no, no, no, no. No, it's interesting.

8:21Maybe I...

8:28Well, you know, that's a big old question. It's a big old question. You can't just rattle off and I'm giving it some thought. I mean, I don't, I don't, I honestly don't know how to answer your question. I mean... Well, I suppose the question is this... You ask it again in a different way. Okay. Ask in a different way. You're asking, am I comfortable in my own skin? I don't know. Maybe I'm asking something different. As a... Okay, when you were a child... Yes. Were you also... Did you realize that if you could make people laugh and entertain people, you could gain popularity and become friends with people?

9:05I suppose I was aware of that. But it was the other way around. I think it was just who I was. And the things that you talked about were a benefit of being that person. Got you. Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was never particularly judgmental or opinionated about things. I've always been a centrist, you know, but equally swayed by, you know, I mean, typically I will hear a politician from the left talking and I'll say, well, that makes sense. And then I'll hear a politician from the right talking. And I honestly, I mean, and I'm very embarrassed by this. I'll go, well, I mean, that makes sense. I'm insane.

9:59Right. I'm exactly the same. Yeah, I get swayed very easily. I mean, I watch Quest in Time and I go, well, yeah, yes, but yes. But that's always been in me. And in fact, the first thing I did that was any good was a show called Marion and Jeff, which was a series of monologues, a taxi driver, like an alter ego for me. And he has a line in it, which I think is quite revealing about me because he says, he says, I will always see the other side. He said, if Michael Owens scores a goal, he was a footballer years ago, I'm delighted but I will spare a thought for the goalkeeper now that's a comic line but at its root I can see a lot of me yeah in that so I find it quite hard to be especially opinionated about anything really because I go well there's the other side that's a nice way to be I think yes and no I think But even you saying that, Rob, is so nice.

11:00I sat with Alain de Bottin. Do you know who that is? Yes, I do. He's amazing, right? And he said, which I can ask you at the end, I said, what's your biggest... You know when you asked, do you know who that is? Yeah. Is that because you think a lightweight Rob wouldn't be aware of modern-day philosopher Alain de Bottin? Yeah, I thought that. I bet you did, didn't you? I did, yeah. No, I bet you did. I bet you, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me, Do you know who it is? I was being polite No, you were being patronising No, you were not patronising Have you ever heard, Jamie, of Sigmund Freud?

11:39Have you ever heard of Siegfried Sassoon? Oh, yes Yeah Wonderful haircuts For me, the reason why I did a reality show I always loved entertainment more than anything I loved it I loved being on stage I loved making people laugh I loved, always wanted to be in TV, all these different things. And I think there's a part of me that wants to do it because I think probably I thought I'd get the validation from the crowd or the people watching. And that maybe came from a small insecurity within me. And there's that kind of idea that most entertainers have something that they're sort of harboring, I suppose.

12:19Talk about it. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I understand how it works. am I allowed to pause briefly yeah you can pause alright okay I think there's a lot to be said for introducing the pause into podcasts there's another one if yes subconsciously not consciously I you know I just liked always liked making people smile or laugh by I had an ability to do voices. And of course, not everybody can. And when you can, you forget, like not everybody can sing. Not everybody can make their voice do silly things and sound like somebody else. But I was always able to do that. So, wow, how lucky, you know, we can do a thing.

13:06You know, I do that stupid thing where I go, I go, hi there. How are you doing out there? Great to see you. Oh, my word. How are you today, Jamie? What an amazing place. And that's got such reactions from people. but it's just a stupid dumbass trick that I'm able to do. You know, it's not a talent, not really a skill, you can sort of finesse it a bit. But I do that and I quite just enjoy it, you know. Do that one more time. Hey, Jamie, how are you doing today? Great to see you. Oh, my word, look at this boy. This boy's even smaller than he was before. That's really tiny.

13:46That's absolutely mad. You ready for me? Hold on. Can you do it as well?

13:56You ready? Yeah. Okay.

14:00Okay, here we go. Hold on. I've got this. Come on, Jamie. I'm Winnie's Robin. I'm just sitting in a box. How on earth?

14:15Sounds like I need a poo. Well, it does. That's what it feels like. It sounds like you were having a poo. So that's your very sort of famous man in a box. I call it small man in a box. Yeah, just a stupid thing. How did you discover you could do it? I was sitting around at home thinking about ventriloquists. I don't know why. I was thinking about how they throw their voices and make them sound like they're coming from somewhere else. And I started going, oh, so how are you today? And then all of a sudden I was doing that. And I went, oh. And you know, the canny part of me, not as canny as you, the sweet factory, but the canny part of me went, oh, that's a thing.

14:53What was the first play you did or show you did as a kid? Well, we actually put on a play. We did a stage production of Star Wars because Star Wars was the hit film. Honestly. Who's we? Who's we? I was the ringleader. Okay. How old are you at this point? I think I'm, when did Star Wars come out? 77, 78? Yeah, yeah. I'm 12, maybe, 13. Oh, okay. We write a script. I'm Luke Skywalker. Of course. We couldn't make an R2-D2. It's a very challenging shape with the thing. So at the time, Doctor Who was on, and they had a little dog robot called K9, which was a much more achievable shape. So we made that.

15:41We had toy lightsabers. We made a door on the starship out of silver foil and the stormtroopers were dressed in white skateboard helmets, the plastic stormtrooper mask with the elastic and cricket whites to look like stormtroopers. And they, at the beginning to make their entrance, they burst through the silver foil. It was quite dramatic. That is dramatic. I played Luke. And before we started, I went out the front in front of the curtain and did jokes from the Two Ronnies joke book. So that was probably my first stand up on stage telling jokes. So we did that. And then I moved schools and I went to Porth Call Comprehensive and I met Ruth Jones there.

16:32and they had a superb drama department with a young dynamic drama teacher who put on brilliant musicals every year and that was me that was that was my life mapped out i had a rumor that you stole money from catherine ceter jones yeah well there's some truth in that um uh catherine ceter jones i mean every school i went to had had a future star yeah honestly the first little school I went to, Eddie Izzard was at. Are you serious? Not when I was there. He was there two years before. Yeah, yeah. And then - Love Eddie Izzard. Well, of course. Unbelievable. Eddie and I have shared photos of the school sports day.

17:13Eddie was probably, Eddie's good at everything. He's probably very good, but I've got me coming last in the sack race. Then Catherine Zeta-Jones was at this school in Swansea, you know, very young, doing tap dancing and performing. And one day, as I was arriving at school, her mama just dropped her off and said, oh, I've forgotten to give Catherine a dinner money. It was about a quid in change, I think, from memory. Would you give it to her? I said, yes, I took it, put it in my pocket, forgot all about it. And then we would go down to town at lunchtime and have fish and chips or whatever. And I remember coming back and we were at a sweet shop then.

17:49I go, wow, I'm cash rich. What's going on here? Forgotten, I spent the money. So it wasn't really theft. That is theft. No, it's me forgetting. It's me forgetting even at that age. And then Ruth was then at this other school and that began that sort of lifelong friendship with her. Everybody around me behaved to me as though I was talented and as though I was good. That's all I've ever known really in my life from when I was a little kid is people going, oh, he's very good. Oh, he's good. Oh, Robert's very good, isn't he? With the voice. Oh, he's good. That's all I've had. So you had that inner confidence?

18:25Yeah. I never had that. See, where I come from is just Port Talbot. You hear actors say, oh, see, where I come from, there weren't any actors. So, you know, where I come from, where Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins are from. So you could go, well, yeah, you can. You can become an actor from here. Tom Jones wasn't that far away and Shirley Bassey wasn't that far away. Catherine is younger than me, but Catherine Zeta-Jones is in the road. Michael Sheen is younger. I mean, my God, you can't move. You almost feel like you were failing. Exactly. It's just expected of you, isn't it? The people in Wales that don't become famous artists of one type or another, they stand out more than the ones that do.

19:27My perfect day as sand, salt, water, and friends. But my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to SkyRizzy. Riz and Kizum at RZA, a prescription-only 150 milligram injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy. With SkyRizzy, most people saw 90 % clearer skin and many were even 100 % plaque-free at four months. SkyRizzy is just four doses a year after two starter doses. Don't use if allergic to SkyRizzy. Serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis.

20:04Tell your doctor about any flu-like symptoms or vaccines. Thanks to SkyRizzy, there's nothing on my skin. And that means everything.

20:14Ask your doctor about SkyRizzy, the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. Visit SkyRizzy.com or call 1-866-SKYRizzy to learn more. This is Kat and Nat from Kat and Nat Unfiltered. And this episode is sponsored by Michaels, your destination for all things 2026 graduation. If you've got a graduation coming up, the party shop at Michaels is your new best friend. It's your one-stop shop for everything graduation. Balloons, party decor, tableware, DIY, gifting, and more. Literally everything you need, all starting at just$1.99. We're all about making life easier and Michaels has made it super simple with ready-made balloon bundles, 2026 numbers, and even free helium inflation on select styles.

21:00Plus, you can shop same-day delivery or buy online and pick up in-store. Michaels, everything to celebrate anything. Visit Michaels in-store or shop online now. Hello, I'm Elizabeth Day, the creator and host of How to Fail. It's the podcast that celebrates the things in life that haven't gone right. and what, if anything, we've learned from those mistakes to help us succeed better. Each week, my guests share three failures, sparking intimate, thought-provoking, and funny conversations. You'll hear from a diverse range of voices sharing what they've learned through their failures. Join me Wednesdays for a new episode each week.

21:34This is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment original podcast. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. While every other channel is fighting for your customers' attention, podcasts are where they've already given it. No one accidentally listens to a podcast for 45 minutes. They choose to be here. They trust the voice in their ears. And when that voice talks about your brand, it doesn't sound like advertising. It sounds like a recommendation from a friend. Acast gives you that trust at scale. Digital precision, post-read authenticity, and performance data that proves it worked. Don't fight for attention.

22:07Buy it with Acast. Learn more by visiting acast.com slash advertise.