Rob Brydon on his new UK tour, A Night of Songs and Laughter

Virgin Radio

25 Jun 2021, 09:59

The comedian, singer and presenter joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about his upcoming UK tour, about singing on stage with Neil Diamond, and about how he just wants to entertain.

Rob has added more dates to his tour, A Night of Songs and Laughter, which kicks off in September this year. It will feature stories about his career and experiences, as well as musical numbers. He told Chris, “It’s still a funny show. It’s just an extension of what I used to do. I used to, in my stand-up show, have music towards the end, just with a guitar. And then I was enjoying that more and more, and finding there was a nice rhythm to the bits in between the musical bits I did, so I just took the plunge and got this incredible band. They’re a nine-piece band, they’re amazing.”

He added, “So it’s funny stuff, it’s stories. Stories about singing with Tom Jones, which I’ve done, or singing with Neil Diamond. It’s about singing at school, where I met Ruth Jones.”

Rob told Chris about one of the times he has sung on stage with a musical legend. “The Neil Diamond thing was terrifying. I did a special with him for ITV. We interviewed in New York, knowing we were going to come to The London Palladium, and he casually said to me during this interview, ‘Hey, we should do a song at The Palladium.' And I said, ‘Yeah alright!' We ended up singing Song Sung Blue. Terrifying!” 

The 56-date A Night of Songs and Laughter tour kicks off in Eastbourne in September this year, and Rob explained to Chris that the Covid-19 pandemic has afforded him plenty of time to hone his show. “We did about 12 dates before the pandemic, and we did a good quality recording of one of them. So I’ve been listening back to that, wanting to make changes. And all the way through it, you’re just editing. You’re going, ‘Alright I don’t need to say that in between the songs. I don’t need to do that. Okay, that’s good, I can do a  bit more of that. A little less of this.’” 

The comedian and singer told Chris that his new show is a true representation of the kind of thing he really wants to be doing. “I love knowing now, as an adult, what the potential is for something if you apply yourself to it, and following your dream in a way. Because I’ve wanted to do musical stuff for so long, and I had done bits of bobs, but a full-on thing like this, I was shy of, frankly for fear of ridicule, for fear of, ‘Oh, bloke off the telly thinks he can sing.’ 

“So I’ve tried to grow it small. I’ve tried to do bits and bobs and build it up and build it up, but at some point you have to take the plunge, and you have to say, ‘Right, I’m going out there and I’m going to do it.’ And when we did, the thing that surprised me most was the extent to which I loved it, and the extent to which it worked. 

“Now frankly, I’d rather do this for the rest of my days, than the old, just straight out stand-up show.” 

When Chris asked Rob what he thinks he is designed to do, he said, “I think entertaining. And that’s sort of a dirty word in a way. I think people like you to be a bit more pure, you know? ‘I’m an actor’ or ,‘I’m this,’ or ‘I’m that.’ But frankly, since I was a kid, I’ve liked to entertain people, whether it’s a stupid voice, a song, a joke, that’s what I’m comforable doing. I suppose I’ve sort of given in to that now. 

“There was a time when I thought, ‘No, I just want to be an actor, a serious actor. You can’t do other stuff if you want to be an actor, if you want to be taken seriously.’ And there is something in that, because, obviously, an actor like Daniel Day-Lewis, to go to the sublime, you never see him on any other shows, you accept him totally in the role. 

“But I love all this other stuff, you know? I love hosting a show, I love the singing, so I’ve just tried to embrace it.”

Tickets for A Night Of Songs and Laughter are on sale now from robbrydon.live.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.