Comedian Rob Brydon. Photo / Supplied
Rob Brydon's been on the phone with Australian media for the best part of two hours when I'm put through to him. So my first question is simple; I ask him if he's all talked out.
"Never," he laughs.
We're chatting today because Brydon is bringing his stand-up show to New Zealand in April.
"A critic described it as more of a variety show than stand-up," he says. "I just do whatever I can do to entertain an audience. That's what I'm interested in."
As far as Brydon's concerned the troubles of today do not make for good entertainment.
"It's not really a topical show," he says. "There's no mention of Trump. There's no mention of North Korea. There's no mention of Brexit. It's a break from all of that. I talk to the audience about my life, about family, of being 53 and a father of five, and I talk to the audience."
The audience involvement adds an unpredictably to his show that he says he loves.
"That's what makes it fresh for me," he says. "I've got two things going on; when I'm doing material my aim is to make it as well crafted as possible, to finesse it, to leave it with not an ounce of fat, to communicate the joke as economically as I can.
"When talking to the audience, there is an unpredictability, you're not sure what they're going to say, and I like that. I get a lot out of that. A lot of the work I do is improvisational, thinking on your feet."
Brydon's quick-witted improv skills are best demonstrated in The Trip, the highly successful, semi-improvisational series and trilogy of movies he stars in with his long-time pal Steve Coogan.
Fans will be pleased to know that he talks about The Trip in his show, and even busts out some of his famed impressions, like Mick Jagger and Michael Caine.
These are the highlight of The Trip, as Coogan and Brydon engage in a battle of one-upmanship over their impressions and point out weaknesses in the other's attempts. They're devastatingly funny, but Brydon says that neither ever takes the others niggly advice on board.
"I don't think either of us cares that much about them. Steve's always had a real ambivalence towards impressions and I'm moving in that direction. I don't want to overstate it, but slightly more towards his position," he says. "I slightly bristle when I'm described as an impressionist. Which is ludicrous because, of course, I go out there and I do them. But I see it as something that's like a little trick. It's funny but I don't do that many. I do a handful of the same ones again and again and again. That's part of the joke in The Trip, we just keep doing the same old things but it's also the truth. They're all the ones I have."
Seeing as we're talking about The Trip it would be remiss to not ask about the possibility of the duo bickering their way around Aotearoa. After all, we have some world-class scenery here...
"I know," he sighs, "but my Get Out of Jail Free card is that it's not my decision. It's not Steve's decision. It's Michael's," he says, referring to writer/director Michael Winterbottom. "We just go where we're told, basically."
"But I don't know how long we'll keep on doing it," he says. "I think there's going to be another one... Sometimes there's talk of us doing it until one of us drops dead."
He chuckles at the macabre thought, then says, "I think there will be another one. I'm pretty sure of that. Where? I don't know. We enjoy them and they go down well so it's always gratifying."
LOWDOWN
Who: Rob Brydon
What: Performing live
When: Tuesday, April 2 in Auckland, Thursday, April 4 in Wellington
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