Rob Brydon

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It seems like ages since we’ve been out for entertainment. This isn’t strictly true, as we’ve had a summer of cricket, with mixed results both locally and nationally. We’ve also both been volunteering at the Fringe Festival this year, about which more later. But Rob Brydon! Star of I’m Sorry, I Haven’t A Clue, Gavin And Stacey, and presenter of Would I Lie To You? What’s not to like?

The show was at 8pm, so we took ourselves off for our traditional pre-show dinner. There was one drawback, however, and that is that the show was on a Monday night. In these post-apocalyptic times, many establishments have found themselves short of staff. The solution is to reduce opening hours, so very few restaurants are open on a Monday night. We managed to find one – The Old Quarter, a Vietnamese restaurant on Dixon Street, and booked a table. It was just as well we did, as the place was heaving – with what I guess to be a different demographic to their usual clientele. Yes, pretty well everyone else there was going to the show later.

Dixon Street is just across the way to the Opera House, so we ambled over and took our seats in the gallery. Not the best seats in the house, and looking down somewhat on the band, but better than most because we were in the middle access row so had leg-room once everyone had taken their seats. Not always the case in The Gods…note to self: don’t book seats in the gallery at the Opera House again. In fact, they don’t usually open it up for sale, but this was a sell-out crowd and it was filled to the gunwales. 

Yes, you read that right: a band. Why did Rob Brydon have a band? Well, this was an all-singing, not quite all-dancing comedy show, with music liberally sprinkled throughout the night. As he himself said “this would be a very different show without these people. Profitable, for a start”. There was a pianist, bassist, drummer, guitarist, violinist, cellist, saxophonist and trumpeter. They played various songs from Tom Waits to Tom Jones, all significant to Rob’s story; including a request section in the second half, and finished with his No.1 hit single, Barry Islands In The Stream. In between, he entertained us with stories about his life and career, including celebrity impressions. He also chatted to members of the audience, finding the oldest (Martin, 86), and youngest (Freddie, 11). Commenting on the general attire of the audience, he noted that there was a time when people would dress up to go to the Opera House, but now “I didn’t know Kathmandu did evening dress”.

All good clean fun, we thoroughly enjoyed it. After the final show in Christchurch he’s taking this tour to the West Island, so catch him if you can if you live there.