Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon was born in Swansea, South Wales, on 3rd May 1965. He grew up in Baglan nr Port Talbot before moving to Porthcawl, where his interest in acting flourished under the guidance of Porthcawl Comprehensive School’s drama teacher, Roger Burnel.

After school, Rob began a three-year course at The Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff but left midway through the second year to become a radio presenter for nearby BBC Wales.

There then followed six years of presenting work on local television and radio, during which time Rob would perform the odd comedy pieces, including, on Radio 5’s ‘Rave’ with Alan Thompson, the early days of Keith Barret. Whilst at the BBC, Rob joined the Bath-based improvisational comedy group ‘More Fool Us’, where he met Julia Davis, with whom he would go on some years later to make the award-winning ‘Human Remains’.

Leaving Cardiff for London, Rob worked mostly as a voice artist on animations and commercials until his role as the traffic warden in ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ prompted him to make a short video of comic characters he had created. The video, ‘Rob Brydon – An Extremely Unlucky Traffic Warden, ‘ finished with Cardiff cabbie Keith Barret chatting cheerily to a camera fixed to the dashboard.