The founding fathers of the resurgence of British comedy, Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, joined forces once again in the BBC comedy, The Trip. With Coogan kick starting things with Alan Partidge and Brydon putting in his own twist in Marion and Geoff back in the day, The Trip combined two of the most influential modern comedians so it was always going to be a little bit class personified.
Playing fictional versions of themselves in a food critic restaurant tour of the North of England, the pair rolled out a raft of improvised scenes throughout the experimental comedy. The series sees them taking in the fine dining of restaurants like The Inn at Whitewell, Lancashire, L’Enclume and Holbeck Ghyll in Cumbria, Hipping Hall on the border of Lancashire, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, Yorke Arms, North Yorkshire and The Angel at Hetton, also in North Yorkshire.
The show is directed by Michael Winterbottom, who also directed them in 2005’s A Cock & Bill Story, in which they once again played twisted versions of themselves. There appears to be a recurring theme forming.
Scenes from The Trip are witty, with some clever impressions of Woody Allen, but it’s not necessarily laugh out loud funny all of the time. However, in and amongst the high brow jokes there’s enough natural comedy to make the show likeable. There’s also a good level of pathos, self deprecation and ego baiting throughout the series, which adds to the storyline of Steve taking the commission to do the tour from The Observer to try to impress his intelligent American girlfriend and turning to Rob as a late entry to accompany him on the trip.
The filming added to their busy career with the Rob Brydon Show going strong and the talk of the Alan Partridge movie (which has turned out to be titled Alpha Papa) hotting up. Good to have a plan B! Not Plan B the singer. He’s soul destroying. He’s like a Butlins Holiday Camp singer that thinks he’s trapped in a Guy Richie film. Or a cross between Joe Pasquale and Joe Pesci.
The Trip first aired on BBC2 at 10pm on Sunday 7th November. The series is made up of six episodes.
Related news and reviews:
- The Trip Series 2 confirmed
