Rob Brydon

Rob Brydon is a comedian and actor who agrees to tour a string of remote restaurants with his old friend and rival Steve Coogan, ostensibly for a newspaper review series. He is content, happily married, quick with an impression, and irritatingly at ease with himself in a way that needles Coogan's ambition.

Playing a version of himself, Brydon turns easy contentment into comic ammunition — his Michael Caine voices and small-talk one-upmanship aren't just bits, they're armour against Coogan's status anxiety. The joke is how funny happiness can be next to someone who's still striving, and Brydon never lets the character curdle into smugness.