THE WORD likeable was invented for Rob Brydon. The Welsh comic, star of Gavin and Stacey, Marion and Geoff and a host of other TV and radio comedies, is such a decent, nice bloke that by all rights he shouldn’t be funny. Obviously he is though. At times during his first show of a two-night run at the Warwick Arts Centre he makes me laugh so hard I do one of those embarrassing snort things - like a pig when it’s being attacked. It turns out that Rob Brydon is full of surprises though. Not only can a nice bloke be funny, but a comic so famous for scripted TV sitcoms can be unbelievably witty and sharp totally off the cuff. He ends the first part of the gig by totally ad-libbing a song based on audience members. Not only is it clever, it’s hilarious. It shows him for what he is, a totally versatile comic who can wisecrack about almost any subject going. And that perhaps compensates for the fact that this is stand-up comedy without an edge. Where the likes of Ed Byrne or Frankie Boyle swear through their sets liberally and come so close to the bone you occasionally wince, Brydon is a purveyor of good, honest, family-friendly fun. He should really take to the stage with a candy striped jacket and hat, he is so utterly inoffensive. But that’s absolutely no bad thing. Good comedy without profanity and edge is unbelievably difficult to pull off. And where the toe-curlingly bad comics of old - Bruce Forsyth, Eric Morecambe and Ronnie Corbett - have a go and fail terribly, Brydon nails it. This is a class act. The straight stand up is marvellous - loaded with self-deprecating Welsh gags and smart mini-interludes that are totally unnecessary but utterly fantastic at the same time. The best bits though are when he is bantering with the audience. You feel for the poor lad who recklessly heads to the toilets 10 minutes in. When he returns everyone’s favourite Welsh comic is sitting in his seat, talking to audience members around him. And his cousin - 17-year-old Chelsea - gets everything you would expect a smiling, but ever so slightly chavvy teenage girl to get. It’s not nasty though - the young lad gets a free DVD and a cuddle, while Chelsea’s mum gets to take to the stage to sing Brydon’s sick-makingly bad number one single Islands in the Stream during the encore. Of course, the mum never gets to sing, because Ruth Jones - Brydon’s Gavin and Stacey co-star - sneaks on stage and makes beautiful music to end the show. And what a show - if we did a star rating system this would get a whole load of stars and then some bonus stars for politeness. Outstanding. | 
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