Knowing Steve Coogan, knowing Rob Brydon, what do we know?
We know they are both very knowing performers with well-developed personas. They both do impressions, often of themselves. And in The Trip to Greece, without getting too meta-, they are in a playful comfort zone, sending each other up, while hiding in plain sight.
Knowing how knowing the Knowing Me, Knowing You star and his slightly more showbiz chum are doesn’t get in the way of finding them funny. But it does help to obscure the thinness of The Trip’s concept.
Perhaps I’ve said this before — indulgence prompts indulgence — but the format is reminiscent of a programme proposal once outlined to me by a punk filmmaker.
This punk retread of On the Road was going to be called Two Punks on a Bus, and it would have done what it said on the ticket. Two ageing veterans of the gob wars would travel the country by public transport, meeting people and reflecting on their journey. The flaw in this idea was the absence of aspiration.
The Trip is a colour supplement brought to life; a travel freebie with two beloved entertainers. It is an ad-libbed holiday with all-inclusive fine dining and a PA at home to iron out the logistics.
The conceit takes a little ingenuity, which removes it from the realm of the plausible into fantasy. The Steve character, the Coogan Coogan, is supposed to be a journalist working on travel stories for The Observer, while also being the film star and “troubled TV funnyman” (inverted commas: model’s own). Rob, the Brydon Brydon, is his friend, the “light-hearted entertainer”.
In reality, you might expect that Coogan and Brydon would be troubled by selfie-hunters and sun-scorched fans in sandals, but their personas travel more easily, with just the odd ambient cry of “A-ha” to lighten the mood and undermine Coogan’s playful pomposity about his work.
This time, Greece is the word. The Coogan Coogan and the Brydon Brydon are following in the steps of Odysseus, while eating watery custard, mussels and espresso powder-dust. The food bit is just punctuation, and an excuse for two middle-aged men to wrinkle their chinos and impersonate Ronnie Corbett.
“Ten-year Odyssey in six days,” says the Brydon Brydon. “It’s ambitious, Steve.”
What do we learn about Greece? Not a lot, except that it is beautiful when viewed from the restaurant by the bay where they filmed Mamma Mia! There’s a passing glimpse of a refugee camp, but mostly the view is of the actors’ reflections in a steel cloche.
It’s fun, of course, to imagine Alexander the Great talking in the voice of Marlon Brando, Ray Winstone and Bob Hoskins, to hear Henry VIII as a cockney.
Some of the impersonations will need subtitles for viewers less familiar with Eamonn Andrews and Michael Parkinson, but the sound of the Brydon Brydon farting while under attack with a massage mitt requires no translation.
The Trip To Greece is on Sky One, 10pm, 10.30pm, and is also available to stream on Now TV
