Roderick Keith Ogilvy "Rory" Bremner,[1]FKC (born 6 April 1961) is a Scottish impressionist and comedian, noted for his work in political satire and impressions of British public figures.[2] He is best known for co-starring with John Bird and John Fortune in the comedy sketch shows Rory Bremner...Who Else? and Bremner, Bird and Fortune, as well as being a team captain on the first two series of comedy panel show Mock the Week.
Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of Major Donald Stuart Ogilvy Bremner (1907–1979) and his second wife Ann Simpson (1922–2001).[1] He has an older brother and an older half-sister (from his father's first marriage). Bremner was educated at Clifton Hall School and Wellington College, and then studied Modern Languages at King's College London, graduating with a degree in French and German in 1984.[3]
In 2009, Bremner was the subject of the series Who Do You Think You Are? in a quest to research about his father, whom he barely knew. His father had served in the 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment during the Second World War and was often away from home. Bremner travelled to 's-Hertogenbosch, the Dutch city liberated by the East Lancs, amongst other places to retrace his father's footsteps. Together with his brother, they traced their father's ancestry and discovered that their great-grandfather John Ogilvy had served as a "surgeon general" (equivalent of the present-day senior Royal Army Medical Corps medical officer) during the Crimean War and was later posted to British colonies.[1]
Career
While studying at King's College London, he worked on the cabaret circuit in the evenings and was also active in a student drama club.[4] He first came into the limelight in 1985, when his single, "N-N-Nineteen Not Out" (released under the name of the Commentators) became a hit in the British charts. It was a parody of Paul Hardcastle's number one hit, "19", with Bremner impersonating cricket commentators, including Richie Benaud, John Arlott, and Brian Johnston,[citation needed] and replacing references to the Vietnam War with references to the England cricket team's disastrous 1984 home series against the West Indies, in which the England captain David Gower had averaged 19.[5] An uncredited Hardcastle himself played all the instruments.
Bremner contributed to And There's More, Spitting Image, and Week Ending, and by 1987 he had his own BBC 2 sketch show, Now – Something Else. In 1993 he moved to Channel 4, teaming up with comedy veterans John Bird and John Fortune for Rory Bremner...Who Else? where his output became more satirical and the sporting commentators gradually came to represent a smaller proportion of his repertoire. In 1999 the show changed its name to Bremner, Bird and Fortune. Over the years the show won numerous awards. Bremner became well known for his impersonations of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and various other government figures. Bremner, Bird and Fortune ended in 2010.
During the 1990s Bremner was also a semi-regular performer on the Channel 4 improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. In 2005 and 2006 he was a team captain for the first two series of the BBC Two satirical comedy panel show Mock the Week.
Bremner has performed on Sunday AM, impersonating politicians, with a review of recent political events. He has also presented a BBC Radio 4 series, Rory Bremner's International Satirists, in which he talks to comedians and impressionists from other European countries. In September 2009, he presented a BBC Four documentary, Rory Bremner and the Fighting Scots, about the history of Scots serving in the British Army.[6] In the run-up to the 2010 UK General Election, he performed a 20-date Election Battlebus Tour,[7] his first stand-up comedy tour in five years.
Bremner has translated three operas into English: Der Silbersee by Kurt Weill, Carmen by Georges Bizet,[8] and Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach.[9][10] In April 2007, he took part in The Big Brecht Fest at the Young Vic Theatre in London celebrating the work of German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, where a series of newly translated versions of some of Brecht's short plays were performed. One of the plays—the short comedy of manners A Respectable Wedding—was newly translated by Bremner,[11] who also penned the title to the series. His translation drew a positive reception from critics, although it did draw the ire of some for the removal of any class conflict edge to the play, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins as a squirming farce that relies heavily on the comic value of embarrassment.[citation needed]
Bremner took part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing.[12] His dance partner in the series was Erin Boag and on 23 October 2011, he was the 3rd celebrity to be eliminated.
In 2012, Bremner appeared on the BBC Four programme, The Story of Light Entertainment, in an episode about impressionists.
In 2013, Bremner presented Rory Goes to Holyrood, a one-off show for BBC Scotland that takes a satirical look at Scottish politics and the independence referendum. The programme was announced in March 2013, with plans for it to be aired later in the year. In a BBC press release for the show, Bremner spoke of his reasons for recording the programme. "Coming back to Scotland in the run-up to the Referendum, I realised I knew almost nothing about Scottish Politics. Time I did. And why is there so little political comedy in Scotland outside the Parliament? Time to make sense (and nonsense) of it all."[13] The programme featured Bremner presenting a one-off stand-up routine at Edinburgh's Assembly Hall, airing on 13 June 2013.[14] Bremner subsequently called for there to be more satire in the referendum debate: "There's great humour to be had. There's a lot of big, different characters involved and good arguments, and there are plenty of good Scottish comedians who can have plenty of fun with it. It's far too dangerous to leave it only to the politically minded."[15]
In 2015, he returned to TV comedy with two political satire programmes on BBC Two: "Rory Bremner's Coalition Report", a satirical summary of the previous five years in British Politics, and the "Election Report", a satire of the 2015 General Election.
In a 2001 interview, Bremner expressed his disillusionment with the premiership of Tony Blair, despite being initially optimistic about him. He said: "When I first met Tony Blair in 1996, he was open and idealistic, keen to bring a breath of fresh air to government. But something happened – was it just the arrogance of power? – that narrowed Labour's vision from purposeful reform and investment, to peevish and petulant pragmatism." However, he remained an outspoken critic of the Conservative Party, saying: "How dare they look at the railways, the schools, the hospitals, and say the priority is tax cuts?"[22] Bremner supported Reg Keys in the 2005 general election when he stood against Tony Blair as an anti-war candidate.[23]
In August 2018, Bremner spoke at a People's Vote rally in Edinburgh; People's Vote was a campaign group calling for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union.[26]
Personal life
Bremner's first marriage was to Susan Shackleton, a teacher, in 1987; the couple divorced in 1995. On 11 September 1999, Bremner married Tessa Campbell Fraser; they have two daughters.
John Michael Bird was an English actor, director, writer and satirist. He performed in the television satire boom of the 1960s, appearing in That Was the Week That Was. His television work included many appearances with John Fortune. Bird had an acting career in film, television, theatre and radio for over 55 years. He appeared in films including Take A Girl Like You (1970) and Jabberwocky (1977) as well as in television shows such as Joint Account, Marmalade Atkins, El C.I.D. and Chambers. He and Fortune also starred with Rory Bremner in the sketch show Bremner, Bird and Fortune (1993–2010), on Channel 4, which was nominated for BAFTA TV Awards.
John Courtney Fortune was an English actor, writer and satirist, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the television series Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
Steve Nallon is a British actor, writer, voice artist and impressionist. Nallon began his career as a stand-up performer on the northern club circuit in the 1970s.
Steven James Brown was a British composer, lyricist, record producer, and arranger.
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer and panellist.
Christopher David Addison is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on Mock the Week. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4.
Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned.
Mock the Week is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and panellist Hugh Dennis appeared in every episode, with a variety of other stand-up comedians being regular, frequent, occasional or one-off guest panellists during the show's history.
Bremner, Bird and Fortune, originally titled Rory Bremner...Who Else?, is a satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting comedy impressionist Rory Bremner with the veteran satirical comedy duo John Bird and John Fortune. From 1993 to 2008 the show ran for 19 series, followed by several one-off episodes until 2010.
Alistair Beaton is a playwright and satirist, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter for Gordon Brown.
Frederick MacAulay is a Scottish comedian. For 18 years, until March 2015, he presented a daily BBC Scotland radio programme MacAulay and Co. He has appeared on numerous TV shows.
Andrew Zaltzman is a British comedian who largely deals in political and sport-related material.
Headcases is a British satirical animation show based on current affairs. It employed the same satirical style as Spitting Image, 2DTV and Bo' Selecta!, but using 3D animation created by UK Visual Effects and animation house Red Vision.
Jonathan Huw Sweet is a British comedian and the recipient of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award for best newcomer.
Ivan Shakespeare was a British comedy writer. A commissioned writer on the BBC Radio 4 show Week Ending, Shakespeare was also commissioned to pen the radio comedy series, A Square of One's Own, and the BBC political satire show Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
This is a list of events in Scottish television from 2013.
Rory Goes to Holyrood is a 2013 satirical documentary presented by Scottish impressionist and comedian Rory Bremner. Aired by BBC Two Scotland on 13 June 2013, the hour-long programme takes a satirical look at Scottish politics and the independence debate, two subjects that had largely seen an absence of humour up to that point. The film sees Bremner visit the Scottish Parliament and interview politicians and other senior public figures as he gets to grips with the issues of the Scottish political scene. Bremner recorded the programme after moving back to live in Scotland and realising he knew very little about the politics of that country.
Tracey Breaks the News is a British topical comedy programme starring Tracey Ullman. It premiered on BBC One on 27 October 2017 following a one-off special that aired on 23 June.
Wildcat Stage Productions was an influential left-wing theatre and music production company based in Glasgow. Founded in 1978 as a spin-off from the 7:84 Company, it formed a key part of the Scottish touring theatre network for the next 20 years, creating more than 80 shows and giving many thousands of performances across Scotland, the UK and internationally. The company was named after the term for unofficial industrial action, excluding the word “theatre” from its name to avoid middle-class or bourgeois associations.
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