Rob Brydon defends James Corden and calls for people to ‘give the guy a break’

The Welsh comedian once took his ‘Gavin & Stacey’ co-star to one side to discuss his ‘brattish’ behaviour

Rob Brydon has defended his Gavin & Stacey co-star James Corden, stating people need to “give the guy a break”.

While actor and writer Corden has enjoyed successes including the Bafta-winning Gavin & Stacey, an eight-year stint as a US late-night show host and a Tony win for the 2012 play One Man, Two Guvnors, the 47-year-old has frequently found himself on the receiving end of criticism.

In 2017, he sparked a backlash after making jokes about Harvey Weinstein while hosting the AmfAR Gala - a HIV/AIDs fundraiser - as #MeToo was unfolding and three years later, he was accused of portraying “gross and offensive” gay stereotypes in a Netflix drama.

In 2022, he was banned from a top New York restaurant over his alleged treatment of staff, which he later apologised for, before being accused of stealing a joke from Ricky Gervais.

Corden has enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic (Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

In a new interview with The Times, Brydon was asked about how, twenty years ago, he took a then newly-famous Corden to one side to discuss his rude behaviour.

Brydon replied: “Yes, I remember that, but come on. James gets so much shit thrown at him. Give the guy a break.”

Addressing Corden’s recent success treading the boards in a revival production of Art, Brydon continued: ”Look, he’s the toast of Broadway again. I think we should celebrate him.”

Corden previously told his side of the story, admitting on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that he became “spoilt and brattish” after winning a Bafta for Gavin & Stacey in 2012.

The final ‘Gavin & Stacey’ aired last Christmas (BBC/Toffee International Ltd./Tom Jackson)

He explained: “Rob took me to lunch and said, ‘What are you doing going out all the time being photographed with all these people? This isn’t the you I know. But it is the you I am having to defend to people.’”

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Brydon previously told The Independent: “[Corden] was on a rollercoaster. This boy from High Wycombe, and he’s suddenly enjoying the fruits of his success, and he just lost his way for a bit.

“He was burning the candle at both ends, and becoming ratty and irritable. He was in a washing machine being battered around. I felt for him.”

Corden called time on his US talk show in 2023 and secretly returned to writing Gavin & Stacey with Ruth Jones. The pair reunited to pen a final episode of the sitcom, which aired to a record-breaking audience on Christmas Day last year.