Rory Bremner
Back to client list »Impressionist, comedian, satirist, translator, columnist, writer, presenter, ballroom dancer, actor, Rory Bremner is either multi-talented or indecisive or both.
Born in Edinburgh in 1961 and educated at Wellington College and Kings College London, (BA Hons, French and German) Rory is perhaps best known for writing and starring in the political satire show Bremner, Bird and Fortune, for nearly twenty years a mainstay of Channel 4’s comedy output. He won back-to-back BAFTAs for Top Comedy Performance in 1995 and 1996, together with three Royal Television Society and two British Comedy Awards.
Most recently Rory has captained on the comedy panel show The Imitation Game for ITV. He also returned to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 for an impressions-packed performance with co-star Jan Ravens.
In 2017 he fronted an episode of BBC’s Horizon – ADHD and Me with Rory Bremner, to uncover the science of the condition. This followed on from his Radio 4 documentary which explored his own self-diagnosis of ADHD.
2015 saw the return of Rory Bremner’s Coalition Report after 20 years! In the same year, Rory tackled the General Election with three side-splitting episodes, he took on the many faces of politics in a satirical and theatrical report alongside a list of other well-known comedians.
Never one to duck a challenge, Rory competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2011, partnering Erin Boag and specialising in waltz and quickstep before losing out to Nancy Dell’Olio in the Cha Cha Cha. There will be a reckoning.
Meanwhile, he has co-written and presented two satirical Radio 4 series, Tonight and Bremner’s One Question Quiz, toured the country recording Rory Bremner’s Great British Views for ITV, hosted the quiz-show Face the Clock for Channel 4, and written and presented a documentary on Scottish Independence, Rory Goes to Hollyrood (BBC).
In 2013 he made his theatrical debut in Trevor Nunn’s production of Noel Coward’s Relative Values (Bath Theatre Royal) prior to a West End run at the Pinter Theatre.
He also translates operas and plays and is one of the country’s top after-dinner speakers and awards presenters.
His breakthrough TV appearance was on Wogan in 1985, following which he had his own series on the BBC from 1986 to 1991. He has since guested on many of Britain’s top comedy shows on radio and TV, including Spitting Image, Whose Line is it Anyway, Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week (team captain for two series), The News Quiz, The Now Show, 7 day Sunday and QI. He appeared more often than any other guest on Britain’s top talk shows, Wogan and Parkinson. Rory often guests on The Andrew Marr Show, where he reviews current political events through his many characters.
Besides live tours and numerous corporate engagements, he has also presented documentaries on Scottish Soldiers and Diaries for BBC4 and traced his family history on Who Do You Think You Are (BBC).
With John Bird and John Fortune, he also wrote and appeared in numerous specials, including Between Iraq and a Hard Place, My Government and I and Silly Money, and a book, You Are Here, published in 2005 (a stockpile of satirical ammunition – Daily Telegraph).
Meanwhile, he’s translated three operas: two from French, Carmen (2001) and Orpheus in the Underworld (Scottish Opera, 2011) and one from German (Der Silbersee, 1997) together with the Bertolt Brecht play A Respectable Wedding (Young Vic, 2008). He is a regular contributor to The FT, The Telegraph, The New Statesman and Radio Times, for whom he has interviewed Michael Parkinson and David Frost.
When not working (!) he enjoys travel, opera, cooking, sport (especially cricket- he had a 1985 Top 20 hit as The Commentators with N.n..nineteen not out) and motor racing – he owns a 1963 Alfa Spyder. He is also a Patron of ADHD Foundation.
Married to the artist Tessa Campbell Fraser, with two daughters, Ava and Lila, he divides his time (badly) between London, Wiltshire and the Scottish Borders.
Twitter @rorybremner
Instagram: @rorybremner1
Rory was just fantastic and having attended three of these events in the past, I can honestly say I have never known the evening to pass so quickly. He was so entertaining, so funny, so sincere and it was just a pleasure to be in his company. He clearly was enjoying the evening too which makes such a difference. The feedback on the night was entirely positive, and lobbying has already begun to secure his services for next year! On top of all that he was an absolute pleasure to deal with.”
All went really well on Friday night, Rory was excellent. John’s comment was simply ‘He knocked it out of the park, brilliant!’ Think that said it all – he’s also a great person to work with.
May we thank Rory once more for giving such a wonderful after-dinner speech at the Enlightened Education conference last week. Very many of our heads said how much they enjoyed having the chance to hear you speak. We can only imagine the demands on your time, and we are immensely grateful that you could be with us.
He went down a storm, and was able to combine the current political shenanigans with gardening effortlessly!! We enjoyed the fact that he ate with us and really engaged with all our guests, and Greenfingers charity loved the fact that he took it upon himself to initiate even more fundraising activities on the night too.
Rory was an absolute hit, and we were delighted with him our side. He was extremely easy to work with and really honed in on the audience (which isn’t always the easiest in our industry!)
He was beyond amazing, and he made the event a memorable one!
We were over the moon with Rory’s performance. Really and truly, it was a highlight of the evening! We really enjoyed that Rory took the time to go through the guest list and personalize the act. Kudos to Rory, it could not have gone better!
Saturday was a huge success and Rory made the night!! It was a pleasure to have him and he was completely brilliant and had us all in stitches!!
It was a brilliant night and Rory was fantastic. He wandered around the room speaking to people which was so well received. All in all, a great event!
Rory was excellent and the feedback has been really phenomenal. Our guests loved him! He is such a talented gentleman and was fabulous!
Rory was absolutely superb and an absolute delight, on and off stage. On stage he struck the perfect tone, mixing local references and global satire with ease. It was polished, professional and perfect, holding 530 people on his every word. Off stage, Rory was brilliant with our guests, sponsors and their clients, helpful to us as organisers and very involved in our event.
Rory was great – he went down a storm! He joined us for dinner and went around all the tables to say hello and meet our staff which everyone thought was a lovely touch.
Rory was absolutely brilliant. He had the audience in stitches and we have had fantastic feedback about how much people enjoyed him. It was lovely that he stayed for dinner and sat with some of the guests. He really was a joy to work with.
What a superstar Rory is. An absolute delight to work with. So talented, considerate and lovely. Totally charming man. Please pass on all our thanks. He was superb. Everyone loved his act and to have him as dinner guest was truly amazing.
I just wanted to say thank you for making the night such a success – and for all you did to make it so seamless and fun. Your performance and humour were just fabulous and kept the whole thing moving along. The compliments have been flowing in and all the guests and sponsors seemed to have loved the evening – and particularly your input. So thank you very much indeed.
The event was great and I have nothing but praise for Rory. He managed the various stages of the evening very well and entertained the top table through the night.
Rory was excellent and the surprise worked out brilliantly. The turn he did was superb and kept us all in stitches for the whole time. He generously stayed a bit longer after his act to sign autographs and pose for selfies. Please pass on my thanks and best wishes to him.
Rory, thank you for the splendid job you did of hosting our Annual Lunch & Awards last Friday. The tone struck was absolutely perfect for our audience and your management of a crowd of over 800 people first class. The feedback received to date has been excellent, further strengthening the event’s standing as a must-attend for our industry and raising the bar for future years.
Rory was an excellent speaker and I have received many complimentary comments about our choice of speaker for this year’s event…He was certainly very entertaining and raised many laughs. He also took time to speak to a number of the guests…
He was great at the table with our guests and was so lovely to deal with on the night – we’ve had lovely feedback so far – please pass on our thanks.
I could safely say that Rory was probably the most highly rated after dinner speaker we have had at the Subsea Expo Awards. His planning and preparation, engagement and connection with the audience was brilliant and commented by many of the dinner guests.
The timing for his satirical type of entertainment was very appropriate due to the geopolitical situations around the world, connections with the US and impending general election in the UK.
