Robert Florence is funniest when his characters are certain they deserve a hearing and cannot understand why they are not getting one. With Iain Connell, he makes Scottish sketch comedy worth forgiving for its unevenness.
Fi1m perspective
Two men in a voice-controlled lift cannot persuade it to recognise the word eleven. Burnistoun (2010) gives Robert Florence and Iain Connell a simple obstruction and lets their performances do the work. We laughed until it hurt at the lift sketch, partly at the Glaswegian accent and partly at how readily we found it funny. The programme is good rather than great, but moments like this earn it considerable patience.
His writing credits run from Chewin' the Fat (1999) through the sitcoms Legit (2007) and Empty (2008), both written with Connell. The useful step in Burnistoun is to give the sketches a shared town: a butcher’s, a pub and a stretch of pavement that different characters can occupy. A familiar place helps make room for the absurdity without requiring everyone in it to become a caricature. Their later work together includes The Scotts (2021), with Florence writing and playing Vincent Scott.
Florence’s men announce themselves, take offence and insist on explaining a plan; Connell can answer with a pause or a look. The difference keeps their exchanges from becoming a contest to be loudest. Their sketches build from simple premises towards elaborate set pieces, so Florence’s forceful performances have somewhere to go. Florence is funny because he lets these men insist on being heard long enough for their self-importance to become a problem.
That pairing cannot make every sketch work. Kirsty Strain can hold a scene without a punchline, yet she and the other supporting players get less to do than they could handle. More room for that sort of patience would be welcome alongside Florence’s forcefulness. Start with Burnistoun, but expect to remember individual sketches more fondly than whole episodes.
Biography
Robert Florence, also known as Rab Florence, is a Scottish writer, comedian, actor and presenter. He is best known as co-creator, writer and performer on the BBC Scotland sketch series Burnistoun (2009–2019), made with long-term collaborator Iain Connell.
Florence was born in Glasgow in 1977 and studied film and television at Cardonald College. He and Connell met as teenagers at a Springburn youth theatre project. Florence was a core writer on the sketch show Chewin' the Fat and, with Connell, wrote the sitcoms Legit and Empty.
His other credits include the mockumentary series The Scotts (2020–2023), The State of It and stage work such as Orphans for the National Theatre of Scotland. He has also presented programmes including GamesMaster.
