Bert Rigby lives in the small dying town Langmore, where most people depend on badly doing mining corporation. While his fellows are on strike once again, he decides to try his luck in show-biz meanwhile. His first appearance on stage goes all wrong - but the audience loves him anyways. So he starts as a comedian in a traveling amateur show for $50 a night. One day he gets an offer from an ad director from Hollywood and flies to America, expecting a great career... and again leaving behind his pregnant young wife.

There is a scene on a bus where Bert is "receiving unwanted attention" from a woman. Unable to take it any more he stands up and shouts, "Are we at Ilkeston yet?" This is a reference to Robert Lindsay's home town in Derbyshire in the United Kingdom. The role of Bert Rigby was written for him, and the character's background mirrored his own. Originally he wanted a portion of the movie to be filmed in Ilkeston, but the producers thought Ilkeston no longer looked "industrial enough" to match the character's background. So the bus scene is the only bit of Ilkeston that made it to the final product.