Basically cheers up Bard's character who's a bit of an ass (2,6)
I believe the answer is:
at bottom
'basically' is the definition.
('at bottom' means basically or essentially)
'cheers up bard's character who's a bit of an ass' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'character' could be 't' and 't' is found in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'bit' could be 'o' (resembles 0, a binary digit or bit) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for at bottom that I've seen before include "Basically" , "Like the Titanic" , "Location of 27 28" .)