Matt Berry

Matt Berry
Berry in 2008
Born Matthew Charles Berry
(1974-05-02) 2 May 1974
Bromham, Bedfordshire, England, U.K.
Alma mater Nottingham Trent University
Occupation Actor, writer, musician
Years active 1998–present

Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, writer, and musician. He played the leading role of Steven Toast in the Channel 4 British sitcom Toast of London, and has also appeared in The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box, and The Wrong Door and House of Fools. In 2015 he won a BAFTA award in Best Male Performance for his work on Toast of London.[1]

Early life and education

Berry was born in Bromham, Bedfordshire, to Pauline (née Acreman) and Charles Berry. He has one older sister, Johanna. He attended Nottingham Trent University, where he received a BA in Contemporary Arts in 1997.[2]

Career

He began his career as a runner before appearing in the video game magazine show Game Over on BSkyB's computer and technology channel .tv, between 1998 and 1999.[3] Though commissioned as an editorial show on the subject matter, episodes contained a large number of comedy sketches with Berry as the main performer. These showcased a wide range of characters, one of which was a sketch about The Exorcist entitled "Fear Pushed Through the Ring". It was this sketch and others like it that resulted in Berry, and producers Rik Henderson and Richard Pitt, being fired from the show.

Berry's first prominent TV role was playing Todd Rivers/Dr Lucien Sanchez in the cult 2004 comedy series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and the 2006 spin-off Man to Man with Dean Learner.[4] He later appeared as the eccentric and sinister tycoon/explorer Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh.[5][6] Berry first met The Mighty Boosh duo while performing at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, where they were resident in 2000.[7] He can be seen in a cameo performance in The Mighty Boosh Live DVD.[8]

Berry wrote and starred in the comedy show Snuff Box on BBC Three with Rich Fulcher, whom he met during the filming of the first series of The Mighty Boosh.[9][10] Fulcher co-starred as Bainbridge's lackey, Bob Fossil.[11] Berry starred as Douglas Reynholm since the second series of The IT Crowd.[12] He was nominated as Best Male Comedy Newcomer in the 2007 British Comedy Awards for this role, but lost out to James Corden for Gavin & Stacey.

In November 2007, Berry starred alongside Simon Farnaby and Boosh regular Rich Fulcher in The Golf War on E4.[13] Film appearances include The Devil's Chair (2006)[14] and Moon (2009). In 2008 he became the face of Adult Swim's spoof charity appeal "Save the Workers".[15] Berry featured in Season 2, episode 15 of The Sarah Silverman Program, filmed in Los Angeles for Comedy Central. Berry stars in the video (directed by Richard Ayoade) for the 2007 Super Furry Animals song "Run-Away".[16] He also appeared as an antiques expert in the ITV sketch show Monkey Trousers with Vic and Bob and Steve Coogan.[17]

In 2010, Berry played journalist Michael Duffy in the BBC production Five Daughters, which portrayed events surrounding the Ipswich murders of 2006. Berry starred in a short film called The Search—"a lonely man's search for the existence of life outside our universe takes a remarkable turn when he connects with a recently bereaved family". In 2011, he provided the voice of Allen in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Allen Part Two". He appeared as a contestant in the British comedy panel game Shooting Stars, acting the part of Vangelis.[18]

In 2012, BBC Radio 4 aired his comedy series I, Regress. In it he takes on the role of Dr Berry, a brilliant but unorthodox regressive therapist. During each 15-minute episode, Berry explores the psyche of a guest patient, attempting to treat his or her problems in surreal dreamlike sequences.[19] Berry appeared in the film adaptation of the David Nicholls novel One Day, playing the role of Aaron, Dexter's agent. He briefly featured in the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, introducing ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" by way of a mock weather forecast.

In July 2012, he appeared as vainglorious actor Steven Toast in the pilot episode of Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London, co-written with Arthur Mathews. Notwithstanding mixed reviews, a series was commissioned. The first episode was broadcast on 20 October 2013. On 10 May 2015 Berry won a BAFTA award for Best Male Comedy Performance in the series Toast of London. In 2015, Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews published "Toast on Toast: Cautionary tales and candid advice", a spoof autobiography of Steven Toast. It was also released as an audio book read by Matt Berry.

Berry played the title character in the 2013 Portlandia episode "Squiggleman."

In 2014, Berry appeared in the BBC 2 series House of Fools, written by and starring Reeves and Mortimer.

Matt Berry appears in episode nine of the sixth season of Dan Harmon's television series Community, released on Yahoo Screen on 5 May 2015. Berry appeared in the second SpongeBob SquarePants feature film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, where he voiced a dolphin, Bubbles. On 18 May 2015 Berry appeared in "Twelve Forever", a pilot created by Julia Vickerman and released on Cartoon Network's website, where he voiced the main villainess "The Butt Witch".[20] Berry made an appearance as Professor Teacher in two episodes of Major Lazer. Berry narrated the BBC series Matt Berry Does, which was broadcast from April 2015 to January 2016. In December 2015, he played Professor Awfulshirt in Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns on BBC One.[21]

Voiceovers

Berry has provided many voiceovers for both radio and television advertising, including Absolute Radio, Volvic, Müller Corner adverts and characters on several adverts for The Natural Confectionery Company. He has also been in the sketch show The Wrong Door as a recurring bit-part character who runs into a snooker hall and shouts "Stop playing snooker!" before whispering an implied impossible wager to one of the players and completing an unfeasible trick shot. In 2012, he worked with Team17 on their video game title Worms Revolution, providing voice over, as fictional wildlife documentary maker Don Keystone, for both the game and the video advertisements produced for it.[22] In 2014, he read out the teamsheets at Luton Town before the game. In 2015, he provided the voice for an award-winning satirical anti-war film by the UK branch of Veterans for Peace called Action Man: Battlefield Casualties.[23]

Music

Berry composed all the music for Snuff Box and Toast of London,[24] as well as the music for AD/BC: A Rock Opera, which he co-wrote with Richard Ayoade.[25] AD/BC was a half-hour parody of overblown musicals in general and Jesus Christ Superstar in particular, telling the story of the innkeeper who allowed Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus to sleep in his manger. AD/BC was broadcast in December 2004 and featured Fulcher and Mighty Boosh stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. He also performed a song for an episode of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace entitled "One Track Lover", a spoof of cheesy romantic 80s songs.

Berry also wrote music for the BBC 2 Steve Coogan comedy Saxondale and appeared in the first and third episodes of the second series of the show.[26] He composed the theme song for the Channel 4 sketch show Blunder.[27] He is also credited on The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

Berry has recorded six studio albums: Jackpot (1995), Opium (self-released, 2008), the most recent four have been released on Eddie Piller's Acid Jazz Records: Witchazel (2011), Kill the Wolf (2013), Music for Insomniacs (2014)[28][29] and The Small Hours (2016).[30] In 2017, a "companion piece"[31] to The Small Hours entitled Night Terrors was released, featuring remixes by artists such as Saint Etienne. He stated in the first issue of Bearded Magazine in 2007 that he was producing and collaborating on new material with 1960s soul singer Geno Washington and was to record a new album.[32] This would become Witchazel, which Berry originally released as a one-day only free download in March 2009.[33] The album was later officially released as a CD and paid-for digital download.[34]

Berry has toured with a number of bands including Jonas 3 and The Maypoles.[35] The latter comprises former Bluetones singer Mark Morriss and singer/clarinet player Cecilia Fage.[36] Rich Fulcher has joined Berry on stage for several appearances. Geno Washington has also joined Berry onstage at London gigs for encores of the Snuff Box theme.

In October 2007, Berry provided a brand new track "Cream Pie" to Bearded Magazine for readers to download for free,[37] followed by a cover of the Blur song "Sing" in November 2007. "Cream Pie" is still available to supporters of Beardaid.

Berry voiced his appreciation of the television themes of Ronnie Hazlehurst in an episode of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, and his band played out the Screenwipe Christmas special with a rendition of Hazlehurst's theme tune for 1980s British sitcom Sorry!. In July 2018, it was announced that Berry would be releasing a new album entitled Television Themes[38] on Acid Jazz Records, featuring a cover of Sorry! as well as other famous themes such as Doctor Who and Rainbow.

Until 2010, Berry presented a show on Absolute Radio, where he still performs various voiceovers and is described as "the voice of Absolute Radio".[39] The now-defunct Matt Berry Podcast regularly featured in the Top Ten of the iTunes podcast chart, and its producer Vince Lynch was nominated for Best Online Producer at the Radio Production Awards.

In 2011, he appeared in the music video for "Reset", a song from Route One or Die, the debut album from London-based experimental band Three Trapped Tigers.[40]

In 2012, part of the Snuff Box theme appeared briefly in the film Dredd, the line "but it was bronze" playing from a computer terminal in the Grand Hall of Justice in the latter half of the film.

In 2015, he was the opening act for Steven Wilson's second Royal Albert Hall concert.[41]

In 2017. he appeared in the Pugwash music video for "What Are You Like",[42] though he does not perform on the recording.

Albums
Year Title Record Label Notes
1995 Jackpot Self-released
2005 Opium Self-released Re-released on Acid Jazz Records in 2015
2011 Witchazel Acid Jazz Records
2013 Kill the Wolf Acid Jazz Records
2014 Music for Insomniacs Acid Jazz Records
2015 Matt Berry and the Maypoles Live Acid Jazz Records
2016 The Small Hours Acid Jazz Records
2017 Night Terrors Acid Jazz Records Companion piece to The Small Hours
2018 Television Themes Acid Jazz Records

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Director(s) Notes
2007 The Devil's Chair Brett Wilson Adam Mason
2009 Moon Overmeyers Duncan Jones
The Search Bootland Mark Buchanan Short film
A Bit of Tom Jones? Philip da Purve Peter Watkins-Hughes
2010 Huge Head Creative Ben Miller
Braincell Neil Balsam Alex Birrell
2011 One Day Aaron Lone Scherfig
Angry White Man Bulldog Hayes Brian O'Connell
2012 Snow White and the Huntsman Percy Rupert Sanders
The Wedding Video Roger Nigel Cole
2013 Svengali Jeremy Braines John Hardwick
2014 Asterix and Obelix: Mansion of the Gods Vitalstatistix Alexandre Astier & Louis Clichy Voice; English dub
2015 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Bubbles Mike Mitchell & Paul Tibbitt Voice
Swansong Toby Taylor Douglas Ray
2018 An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn Rodney von Donkensteige Jim Hosking
Christopher Robin Policeman Bobby Marc Forster

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Garth Marenghi's Darkplace Todd Rivers / Dr. Lucien Sanchez 6 episodes
The Mighty Boosh Dixon Bainbridge 4 episodes
AD/BC: A Rock Opera Innkeeper / Tim Wynde Television special; also writer
2006–13 The IT Crowd Douglas Reynholm
Voice overs (uncredited)		 17 episodes
2006 Snuff Box Matt / Various characters 6 episodes; also writer
Man to Man with Dean Learner Various characters 5 episodes
Saxondale Geoff 2 episodes
2007 The Peter Serafinowicz Show Various characters 2 episodes
2008 The Wrong Door Various characters 3 episodes; also writer
2008–09 The Sarah Silverman Program Sir Corin Ashley/Owl 2 episodes
2010 The Suits Voice 1 episode
Five Daughters Mirror Journalist 1 episode
2011 Duckworth Turk Cinnamon Episode: "Pilot"
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Allen (voice) Episode: "Allen"
Shooting Stars Vangelis 1 episode
2012–15 Toast of London Steven Toast 19 episodes; also writer
2013 Portlandia Squiggleman Episode: "Squiggleman"
It's Kevin Sex Pistol 1 episode
2014 Lucas Bros. Moving Co. OG Sherlock Kush (voice) Episode: "Tales from the Hoodie"
2014–15 House of Fools Beef 13 episodes
2015 Community Grifting Professor Roger DeSalvo Episode: "Grifting 101"
Major Lazer Professor Teacher (voice) 2 episodes
Harvey Beaks Doctor Roberts (voice) 2 episodes[43]
2016 Morgana Robinson's The Agency Tony 1 episode
2018 Disenchantment Prince Merkimer (voice) 10 episodes
2019 Moominvalley Moominpappa (voice) In production
2019 What We Do In The Shadows Laszlo In production

References

  1. ↑ "Male Performance in a Comedy Programme in 2015". BAFTA.
  2. ↑ "Famous and successful - Your Alumni Association - Alumni - Nottingham Trent University". Retrieved 2017-03-14.
  3. ↑ “” (28 April 2007). "''Episode of Game Over on Youtube'', 1999". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  4. ↑ "''Man to Man with Dean Learner'' episode guide". Tv.com. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  5. ↑ "The Mighty Boosh". 20 May 2003. Retrieved 4 January 2017 – via IMDb.
  6. ↑ "''The Mighty Boosh News Updates'', 31 March 2004". Themightyboosh.blogspot.com. 4 May 2004. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  7. ↑ "Interview with Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  8. ↑ "The Mighty Boosh Live (2006) (V)". IMDb.
  9. ↑ "Official ''Snuff Box'' site". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  10. ↑ Charlton, Dave. "''Snuff Box'' at twitchfilm.com". Twitchfilm.net. Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  11. ↑ ""The Mighty Boosh" (2003) – Episodes cast". IMDb.
  12. ↑ "''The IT Crowd 2.0''". Dvdtimes.co.uk. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  13. ↑ "27.09.2007". Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
  14. ↑ Bifrostedflake (22 September 2007). "The Devil's Chair (2007)". IMDb.
  15. ↑ "Save the Workers Campaign". adultswim.co.uk. Adult Swim. 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  16. ↑ “” (24 September 2007). "Super Furry Animals, "Runaway"". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  17. ↑ "''Monkey Trousers'' DVD". Babycow.co.uk. 4 July 2005. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  18. ↑ "BBC Two – Shooting Stars, Series 8, Episode 3". BBC.
  19. ↑ Laura Barnett. "Hypnotherapist Andrew Hillsdon on I, Regress". the Guardian.
  20. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  21. ↑ Dowell, Ben (24 December 2015). "Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns - preview of the Christmas Eve comedy on BBC1". RadioTimes. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  22. ↑ James Orry. "Matt Berry lends his voice to Worms Revolution". VideoGamer.Com.
  23. ↑ "Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives /// Darren Cullen". Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  24. ↑ "''Matt Berry on the Music of Snuff Box''". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  25. ↑ Adam_Howell_511 (21 December 2004). "AD/BC: A Rock Opera (TV Movie 2004)". IMDb.
  26. ↑ "''Saxondale''". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  27. ↑ "Bloomsbury Theatre". Thebloomsbury.com. 24 May 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  28. ↑ "Matt Berry Official Web Page". Acid Jazz Records. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  29. ↑ "My new album… 'KILL THE WOLF'". Matt Berry. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  30. ↑ "The Small Hours - Matt Berry | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
  31. ↑ "Acid Jazz Records | Matt Berry New Album 'Night Terrors' Out Now". www.acidjazz.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  32. ↑ "''Bearded Magazine". Beardedmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  33. ↑ "Witchazel". Archived from the original on 15 March 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  34. ↑ acidjazzrecords. "Matt Berry Official Web Page". Acid Jazz Records. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  35. ↑ "Onion Talking: Matt Berry – The Devil Inside Me". thevelvetonion.com. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  36. ↑ "Matt Berry and the Maypoles, Tunbridge Wells April 4th". beautiful-life-as-i-know-it.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  37. ↑ "''Bearded Magazine". Beardedmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  38. ↑ "Acid Jazz Records | Pre-Order Matt Berry's New Album 'Television Themes'". www.acidjazz.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  39. ↑ "Matt Berry's Profile on Absolute Radio". Absoluteradio.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 July 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  40. ↑ bloodandbiscuits (2011-09-16), Three Trapped Tigers - Reset, retrieved 2017-09-18
  41. ↑ "Announcement on Wilson's HQ web site".
  42. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9K2gd7r9Kc
  43. ↑ "Was Matt Berry really only in one episode? Even..." Nerd Armada. Retrieved 2018-03-04.

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