Matt Berry
(born 2 May 1973) is an English actor, writer, comedian and musician. Berry is perhaps best known for his appearances in The IT Crowd
, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
and The Mighty Boosh
, although he has also had his own series Snuff Box
.
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MATT BERRY TICKETS
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Life and career
Berry was born in
Bromham, Bedfordshire. He began his career as a runner before appearing in the
videogame magazine show
Game Over
on
BSkyB's computer & technology channel
.tv, between 1998 and 1999.
[1] Though commissioned as an editorial show on the subject matter, episodes contained a large number of comedy sketches, with Berry as the main performer. They showcased a wide range of characters, one of which was a sketch about
The Exorcist
named 'Fear Pushed Through The Ring' It was this sketch and others like it that resulted in Matt, Rik Henderson and Richard Pitt (the producers) being fired from the show.
Berry's first prominent TV role was playing actor "
Todd Rivers" playing Dr Lucien Sanchez in the cult 2004 comedy series
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
. In October/November 2006, Berry joined his
Garth Marenghi colleagues in the Garth Marenghi spin-off
Man to Man with Dean Learner
for three out of the six episodes in the series.
[2]
He later appeared as the eccentric and sinister tycoon/explorer
Dixon Bainbridge in
The Mighty Boosh
.
[3] [4] Berry first met The Mighty Boosh duo while performing at the
Hen and Chickens Theatre, where they were resident in 2000.
[5] He can be seen in a small cameo performance in the
The Mighty Boosh Live
DVD.
[6]
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
.
[7] [8] Fulcher co-starred as Bainbridge's lackey,
Bob Fossil.
[9] The Series 1 DVD of
Snuff Box
was released on 16 June 2008.
Berry has starred as Douglas Reynholm since the second series of
The IT Crowd
.
[10] 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 and Stacey".
On 5 November 2007 he starred alongside
Simon Farnaby and Boosh regular
Rich Fulcher in
The Golf War
on
E4 [11] Film appearances include the horror film
The Devil's Chair
, released in 2006
[12] and in the 2008 science fiction film
Moon
directed by
Duncan Jones.
In 2008 he became the face of
Adult Swim's spoof charity appeal "Save the Workers".
[13] Berry featured in Season 3, episode 9 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 "Runaway," from their album
Hey Venus
!
[14] He also appeared as an "antiques expert" in the
ITV sketch show
Monkey Trousers
with
Vic and Bob and
Steve Coogan.
[15]
Berry has provided many voiceovers for both radio and television advertising. Currently, he lends his voice to the voice of George the Volcano in
Volvic mineral water's April/May 2007 UK adverts, Muller Corner adverts and characters on several adverts for
The Natural Confectionery Company. He also appears in an online promotion for
Smart Cars.
[16]
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!" then whispers an implied impossible wager to one of the players, and completes an unfeasible
trick shot.
He played the part of Overmeyers, a ruthless corporate executive, in the critically acclaimed
2009 British sci-fi thriller,
Moon.
As of 2009, Matt is currently the voice of
Absolute Radio.
[17]
Music
As a musician, he composed all music for
Snuff Box
[18] as well the music for
AD/BC: A Rock Opera
, which he co-wrote with
Richard Ayoade.
[19] 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
The Mighty Boosh
stars
Julian Barratt and
Noel Fielding. The DVD was released in the UK on 19 November 2007. 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 composed music for the
BBC 2 Steve Coogan comedy
Saxondale
and appeared in the first and third episodes of the second series of the show.
[20] Berry also composed the theme song for the
Channel 4 sketch show
Blunder
.
[21] He is also credited on
The Peter Serafinowicz Show.
He has released three albums: "Jackpot" in 1995, "Opium" in 2005 and "Witchazel" in 2009.
[22] He toured with Jonas 3 in 2006 and 2007.
[23] He revealed in the first issue of
Bearded Magazine that he was producing and collaborating on new material with sixties soul singer
Geno Washington and was to record a third album.
[24] This album turned out to be Witchazel, which Berry released online for a limited time free download on 11th March 2009
[25]
His touring band is composed of members of Brighton-based experimental rock group Jonas 3.
[26] They are George Baldwin (bass), his brother Charlie (drums) and Andy Vickery (guitar). Grant Sav also plays keyboards for Matt Berry, but is not in Jonas 3. Fulcher has joined Berry on stage for several appearances to sing and dance to the
Snuff Box
theme. Geno Washington has also joined Berry onstage at London gigs for encores of the
Snuff Box
theme.
In October 2007, he provided a brand new track "Cream Pie" to
Bearded Magazine
for readers to download for free
[27], followed by a cover of Blur's
Sing
in November 2007. 'Cream Pie' is still available to supporters of
Beardaid.
Matt 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
.
He occasionally presents a show on Absolute Radio where he also performs various voice overs. His podcasts can be heard on itunes or from the Absolute Radio website
References
- ''Episode of Game Over on Youtube'', 1999
- ''Man to Man with Dean Learner'' episode guide
- ''The Mighty Boosh'' credits at IMDB
- ''The Mighty Boosh News Updates'', March 31, 2004
- Interview with Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher
- ''The Mighty Boosh Live'' credits at IMDB
- Official ''Snuff Box'' site
- ''Snuff Box'' at twitchfilm.com
- ''The Mighty Boosh'' episode cast at IMDB
- ''The IT Crowd 2.0''
- 27.09.2007
- ''The Devil's Chair'' IMDB page
- Save the Workers Campaign
- Super Furry Animals, "Runaway"
- ''Monkey Trousers'' DVD
- Full Cast - IMDB
- Matt Berry's Profile on Absolute Radio
- ''Matt Berry on the Music of Snuff Box''
- ''AD/BC: A Rock Opera''
- ''Saxondale''
- Bloomsbury Theatre
- Matt Berry 2007 tour
- Matt Berry tour dates
- ''Bearded Magazine
- http://www.witchazelfreedownload.com/
- Jonas 3 at Channel 4 Music
- Magazine