Matt Berry

 ( Official Website ) 

Berry's first prominent television role was Todd Rivers/Lucien Sanchez in the cult 2004 comedy series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and its 2006 spin-off, Man to Man with Dean Learner. He later appeared as eccentric, sinister tycoon Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh. He met the show's Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding while performing at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, where they were resident in 2000. He can be seen in a cameo performance in The Mighty Boosh Live DVD.

After meeting Rich Fulcher while filming The Mighty Boosh, Berry wrote and starred in the comedy series Snuff Box with him on BBC Three. Fulcher had co-starred as Bainbridge's lackey Bob Fossil in The Mighty Boosh. Berry also starred with Fulcher and Simon Farnaby on E4's The Golf War in November 2007.

In 2007, Berry joined The IT Crowd during its second series as Douglas Reynholm. He was nominated as Best Male Comedy Newcomer in the 2007 British Comedy Awards for the role.

In 2008, he became the face of Adult Swim's spoof charity appeal "Save the Workers".

In 2010, Berry played journalist Michael Duffy in the BBC production Five Daughters, about events surrounding the Ipswich murders of 2006. In 2011, he provided the voice of Allen in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Allen Part Two". He appeared in the British comedy panel game Shooting Stars, portraying Vangelis. He appeared as an antiques expert in the ITV Network sketch show Monkey Trousers with Vic and Bob and Steve Coogan.

Berry appeared in a number of films during this period, including The Devil's Chair (2006) and Moon (2009). He starred in The Search (2009), a short film about "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 2012, BBC Radio 4 aired his comedy series I, Regress, where he portrayed Dr. Berry, a brilliant but unorthodox regressive therapist. In each 15-minute episode, Berry explored the psyche of a guest patient, attempting to treat their problems in surreal dreamlike sequences. Berry appeared in the film adaptation of the David Nicholls novel One Day as Aaron, Dexter's agent. He was 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, and the first episode was broadcast on 20 October 2013, and it brought Berry the 2015 BAFTA Award for Best Male Comedy Performance. In 2015, Berry and Arthur Mathews published Toast on Toast: Cautionary Tales and Candid Advice, a spoof autobiography of Steven Toast. It was released as an audiobook read by Berry.

Berry played the title character in the 2013 Portlandia episode "Squiggleman". Co-creators Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein included the appearance on a list of their "proudest musical moments" from the show.

From 2014 to 2015, Berry co-starred in the BBC 2 series House of Fools, written by and starring Reeves and Mortimer. He portrayed Beef, "the highly sexual, flamboyant and blindly confident friend of Vic and Bob" who "will seduce anything in a skirt".

Berry appeared in episode nine of the sixth season of Dan Harmon's television series Community, released on Yahoo Screen on 5 May 2015. In December 2015, he played Professor Awfulshirt in Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns on BBC One.

Since 2019, Berry has starred in the FX TV adaptation of the film What We Do in the Shadows as Laszlo, one of four vampires living in Staten Island. It was renewed for a second season in May 2019, and began airing in April 2020. The third season aired in September 2021. In an interview with collider.com, Berry said, "It's different and it's very free. The scripts are starting points and then we go from there. That's how I like to work, anyway. So, for me, it was perfect. That's my background, improvisation. It was home for me in that department."

In 2019, Berry starred in the IFC/Channel 4 sitcom Year of the Rabbit. Set in Victorian London, he plays the alcoholic Detective Inspector Rabbit. On 11 February 2020, the series was renewed for a second series of six episodes. Citing budget cuts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Channel 4 reversed their decision in January 2021, casting doubt on the show's future. Layla Smith, chief executive of the show's production company OMG, said " Year of the Rabbit is a victim of the devastating effects of COVID. ... IFC are very committed to the show, but we will need to find another partner — and we're working on that."

In April 2020, BBC Two commissioned Berry for a mockumentary series titled Squeamish About ... The four quarter-hour specials would be cowritten by Berry and Arthur Mathews and star Berry as Michael Squeamish. The series uses a combination of archive footage and voiceover to produce a surreal perspective on the episodes' subject.

In 2021, after the second series of Year of the Rabbit was axed, Berry was commissioned by the BBC to make a "Steven Toast in America" series. The show was a six-part television programme for BBC One, broadcast under the title and co-written by Berry and Arthur Mathews.

In 2014, Berry read out the team sheets at Luton Town FC before the game. In 2015, he provided the voice for a satirical anti-war film by the UK branch of Veterans for Peace called Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. In 2019, he provided the voice of Moominpappa in the Finnish animated children's series Moominvalley. He provided the voice for the torture droid 8D8 in the 2021 Star Wars television series The Book of Boba Fett.

In 2023, Berry narrated a short segment in an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about freight trains titled 'The Sad Tale of Henry the Engine', a spoof of the Thomas & Friends television series. In 2024, he voiced Chester Arborday in the season 35 episode of The Simpsons, "Lisa Gets an F1". In 2025, he provided the human voice of Nitwit in A Minecraft Movie.

Berry 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. He composed the theme song for the Channel 4 sketch show Blunder. He is also credited on The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

Berry is friends with musical composer Dan McGrath and contributed to the Strictly Come Dancing theme song by playing guitar and providing the audible "Hey".

Berry has recorded 11 studio albums: Jackpot (1995), Opium (self-released 2008), Witchazel (self-released 2009, re-released 2011), Kill the Wolf (2013), Music for Insomniacs (2014),[1] The Small Hours (2016), Television Themes (2018), Phantom Birds (2020), The Blue Elephant (2021), and Heard Noises (2025).Acid Jazz Records (2021), The Blue Elephant, Bandcamp, viewed 18 May 2021. The most recent five have been released on Eddie Piller's Acid Jazz Records. In 2017, a "companion piece" to The Small Hours was released, Night Terrors, featuring remixes by artists such as Saint Etienne. Berry stated in the first issue of Bearded in 2007 that he was producing and collaborating on new material with 1960s soul singer Geno Washington and would record an album. It was Witchazel, which Berry originally released as a one-day-only free download in March 2009. It was later released as a CD and paid-for digital download.

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

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

Until 2010, Berry presented a show on Absolute Radio, where he still performs various voiceovers and was described as "the voice of Absolute Radio".

In 2015, Berry was the opening act for Steven Wilson's second Royal Albert Hall concert.

In July 2018, Berry released the album Television Themes on Acid Jazz Records, featuring covers of famous retro TV themes such as Sorry!, Doctor Who and Rainbow. It became his first UK Top 40 album chart hit.

In 2019, Berry was revealed as one of the contributing artists on The Desert Sessions album Vols. 11 & 12. He co-wrote, narrated, and played the organ on the track "Chic Tweetz".

In October 2020, Berry's album Phantom Birds (also issued by Acid Jazz) made the UK albums chart and eclipsed the number 38 peak of Television Themes by reaching number 31. In December 2020, he appeared in Gorillaz's live-streamed concert Song Machine Live, performing the narration for the spoken-word song "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" from the album Demon Days. On 14 May 2021, Berry released his ninth studio album The Blue Elephant through Acid Jazz. In 2023, he released his 10th studio album Simplicity. His 11th studio album Heard Noises was released on 24 January 2025 through Acid Jazz.

The song "Take My Hand" from Berry's album Witchazel (2009), which first became known as the opening theme for his comedy series Toast of London (2012–2015), garnered new interest when it was used as the closing credits theme of the Netflix documentary miniseries in February 2025. In the two weeks following the airing of the series, the song was streamed in the U.S. over 579,000 times, representing a 1,505% increase in the song's streaming activity.