The actor is known for playing ridiculous characters with a straight face the stupider the better.
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With no sort of social hammer whatsoever.
Claiming that as his entire appeal doesnt fully capture what makes Berry such a compelling performer, though.
You know theres a smirk, but youre not sure how you know it because Berry betrays nothing.
Hes not trying to convince anyone hes being funny.
But there is a familiar intensity, especially in his dark, deep-set eyes.
His fingernails are painted black; the polish is chipped.
Berry is not a household name, especially in the U.S.
If he were more ubiquitous, there would be more pressure to fit a particular mold.
And I wouldnt be able to continue to do what I want, he says.
His onscreen personae are funny, but they are people who rarely laugh.
Berry does sometimes, in an almost giggly way.
He is looser than his characters and more considerate.
You know when you meet people who are fascinating, but who are actually just a knob-end?
Hes not that, Wokoma says.
It can sound so resonant its hard to believe theres no microphone or instrument hidden somewhere on his person.
Some things I feel areonly funny if he says it, Clement says.
Berrys longtime friend and colleague Morgana Robinson says his voice belongsto a thespian bear.
Its like a roast dinner.
It demands attention, Hamm says.
In school, as Berry puts it, he was an underachiever.
He was only ever drawn to the arts.
Thats all I needed, he says.
My whole world was this thing, singing along to it.
Makeup, after all, hides a lot.
And you had free run.
I used to try all sorts of things.
He spent two years in the Dungeon.
You learn so much by doing those kinds of jobs, he says.
You learn that stillness can be your best weapon.
He decided that straightforward didnt fit the mood.
I sussed the night and the space, he says.
And then I would fuck with it, Berry says.
Berrys connection with theBooshcrowd was the launchpad for his career as an actor and a writer.
He began doing voice-over work for animated series andcommercials.
(Voice-overs get old, Berry says, but Im not moaning about it.
Its paid for lots of things.)
Berry swiftly notes that he did not write the episode and was only a guest performer on it.
)It is the only time in our conversation when Berry seems uncertain.
He comes back to the idea later as were getting ready to leave.
It bothers him that he wasnt clear: I dont condone anything that that comedy portrayed, you know?
I dont share any views that the writer has.
This is the other risk of becoming too famous, though Berry doesnt articulate it this way.
He considers it with a touch of frustration.
If I play a part in something, that isnt me, he says.
InSnuff Box,I was a hangman, and I couldnt be more anticapital punishment.
The show is full of absurd names: Clem Fandango, Varrity Map, Clancy Moped, Heathcote Pursuit.
Many of them are his brains initial misreadings.
Yeah, he says, but its worked in my favor.
If it hadnt been for that, I wouldnt have come up with these names.
Toast wallows in the precise outlook Berry abhors.
He says, Why havent I got my own this, that, and the other?
Why arent I more famous now?
Why dont I have that?
Why am I so unlucky?
Its easy to write because I see it in other people.
That would be a conundrum, he says.
Because, then,shit.
Note: This article has been updated to include a comment from Graham Linehan.
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