Matt Berry
When 'Toast' got on Netflix, I noticed a difference. It was something I thought that only myself and a few people would find funny, and suddenly it's on a very large platform. Now it kind of belongs to everyone.Collection: Funny
Things like, when a total stranger says, 'I want you to record something for my forthcoming wedding,' that can be a bit tiresome. But it's a high-class problem. It doesn't hurt my feelings.Collection: Wedding
I still believe that the best art - be it music, comedy, painting, etc. - is the art that hasn't been asked for, or is expected.
If your catchphrase has appeared in men's toilets, then you know you've made it!
I showed my dad the first episode of 'Toast of London' the other night. He laughed a bit, but when it finished, he just turned to me and said, 'You're an idiot.' I loved that.
There just aren't enough hours in the day; I've got a lot of things that I want to do, and those that I can do, I'm going to make sure that I do do!
My uncle used to take me out at night shooting rabbits.
Today, actors aren't forced to ditch their regional accents like they used to. The best example's Tom Baker, a Scouser who went to great lengths to change his accent and ended up with something alien - and fantastic. It's sad that when the likes of him go, there won't be those sorts of accents any more.
I've been collecting synths since the late '80s. They weren't very fashionable then, so you could pick up pretty cool stuff for a few hundred quid.
I can't think of anything worse than to be stuck in something that I've already lost interest in.
One of the most memorable and frightening things when I was four or five was Kate Bush doing 'Wuthering Heights.' She did it outside, in a forest, and she did this thing where she looked straight into the camera, and it's the most frightening thing for a kid to see, but it just stuck in my head.
Closest to my heart is probably 'Toast of London' because I came up with the character, based on a bunch of people I worked with in the industry. And Channel 4 didn't mess with it. Head to screen, it was exactly as I wanted it.
I didn't have any plan to go into comedy.
I am quite shy.
While I've got all my arms and legs and my eyes working at the same time, I've got to make as much stuff as I can.
Most of the things I do are inspired by things that frightened me when I was young.
I'm a fan of Douglas Adams, yes.
If it's funny or it's good, then yeah, I'll do it. Whether it's big-screen or whatever wouldn't be the deciding factor for me.
I don't watch much TV.
I find comedy fun, and I really enjoy doing music.
Nowadays, all actors talk about is what they don't eat and what kind of juicers they've got. That wouldn't have been a conversation John Hurt would have had with Tom Baker.
The only reason I'm associated with 'the Boosh' is because Richard Ayoade, who was meant to be doing Bainbridge, couldn't do it because of something with Channel 4, so I ended up doing it.
Actors are a great subject for a comedy. They're inherently funny because, like sportsmen, they take themselves so seriously.
A lot of actors do that - they blame their failure on their agents or their photos. But that is just putting off the real issues.
I don't like to think of anyone waking up every morning amazed that things haven't gone their way in life.
Oh God, I've done telesales. It doesn't get much lower than that, really. That's the job I enjoyed the least.
I draw from the most pompous people, who are the people that make me laugh the most.
If somebody has no sense of humor, I think that's a great place to start for British comedy in terms of your character.
A lot of my favourite songs have Eno involved, but I love the work he does on the first two Roxy Music albums. He's creating atmospheres as opposed to composition, and it's a beautiful mixture with everything else in that band.
When I realise that I don't have a lot of time left to do what I'm meant to do in terms of buying things, that's when things begin to feel Christmassy for me - when I realise that time is against me, and I've got to act; otherwise, I'll look ridiculous.
Everyone in our family just kind of leans on my mum.
Make sure you own a good bed and a good pair of shoes because if you're not in one, you're in the other.
I just find anyone who's arrogant and pompous is always the funniest for me.
I find the fact that my voice has been heard all over the world more insane than anything else.
I think pompous accents are inherently funnier.
I'm not making comedy albums. That's too much effort for one joke.
I think there's a chance that aliens might just see us as beef cattle, so that's us done. Whether they would inhabit us in that way is pretty fanciful because they'd probably just get from us what they could, and then I just see us as fast food.
Before doing 'Darkplace' in 2003, I was temping and at call centres, and that was pretty bad. Then I was at the London Dungeon, which I loved doing, and then from that, I was on Channel 4 doing 'Darkplace.'
It's always more interesting to do new things.
'Toast' is based on a bunch of actors but especially one guy. I worked with him on a film and realise that if I mentioned any actor who was around his age but more successful, it would drive him insane. So from sheer devilment, I'd do it on purpose.
It's a different world: when I'm writing 'Toast,' I've got one foot in 1974 and one foot in the modern day, because the modern day is nowhere near as funny or interesting.
What I love about 'Toast' is that there's always new stuff you can do with him.
I'm not going to do anything that I don't think is very funny, even if it's a lot of money or massive exposure.
When I was a student, I couldn't afford anything.
When I do a voiceover now, there are always a few people I've borrowed bits off, whether it's their hats or facial hair, who'll say: 'That's so funny; it's obviously based on this guy.' You think, 'It ain't: it's you.' Actors never think characters are based on them.
I wasn't interested in sport or anything obvious, so I didn't stand out. I was interested in music, but I couldn't read music, so I wasn't allowed to do the GCSE. I was interested in painting, but no one's interested in a 16-year-old boy who's interested in painting. I wanted to get out of school very, very quickly.
If you're a thoughtful person, you won't want to be in people's faces all the time.
I'd tell my teenage self he did the right thing never getting a proper job.
A lot of my songs are about things that concern me personally, not a heightened version of myself or any of the characters that I play.
When you come to the end of a TV project, it's good to be able - and I'm kind of lucky - that I can just go into a different medium, make another album, or do whatever.