Matt Berry Couldn’t Be Bothered to Learn All the American Pop-Culture Jokes in ‘What to Do in the Shadows’
British sitcom superstar Matt Berry says that many of the stateside pop-culture references in What We Do in the Shadows sail clear over his head. On the other hand, Jackie Daytona definitely gets the jokes — I’m pretty sure they have Seinfeld in Tucson, Arizonia.
In FX’s mockumentary horror comedy series What We Do in the Shadows, most of the main cast of characters are categorically ignorant of cultural norms in modern day Staten Island. After all, Lazslo Cravensworth and his housemates have been undead for many centuries, so it’s hard for them to keep up with the temporary trends that dominate Twitter in a country that’s younger than they are. And behind the scenes of the series created by New Zealanders and filled with English actors, many of the Yankee references and punchlines made in the series are about as opaque to the actors as the mirror-covers at Lucky Brew’s Bar and Grill.
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In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Berry, who is basically one big walking, powerfully talking pop-culture reference across the pond for his work on beloved and influential U.K. comedy shows such as The I.T. Crowd, Toast of London and The Mighty Boosh, admitted that many of the jokes that American What We Do in the Shadows writers have put in recent scripts are as mystifying and foreign to him as a Big Mouth Billy Bass.
“In this past season, there were so many American (pop-culture) references, and I haven’t got a clue what hardly any of them are,” Berry said of What We Do in the Shadows Season Five, in which Lazslo became a kind of undead detective trying to figure out how the human familiar Gizmo managed to become a vampire. “You just kind of navigate those and make them work for your own language and speech pattern. But you know, it was a show that was created by two Kiwis from New Zealand, and their sense of humor is kind of similar to our (British) sense of humor.”
Berry even admitted that one of the fans’ favorite running jokes about Lazslo’s unusual inflection when attempting to pronounce certain proper nouns isn’t a joke at all — that’s just the way the Brit talks. “Most of the names I pronounce (incorrectly) aren’t on purpose — it’s because I don’t know what they are,” Berry explained. “Especially sports, all these ballgames. … Baseball, softball, I haven’t got a clue what any of that is! It will be just a case of saying what I think it is, just sort of launching into it like that. You put your own spin on things.”
Nevertheless, and despite understanding little of American culture and vocabulary, Berry has made a decent name for himself over here in the colonies. What We Do in the Shadows fans will agree that he’s easily the most entertaining 300-year-old pansexual vampire in all of New Yaark Citaaaay.
