One Of Matt Berry's Best Recurring Gags On What We Do In The Shadows Was Improvised In The Show's Pilot
Matt Berry is a comic genius. If you've watched the FX series "What We Do in the Shadows," you already know about the brilliant improv and comic timing of not only Berry but the entire cast. If you haven't, the show is based on the mockumentary film of the same name by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, and your stomach will hurt from laughing once you dive in.
It's the story of a group of vampires who live in a dilapidated mansion in Staten Island, along with a familiar who is also sort of a vampire hunter. It's weird, and silly, and has so many quotable lines that I barely know where to start. Okay, fine; they call a neighbor's Super Bowl party a "Superb Owl" party and now I will never call it anything else.
Berry plays Laszlo Cravensworth, a British vampire who is obsessed with sex, claims to be Jack the Ripper, makes vulva topiaries in the yard, and turns into a bat. When he does that, he yells the word, "Bat!" If you haven't seen the show, you might not get how funny that is, but I promise you, it's one of the best moments of every episode he says it in. As it turns out, this line was not only improved, but according to an interview with Polygon, Berry doesn't remember how it happened in the first place. I guess when you throw out funny lines like it's nothing, you can't remember them all. Of course, his co-star Natasia Demetriou who plays Laszlo's wife and fellow bloodsucker Nadja remembers how it all happened.
Bat!
In the interview, Berry revealed that not even executive producer Jemaine Clement can remember how it happened. "It's probably something where I felt that the scene had to end kind of naturally," he said, "and it was my way of getting out of the scene. It's like the improvisations started to kind of dry out. So I thought, 'Screw this, I need to get out of there.'"
Demetriou remembered it, though, saying, "I remember where the first 'Bat!' came from. I could be mistaken, but we were on the bridge in that park in L.A. for the pilot. And then it was like, 'Right Matt, so you're going to bat away,' and so you just went, 'Bat!'" Berry added, "It's always funny if someone says the thing that they're going to do. That's probably why I said it." Demetriou replied that she was "dying with laughter" at the time and that it wasn't in the script.
I remember watching the first time Berry said it and thinking "That is so stupid," while laughing until my eyes teared up. Try explaining why a single word is funny to someone, though. It doesn't work, so I'm just going to request that you watch the first episode.
"What We Do in the Shadows" is currently airing its fourth season (along with the earlier ones) on FX and Hulu. It has already been renewed for seasons 5 and 6.