What We Do In The Shadows Star Just Teamed Up With Gorillaz
What We Do in the Shadows star Matt Berry joined virtual band Gorillaz for a spoken word piece.
The English virtual band Gorillaz are currently on tour, and they were recently provided vocal aid for one night in Toronto by comedian extraordinaire Matt Berry. Berry, who currently stars on the FX television series What We Do in the Shadows, took on the spoken word rendition of “Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head,” a part that had been performed by Speed actor Dennis Hopper for the band prior to his death in 2010. Berry was brought onto the stage of Scotiabank Arena to contribute to the parable about greed, which first appeared on the second studio album for the Gorillaz entitled Demon Days, and his rendition made its way to YouTube after the show.
According to a report by The A.V. Club, actor Matt Berry was presumably in the Ontario, Canada capital to jump on stage at the Gorillaz performance because that is where What We Do in the Shadows films most of their scenes. The version of the song that he spoke through was originally recorded by actor Dennis Hopper, who would sometimes join the band on tour in the mid-2000s in order to speak his lines along with the other touring members of the band.
Gorillaz, who chose to remove the song from their tours after Hopper died of advanced prostate cancer in 2010, decided to include the song back into their tours starting in 2020 with the series Song Machine Live, upon which the band asked Matt Berry to recite the now infamous passages.
Prior to his work on television and for producer Taika Waititi starting in 2019 on What We Do in the Shadows, Matt Berry has made a name for himself in comedy due to his extraordinary comic timing and his rich baritone voice. The English actor is well-known for appearing in many projects in his homeland, including The IT Crowd and Toast of London, as well as fantasy blockbusters like Snow White and the Huntsman alongside Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron.
Voicing characters in television seems to be a great fit for Berry as well, as he has taken his talents to other television series since starring as Laszlo Cravensworth in What We Do in the Shadows, including the Disney+ show The Book of Boba Fett and the BBC America series The Watch.
Gorillaz, for those that don’t know, is a virtual animation band that uses music videos, interviews, and short cartoons to demonstrate their content to a large audience. Often featuring guest artists and actors like Matt Berry of What We Do in the Shadows to help convey their stories, Gorillaz has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, taking home the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2006 for the song “Feel Good Inc,” which they collaborated on with hip hop trio De La Soul.
While not writing or acting in iconic movies like Easy Rider and 1993’s Super Mario Bros., Dennis Hopper was known to be a photographer, painter, and sculptor, attributing his contributions to the Gorillaz song “Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head” as another art project the actor enjoyed doing in his downtime.
