From private press pub singers to cross-dressing Morris dancers: Matt Berry talks obscure British records with Pete Paphides

Actor, comedian and musician Matt Berry invites music journalist Pete Paphides to have a root through his collection of bizarre, uniquely British records.

Perhaps best known as for his star role in The IT Crowd and more recently Toast Of London which he writes with Father Ted co-writer Arthur Mathews and which will return for a second series later this year, Matt Berry has been moonlighting as a musician for a good few years now and has released a quartet of albums that tap into his uniquely British sensibility for a particular strain of psychedelic and pastoral folk music.

With his 4th studio LP Music For Insomniacs released on Acid Jazz earlier this year, Matt Berry invited friend and music journalist Pete Paphides round to his house to open up about a life spent collecting records, from formative influences like Kate Bush, Mike Oldfied and Jean Michel Jarre to a more rarified, and decidedly humorous passion for private press pub singers, comedy theme tunes and cross-dressing Morris dancers. Not to mention Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar, of which he claims to have at least ten copies.

Find out more about Music For Insomniacs here and keep a look out for Matt Berry in Vic & Bob’s sitcom House Of Fools.

You can have a root around Pete Paphodes’ own collection in our in=depth film here.