Matt Berry Had A Raunchy Request For His What We Do In The Shadows Role

Writing dialogue for Matt Berry is the kind of dream every writer aspires to. The man could make the phone book sound like poetry, so it must be pure ecstasy getting to hear your words come out of his mouth, complete with British lilt and impeccable elocution. "What We Do in the Shadows" writer Stefani Robinson got to take that magic a step further, writing dialogue for Berry as his character Lazlo's alter-ego, Regular Human Bartender Jackie Daytona. Robinson was nominated for an Emmy for her writing on the season 2 episode "On the Run," which sees Lazlo hiding out from Jim the Vampire (Mark Hamill) after a feud about an old unpaid debt. In an interview with the AV Club, she explained that Berry had one unusual request for his dialogue in the episode — and it's hilariously on brand for the comedy performer. 

It turns out that the first version of the script didn't have quite enough Yankee swearing for Matt Berry's taste, and he requested that Stefani Robinson add in more Americanisms. Robinson told the AV Club:

"He did come to me after initially reading the script, and he said, 'I want more American curse words and more American sayings.' He was like, 'I want to say 'god d***' a whole bunch.' I was like, 'Do you not say that in the UK?' I guess maybe they don't. But he loves saying, 'god d*** son of a b****.' So I made sure to go through the script and give him as many Americanisms as I could. He was very specific about that. That was his one request."

Berry is famous for his raunchy comedic stylings, where he manages to make even the foulest F-bombs sound posh. The man is an expert-level performer, and his propensity for potty language is a lot of fun. If Samuel L. Jackson is the master of American cursing, Berry is the champion of British swears. The man is clearly having the time of his left as Jackie Daytona, dropping as many G.D.S.O.B.s as he d*** well pleases, and it's extra funny that he's hiding in plain sight with a toothpick and pair of jeans. The stateside swears sound kind of strange with Berry's accent, and perhaps that's part of why he wanted to pepper more of them in. Whatever his reasoning, "On the Run" is one of the best episodes of "What We Do in the Shadows," and Daytona's vampiric vulgarity is absolutely a contributing factor. 

"What We Do in the Shadows" has three great seasons and a fourth already filmed and hopefully on the way to our TVs soon. If there's any good in the universe, we'll see Jackie Daytona again.