Joshua Henry Hyde Berry (born 5 July 1996 in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

, England) is a British comedian, writer and celebrity impressionist.

Early life

The son of a teacher and accountant, Berry was born in Cheshire but grew up in Reading. He was educated at Reading Blue Coat School before going on to read philosophy and theology at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Career

He began his career doing impressions of tennis players, appearing on the BBC's Live @ Wimbledon aged just 16. He later came to the attention of Andy Murray, who greatly increased Berry's visibility by retweeting one of his videos. In 2018, they appeared on screen together when Murray played a sports reporter interviewing Berry in his Murray guise. In the same year, Berry took his show ''Voice Thief'' to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. And in 2019, he returned to the Fringe to perform ''Josh Berry: Who Does He Think He Is?'', a show based on impressions of celebrities including

James Acaster James William Acaster (; born 9 January 1985) is an English comedian, presenter, podcaster and actor. As well as the stand-up specials ''James Acaster: Repertoire, Repertoire'' and ''Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999'', he is known for co-hosting ...

and Louis Theroux. He has been on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

's ''Newsjack'' and Radio 4's ''Dead Ringers''. After

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

became prime minister in 2019, he developed the character of Rafe Hubris, an arrogant, Eton-educated Special Adviser (SpAd) at

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London is the official residence and office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Colloquially known as Number 10, the building is located in Downing Street, off Whitehall in th ...

, who calls Johnson 'BloJo', his chief of staff

Dominic Cummings Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 24 July 2019 until he resigned on 13 November 2020. From 2007 to 2014, he was a speci ...

'Big Daddy Cum-Cum' and health secretary

Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 20 ...

'Matt Cock-in-his-Hands'. Writing in the

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

, political commentator Anne McElvoy called his send-up of 'spad' culture "pitch-perfect". The character is reported to be a big hit among real-life special advisers. Berry's spoof 2020 diary ''Staggering Hubris'', written in Rafe Hubris' voice, purports to tell the real story of the chaos behind the scenes as the British government attempted to deal with the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic. The book, with its account of parties and rule-breaking at Downing Street, began to look uncannily prescient as the Johnson government was engulfed by the Westminster lockdown parties controversy. As critic Peter Magee wrote in ''The Bookbag'': 'What begins as a light-hearted spoof on life in Downing Street turns into something resembling a fly-on-the-wall documentary. There came a point when it almost ceased to be funny because it seems that it was all true...'

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Josh British comedy writers British actors British comedians British impressionists (entertainers) Living people 1996 births