The Origin of Matt Berry’s ‘Bat!’ 

One of the simplest (and funniest) running gags in FX's 'What We Do In The Shadows' finally has an explanation from the man himself. ...
Credit: FX

What We Do In The Shadows is back for season four and our delightfully campy vampire housemates are all geared up for gothic shenanigans once again. One of the funniest of these shenanigans is Matt Berry’s simple exclamation of ‘Bat!’ every time he transforms.

Matt Berry plays the perpetually horny Laszlo Cravensworth and recently told Polygon that he doesn’t remember how he came up with “Bat!”.

“I was talking to [executive producer] Jemaine [Clement] about this – I don’t even remember doing the first one. And he can’t remember where it kind of came from,” explained Berry.

He did put forward a theory that sounded like something his character might have said, “It’s probably something where I felt that the scene had to end kind of naturally. 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.’”

While that explanation is within character, it isn’t true as Berry’s co-star Natasia Demetriou (who plays Laszlo’s wife, Nadja) couldn’t forget because it was hilarious, “I remember almost dying with laughter. It wasn’t in the script.”

She described the moment as taking place during the pilot, “I could be mistaken, but we were on the bridge in that park in LA for the pilot. And then it was like, ‘Right Matt, so you’re going to bat away,’ and so you just went, ‘Bat!’”

Why did he shout bat?

It was just kind of a signifier,” explained Berry. “It’s always funny if someone says the thing that they’re going to do. That’s probably why I said it.”

Simple but interesting explanation. Turns out if you just let Matt Berry do what he wants he’s usually funny. Laszlo’s weird quirk that makes him put the emphasis on odd syllables – yep, that’s all Berry. “There’s no directing that, it’s just to keep me amused as well.”

What We Do In The Shadows is airing right now on FX and Australian viewers can watch it as it comes out on Binge.

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