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It's happened! At last! After being given the secretarial run-around by Charlene since before work began on Duke Nukem Forever, we've finally caught up with the high-rolling, jet-setting, international playboy known as Big Boy Barry. Or indeed his lesser-known alter-ego, the equally inimitable and larger-than-life Alex Verrey. The Tubby Titan of Tea Time Telly's taken time out from his hectic schedule to conduct this gloriously in-depth and thoroughly exclusive interview with us and tell you all about what it takes to not only be a champion videator, but also a PR manager and neon-clad world-famous entrepreneur all in one whilst managing to squeeze it all into a mere 24 hours each day.
Section 1 - The Games TV
Industry
Lots. Around six years ago I
began freelancing in the murky world of video game PR which grew and grew. What
begun as a part time gig has flourished and these days, I’m the Global PR
& Communications Manager for Mad Catz, the video game accessory guys. I
handle all the company's PR both internally here in the UK, across Europe and in
the States. Keeps me busy! 2. What are the chances of a
televised comeback for the Big Boy? Did you ever explore other acting and
presenting avenues? Well there’s every good chance,
you never say never in this industry. I’ve lost count of the times I have
publicly retired from the Barry character and then something fun comes along and
brings me back in. About a year ago, a VERY well known producer contacted me out
of the blue. He was 3. Since leaving the TV industry, have you been pursued to head any other videogame shows that you've declined to be involved with for one reason or another? Like I say above there have been formats knocking around and I’ve had plenty of discussion. I’ve passed on some shows which will be well known to you and your readers either because I couldn’t come to favourable terms or because I didn’t feel they were right for my career. I’m also very loyal and proud of the Big Boy Barry character and like to believe that I have enough integrity to pass when the concept is stale, dishonourable to my previous work or simply going backwards to what I have achieved before. 4. How were videator characters created? Were you all hired and subsequently had the characters written and designed for you, or were you free to create and develop the characters yourselves? Interesting question. It was generally a mixture that evolved over time. In series one, the concept was new and untested. The producers made an honourable mistake and hired mainly actors to perform characters cooked up by the development team. The idea was that they would train the actors on their games and hope that they would be able to play well enough to pull it of. Frankly, it proved a mistake. The VAST majority of contestants even back in series one were far superior to the actors and would regularly humiliate them. In series one, only me and Doug Johns who played the Games Messiah were any good at games. For series two, they wisely changed tack and looked for good gamers who had screen presence which they could mould into a coherent character. I myself suggested my good buddy Martin Mathers (a school friend of mine and a contestant in series one). He went on to become Mr. Mathers the Megabyte Millionaire. Often the character would naturally evolve through the series once the producers grasped the capabilities of the individual portraying the Videator. Barry for example was supposed to be an Essex wide boy, kinda like the Harry Enfield “Loads of money!” character. I and a humble series one researcher known as David Walliams suggested we change Barry to a more ‘playboy-esque’ lovable character…. 5. You were one of the youngest videators on the series, alongside Master Moriarty - was it daunting for you youngsters to have to perform alongside the adult videators and of course go up on stage every week abusing small children & riling up the audience? Yeah, this was hard but much so for Tristan who played Moriarty, he was very young indeed during series one and as the crowd were meant to hate his character, it was quite tough for him to keep his cool and to play well. I think he found it hard, it was a great deal of pressure. I also had my struggles as I had to work hard not to piss off my school during series one. As my character grew in popularity, I was asked to do more and more days and I was currently studying for my GCSE exams. At one point, the school threatened to force me to stop or expel me, luckily I managed to smooth it over just in time. I was always quite comfortable with the cameras and audience through being an extravert by nature, plus my gaming skills were pretty good back then so that was at least one less worry… This was an interesting time for
me professionally. I had just finished working for ITV with Gail Porter on the
live videogame TV show T.I.G.S. After series one, I had to take 6 months off for
an urgent leg operation and was eager to return back to work. Hewland had been
speaking to my agent about the Computer Channel and originally they were very
reluctant to bring Barry back in case Games World made it back to Sky One. They
originally asked me to perform a new character on a show hosted by Will Hanrahan.
The idea was that I was to play a cockney Del Boy character and pitch the latest
gadgets every week. The concept got quite far, even to the point of agreeing
terms with my agent. At the 11th hour something interesting happened.
The new game show they were planning was to be hosted by Donna Air from Byker
Grove fame. Apparently rehearsals and the pilot were going badly, Donna was a
great sport and of course easy on the eye but presenting was really not her
forté and she was finding the video game jargon tough. They literally had to be
on air within weeks and decided to give Donna a co-host whom she could lean on
when the tech speak got too tough. I was therefore diverted to the new Games
World and Andy Collins took over the Del Boy character. Truth be told, this
worked out for the best, I was far more comfortable in this role and Andy was
better than I would have been playing the character. Things went smoothly for the next
two years or so. After a few months they quietly lost Donna by mutual agreement
and replaced her with the lovely and far more suitable Kate Russell. Kate
eventually left to host the show “Chips With Everything” and I carried on
holding Games World together by myself. For two years, Games World was by far
and away the highest rated show on the channel. Things change however. Firstly
the tiny budget got squeezed to an almost hilarious sum as the channel as a
whole ran into financial trouble. I wasn’t comfortable with the new direction
and nor was I comfortable with several key staff moving over to Games Master and
various other Hewland projects. Shortly after the entire channel was re-launched
in a bid to boost ratings. As a cost cutting exercise they wanted to try moving
the show into a studio environment and so they trialled Barry’s Joystick Jury.
In all honesty the show wasn’t well thought out, was rushed and though the
concept was good, the non existent budget meant that it was pretty soulless and
didn’t last long. Within months, the re-launch wasn’t working and Hewland
lost the contract to the Computer Channel. All the shows would be handed over
and produced by 2 different production companies. Some staff moved over to join
them but I could never agree terms with the new guys and thought it best to walk
away. This is when the good Mr. Collins took over and why he show was renamed
Game Over as Hewland owned the rights to the Games World name. 7. Could you enlighten the
world to the much-fabled "Barry's Pod" - the sad tale of what could
have been? You’ve done your homework. This
was the Big Boy Barry show that never was and ties in to my above answer neatly.
Barry’s Pod was conceived by my long time producer and friend Rik “Violet
Blade” Hendersen. As I said above, the decision was made to bring Games World
back into the studio to cut costs and the idea of Barry’s Pod was formed. The
idea was that Big Boy Barry would broadcast live from his satellite orbiting the
Earth. I would review games and have regular guests. At this point, they begun
speaking to David Walliams and hoped to reunite me with Lesley (this was
obviously before the Little Britain phenomenon took hold!), David was
unavailable so they re-tooled the show to bring back Charlene (Sarah Phillis) as
my girlfriend. Sadly as you might imagine, the budget begun to swell and they
simply couldn’t afford the costs involved. After a rethink they went with
Barry’s Joystick Jury instead and one look at the show gives away how little
money the producers had to play with…. 8. How did the on-location
budget filming of the Computer Channel years differ from the studio era of Sky
One - was there more freedom to do what you wanted or was it harder having to
film in populated public places and on a far stricter budget? It was a very different
experience. The Sky One show (in particular Barry TV) would be shot almost like
proper drama. We had a proper location, proper script writers and a proper drama
director, it cost a fortune to make and was exhausting to film (14 hour days
were the norm) but was very successful for Sky. I then went to ITV to film
T.I.G.S which was live and again cost a fortune to produce. With The Computer
Channel, we had to film links for 7 shows in 1 day! It was insane and a very
different experience indeed. Because of the schedule, there was a lot of
ad-libbing and yes, we certainly had more freedom to experiment and to be more
risqué with the humour. It was an interesting and liberating time as a
performer but to be honest, I think the glory days of working with David on BTV
were simply unbeatable. When we begun shooting for the
Computer Channel we would ad lib so much that Barry and Alex became one and the
same. There was no time for storylines or character building so the Barry
character slowly became more and more me as time went on. By the time I retuned
to Sky One and co-commentated on Games World '98 (hosted by Andy Collins), I was
pretty much being myself under the Big Boy Barry name. Richard Pitt who wrote
much of my Computer Channel work and was very good at capturing my humour and
melding it with a little of the old Barry sensibility…. b) Do people still insist on
calling you Barry to this day? Yes, incessantly. Old friends
within the industry still call me Barry, some by accident and some (I kid you
not) because they STILL don’t realise that my real name is Alex. I don’t have
the heart to tell them! Hewland worked very hard to keep the mystique of the
Barry character and fought hard not to have me listed on the titles as Alex
Verrey. I get their point and the public still call me Barry to this day. Far
from bothering me, it always makes me proud and raises a smile! c) Did you get to keep the
clothes? LOL! I did! Stole them in fact
and used them for many personal appearances! I STILL have them even though thy
are in absolute shreds! I can’t bring myself to throw away those orange tiger
striped trousers…. 10. With the games industry
bigger and more important than ever, why can't televised videogame shows prosper
anymore and could gaming television can ever return to the glory days of the
early-to-mid 90s? Don’t get me started. I have
spoken extensively on this and feel saddened and passionate on the subject. In
truth there are many reasons. Back in the Games World days, our shows would be
the only way to see footage of new games and would therefore demand a huge
audience. Nowadays, the internet is instant, as is Xbox Live and the PlayStation
Online Network. TV can no longer compete when it comes to getting the games
first. Who will wait a week to see a new game when they can go online and
download hours of footage instantly and for free? This is also why magazines are
experiencing a chronic decline, you just can’t beat the net. Also, TV execs
are scared and out of touch with games. They just don’t get the business or
the audience. Game shows are either relentlessly aimed at kids or pushed towards
an imaginary ‘yoof’ market that simply doesn’t exist. I have said before
and continue to say today that what we need is a simple and professional ’Film
2009' format. Adults talking about games and reviewing games. Simple yet
effective no? That’s a great question. I
certainly think that the big TV execs were and continue to be short sighted.
Games are bigger than movies and music put together yet we have no TV coverage
at all? That’s crazy isn’t it? It’s fair to say however that the return
needs to justify the investment. When we were on Sky One, we had maybe 9
channels on Sky, now we compete with what, 200? Plus the net and PSN and Xbox
Live and Blu Ray, it goes on and on. It’s hard to imagine a huge budget show
flourishing in this day and age but that’s not to say that there isn’t room
for a quality game show. Once again, I’m ready for the call! 12. Were you ever close-to and
do you keep in any contact with any other gaming celebs of yesteryear -
including the likes of Gail Porter from T.I.G.S. as well as both Jet and David
Walliams from Games World? Yeah, I grew extremely close to
many of the cast and crew including David Walliams and the lovely Sarah Phillis
who played Charlene. I supported David for years and was already good friends
with Matt Lucas. I would go and see them both perform in tiny little theatres
above pubs. It’s so funny, they really paid their dues. They would perform the
very same Little Britain characters in little flea pits to no more than 50
people at a time. They had to work hard for that audience as well, how things
change. I spoke to David not so long ago when his father passed away, just weeks
after the same thing happened to me. He’s a very busy guy however; I do try
and make the effort. 13. "Behind the
Magic" time: on challenge shows such as Games Master and Games World, how
much time were the contestants and videators allowed to practice the games -
were the Videators given more time to practice to ensure their skills were
effectively superior, or was it all just natural skill? LOL, how do I diplomatically
answer this?! Okay, yes, it was kinda encouraged that the Videator should be the
best. We would usually find out what games we were playing at least a week in
advance and we had code biked over to us to practice. This alone was very
exciting as a kid, as often we had pre-production development cartridges, my
living room was a popular place back in those days! The contestant would get
anywhere from 1 to 4 hours to practice, they were told on the day of filming
what they would be playing. Often however, the game was already released (Street
Fighter 2 for instance) meaning that there was a much more level playing field
between contestant and Videator as the contestant would often already be
extremely proficient at the games prior to filming. 14. If you've kept up with
gaming shows over the last few years, are there any that have caught your eye as
something special? And, if you're at liberty to say, have any been truly awful? Well I think Games Master was the
original and in many ways the best. Games Master was the one that started it all
and often got it right. As we shared the same production company I knew many of
the cast and crew and knew that they worked hard to make it special. Of course
it sounds very biased and I probably am but the truth is I really believe that
nothing but nothing came close to Games Master and Games World. I will
acknowledge that Bad Influence succeeded in making the show they set out to do
however. I always found it deeply patronising even as a kid but one can not deny
the success and huge ratings they achieved and for that, I doth my cap.
Ironically from a business perspective, shows like Cybernator and Movies, Games
and Videos also got it right. They cost hardly anything to make simply being a
string of videos provided by the games company. Cheap and effective though
hardly classic TV. There have been sadly many shows over the years which I would
classify as simply dreadful, missing the mark completely. I like to consider
myself a professional however so will chose not to name names as I know many of
the crew associated and would expect them to do the same. 15. What's the worst
experience you've been subjected to in all your years as a gaming icon? Ah Jesus, there’s been too many
to mention, sometimes I stop in awe and can’t believe what the hell I’m
doing for fame and fortune. I remember once for Barry’s Joypad we were filming
a feature in Bournemouth at the Sega World arcade. I woke up REALLY ill with
full blown flu but knowing that an entire crew and team were waiting on me, I
battled on and dragged myself to the location. I was shivering and sleeping for
the entire journey, I was in a bad way. Anyway, we were there because the arcade
had just got a brand new ‘G-Loc 360’ arcade. This is the bastard contraption
that seats you in and throws you a gut churning 360 degrees as you shoot away
(you can see where this is going can’t you?!). I put it off for as long as I
could but eventually I HAD to sit in the damn thing and be filmed trying it out.
I was green in colour and dressed in the full Big Boy Barry costume complete
with thick fur coat. As soon as the thing started up it rotated me and left me
hanging upside down. At that very point, my fur jacket interrupted the safety
sensor outside of the machine and the thing shut down leaving me upside down. As
the machine was brand new, the Sega World engineers had no idea what went wrong
or how to fix it, looking helplessly on as I dangled upside down. It took them
over half an hour to rectify the friggin’ machine. I have NEVER felt so ill in
my life…. Oh man, thankfully the list is
even longer than the previous answer! I feel blessed to do what I do and have
had some simply mind blowing adventures thanks to Big Boy Barry. Where to start?
Some I can’t possibly list here but flying to LA to interview Shiny’s Dave
Perry by his pool or interviewing THE Mohammed Ali (who gave me a pair of signed
boxing gloves!) were pretty cool times but I’m a HUGE Star Trek nut and I
loved getting in to the Star Trek Generations premier and getting to spend time
interviewing and hanging out with the cast. For me, it gets little better than
having a chance to meet your heroes! 17. The Games Mistress. Come
on - any saucy stories? Now, I’m a professional so my
lips are sealed. Diane is an unbelievably attractive lady however and I got to
share a dressing room with her. Happy days. 18. Although it's a sad topic,
in celebration of his life and work what was your most treasured memory in
working with the late great Richard Pitt? Ah man, I loved Richard and he
was a dear friend. I met him when he began writing for my show on The Computer
Channel and we became good buddies immediately. He was a talented musician and
would often host cabaret nights which I would host for him when available. We
had some good times and some fun adventures. I remember him writing an entire
show spoofing on Blade Runner (both of us Sci-Fi geeks), it was so insane and
ridiculous that we ran over by 3 hours as we couldn’t get through a take
without falling over in laughter. It didn’t help that no one else really got
the gag but we didn’t care. I shall miss Rich and think about him all the
time. 19. What games are currently
rocking Alex's world? Since Mad Catz got the Rock Band
license, I remain totally hooked. I’ve lost track on the hours I have spent
with that game, it really is the ultimate party experience I reckon and with the
DLC, entire weekends get swallowed up in a haze of plastic insanity. Same for
Street Fighter 4, somehow the game has breathed new life into a very stale genre
and as we make the official Tournament Stick, it’s like having the arcade at
home. My Chun-Li is getting pretty lethal again…. 20. What are the official top
5 games of all time according to Alex Verrey? Ah, I hate these questions, it’s
like answering what are your top movies? Too tough as the list keeps changing
constantly. Saying that, Mario 64 is unquestionably the finest video game
experience of my life. Period. I doubt it will ever bettered. Oh and Zelda: A
Link to the Past is up there as well… 21. In relation to a feature
we have on our own site's Games section that we like to call 'Look Mate It's
Just Not That Good, Alright?', where we nitpick specific titles we consider
overly praised by the general public and media - is there a particular game
you'd like to nominate for this award? Now we get controversial. Games
like all media and indeed art are very subjective. One of my top games of all
time (sorry for not listing above) is Power Stone 2. It just rocks and again, is
a perfect party game. I always wanted to like Super Smash Brothers as much but I
never ‘got’ it. Gran Turismo is another, I just don’t get it, it bores the
living shit out of me and looks grey and dull and dare I say Grand Theft Auto
fits the bill as well? All of them are very samey and I lose interest after
about an hour of randomly mowing down pedestrians. Give me a bout of Star Fox any
day…. Having worked at JOYTECH and now
at Mad Catz (who acquired JOYTECH 2 years ago), we’ve NEVER released a
ridiculous peripheral! In other words, I’m proud to work for these guys and as
the Global PR & Communications Manager, you wouldn’t expect me to say
otherwise right?!.... 23. You got your big break on
Games Master showing-off your immense skills at the console on Sonic the
Hedgehog - are you still a big Sonic gamer and how do you feel the franchise has
developed over the years? I love Sonic, it’s a great
switch off game. Too many games these days are nothing of the sort, instead we
get grand ‘graphic adventures’. All very well and good of course, I love
modern gaming but sometimes you just want to push right on the D-Pad and hit
jump right? It’s so sad to see Sonic go off the rails. Where Nintendo have
carefully managed Mario over the years, Sonic has drifted way too far off the
original blueprint. It just doesn’t really work in 3D. By far the best Sonic
games in recent years have been the Rush series on the DS. Sega should use this
as a way forward for the franchise as a whole I reckon. 24. Whatever happened to the
Games World games; It, Cash Dash and the one with the drunken axe throwing? Were
they made just for the show (any idea how we can get copies)? And were they
really that hard to play or were the contestants just rubbish? That’s a great question and the
honest answer is I just don’t know. Cash Dash was made for the show and ran on
a humble Amiga. It was always badly flawed to be honest and kept getting revised
as the series progressed. The coin generation was too random which meant some
players would always be near to a huge cluster of coins and controlling your guy
on screen was a nightmare. The Drunken Axe Throwing was not made for us; it was
part of a standard game already on sale called ‘ 25. How much crazy free gaming stuff did you get? Is your loft as good as Violet Berlin's (she has a two player Star Fox 2 cartridge!)? Oh man, you have no idea. The thing to remember is that I was always a big gamer so working on the show was like a kid working in a candy shop. My signed boxing gloves (see above) was a great blag, I still have many props from the TV show such as my ‘Barry Net’ TV for example but games and consoles would arrive all the time. We covered the Sega World Gaming Championships in Vienna around the time the Mega CD came out. I interviewed the head of Sega Japan and when I returned home I found a brand new Mega CD waiting on my door step, I didn’t even ask for one and I think I got the first batch in the UK. Awesome. I’d pit my loft against Violet’s any day! 26. What upcoming games, accessories or hardware are you most looking forward to being released? It’s a brave new world and E3 this year was very interesting. There’s a palpable sense of change coming and I have to admit, Project Natal looks like something from Minority Report. The new wave of motion sensing technology looks to be advancing the way we see games and choose to interact with them and though we must remain cautious until real honest to goodness software comes out, I remain intrigued to say the least. 27. And finally... one of the greatest mysteries of all (at least when we talked about it in the pub last week); touch-tone TV gaming - how did it work? It didn’t. Wow. Thank you so much Alex. Barry. Alex? Mr. Verrey you're a gentleman, a scholar and a legendary television hero to the entire cyber razor cut generation. Thanks for all the years of great television and a smashing interview, we wish you the best of luck in all your present and future endeavours. Captain Commodore 8th July 2009 |
1. What
have you been up to since you last presented on telly?
6. How did the Jet
Rider-soundtracked budget version of Games World on the Computer Channel come
about and how come its format kept changing to the likes of 'Barry's Joystick
Jury' and the Barry-less 'Game Over'?
9.
11. If the great depression of
the mid 90s had never hit (where almost all gaming shows were axed or
drastically scaled down) and the studios had stuck it out for the Playstation
era, do you think gaming television would have continued to flourish in the same
big-production way (and onto even greater things), or was a decline thoroughly
inevitable with the rise of the 'casual gamer'?
16. And besides being
interviewed for Consoles & Conkers, what's been the best experience?
22. Given your role in the
peripherals business and as a gaming TV figurehead, what's the most ridiculous
gaming accessory you've ever had promote over the years?