Rule Britannia began in 1740 as part of the masque Alfred, with words by James Thomson and music by Thomas Arne, and it became one of Britain's most recognisable patriotic songs. Matt Berry, the English actor and comedian known as Laszlo in What We Do in the Shadows and Steven Toast in Toast of London, gives it a new life through his famously grand delivery. Online, the short clip spread on soundboards as a shorthand for theatrical British pride, used whenever a moment needs instant ceremony, confidence or absurd national pomp.
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Matt Berry delivers Rule Britannia in his booming theatrical voice, turning the classic British patriotic song into a pompous meme for reveals and entrances.
This clip captures Matt Berry belting out Rule Britannia with his unmistakable rich, theatrical delivery, stretching every syllable for maximum pomp. His voice is deep, precise and proudly over enunciated, turning a familiar patriotic anthem into pure comic grandeur. The humour comes from the contrast between the formal, ceremonial song and how seriously he commits to it, as if announcing a king rather than singing a short chorus. Played alone it lands instantly as a joke about British pride, old fashioned authority and dramatic self importance, even without any picture on screen at all.
