Peter Serafinowicz on bringing Brian Butterfield to the stage

It's not inaccurate. The 51-year-old provided the voice for Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I, played grumpy flatmate Pete in Shaun of the Dead, took the lead role in Amazon's The Tick, was a creative consultant on South Park and has lent his vocal talents to The Simpsons, American Dad, Family Guy, Doctor Who, Rick and Morty and The IT Crowd as well as video games such as Dark Souls II.

That's not to mention Lord Edgar Covington in Parks and Recreation who, when asked about the various things his aristocratic family owns, replies: "Well, have you heard of Scotland?".

Asked which of his various roles he's most recognised for, Mr Serafinowicz tells The Herald: "My thing has always been if someone comes up to me I have a little guess in my head based on what their face looks like, what they would think was funny, or whatever. And I’m usually wrong.

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“It could be Couples Retreat or Eight out of 10 Cats Does Countdown or, I don’t know, Dark Souls II.

"It’s kind of my style, I’ve got some kind of profound ADHD kind of way that my brain is and part of that is just wanting to do new things, I love different worlds.

“I did this thing last year where I went on tour with Brian Eno. I sang with him at the Berlin Philharmonic.

“F*****g hell I should settle down and get a proper job.”

The Liverpudlian was also the star of his own sketch show on BBC2, The Peter Serafinowicz Show, which ran for one series and a Christmas special.

It ended when, in the comic's own words, he left of his own accord due to being unhappy with the BBC's decision to not recommission the series.

One of characters from the show was Brian Butterfield, a middle-aged salesman who hawks various dodgy products and schemes in television adverts.

He was revived for a stage show last year, and returns for the Call of Now tour which will visit Edinburgh and Glasgow in June.

Peter Serafinowicz as Brian Butterfield (Image: Nat Saunders)

Mr Serafinowicz explains: "The character of Brian has developed, because it’s only 15-20 sketches but we’ve been developing him behind the scenes constantly.

“Like Brian we’ve had lots of ideas and pitched lots of shows and endeavours which have never taken off, which is kind of funny because that part of Brian represents part of me and James, my brother, who is one of the co-writers.

“It’s something that we share to different degrees in our own personalities, and I think maybe people can relate to that.

“We’ve had to develop him, we’ve sort of tried to uncover the character that was already there but you didn’t see in the adverts.

“He’s the same character but when you’re with an audience… I was like ‘how is it going to be when I’m dealing with hecklers? If he ever swears, what does he say?’. It’s important to not ruin the whole vibe of the character, and I think we’ve really got it now.

"We actually wrote a screenplay for a movie where he’s a detective, a kind of Taken thing but with Brian Butterfield… we should do that. I think we should do it, because the thing with this tour has proved to us is that people are into this character and it’s certainly popular enough."

Butterfield has a distinctive voice and manner of speaking, frequently pronouncing words incorrectly. While he may seem larger than life, his origins are very much based in real life.

Mr Serafinowicz says: "It was based on this guy from an advert on TV, we did pretty much a straight parody of it – Butterfield Direct, the insurance thing, was a direct copy pretty much.

“We styled and made him sound like the guy in the advert, who looked like he was the owner of the company and had said," the actor slips effortlessly into Butterfield mode. "‘Don’t worry, we don’t need a professional crew for this advert. And we’re not paying for an actor, I’m going to do it myself’. You can see the original ad on YouTube.

"On the first day of filming the sketch show the camera assistant saw me in all the prosthetics and said, ‘I’ve worked with this guy, is this based on a guy from an advert?’.

“It turned out he was an actor and I was like, ‘what? They hired THAT guy?!’.

“By the time we did the Christmas special I found out that this actor had seen the Butterfield sketch and was a bit upset about it.

“But then I also found out that he was being kind of predatory among the young actors on the scene in Bristol, I heard a few unsavoury tales about him. Which made me feel less bad."

Perhaps sensing an intake of breath from The Herald about potentially scurrilous rumours, he adds: "He's dead now anyway."

Though he slips into the voice and mannerisms of Butterfield seamlessly, the role also requires copious prosthetics and a hefty fat suit.

It is, it turns out, not the ideal attire under the hot lights of a theatre.

Peter Serafinowicz as Brian Butterfield (Image: Nat Saunders)

Mr Serafinowicz says: "It’s designed by this guy Barry Gower, who designs all the prostethic makeup for Game of Thrones and he’s a genius.

“It’s applied by two makeup artists, and between them it takes just under an hour to put it all on.

“It’s like a Formula One pitstop in slow motion, it’s really cool. Originally I had this fat suit that was like a heavy winter duvet kind of thickness and the first few performances I was sweating so much the adhesive was coming off my face.

“The thing is this prosthetic makeup looks scarily real, so then it starts to flap off and I’ve got these little reservoirs of my warm sweat and every time they flap they shoot a little jet of sweat into my eyes.

“There’s also a bit in the show where it’s like I’m having a heart attack, and it does come after quite an energetic bit that I’ve done.

"But it’s f*****g great doing live performance, man, it’s the best.

"People who make stuff or write stuff, you’re just sitting at a computer and typing and it’s almost theoretical, it’s just that part of your brain that you’re using.

“Performing is cerebral as well but you’ve got all these physical considerations to take into account and this audience. It’s like fighting a dragon every night.

"Not that it’s a combative relationship, though it can get like that, it’s more like Sekiro, where they way you fight the bosses is by learning their moves and parrying them.

“I feel like I’ve got these little milestones in the show that are like little treats for me, but the best bit is that after the show I do a meet and greet as Brian.

“On attendance of the show you automatically become a graduate of Butterfield University and you can get your photo taken and have Brian sign your diploma.

“So you’ll have 150 people lining up patiently and quietly to see Brian Butterfield with their certificates and they get to me and spend a minute with me in character..."

Butterfield emerges again: "... and everybody’s treating me as if I’m real."

The Call of Now will be at Edinburgh's Queens Hall on June 23 and Glasgow's Pavilion Theatre on June 25. Tickets are available here