Recently the guy who played Barney, David Joyner did an AMA on Reddit. While he was asked hundreds of questions, by far the most interesting concerned him taking a bathroom break. Think about it. David Joyner wore the big purple suit for more than a decade and you’d think that during that long run he’d run into some major complications. I mean you don’t want to scare the crap out of a kid with that suit off. What if you’re doing an event somewhere else and you have to go? When Joyned was asked the question, here’s what he had to say:
It was pretty easy to get out. There were a few times when getting out to use the restroom was not an option. There was one occasion during the Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans when I was on the float and I need to go really bad. The costume wrangler pushed a Gatorade bottle up the crouch (sic) opening of the costume and I had to aim, use, put on the lid, hand it back to her, all while waving and dancing on the float. That was a pretty cool thing to do. Very impressive I must say. LOL
Oh come on David. There’s gotta be better stories than that. As it turns out there’s one more interesting story. Joyner also played the main character in Hip Hop Harry so he’s used to wearing giant costumes. Here’s another gem from his AMA
It takes about 10 mins to get into the Barney suit. It takes about 30 mins to get into Hip Hop Harry. Once in, I can stay in for about 4 hrs or more. Depending on the situations. Sight is the biggest complication. I see out of the mouth and when the mouth is closed, I see nothing. When I am moving the mouth, it’s like having a strobe light. So I would practice being blind. To feel the energy around me.
I gotta say I’m pretty enlightened by all of this. I’m also 100% sure I would never want to play a character like Barney in my entire life.
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