It’s always exciting to find out juicy details behind the scenes of your favorite shows. Recently, Steve from Blues’ Clues opened up about why he left the show, and now the star of Barney is spilling secrets about his time as the big, purple dinosaur.
In a video shared by Huffpost, David Joyner, the man who played Barney for 10 years, from 1991 until 2001, goes into specifics about when he got the role and what the costume was like.
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Joyner has a degree in electronic engineering technology and worked as a software analyst at Texas Instruments for 6 years.
He says that before he got the Barney role, he was a living mannequin for department stores. “I would move mechanically and people would literally bring their children set them on the mall floor, and go shop,” he said.
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He also mentions that he always wanted to be a TV actor, saying, “When I was a kid, I wanted to be on television so bad. I would stand in front of the television and basically lip sync.”
The story of the day he auditioned is pretty interesting. Joyner starts by saying, “There’s a lot of psychic energy in my family and there’s a lot of clairvoyance. And a lot of times, with me, if I’m trying to figure out a situation I’ll dream about it.”
That clairvoyance played in his audition as he goes on to tell the story, “Well the night before the audition I had this dream. And in this dream, Barney passes out. And I have to give Barney mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. So on the way to the audition, I’m sitting at a stop light and something says, ‘Look up.’ So I look up and there’s this billboard. It says ‘Breathe life into your vacation – Southwest Airlines.’”
It turns out that this was just the sign Joyner was looking for. He continues, “And then it hits me. I had to breathe life into Barney in my dream. If I go into this audition, breathe life into this character I’m going on vacation. And that’s exactly what I did. So, of course, they called me and asked if I would be Barney. And I said, ‘Of course.’ I pretty much already knew that I was gonna be Barney. But it was great getting that phone call.”
Actually performing the role turned out to be something totally different and physically demanding, however, as Joyner says, “…Barney is about 70 pounds. And it can get over 120 degrees. So inside you’re sweating profusely.”
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He also had a tough time maneuvering and seeing inside the costume. He explains, “It’s a T-Rex, so you’re basically just up to your elbows in being able to move. And then also Barney’s feet were huge. I did have some sneakers inside that were glued to the bottom of the feet. The head doesn’t come off. The head doesn’t swivel. There’s no facial expressions that can be made. I can only see a certain amount because of the peripheral of Barney’s mouth. And when Barney’s mouth is closed I can’t see anything.”
After stepping away from Barney, Joyner jumped into the role of Hip-Hop Harry, which is basically and hip-hop bear version of Barney, but he added that the residual checks from Barney have kept him living very well.
While it may not be the kind of salacious tidbits you’d expect to hear from a former kids show actor, it’s still good to know that Joyner has fond memories of his time as everyone’s favorite imaginary dinosaur.
Photo Credit: Twitter / @billboard
