Victor and Barry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Victor Ignatius MacIlvaney and Barry Primrose McLeish were the creations of Forbes Masson and Alan Cumming, of The High Life fame.

Victor and Barry are the slightly camp, Scottish founder members of the Kelvinside Young People’s Amateur Dramatic Art Society; of which they would share their reminiscences with audiences far and wide, interspersing their dialogue with song. Cumming and Masson entertained the crowds at the Edinburgh festival, before touring Australian cities in the late 80s and early 90s.

Their repertoire of songs included Kelvinside Men - a tribute to the area in the west end of Glasgow where the characters were based, Marks & Spencers - a song about their favourite shop, and We Knew Her So Well - a bitchy tribute to the biggest star that ever shone in the Kelvinside sky, Renie Roberts. They also performed tributes to Andrew Lloyd Webber, West Side Story and The Proclaimers.

These early characters formed the basis for Sebastian Flight and Steve McCracken, in their 90s sitcom, The High Life.