BARRY  WILLIAMS:
I Was A Teenage Brady…
America's Still Suffering
from Brady-mania
After All These Years

by J.C. Johnson / Comedy Profiles Editor T a l k i n g C o m e d y . c o m

 

It's been over thirty years since the first episodes of the '70s sitcom the Brady Bunch hit the airwaves. But you don't have to be thirty-something, or older, for the Brady Bunch show to have had an impact on your life. With the help of cable reruns, numerous TV movies, specials and reunions over the years, and two highly successful big screen ventures based on the original television series, the Brady influence is very much alive and well in America.

Thirty years?… could it be America's favorite pack of pre-pubescent siblings have actually turned thirty? “Yes,” says Barry Williams, who played Greg the oldest of the brood, “it does feel like that long since we did the original show. But because we've done so many reunions, right up into the '90s, including the movies …and… we all got together for the cover of people magazine (in 1999). Because of that the relationships all feel current. But the filming of the original episodes, that feels like awhile ago.”

Although Williams has many fond memories of his years on the Brady Bunch set he doesn't feel it's a good idea to put children into show business. “There is one time to be a child and a lifetime to be an adult” believes Williams. “Having a professional responsibility imposed on you that is very adult like, pretty much strips your ability to be a kid. That's really what I'm taking exception to and that continues. And that's not just child actors. You see this all the time with olympic hopefuls and other young professional athletes. These kids are sixteen, seventeen and all they have done, since the time they were five, is tennis, tennis, tennis. That's all they know and that's a big responsibility.”

But Barry Williams admits it was his own doing that brought him into the world of television acting as a kid. “It was totally my idea” admits Williams. “In fact I had to talk my parents into it.” And although if he had it all to do over again he would wait till he was older to pursue his show business dreams he certainly has no desire to leave it all behind these days. “I've stayed in it because, from the beginning, it was my choice. It was what I wanted to do. I've always looked for things to create… for new directions to go in… for different kinds of rolls to take on… different kind of venues to play. I've done everything from concerts to variety shows to Broadway plays, to one man shows, to cabaret shows, to Las Vegas shows, to movies.”

And of course there's William's music CDs… His single, The Real Greg Brady, a parody of Eminem's Real Slim Shady, was written with radio's David Brody of Z100's ‘Z Morning Zoo’ and Jay Gilbert of WEBN. Barry Williams' performance of it on the 2000 Billboard Music Awards was among the highlights of the evening. Williams' mimicked rapper Eminem's performance at the MTV Video Music Awards as he walked down the aisles along with other Greg Brady look-alikes all sporting curly brown wigs and colorful polyester.

His album is titled The Return of Johnny Bravo. Brady Bunch trivia experts will remember Johnny Bravo from the TV series. Greg is offered a chance at a solo singing career. His head swells at the prospect of show-business legend status. But, before the end of the episode he finds out that the record company is 'sweetening' his voice with production tricks in the recording studio. Outraged over this lack of artistic credibility Greg returns once again to the level headed loyal older brother he always was and goes back to the Brady's singing group.

Although the solo singing career of Greg Brady, AKA Johnny Bravo, was someone else's idea on the Brady set Barry Williams had been leading the campaign to get the Brady kids to form a musical act. “That was one of the ideas I was bringing to the table," says Williams. "I thought this was a splendid idea, making the Bradys into an act.”Barry Williams had been playing the guitar since the age of ten, accompanying himself playing folk songs at camp and anywhere he could find a group of people who were interested in a sing along. He knew from before ever landing the role of Greg Brady that music was something he wanted to do. “It's just always been there,”confides Williams of his interest in singing and performing. “I needed a lot of work at the beginning. I think my desire was a little ahead of my ability at that time.”

A fan of Elton John, the Moody Blues, Jim Crowce, James Taylor, and Loggins and Massina growing up Williams has chose to make his CD, a collection of classics. Although some originals, written especially for Barry Williams, appeared on the CD. “It was a question of reducing it to the ones that I thought would be the strongest,”says Williams of the songs he assembled.

An updated version of Barry Williams' book, Growing Up Brady: I Was A Teenage Greg, with added material in the latest edition, was released a few years ago in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Brady Bunch show. Williams says the thing that originally propelled him to write the book , a decade ago, was a desire to show the other side of things while newspapers were having a field day reporting former child celebrities' problems … stars like Gary Coleman, Dana Plato, Todd Bridges, Danny Bonoduce, Michensee Phillips. “Sometimes I'll just be trite and say we didn't get caught,”jokes Williams when asked why the six Brady kids, for the most part, kept out of the gossip slinging tabloids over the years. “But the truth is,”continues Williams, “we're a pretty cohesive group. We all had stable families. And because there were so many of us we helped keep each other in check and from getting too carried away with ourselves.”

You can order Barry William's CD, The Return of Johnny Bravo, his single The Real Greg Brady,or his book, Growing Up Brady: I Was A Teenage Greg by visiting his web site at www.barrywilliams.net

TalkingComedy.com features interviews with Comedians in Television, Movies and Standup.

 

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