12 Facts About Dogberry

Dogberry is a character created by William Shakespeare for his play Much Ado About Nothing.

Dogberry is described by The Nuttall Encyclopædia as a "self-satisfied night constable" with an inflated view of his own importance as the leader of a group of comically bumbling police watchmen.

The Dogberry character was created for William Kempe, who played comic roles in Shakespeare's theatre company the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

Dogberry is first seen instructing his constables on their duties.

Dogberry tells them that it is perfectly fine to sleep on duty, and that if they see a thief, they should not touch him, to avoid becoming defiled by association with crime.

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The humour of Dogberry's character is his frequent use of malapropism, a product of his pretentiousness, as he attempts to use sophisticated terminology with disastrous results.

And, in trying to make sure that the criminals' insulting of him is recorded in the evidence against them, Dogberry repeatedly insists that it be written down that "[he is] an ass.

Dogberry was almost certainly created to be performed by William Kempe, as the names "Kemp" and "Kem" are sometimes accidentally substituted for the character-name in the published version of the play.

Dogberry was played by the noted comedy actor Samuel Johnson during the 1880s and 1890s for Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

Dogberry's performance was both praised and criticized for its addition of complexity through playing Dogberry's eccentricities and language errors as a potential side-effect of PTSD or shell shock after fighting in the same war that Don Pedro and his soldiers are returned from.

Dogberry was played by Michael Keaton in Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film adaptation and has been played on television by Michael Elphick, Frank Finlay, and Barnard Hughes.

Dogberry was played by Nathan Fillion in Joss Whedon's 2012 film version.