Bob West

Bob West
West at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2019
Name	Bob West
Born	Robert Matthew West June 25, 1956 (age 68) Finleyville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Voice actor • graphic designer
Years Active	Barney 1988-2000; 2005
Education	Trinity University (BA)
Social media	@YesThatBobWest @yesthatbobwest @yesthatbobwest @yesthatbobwest @YesThatBobWest
Website	https://bobwest.com/
See also	Media

Robert Matthew "Bob" West (born June 25, 1956 in Finleyville, Pennsylvania) is an American voice actor and graphic designer, who is best known as the original voice of Barney, first starting in 1988 in Barney & The Backyard Gang. Then he continued on in 1992 as the voice of Barney in Barney & Friends until 2000. A native of Pennsylvania and he grew up in Baytown, Texas, he is also known for voicing Pasqually and Jasper for Chuck E. Cheese, which he both voiced them in 1986 until 1998.

Career

Barney

Barney & The Backyard Gang

Audition

West auditioned for the role of Barney in 1988 for Barney & The Backyard Gang. He didn't get the description of the character until a few minutes before the audition. West had to create the voice on the spot. West got called for the only callback for Barney & The Backyard Gang. The voice West auditioned with was how Barney sounded in Barney & Friends, however the crew had him bring it down for Barney & The Backyard Gang.

Barney & Friends

After Barney & the Backyard Gang ended, the video series was spun into a television series titled Barney & Friends. For the show, the crew had West bring his voice up to how he sounded during his audition. During West's run with the series, his Barney voice changed throughout the years. Due to West's voice getting higher as years went on Dennis DeShazer, one of the co-creators of Barney & Friends, would have to tell West to bring the pitch down every couple of years. In 2000, West retired from voicing Barney due to being bored as a performer. In 2005, West reprised his role as Barney at the PBS Kids Sprout Launch event in 2005 as Dean Wendt, the voice of Barney during that time, was unavailable.

Post-Barney

In 2019, West began appearing at pop culture conventions discussing his time on Barney and meeting fans. In 2022, West appeared in the documentary I Love You, You Hate Me recounting a bit of his time with Barney & Friends and its predecessor Barney & The Backyard Gang.West expressed interest in wanting to return as the voice Barney for the relaunch by Mattel Television and Nelvana. However, West later confirmed on his April 16, 2023 livestream, that he would not be returning as the voice of Barney for the relaunch, but has expressed interest in doing something for the show. West would also appear in the 2024 podcast Generation Barney.

Personal Life

Bob West and Barney the Dinosaur in Liverpool.

Barney

During West's time with the Barney franchise, his email address got leaked into the directory of K-12 schools. West started getting emails from middle school students who were explicit and violent towards West. Some of those emails were death threats towards West due to him being the voice of Barney the Dinosaur.

Credits

Barney

Barney the Dinosaur

• Barney & The Backyard Gang
• Barney & Friends
• Home Videos
• Live Shows
• Discography
• Video Games
• Books
• Audio series
• Toys
• Other

1. The Backyard Show
2. Three Wishes
3. A Day At The Beach
4. Waiting for Santa
5. Campfire Sing-Along
6. Barney Goes To School
7. Barney in Concert
8. Rock with Barney

1. Season 1
   
2. Season 2
   
3. Season 3
   
4. Season 4
   
5. Season 5
   
6. Season 6

1. Barney's Magical Musical Adventure
   
2. Love to Read, with Barney
   
3. Barney Live! In New York City
   
4. Imagination Island
   
5. Barney Songs
   
6. Barney's Talent Show
   
7. Barney's Fun & Games
   
8. Barney's 1-2-3-4 Seasons
   
9. Once Upon a Time
   
10. Barney's Sense-Sational Day
    
11. Barney's Musical Scrapbook
    
12. Camp WannaRunnaRound
    
13. Barney's Adventure Bus
    
14. Barney's Good Day, Good Night
    
15. It's Time For Counting
    
16. Barney's Great Adventure
    
17. Barney in Outer Space
    
18. My Party with Barney (singing only)
    
19. Barney's Big Surprise
    
20. Barney's Halloween Party
    
21. Sing and Dance with Barney
    
22. What a World We Share
    
23. Walk Around the Block with Barney
    
24. Let's Play School
    
25. Barney's Night Before Christmas
    
26. More Barney Songs
    
27. Barney's Dino Dancin' Tunes (archival, uncredited)
    
28. Barney's Rhyme Time Rhythm
    
29. Barney's Musical Castle
    
30. Barney's Pajama Party (archival, uncredited)
    
31. You Can Be Anything (archival, uncredited)
    
32. The Best of Barney (archival, uncredited)

1. Barney in Concert
   
2. Barney Street Celebration
   
3. Kids' Playfest (1993)
   
4. Barney Live! In New York City
   
5. A Day in the Park with Barney
   
6. Barney at Grand Ole Opry (September 16-17, 1995)
   
7. Barney's Big Surprise
   
8. Barney's Musical Castle
   
9. Barney's Greatest Hits - Live On Stage (Act 1 only, archival recording)

1. Barney's Favorites, Volume 1
   
2. Barney's Favorites, Volume 2
   
3. Barney's Sleepytime Songs
   
4. Run, Jump, Skip and Sing
   
5. Barney's Big Surprise! Live on Stage
   
6. Happy Holidays Love, Barney
   
7. Barney's Great Adventure: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
   
8. Barney's Great Adventure Sing Along
   
9. Barney's Sing Along: Halloween Party
   
10. Barney's Great Adventure Sing Along
    
11. Songs in the Key of Purple
    
12. I Love to Sing with Barney
    
13. Barney's Sing Along: In Outer Space
    
14. Barney's A Great Day for Learning
    
15. Barney's Sing Along: Night Before Christmas
    
16. Barney For Baby: Love and Lullabies
    
17. Barney's Greatest Hits: The Early Years (archival recordings)

1. Barney's Hide and Seek Game
   
2. Fun on the Farm with Barney
   
3. Barney Under The Sea
   
4. Barney Goes to the Circus
   
5. Barney's Fun on Imagination Island

Audio books

1. A Tent Too Full
2. What Can It Be?
3. Barney's Wonderful Winter Day
4. Just Like You
5. Barney & Baby Bop's Band
6. The Turtle Who Lost His Shell
7. Zoomba in Toyland
8. Barney's Christmas Surprise
9. Barney's Great Adventure
10. Barney's ABC Animals!
11. Barney's Count to 10

Sound books

1. Barney Through the Seasons
2. Barney, BJ, and Baby Bop sound books (1997)
3. Backyard ABC
4. You Can Count!
5. Hide & Seek
6. Barney's Great Adventure (Smart Pages book)
7. Best Manners Show (Press the Page book)
8. Farm Fun (Press the Page book)
9. Barney's First Telephone Book
10. Good Night Barney
11. Let's Imagine (archival)

1. Bedtime with Barney
   
2. Storytime with Barney

1. I Love You Barney (1992, 1998)
   
2. Barney's Talking Phone (1993)
   
3. Talking Barney (1993-1998)
   
4. Talking Barney figures (Child Dimension, 1993)
   
5. ActiMates Barney (September 1997)
   
6. Play Along Barney (1998)
   
7. Singing ABC Barney (1998)
   
8. Barney's Learning Laptop (1999)
   
9. Sing 'N Strum Barney (1999)
   
10. Twinkle 'n Dream Barney (1999)
    
11. Magical Friend Barney (2001, archival recording)
    
12. Silly Hats Barney (2001, archival recording)
    
13. Hospital Pals Barney
    
14. Barney's Musical Truck

1. The Today Show (February 16, 1993)
   
2. Barney & Friends Family Marathon (March 1993)
   
3. 20th Daytime Emmy Awards (May 26, 1993)
   
4. A Day at Shea with BJ (September 27, 1993)
   
5. National Press Club on C-SPAN (November 17, 1993)
   
6. Entertainment Tonight (1994)
   
7. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1994-1998)
   
8. Kids for Character (1996)
   
9. The Oprah Winfrey Show (November 19, 1998)
   
10. PBS Kids Sprout Launch (2005)

Trivia

Bob West signings autographs.

• West's favorite Barney episode, Home Video and song are "Four Seasons Day", Barney Live! at Radio City and "Just Imagine" respectively.
• The best thing West likes about Barney is that he's very inclusive and he just loves everybody.
• In My Party with Barney, Bob West shared the role with Duncan Brannan. West would sing and Brannan supplied the speaking voice.
• West was the narrator on the radio show in the episode "Grandparents Are Grand!".
• After West retired from voicing Barney on Barney & Friends and relocated to California, the crew inquired if West would be interested in flying back and forth to continue doing the role, however, West wanted to move on at the time.
• At one point, West and the producers of Barney & Friends discussed the potentiality of West directing some episodes of Barney & Friends, especially given that West had directing experience (though, single-camera). Dennis DeShazer, a co-creator of the series, was very supportive for West to be a director, however due to the show being filmed in multi-camera format, and the director called the camera shots/switching in real time, it would've been complicated for West to direct and voice Barney at the same time.

Absence

• During the filming of season one of Barney & Friends, West had laryngitis. Jeff Gittle, a crew member of the show, would step in to read for West, in which he eventually dubbed over.
• West left Barney & Friends during the production of season four to film Barney's Great Adventure. Duncan Brannan replaced West as the voice of Barney but soon later returned to dub over Duncan Brannan's lines.

Barney & The Backyard Gang

• West wasn't confident that Barney & The Backyard Gang would gain attention.
• During production of Barney & The Backyard Gang, West was considered to be both the body and voice of Barney, however he was too tall for the costume the crew already made.

Videos

Interviews

Stuuuuuuuu-pen-dous! It’s the original voice of Barney - Purple Tales Podcast Episode 13

Purple Roads Episode One - Bob West and Jeff Ayers