Barry Mitchell (born March 6, 1952) is a

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

-born comedian, musician and TV producer. Mitchell is also known as "Accordion Guy" to viewers of ABC-TV's quirky, overnight broadcast, ''

World News Now ''World News Now'' (or WNN) is an American overnight news broadcast seen on ABC. Airing during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday, the program features a mix of general news and off-beat stories, along with weather forecasts, ...

''. He started contributing topical song parodies to the program in 1992, and later became its roving feature reporter, conducting celebrity interviews and scouring the country for oddball stories and personalities. In August, 2021, he was named one of “The 25 Most Impactful People In Late Night TV History” by Primetimer.com. Mitchell played accordion in Long Island, NY wedding bands in the mid-1970s, and later worked as a radio newswriter for WHLI-AM. In the late 1970s he worked briefly for NBC Radio News and Information Service in

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

before starting to earn a living as a stand-up comedian. In 1992, Mitchell wrote and performed what was to become ''

s signature closing theme, the tongue-in-cheek "World News Polka". Many different versions of the Polka were created over the years, the most famous being the music video in which Mitchell was accompanied by two attractive female singers dressed in journalistic trenchcoats, who sang backup while waving large hand microphones, with many in-jokes acknowledging Disney's ownership of ABC. Other versions of Mitchell's Polka include one featuring an

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

impersonator, another with an all-

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

band, and one starring a water-harpist. In June, 2015, Kermit The Frog of The Muppets sang a memorable Polka duet with Mitchell on accordion and Kermit on banjo: "I hear they watch us in the Swamp and think that we're all right/Well, it sure beats croaking in the middle of the night." In the 1980s, Mitchell's uncanny impression of

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

earned him parts in TV commercials and sketch work on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' and ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

''. In between, he has written monologue material for

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

with Jay Leno and

Wayne Cotter Wayne Cotter is an American stand-up comedian. Cotter attended the University of Pennsylvania where he studied computer engineering. After college, he became a comedian and made appearances on ''The Tonight Show'', '' Late Show with David Le ...

of Fox's ''

Comic Strip Live The Comic Strip Live is the oldest stand-up comedy showcase club in New York City, located at 1568 Second Avenue (between 81st and 82nd Streets). History The Comic Strip was opened in 1976. Richard Tienken and Robert Wachs were two of the club ...

''. In 2004, he was part of the writing team for ''

That Was The Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...

'', ABC's short-lived attempt to revive the 1963 BBC satire series as a segment of '' Primetime Live''. Since May, 2005, Mitchell has worked as a producer/reporter for CUNY-TV, the public affairs cable channel of the City University of New York, available in the five boroughs of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on Channel 75 and online at tv.cuny.edu. He won a New York Emmy Award there, in 2012. Since June, 2019, Mitchell has served as a segment producer and the host of CUNY-TV's monthly magazine program, "Simply Science".

References

External links

Primetimer.com August 2, 2021

Kermit The Frog Joins Barry Mitchell for The World News Polka June 5, 2015

"Simply Science" Homepage
BarryFunny.com
Mitchell's personal website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Barry 1952 births Living people American male comedians ABC News personalities People from Brooklyn Comedians from New York City