Barry Ferns, who runs the Bill Murray Comedy Club in Angel

GARY’S Economics has captured the attention of millions with the former banker racking up follow­ers on social media by explaining why inequality has got so bad and what we can do about it.

Now, a comedian from Angel is setting about sharing the same message with his own YouTube channel, Barry’s Economics.

In his videos, Barry Ferns, who runs the Bill Murray Comedy Club in Angel, tackles subjects like the wealth tax, media bias against the working class, and the inequality feedback loop.

Mr Ferns has amassed 30,000 YouTube subscribers and was even invited to a Christmas party at millionaire-turned-activist Gary Stevenson’s flat.

“I feel very blessed to have found people who see the value in it,” he told the Tribune. “I don’t need it to grow massively.”

The comedian said he had originally imagined the channel as a joke when he first started making videos back in August, but quickly realised that he had something more serious, and more important to say.

Millionaire-turned-activist Gary Stevenson

“Gary did a call-out saying more people should be making stuff. I thought there was something funny about Gary’s economics, Barry’s economics. He’s a millionaire trader, he’s got a degree from LSE, a masters from Oxford, he’s a success, a phenomena. The idea of Barry’s Economics is that I’m not all that, I’ve dragged along the bottom. That goes with the name Barry, which is a comedy name”, said Mr Ferns.

The comedy club owner did not have an easy ride prior to setting up the theatre in 2016. Having grown up on a council estate in Poole, Mr Ferns later experienced homelessness and went bankrupt while trying to pursue his art.

It is these experiences that have shown him how important it is to have more people talking about the wider economic situation, he said.

He said: “Inequality isn’t just about the money we don’t have, it’s about what psychologically people who don’t have that much are told they aren’t worth as much. We are told that a billionaire is ‘worth’ more than a cleaner or a teacher. Until we can get over the behavioural response to somebody being ‘worth’ a lot of money being ‘worth’ more as a human being, the problem will persist”.

The Bill Murray Comedy Club in Angel

Thinking about class and societal inequality is not something new for Mr Ferns. He recalled being surrounded by middle-class peers at university, and wondering why people who were no “better” than people from back home had so much more.

He told the Tribune: “It certainly made me really interested in how come people that I know are really struggling and there is nothing that sets them apart from people who go on skiing trips two or three times a year. When you realise that these people are no cleverer, they are no better as human beings, it really makes you question the system”.

Mr Ferns said he had been inspired by Mr Stevenson’s “non-egoism”, a view which has been challenged by some who claim the former trader has inflated claims about his own success.

“Often when people say they have a problem with the person, they are not engaging with the idea”, said the comedian, “Gary stands by his principles, it’s the issue that matters to him rather than him being at the centre, which I like”.

Mr Ferns said he hoped to host an event in the future which would bring Gary and Barry together.