Batman just proved his intellectual credentials with a little help from Will Arnett, who voices the caped crusader in The Lego Batman Movie.
Arnett – whose gravelly, masculine tones you may recognise from Bojack Horseman – put his vocal chords to good use on The Matt Edmondson Show on BBC Radio 1.
Playing along with Edmonson’s regular comedy bit, AlphabetiCall, Arnett prank called a toy shop in Bury St. Edmunds where he was put through to a helpful but befuddled shop assistant.
Arnett’s task was to conduct a whole conversation with the woman, beginning each sentence with consecutive letters of the alphabet, all the while channelling the irrefutably gruff voice of Lego Batman – and his arrogance, too.
With the help of ‘Puter – Batman’s personalised super computer that lives in the Bat Cave, Arnett kicked off proceedings casually with a Lego Batman’s beat-boxing stylings.
Getting down to brass tax, Arnett said, ‘Are you open today? Because I’m looking for some toys. Can’t tell you what it’s called… Can’t remember.’
Stumbling on the letter K and yelling ‘Kryptonite’ down the microphone, Arnett quickly corrects himself, adding ‘That’s the other guy’ in this fantastically meta prank.
Not passing up the opportunity to promote The Lego Batman Movie, Arnett questions the shop assistant on the availability of Batman themed Lego.
Arnett, whose Batman impersonation is unfaltering throughout, explains he’s searching for on behalf of his adoptive son, in a quick hat tip to the narrative of the newly released movie.
Arnett signs off with a reminder that Batman’s superpower is ‘his mind’, adding Spider-Man is just a ‘punk ass kid who got bitten by a spider’ and Superman isn’t even from here.
The mask has fallen: Arnett is Batman, the caped crusade who ignores the limits of mere mortals and our 26-letter language.
The Lego Batman Movie has received overwhelming critical acclaim, scoring a huge 91 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and is in cinemas nationwide now.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.