Benedict Cumberbatch recites lyrics to R Kelly's Genius - The Guardian

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On last night's edition of Jimmy Kimmel's US talk show, Benedict Cumberbatch ^[2] lent his gravelly, ever-so-English baritone to the work of R Kelly ^[3] , whose latest opus Black Panties is released next week. He recited the lyrics of the song Genius, to the whooping delight of the audience, and the hilarity of the internet.

Kimmel has form in this regard, having previously employed Gary Oldman to recite a passage from Kelly's autobiography Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me, in which Kells meets 2Pac and the pair talk of a collaborative album (in the video below).

It's turning into a bona fide meme, what with these two old chaps ^[4] re-enacting the pyroclastic Twitter beefs of One Direction fans. And all very amusing it is too – the juxtaposition of cut-glass Britishness (and all the psychosexual repression that voice suggests) with the openness of R Kelly or Twitter's emotional book is a joke that still hasn't got old.

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So why is this style of parody funny, and not just some pompous white people laughing at R&B? Kelly is so entertaining because he is relentlessly sincere, whether it's talking about sex, heartbreak or flying. As today's Guardian interview ^[6] shows, his libido is so malleable he can find eroticism in Oreo cookies and the zoo, while his outsider opera Trapped In The Closet is a masterclass in being deadpan – he outstrips punk for not giving a shit and staying true to himself. This triumphant selfhood and lack of irony means that any attempt at mockery is doomed to bounce off Kelly, because he looks you in the eye and dares you to guess when he's being serious and when he's being playful. And so in reciting his lyrics, the joke is really on Cumberbatch as he skewers his own limey stiltedness.

So with that in mind, who should next step up to the lecturn of love, and perhaps lend the words to Marry The Pussy a silly Shakesperian majesty? Answers below please.