Ben Schwartz is a delight. He’s proven that in any number of beloved projects—DuckTales, Parks And Rec, Comedy Bang! Bang!, House Of Pies, etc.—but never as quickly or as succinctly as in the following video clip, in which he somehow convinces Larry King to take his best shot at voicing classic video game character Sonic The Hedgehog, a creature that King has clearly never heard of in his long, storied life:
Schwartz was on King’s Ora TV series Larry King Now this week, ostensibly to promote his upcoming film An Actor Prepares (plus his starring role in the upcoming Sonic movie and a bunch of other stuff), but mostly, it seems, to have an old-fashioned Solo Bolo with the interview legend. Watching longer excerpts from the interview, it’s clear that Schwartz, a veteran improviser, is fucking with King a little throughout the course of the conversation. But it’s in such a good-hearted, clearly curious and awed way that it’s hard to see any malice in it. For what it’s worth, King seems to be getting a kick out of it, too, allowing Schwartz to hijack his microphone and interview him for once, and gifting him a pair of his suspenders. (He even turned down Schwartz’s offer to Venmo him back!) Really, the whole thing is worth diving into, even if you’ll never get King’s improvised spin on a whiny, self-loathing Sonic out of your head.