When it comes to creating viral Internet memes, never ever underestimate Benedict Cumberbatch‘s fandom’s ability to be hilarious.
Over the past 3 years, a set of photos comparing Cumberbatch’s facial expressions to otters’ facial expressions has been circulating on the Internet. The striking similarities were first discovered by Tumblr user Red Scharlach back in March 2012.
As if these photos weren’t enough to prove that Cumberbatch is a natural “otter impersonator”, Graham Norton offered the 39-year-old “Sherlock” actor a chance to contribute more memes by mimicking more otters on BBC’s “The Graham Norton Show”.
Cumberbatch appeared on “The Graham Norton Show” alongside Johnny Depp to promote their latest film, “Black Mass“. In the movie, Depp plays mobster James “Whitey” Bulger while Cumberbatch plays his brother, Billy. The crime drama was released in the US in September, but was only released in the UK earlier last week.
During the programme, Norton decided to poke fun at Cumberbatch by showing the Cumberbatch-as-otter meme to Depp and the audience. “Are you aware of this, Johnny Depp? When Benedict became famous, one of the first things that happened was—this is so random—his fans decided that he looked very like an otter,” Norton asked on the show.
In response to his question, Depp looked on in utter confusion. “I’m sorry?” the 52-year-old actor replied, drawing laughs from the audience.
Being a good sport, Cumberbatch happily obliged Norton’s request to imitate the otters’ facial expressions and the results were glorious. In fact, it further proved that Cumberbatch is the “ultimate otter impersonator”. Though Depp was unaware of the meme, he decied to join in the fun later by helping Cumberbatch imitate a picture that consists of 3 otters.
Watch the hiliarity ensued in the full video clip below:
