Scientist Stephen Hawking auditions celebrities to lend their voice to his machine for hilarious sketch.
If there's one thing we love about Stephen Hawking, it's his hilarious sense of humour. As part of Red Nose Day celebrations, he did a sketch where he decided to get various celebrities to audition to be his new voice; after having the same robotic vocal for 30 years, he fancied something a bit different.
Stephen Hawking attended the Pride of Britain Awards last year
For Comic Relief, the world's favourite theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking decided that the machine that he uses to help him talk needed a bit of an upgrade. He's had the same mechanical American voice since the technology surfaced, and while he has always felt sentimentally attached to it and therefore unwilling to change to a more advanced system, this sketch sees him look over a series of audition tapes from various stars who want to lend their voice to him.
Liam Neeson tried to convince him with his 'famous Taken' monologue, while Gordon Ramsay thought the F bomb would land him the opportunity for definite. 'I don't think anyone would take me f***ing seriously if I sounded like that', quipped Stephen. We learn that Stephen Fry isn't really as smart as people think, Geri Halliwell suggested they play around with accents and Lin-Manuel Miranda tried to get on his good side by dropping a sick rap verse.
Even Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick thought they'd give it a go, while 'Rogue One' star Felicity Jones went up against another actor from the 'Star Wars' franchise John Boyega for the chance to be Stephen's voice. Andrew Lloyd Webber, meanwhile, thought he was meant to be writing a Stephen Hawking musical, while Eddie Redmayne seemed more interested in his own renown for playing Hawking in the movie 'The Theory Of Everything'.
Simon Cowell, Bill Gates and Kylie Minogue were also among the auditionees - and even Miss Piggy tried to use her charm to get the job. Siri, though, insisted that Stephen didn't need to change his voice. 'Why change? Your voice is super sexy and cool', the Apple iOS program told the scientist.
More: Read our review of 'The Theory of Everything'
In the end, he opted for one of the world's most recognisable voices, Michael Caine, and introduced his following seminar with the lines: 'Hello, my name is Stephen Hawking. You're only supposed to blow the bloody atom!'
'Red Nose Day' airs on BBC One tonight (March 24th 2017).
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