HAL 9000 from Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey series and, of course, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, is a sentient super-computer which many critics would place as one of the top “villains” in film history…that is, you know, if computers could be villains. But what would happen if HAL had a different voice? What if it was provided by one of the most recognizable (and hilarious) cartoon/voice-over actors in recent years?
H. Jon Benjamin, best known as the voice of Sterling Malory Archer on FX’s Archer and Bob Belcher on Bob’s Burgers (as well as the hysterical short-lived Jon Benjamin Has a Van), stopped by Late Night Basement, a live late-night show in Brooklyn, where he reworked and improvised the famous “Open the pod bay doors, HAL” scene from 2001.
Now, HAL is no longer the dead-pan, sleepy computer that we all remember. Instead, he’s more of a…dead-pan, sarcastic pothead.
Man, I’ve totally got to convince Jon to appear on my outgoing voice-mail message.
Send this to a friend