Rob Cantor earned YouTube superstar status a few months back with his awesome video, “29 Celebrity Impressions, 1 Original Song,” in which he sang his original song, “Perfect,” using the voices of 29 different celebrities and beloved characters. The video has more than 9 million hits and counting, as people still believe that he really pulled this amazing feat off. Of course, the magician revealed his trick soon after, and we learned in the “making of” video that Cantor enlisted the help of some very talented vocal artists to pull off this complicated prank. Citizens of the Internet soon booed his name and vowed to take revenge before forgetting all about it.
But long before Cantor was pulling a fast one on us, he inspired a meme known as “Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf” with the appropriately-titled song, “Shia LaBeouf,” which told the story of someone being chased by a homicidal LaBeouf one night, in the style of an old-timey radio show. People loved the song and the idea took on a life of its own, with clever GIFs and photoshops following, including my personal favorite:
This week, Cantor has revived the meme and his beloved song in the best way possible – with a stage performance that features the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, the West Los Angeles Children’s Choir and the Argus Quartet. Given the year that the actual LaBeouf has had and his recent media mea culpa that conveniently coincided with the release of Fury, it was the perfect time for this glorious revival.
(A million thanks to Steven for sending this along.)