Forget biopics and The Theater: Viral videos are the new frontier for actors who want to prove they're not run-of-the-mill thespians stuck in an ensemble world. Jim Parsons, the pop-eyed star of The Big Bang Theory, plays over 30 different characters in this cancer awareness PSA called "Up2 You + Me," whose title alone makes me want to rave un2 the year 2000. Caution: The level of acting here is somewhere between Peter Sellers and Eddie Murphy, but I can't say for sure where.
He's not exactly Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (the only actor to win an Oscar for playing dual comic roles, of course), but Parsons's reel is effectively buttressed. Banana hammocks! That's kind of funny. God help that wretched song, though. I left no more informed about cancer than when I started watching, and that's saying something considering our singer spouts the word "cancer" like it's "Susanna."