Entertainment

Carl Kasell’s dramatic LOLCats reading on TED Radio Hour, visualized

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Carl Kasell of NPR hosts the show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me. And in the video above, he uses his classic radio voice to narrate LOLCats, reading lines like “I can has cheezburger?” and “I tried to hang up your laundry — that’s when I realized I didn’t have thumbs.”

The audio in this video comes from last week’s episode of TED Radio Hour, “Why We Collaborate.” In the episode, Clay Shirky (watch his talk) digs into the idea of “cognitive surplus,” the energy and thought people put into shared projects online. In this discussion, Shirky defends the LOLCat phenomenon, saying “the stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act.” This point inspired TED Radio Hour host Guy Raz to bring in his friend Kasell for a dramatic LOLCat reading.

As for the visuals in the video? Well, they come from YouTube user “trow125,” who is clearly using his or her cognitive surplus well.