Lip Sync Battle Royale: Our Definitive Celebrity Ranking

View on YouTube Joseph Gordon Levitt and Stephen Merchant: One of the creators of Lip Sync Battle, Stephen Merchant, exhibits an incredible lip syncing talent from his first moment on Jimmy’s stage. Syncing “Boom Shake the Room” by DJ Jazzy Jeff, the lyrical complexity and his spastic rap moves make for a memorable challenger. The Roots’ Reactions are a huge part of the success of this song—they all look on in amazement as Merchant struts his stuff. But even better than DJ Jazzy Jeff is a Queen Bey, or “Beyoncé Z” as Stephen calls her, homage. Merchant’s gangly limbs mixed with the Queen’s moves are endlessly entertaining, and you can see Questlove’s smile the whole time. Merchant wins the best Roots’ Reactions by far. When does Jimmy not choose an 80s song? The answer is never. His first song, “Don’t You Want Me,” by the Human League, is another camera-hogging, hip-shaking piece of Jimmy’s portfolio. Have I ever mentioned Jimmy singing 80s songs? Because he chose another, and it is “Take On Me” by A-Ha. However, this one is worth it, showing again the fact that Jimmy loves nothing more than an 80s hit. He has the audience singing and hollering for his skipping and hopping—so we’ll forgive him for exclusively lip syncing 80s songs—or songs which were created before most of us were born. Joseph Gordon Levitt tends to display his enthusiasm for life in any way possible. He brings Tiny Dancer by Elton John to life, but perhaps brings a bit too much to the song—while his floor slide to the camera is swoon-inducing, his epileptic dancing proves to be a little too much for the crooning of Sir Elton. Luckily for JGL, he redeems himself with Nicki Minaj’s “Superbass.” His appropriate facial expressions, stage-covering strides, and passionate dancing marks this as a crowd favorite. Rating: 7 expensive microphones/10