You might be enthusiastic about next week's release of Brutal Legend. I'm here to help. Watch the above video, which contains highlights [sic] of a press conference in which designer Tim Schafer and actor Jack Black promote the game. I guarantee it will temper your enthusiasm.

Black talks in a fake gruff basso profondo that sounds nothing like what he does in the game. My theory is that it's been so long since he recorded the dialogue that he's forgotten what game he's promoting. He seems to think he's there for some sort of over-the-top wrestling game. Or maybe he has throat cancer, in which case I'm now a jerk for bringing it up. He also talks past Schafer. He doesn't pick up the cues Schafer tries to drop. They step on each other's comments. They seem to have no rapport. It's embarrassing. It's like a Saturday Night Live sketch...but worse.

It's also absolutely nothing like the game. Jack Black's performance in Brutal Legend is mostly unaffected and heartfelt. What's more, he and Schafer seem to "get" each other. Their collaboration in the actual game is the sort of creative synergy that's rare in videogaming and nowhere to be seen in that press conference. Schafer's dialogue and Black's acting fit each other gloriously. I'm jealous of people who get to discover that for the first time next week. You're in for a rare treat.