Welcome back to another edition of, “Mandy Patinkin: What Does He Know? Does He Know Things? Let’s Find Out!” In our previous installment, Patinkin didn’t recognize the Friends theme song. Now riddle me this, Batman(dy): Can Patinkin, with the help of his wife, Kathryn Grody, name a single actor who has ever played Batman, in anything? This isn’t a speed round, mind you. Patinkin can take all the time he needs. But as was made clear in a video posted to his Twitter account today, America’s Dad needn’t concern himself with such trivial matters. Here is a list of everyone Patinkin and Grody guess for four hilarious minutes before they finally land on a Batman:
“Adam Beech, on television.” -Mandy
“The great actor that played Chaplin. You know his father gave him fucking marijuana as a kid, he has a lot of issues …” -Kathryn, in mom-speak for RDJ
“My favorite actor guy. My favorite actor of my generation. You know, he’s just great!” -Mandy
“Robin?” -Kathryn, referring either to Robin Williams or just naming Batman’s sidekick
“Daniel Day-Lewis” -Kathryn
“Clint” -Kathryn
“Cliff” (????) -Kathryn
“Kenneth Branagh” -Kathryn
“He was in the movie about the thing in Boston.” -Mandy
“About the massacre?” -Kathryn
“No, no, about the politics.” -Mandy
“Tony Hopkins” -Kathryn
“This is horrible and it’s humiliating and you’re not allowed to post any of this stuff, and I’m gonna go learn Spanish because that’s supposed to be a good exercise for your brain.” -Kathryn, opening Duolingo on her phone
“He’s skinny, but he can also get fat if he needs to be.” -Mandy
“He got fat in that movie, I don’t think it was about the priests, it was about the economy.” -Mandy
”Moneyball!” -Kathryn
“Benedick Cumberbunch” -Kathryn
Their son, who is filming the video, gives a hint: “It rhymes with ‘Fish Bin Kale.’” Nothing. So he tries again: “It rhymes with Kiss Him Stale.” Kathryn has her aha moment, correctly naming a Batman, Christian Bale.
Patinkin bursts out into applause. “I love you, Christian Bale!” he shouts to the heavens, following it up with, “God forgive me for not remembering your name! I remember your soul.”