Two conclusions can be drawn from Tenacious D’s new animated music video, Video Games. One is that Jack Black clearly has a great love for the hobby, and two is that unfortunately he’s never read the PC Gamer style guide—it’s ‘videogames’, dude.
Word crimes aside, the video is a short but brilliantly entertaining trip through Black’s favourite digital worlds, including God of War, Fallout 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Check it out below—but, er, be warned, it’s very NSFW.
The wonderfully bouncy animation was created by Chris O’Neill of the gaming YouTube channel OneyPlays (you may know him for his contributions to the TV show Smiling Friends) in collaboration with animation studio Pinreel Inc. Jack Black’s 3D alter-ego perfectly captures his real-life energy as he rides around the Wild West on a naked murder spree and transforms into Minecraft, Street Fighter, and The Legend of Zelda versions of himself. And how can you be anything other than charmed by Kyle Gass’ increasingly bizarre mutilations and deaths over the short runtime?
Jack Black is hardly new to the world of videogames, of course—most recently he played Bowser in The Super Mario Bros Movie, but he’s also featured in several Double Fine games, including starring in heavy metal odyssey Brutal Legend. Briefly, he had his own gaming YouTube channel, Jablinksi Games (opens in new tab), among other game-related online antics. If you’ve ever heard his Five Nights at Freddy’s song that went absurdly viral on TikTok, you… probably still haven’t gotten it out of your head.
The video comes just in time for the beginning of Tenacious D’s summer world tour (opens in new tab), and the end of the video hints there may be a new album on the way too. The timing certainly seems right for yet another D resurgence—thanks to his endlessly charismatic online presence and charming turns during the Mario movie press tour, Jack Black seems more popular than ever in 2023.