{"id":1488,"date":"2026-07-08T20:16:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T20:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/?p=1488"},"modified":"2026-07-08T20:16:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T20:16:55","slug":"drummers-still-cant-get-over-that-time-mr-bean-made-the-world-cackle-with-his-invisible-drum-kit-skit-but-was-the-whole-thing-stolen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/?p=1488","title":{"rendered":"Drummers still can\u2019t get over that time Mr Bean made the world cackle with his invisible drum kit skit. But was the whole thing stolen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 1991, comedian Rowan Atkinson performed a musical skit that would have drummers across the world calling him a genius. But while enchanting over 272,000 YouTube trawlers on one upload alone, and earning countless tribute covers, transcriptions, and reaction vids in the process, some viewers are actually accusing the Mr. Bean actor of stealing this god-tier musical routine from another lesser-known comedian\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Music Man readers can watch the magic unfold in the video below and check out Michel Courtemanche\u2019s original version further down this page.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mr. Bean - Playing the Invisible Drums (1991)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wHBcoEWzDcE?start=166&amp;feature=oembed\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"cls-video\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Haven\u2019t come across this legendary skit before? It all begins as Atkinson\u2019s floor-sweeping character discovers an empty room with a simple stool in its center. Before it, an \u2018invisible drum kit\u2019 sounds as he accidentally sweeps his broom into the drums, the drumsticks soon rattling off the stool onto the floor. As soon as Atkinson ditches his broom and picks up the sticks, a spotlight blasts on the actor as he takes a seat and figures out the placement of the invisible kit.<\/p>\n<p>Then, the performance transcends to a moment of comedy gold. We won\u2019t spoil the clip for any first-time viewers, but what Rowan Atkinson does next isn\u2019t just mindless comedy, but an ingenious musical performance.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Michel Courtemanche - Le batteur - S\u00e9bastien C&amp;apos;est fou - Patrick S\u00e9bastien\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5rXUS1keuv4?feature=oembed\" width=\"900\" height=\"675\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He may not be playing the actual drums, but Atkinson\u2019s impeccable timing to the backing track has got drummers comparing the comedian to a real-world maestro. He hits the \u2018invisible drums\u2019 in perfect time to the track, no matter how long the silence is between beats and breaks for him to shoot the live audience that classic Mr. Bean expression. And for an extra bit of realism, each element (snare, hi-hat, kick drum, toms, etc.) is placed exactly as it should be on a real-life kit\u2026 aside from the invisible cat at the end!<\/p>\n<div id=\"harzsgqwhvymy7ygigflny0yos73n73y0ey0y7ntb3s1\" class=\"harzsgqwhvvy73igflnyivy7 harzsgqwhvvy73igflnyiqs73n73 harzsgqwhvvy73igflnyiqs73n73yie harzsgqwhvvy73igflnyivy7yiqzt\" data-harzsgqwhvcsscznyi85ng0yify7=\"COXY0ebyw5UDFbwR0AQdIYsJ3w\">\n<div id=\"harzsgqwhvcssczny0vy7ty0fxgvjny0yweyfey6weykopz9ey6o62yfy6y62oywymy7ygigflny0yos73n73y0eyw2nvvx6xvny6yfy6kxexev2mxqy6yky0wy0y0qs73vf7ngy0y0\"><iframe id=\"harzsgqwhvcssczny0vy7ty0fxgvjny0yweyfey6weykopz9ey6o62yfy6y62oywymy7ygigflny0yos73n73y0eyw2nvvx6xvny6yfy6kxexev2mxqy6yky0w\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" width=\"   1\" height=\"   1\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-google-container-id=\"8\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As one top commenter noticed, \u201cIt looks so easy but surely took a long time to learn. So perfect,\u201d another added, \u201cI can\u2019t imagine how someone can memorise all those beats and then perform it live while also acting, omg. The amount of effort to do something like this is incomprehensible. It\u2019s just something a genius can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But buried in the comments section of this spectacular performance are fans finally paying homage to the comedian Rowan Atkinson \u2018stole\u2019 this idea from: Michel Courtemanche, a French-Canadian comedian who performed his own invisible drum kit skit two years prior, in 1989.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, it isn\u2019t as spotless or realistic as Atkinson\u2019s interpretation, and Atkinson certainly chopped sections from Courtemanche\u2019s original and filled in those new blanks with original twists of his own. But it\u2019s wild to consider that one of Atkinson\u2019s most famous live performances wasn\u2019t truly his own idea!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1991, comedian Rowan Atkinson performed a musical skit that would have drummers across the world calling him a genius. But while enchanting over 272,000 YouTube trawlers on one upload &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1490,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions\/1490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnnews24h.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}