Peter Serafinowicz to deep fake as Elvis & take Brian Butterfield live
- Peter Serafinowicz will appear live onstage as Brian Butterfield for the first time later this year
- The comedian and impressionist is also performing his first live shows in more than a decade next week, appearing as a deep fake-enabled Elvis Presley
- "I'm using live deepfaking software to create the illusion. If it works like I hope it does, it'll be magical" Serafinowicz said
Peter Serafinowicz is to make his live debut as Brian Butterfield later this year, following his AI-facilitated return to comedy on stage for the first time in more than a decade, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
The comedian and impressionist is currently preparing for three work-in-progress shows of Peter Serafinowicz Presents The Elvis 2023 Comeback Special at the Soho Theatre in London from Thursday.
Defying "all odds" with "a fusion of live performance and state-of-the-art deepfake technology" Serafinowicz told BCG, he will "proudly stake his claim as the first-ever 'Elvis Presley Impersonator', tackling the grand challenge of embodying the uniquely unimitable King of Rock 'n' Roll."
The comic will be employing artificial intelligence technology to inhabit The King, "trying something that hasn't been done before, to my knowledge" he added. "I'm using live deepfaking software to create the illusion. If it works like I hope it does, it'll be magical."
He uploaded a trailer for the work-in-progress shows to social media last week, depicting "Elvis" performing a rendition of Iggy Pop's Lust For Life, a song released more than three weeks after Presley's death.
"AI, or specifically machine learning, is the foundation of the deep fake software" Serafinowicz elaborated. "I also use an AI-equipped video camera which tracks me as I move around the stage".
Next week's live shows will not be the first time the comic has brought Elvis back from the dead though, after his 2007 BBC Two series The Peter Serafinowicz Show featured a collaboration between Presley and hip hop group Cypress Hill:
Serafinowicz is also no stranger to deep fake-enabled mimicry, having collaborated with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the 2020 show Sassy Justice. In the web series, he plays reporter Fred Sassy of Cheyenne, Wyoming, his face superimposed with a deep fake of Donald Trump. He also plays the former president himself and Michael Caine.
Serafinowicz, who spoofed technological advances in Tomorrow's World parody Look Around You, the 2002 BBC Two series he created and starred in with Friday Night Dinner's Robert Popper, added that the Soho Theatre shows were also his first live performances since "a little stint of doing stand-up comedy about twelve years ago.
"My favourite shows were the ones I did with The Horne Section, Jazz n Jokes" he said. "The band would play in the background and give me a drum flourish if I told a funny joke. If it got a groan, they would start playing out of tune."
Although Butterfield won't feature in the 2023 Comeback Special, the overweight, inept salesman, who was the breakout creation in The Peter Serafinowicz Show "will be on stage with his own show later this year" he explained, clarifying: "And Brian does not wear prosthetics. He suffers from a rubbery skin condition."
Butterfield's last screen appearance was in a sketch on the CBBC comedy show Fit in 2012. Serafinowicz has previously been developing a film for the character based around his attempts to start a private detective agency.