‘Sherlock’ season 3: Benedict Cumberbatch gives dramatic reading … of R. Kelly lyrics?

Clearly, Benedict Cumberbatch is well aware of the fact that he is commonly taken to be a “serious actor.” Also, he’s aware that Americans for whatever reason tend to think that British people are funny reading ridiculous things.

Therefore, on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” this week, the man behind Sherlock Holmes and a number of other recent roles sat down to give a dramatic reading of some lyrics that are taking the world by storm (or maybe not), R. Kelly’s “Genius.” Cumberbatch sat down, and got quite a few laughs with just reading the lyrics out loud like they were the next great Shakespearean sonnet.

To us, what was actually the biggest surprise of all about this was just seeing how absolutely insane the audience was the moment that Benedict was introduced; you almost would have thought that he was a member of One Direction. Clearly, there were some people before the show who scouted who was going to be on, and then showed up ready to cheer their faces off for him.

Cumberbatch is probably preparing now for a very busy January, with the third season of “Sherlock” starting up on BBC One come January 1. The show will then start up on PBS a little later in the month on January 19, which is at least a shorter wait than what American viewers are being forced to do when waiting for “Downton Abbey.” This show has become one of the most-popular series to come out of Britain in years, and it is almost enigmatic just what sort of ratings it is going to draw. That is just a testament to how long it has been since there were new episodes on.

Do you want to read some more scoop related to “Sherlock” season 3? Then just be sure to click here, where you can see some of the first official details for the first episode, which like episodes from the other seasons, will be a full 90 minutes in length.

Photo: BBC One