The promotional campaign for co-writer/director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie looks to be nothing short of a whirlwind tour of pleasantries, pink and of course, puns. The Barbie cast has certainly been indulging in all of those fronts, with the jokier side of things being fully embraced by all involved. Even with that in mind, actor and one of the Ken stars Simu Liu just may have set a record for le-ken-dary gags involving the movie at hand, and fans have responded in kind.
While promoting Barbie during a recent event in Toronto, the Shang-Chi star went for broke honoring his native country and the dream world he’s currently stumping for. Putting forth his best "ken-ergy," Simu Liu shared some premiere snaps showing him and Ryan Gosling hamming it up on Instagram.
On top of some on point fashion and million watt smiles, the actor's message, which is shared below, capped it all off with some on-brand humor:
The Ken-ergy was strong in Toronto!! It was a pleasure to stop in for a little Ken-adian homecoming and witness all of your amazing outfits. Can’t wait to see more as our global press tour continues. Watch @barbiethemovie in theatres July 21st. It’s gonna be the ultimate beach-off party and no it does not mean what you think it means unless you think it means a world-shattering dance number set to a bespoke song about Ken. An anthem. A… MANthem?
Simu Liu and his multitude of puns fits firmly in line with what we know about Barbie as a movie. Its fast-approaching release date has been eagerly anticipated, especially since Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer opens on the same day. That fact has prompted movie fans to start planning double features of the two pictures and, with Nolan’s historical biopic being compared to a “horror movie,” that humor is more important to highlight than ever before.
Fans of Greta Gerwig's latest movie who saw the Kim's Convenience actor's message heard this supposed call to action and jumped in with their own additions to this lexi-ken of light-hearted jokes. What you’re about to read is only a handful of the gems the crowd has thrown into the pot. And there are some heavy hitters reporting for duty, bringing A-game comments such as these:
- “This is lekendary.” - bianncarose
- “Can't be ken-tained.” - thedayfut
- “Proud to be a KENadian.” - Tim Hortons
- “Welcome to the Kendom.” - Barbie (official brand page)
Look, if you can get Tim Hortons and the official Instagram for Mattel’s Barbie brand in on the fun, you’re pretty much golden. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who follows Simu Liu, as he’s been on board with the pink-colored dream tour since day one. Cracking Ken jokes for some time, Liu’s recent Sicily vacation photos proved that he can’t stop, nor will he stop sending these sorts of laughs out to the crowd.
How anybody at the Toronto get-together didn’t faint in excitement is beyond me. With Ryan Gosling serving that sweet sweet “ken-ergy”, and Simu Liu matching him step by step, the Great White North must have felt a bit warmer and funnier than usual. Maybe there’s even room for a spin-off starring the pair, as they settle the new land of Ken-ada?
For now, July 21st is the day that the world at large will get to step into this comedy playroom on the schedule of 2023 new movie releases. Such excitement and anticipation is enough to leave the world wondering what things will look like in a post-Barbie world. For all of our sakes, let’s hope it’s as funny as the pun-derland shown in the comments above.
