As the world continues to bid farewell to the legendary scientist Stephen Hawking, people are sharing their favorite moments from his life, his inspirational quotes, and the times he brought us joy with his sharp sense of humor. Hawking was a brilliant man, but he was also devastatingly witty. These are some of the moments that made us laugh.
19. The time he roasted John Oliver to his face.
18. The time he had a minor run-in with Jim Carrey.
17. And the time he pulled the same trick on Prince Charles.
one of my favorite things about stephen hawking is that he was mean to all the right people pic.twitter.com/7jd3vLp5ql
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) March 14, 2018
16. When he threw a party for time travelers and sent out the invitations after he held it.
(Spoiler alert: no one showed up.)
15. When he faced off against Paul Rudd in an epic chess match.
With a cameo from Keanu Reeves!
14. When he had his own cameo on Big Bang Theory and met Sheldon
13. When he auditioned celebrities for the role of his new voice.
Fun fact: Even though artificial speaking technology has advanced, Hawking and the technicians responsible for his speech apparatus went through a lot of trouble to keep his voice the same. The reason? It had become part of his identity. One of his technicians was asked if it could be changed and his response was no, “The voice is one of the unique things that defines Stephen in my opinion. He could easily change to a voice that was clearer, perhaps more soothing to listen to – less robotic sounding – but it wouldn’t be Stephen’s voice any more.”