Balatro is the viral indie poker roguelite that’s taken the world by storm, and also caused quite a few of us to lose our senses a little bit. Maybe none more so than Final Fantasy 16 star Ben Starr.
Balatro has become an absolute sensation, causing our team members to definitely (not) play it during meetings and winning some Critics’ Choice awards, too.
The voice of Clive has become somewhat of an industry darling in recent years, and most recently used his talents to play a live-action Jimbo, the funny and slightly disturbing jester that’s become the mascot for the game.
Starr features in an advert that promos the new card themes in Balatro, allowing you to change the face cards in your deck to cards inspired by Don’t Starve, 1000xResist, Divinity Original Sin 2, Shovel Knight, Enter the Gungeon, Warframe, Potion Craft, and Cult of the Lamb. It’s already a little unhinged, showing him swiveling around in full harlequin makeup, laughing maniacally, and chomping down on some bananas. The outtakes are even more baffling.
“Behind the scenes insanity of Balatro,” Starr tweets alongside a video of himself tonguing a banana he’s dangling above his mouth and gobbling down on it in a truly, truly horrifying manner.
He says in a sing-song voice, “there are two bananas in my hand, would you like to see me eat them?” while silhouetted in the dark studio. He continues, “bananas in Ben’s mouth.”
It’s no surprise these are the outtakes because, as I said, they’re disturbing. Incredibly funny, though. It’s good to see Starr hasn’t let the stardom get to his head, and I hope he continues to play the role of Jimbo in all Balatro’s adverts to come. There’s a big Balatro update set for 2025, so we could see more of him then.
In the meantime, check out some of the best roguelike games you can play right now.
