AP Photo/Manu FernandezWhat may not have been great for Christian Bale's image turned out to be awesome for the viral-video world.
The Dark Knight star has apologized, humbly, coherently and cleanly, for last summer's F-wordy rant at a director of photography who had the misfortune to come between the actor and his intensity, but the wider effects of his captured-for-posterity blowup still linger.
From the club-ready techno remix to an homage-paying Stephen Colbert tearing Steve Martin a new one on his show this week, comedic visionaries wasted no time making sweet, sweet lemonade out of Bale's sour mash.
Which means we get to play favorites (and you can, too, in the comments)! What follows is our list of the top 10 ways Bale's tirade was best embraced, remixed, reenacted and reissued for all the world to enjoy, starting with some behind-the-scenes diva behavior from 30 Rock's Tracy Morgan…
10. Tracy Jordan goes ballistic. Not great, maybe because this sounds too believable, like a real, live, scarily mad Tracy Morgan.
9. Bale as the voice of Newsies: Already great on their own, clips from the Disney film layered with a speech that will really get Mr. Pulitzer's attention.
8. Techno-Bale: Better mashups have followed, but this was the first one on our radar, so mad props for that.
7. Bill O'Reilly vs. Bale: A concerned citizen went to the trouble of showing us the real reason why O'Reilly had so much trouble reading the teleprompter back when he was doing Inside Edition.
6. The uncensored Terminator: Salvation trailer: Considering this all went down on the film's set, this was inevitable.
5. E!'s very own Soup mix: This parody of commercials for compilation albums picks Bale apart, turning each salty phrase into its own must-have hit.
4. FunnyorDie.com imagines Batman's interrogation of the Joker going a little differently: So-so editing, but we don't mind watching The Dark Knight over and over again.
3. Late Night With Conan O'Brien's reenactment, starring James Lipton and James Lipton: Because Lipton saying the F-word is funny.
2. Warner Bros. defends the behavior of "the Welsh nightmare": And, possibly, launches a campaign to make Bale the new Chuck Norris?
1. Colbert blasts Martin: The reveal alone is priceless. And because Colbert is the shiznit.
But surely we missed a few—or perhaps got the order wrong. Do share your thoughts and feelings in the comments. (Please try to avoid saying anything Christian Bale would say, though.)