Celebrity Drum Solos - Tier List 

I have to disagree on the A tier. While Justin definitely had chops, he wasn't playing very clean or in time. He sounded okay until close to the end, when started rushing a lot on those fills. Bruno Mars was better imo because he was playing way more clean and in the pocket. He had some fire chops too, I was actually blown away.

I like how you used Justin Bieber’s mug shot as his picture

Rowan Atkinson air drum was quite surprising. He knows his stuff.

With the Rowan Atkinson one, I definitely give him credit for accuracy. He was right on with the solo and even looked like he was air drumming the right rhythms for the most part, especially right in the beginning when he went to the bell pattern.

Justin: ''mom i want to be a drummer'' Mom: ''a mic is cheaper son''

Bruno had some serious chops while Bieber was just sloppy and his time was all over the place.

Despite drumming on air drums with a recording, Rowan Atkinson looks like he actually took the time to understand basic drumming and practiced. Also, his timing is spot on considering it’s a pre-recorded track. Despite playing with a recording, he’s actually pretty darn close to it. He could actually reasonably take his routine into a real drum set and somewhat replicate it. I’d like to see Will Ferrell, Nick Cannon, or any of the others do that.

Not even trying to be the guy who hates on Beibs all the time, but I 100% think Bruno’s playing was better.

Quest love definitely held back

No Dana Carvey from Wayne's World? Dude is a legit drummer and tears it up.

Questlove just drummed for Pixar's "Soul"--seriously, him and the other musicians in that movie were absolutely PHENOMINAL...

John C Riley can actually play drums. That's his personal kit in step brothers

Bruno Mars is obviously above Biebs here. I wouldn't have put them in the same tier. Mars looked very close to being a professional drummer. He sounded like one, but visually his movements could have been more fluid and energy-efficient. Biebs on the other hand had a fair bit of obvious slop and isn't anything like being "locked in." Bonham-style triplets were a standout, but sound harder to play than they actually are. Think of playing singles, but each limb only needs to play at 2/3rds speed because you're adding a foot. Bass drum notes make linear fills sound faster in general while actually giving your hands a rest.

Fred Armisen is AMAZING, he also has a film on Netflix called 'Fred Armisens Stand-Up for Drummers' where he does impressions, little acting scenes with other drummers and plays different kits. Amazing

Fred Armisen is my favorite punk drummer. He’s legitimately really good when he plays seriously. Also Tenacious D is the best band.

I legitimately have no idea how Rowan Atkinson had time to get so great at air drumming. I've seen people spend years practicing that aren't as good as he is. Props to him. 👏

fred armisen’s skit looks like it was taken straight from expert village’s channel

Will Farrell deserves S+ for that cowbell. Convince me otherwise...

Wait that was actually John C. Reilly playing those drum parts. They definitely recorded in in a studio because it is a movie but he learned to play drums for the movie Georgia.

Genuinely the amount of timing needed for Atkinson is so damn impressive. The entire thing is a masterpiece

Fred Armisen is a VERY good drummer. Plenty of great footage of him. He played for blue man group. They keep you in serious playing shape. Also in the band Trenchmouth. Anyway, he’s very good.

And this is how I find out that Drumline 2 exists...

Justin “I have one fill” Bieber.

I can’t believe Chad smith could beat a pre-recorded track It’s MiNd BlOwInG

Rowan Atkinson's air drumming is one of my favorite videos of him ever because for someone who doesn't really play drums he did a great job! But there's a good explaination for that: He's a perfectionist. I learned that from watching the making of from his movie Bean's Holiday.

Day 24 of commenting till emc makes a gong hi-hat

Well, Peter Criss is a celebrity. But he's also the original drummer of KISS. Many people think he is trash at drums, but his 1976 drum solo is pure perfection

Someone should create a mock-up of the Rowan Atkinson drumset. I'd love to see what it would look like.

Dude, how do you put Justin in front of Bruno? Lol Bruno actually did quite a few above average things there. Listen to what he was doing with his foot.

Bruno Mars is actually phenomenal as a drummer.

You gotta be kidding with the biebs, he was a bit better than I expected but Bruno was legit 10x better. On the groove, clean playing, tasty fills (the linear at 0:57 alone dumps on everything Bieber did). I wouldn't bat an eye if Bruno played a full set on drums, he'd look totally in place. Bieber is a standard 1 year drummer who just learned linear triplet fills.

When the entire cast of Talledaga Nights is in this video

Surely Bruno is ahead of Bieber. More entertaining and technically proficient.

You should check out Fred Armisen's stand up special for drummers!

Bruno’s Super Bowl performance made me a fan for life. I’m not even a fan of “pop” really but that guy is one of the most talented artists on Earth right now.

I knew Bruno was legit. But I didn’t expect that. Mind = blown 🥁🥁

Armisen played in the Blue Man Group band for a while. He's a great drummer.

Questlove was like the father letting his son win.

Love the ride cymbal right in the middle of the Ben's kit, unique.

JUSTIN ISNT BETTER THEN BRUNO MARS AT DRUMS THIS IS A JOKE

John C. Reilly learned to play the drums for his performance in the movie Georgia, which involved music being recorded live for certain scenes, so he did all his own drumming in Step Brothers

Do a collab with ZachGrooves

The reason Questlove got up is cus he didn’t want to embarrass Justin more than Justin had already embarrassed himself

Where’s Miles Teller in Whiplash!? He actually played the impossible solo at the end...

The Mr Bean one was great. That's how i learn songs. With differnt techniques then my playing. I sit behind my kit and listen over and over and air drum it for the muscle memory then when i get the air drum pattern correct I apply it to the kit and add more power behind the hits for them to register on the drums. I live in an apartment and use an electrical drum kit to learn and practice. Electric drums take little pressure to activate the sound so air to electric and continue to add pressure until it's me just jamming with track. Takes hours to perfect. But that's my technique.

Almost all of these celebs: Either faking it, or not being good Bruno Mars: Know your enemy

so when is that gong hi-hat coming?

Fred Armisen was the drummer in the Chicago band Trenchmouth; they put out at least one CD in the early 1990’s (I have it) and saw them open for Jawbox in Hartford, Connecticut. Ben Stiller was a drummer in the 1980’s HC punk rock band Capital Punishment, recently released an EP, not sure if it’s recent or older material.

That was fun, thanks for throwing in that Rowan Atkinson clip at the end. Great finish!

Gary Burghoff (Radar from MASH) played the drums in a jazz band fronted by Linda Carter (Wonder Woman). Gary could actually sit-in with any musical group of any genre.

Just been watching your videos for a few hours, you are certainly strange. In fact you have surpassed strange and worked your way up to bizarre. Congratulations! Not easy. Well done 😄 love the channel, your hard work is evident

I'm so happy you had the Rowan Atkinson bit included here! Well played.

I am sure that you know John C. Reilly does play drums, and in that movie, (Step-Brothers) that you showed, he played all his own drum parts. They may have been dubbed in for the sound quality, but it was him on the set.

First vid of yours I’ve seen. Sick bro. Real dope and rad and groovy 👌

Fred Armisen is actually a really good drummer, that skit was from the Jens Hannemann instructional drum tape, which is all just completely hilarious

I agree Questlove was holding back on purpose to be a gentleman to Justin Bieber

Rowan Atkinson is definitely an s tier drummer.

Fred Armisen is such an amazing musician when he’s being serious but imo his comedy just makes it so much better. Like it’s more entertaining watching him play comically than to watch him play seriously.

The Armieen clip comes from a tune called the “Polynesian Nightmare” which was very Spinal Tap-inspired

he’s steve terrabary in an alternate universe where he played drums instead of guitar and didn’t have such a severe case of adhd

Actually surprised that Joseph Gordon-Levitt wasn't in this list, he's played drums in a couple of talk shows - and while he's not a professional drummer, he loves playing.

How dare you even insinuate that Quest Love lost to Bieber. Quest Love would drum circles around Bieber.

I cannot wait to see your Super Bowl Solo! I'm sure you will be at 1000 likes in no time at all! (I also love watching your facial expressions when you review these videos!) 😘

React to Fred Armisen's stand up special for drums. I think he actually used to be a drummer.

Nicks playing at 11:03 was always cringe to me because of how fake it looked, but I like his performance in the movie, and the first one even more. Really good movie

As a drummer, this now gave me a bunch of song ideas to learn

I like turtles.

Apparently nick cannon did learn how to play snare and did play some of the drumming in the movie but the close ups were a stunt double

Am I the only one who thinks the Fred Armisen one is a direct attack on Terry Bozzio? Hilarious 😂

I think you gave that D ranking to Chad Smith... You gotta pay close attention, it's easy to mix both of 'em up!!

Hey Eric on the "Drumline" stuff I think it was the snare coach at Atlanta Drum Academy who played the snare stuff. I don't know if it was Mr. Riles or not, but if it isn't he knows who it is. The dude actually played on the Morris Brown Drumline in the real world. Fun fact Mr. Riles sons can play all the first Drumline stuff.

i was in a Band in ITC High School practicing to get better at playing Drums

Wasn't Fred Armisen once part of The Blue Man Group?

As a drummer and Mr. Bean fan, I'm glad he was the winner!

Bieber’s time was all over the place. Definitely not better than Bruno IMO

This needs a part 2!

He Forgot Emc He's a Celebrity.

I know he's technically not a celebrity (he's a muppet, I know), but why didn't you include something from Animal? 😉 Or was/is Animal's muppeteer actually a drummer?

man there is very little i wouldn’t do to hear the unedited version of some of those clips lol

You know damn well Questlove was holding back lol

“You have to call me nightwing” - stepbrothers also my favorite line

So, I bombed an audition, but not in the way you might think. There were three of us auditioning for a timpani spot but the university only had 1 set of timpani for practicing (the others were off limits until concerts). So each of us had to reserve practice room time. Lo and behold, one of the other auditioners spent longer than her reserved time allowed. All three of us had back to back reservations each day before the audition. So, I had only 10 minutes to practice before my time was up (I didn't want to be the douche and cut in to another reserved time slot). Now, comes audition day. The 1st guy goes in, comes out and seems to have done well. Then the 2nd (the girl who took too long) and me I went last. The audition piece was mixed meter, and I don't have the tenor-like chops to rip around 5 timpani in a 160 BPM audition piece on the spot. Come to find out she got the spot. But my professor (who was judging the auditions) told me that she only got it because she was better at switching timpani. I was near perfect at counting the mixed meters, just not at crossing over and such. Well, turns out even though she got the spot, she nearly had anxiety every rehearsal (since percussion ensemble was held afterwards) because of not counting the mixed meters right. Especially when she asked for pointers on how to count better. All I could do is shrug.

love this ranking system you've developed. its "nerdy cool"

Great video Eric

Pretty funny how many celebrities play drums as a hobby. I love finding out what famous people do as a hobby like some skateboard or ride motorcycles ect

I’ve instructed people who were unable to play even a single stroke roll to learn it. Others have had the coordination to use all four appendages independently, albeit, very slowly, but it revealed their potential to advance. Personally, I think anyone with the required coordination can perform a great drum solo, but that doesn’t qualify them as good drummers. The true test is how they perform with other musicians. Getting into a groove, playing consistent time and having the ability to use rudiments to enhance the music is the foundation for a good drummer. There are some great jazz and progressive drummers who amaze me. After seeing almost all of my drumming idols, the only drummer that left me in awe was Buddy Rich. I was fortunate to sit maybe 10 feet from him as he and his band performed two shows at a club in West Des Moines around 1978-79. Previous to that, I was never impressed by him as he always seemed like a jerk on TV, tarnishing his performance. He was a true jerk in person, but seeing him perform in person, I could ignore his rudeness towards the audience. He truly was the greatest.

We only watch emc in school during tests here

John C. Reilly REALLY did play that drum solo and they used his personal kit for the movie also. As far as Nick Cannon, he taped the sticks to his hands because they were so uncomfortable for him and although somebody else overdubbed his parts he did learn to play a little to his credit. Jus' sayin.

Spot on beans for the win I had no idea Bieber was that good even Questlove was seriously holding back

Definitely holding back

Bruno Mars should be an s tear cause he actually played the hardest stuff to play out of everybody and he didn't fake it. Props.

Bruno was the best of all of them he absolutely killed it

Quest Love was definitely holding back

quest has one of the most ICONIC drum fills ever in the song you got me... think its safe to say he was holding back lolz

Fred Armisen is actually a great drummer and you definitely missed Joseph Gordon-Levitt

*Eric* "here we got a clip from Drumline 2" *Me* they made a second one?? god help us all

I auditioned for Blue Knights DBC in 2018 and I had a panic attack as soon as I started playing. I just stopped and said “sorry” then just left... I ended up marking BK in 2019 tho

So there was one time I was doing a solo audition for choir and my voice straight up cracked because I was nervous and in front of the whole class

I was there at the Super Bowl with Bruno Mars and the chili peppers it was so awesome

That was fun!