Dear celebrities: Here is how to make your Ice Bucket Challenge video stand out

If you're going to participate, at least give us a creative twist, à la Chris Pratt, Amy Schumer or Conan O'Brien

Published August 18, 2014 6:00PM (EDT)

    (<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-50653p1.html?cr=00&pl=edit-00">CarlaVanWagoner</a> / <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/?cr=00&pl=edit-00">Shutterstock.com</a>)
(CarlaVanWagoner / Shutterstock.com)

If you have any sort of social media account, by Monday, Aug. 18, it's likely that your Facebook page and Instagram feed is littered with videos of strangers, friends and celebrities doing the #IceBucketChallenge, purportedly in an effort to raise awareness for ALS (but probably mostly because it's such a silly thing to do?). While all you can do is pray to the Internet Gods that none of your so-called friends will tag you, if they do, you now have the responsibility of not letting your video be as lame as everyone else's is (you too, celebrities). How can you do this, you ask? Well, it's not easy, but out of the dozens of celebrities who have embraced this charity "event," there are 11 whose videos have stood out above the rest. If you want to create an entertaining #IceBucketChallenge video, takes notes from these 11 celebs (and please, if you participate, don't forget the whole point of this is charity!):

Bill Gates

If you are going to embrace this fad, then play to your strengths and make it unique, like Microsoft founder Bill Gates did when he created an elaborate machine to dump the bucket of ice water on his head:

The Rockettes

Don't build things? No problem. Simply enlist some friends and turn it into a choreographed production:

Weird Al Yankovic

And make sure to pass it off to someone like Barack Obama, the pope or the Dalai Llama, because they most definitely have nothing better to do than meet your challenge:

Chris Pratt

You could also make fun of both the challenge, and yourself:

Amy Schumer

Also, why limit yourself to ice water?

Oprah

If you want to keep it basic, that's fine. Just don't hold back your reaction:

Dikembe Mutombo

Especially if it involves dancing:

Conan O'Brien

Or you could complain, like Conan did, that someone should be paying you to dump ice cold water on your head (why are you doing this for free?).

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Because, as "Modern Family" star Jesse Tyler Ferguson demonstrates, you can donate the money and avoid having to do the challenge (hopefully, if you are sharing the videos, you are also donating the money).

Charlie Sheen

You know what? You can be a jerk about it. Go ahead and just dump the money. Dump $10,000 on your head, because a) you can, and b) it's all going to charity and c) it's entertaining to watch.

Justin Bieber

You can cheat, as it seems the Biebs did, and just dump a bucket of water on your head. Man, what a poser:

Now go, create your own original unoriginal original video for the #IceBucketChallenge. Remember, it's for charity!


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

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