The profanity-laced, ego-fueled tirade is a soliloquy that any actor would’ve been proud to have been given the chance to deliver, and it was all spontaneous, proving that Bale’s brilliance extended beyond acting into management. The audio clip of that tantrum, featured below, hit the Internet, running full speed toward infamy.

The audio clip of Bale’s rant was released by TMZ on Februrary 2, 2009, and the Internet devoured it like ants tearing into a picnic. Almost immediately, the first mashup of the video appeared. Christian Bale’s audio was paired with the already-popular clip of Bill O’Reily’s meltdown on the set of Inside Edition. O’Reily’s own meltdown had gone viral the previous May. Given that both men reach supernatural levels of bluster, the mashup was obvious, inevitable, and hilarious.

Recently, the clip was mashed up with an equally insane celebrity meltdown. Mel Gibson’s frothing-at-the-mouth voicemails to his then-wife Oksana Grigorieva were vicious diatribes whose vitriol could be matched only by Christian Bale’s. In fact, that is the power of the Christian Bale Rant. It is so over-the-top that it other rants pale and are made even more ridiculous in comparison.

1. Are you professional or not?
2. Ah-dah-da-dah-dah
3. Gimme a f***in’ answer!
4. OH, Good for you!
5. F***’s sake, man, you’re amateur.