Wacky viral video: Bill Gates as Austin Powers, Ballmer as Dr. Evil

By Salvador Rodriguez

Oct. 9, 2013 11:04 AM PT

Oh, behave, Microsoft.

As the tech giant looks for a new chief executive to regain some mojo, a super-weird video of current CEO Steve Ballmer and previous CEO Bill Gates dressed up as characters from the Austin Powers movies is circulating on the Internet.

The clip shows Ballmer dressed up as Dr. Evil while Gates shows up as the title character from the comedic films starring Mike Myers. You can see the video above, but proceed with caution -- it’s really bizarre.

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The Austin Powers spoof has been on YouTube since 2009, but it didn’t start making the rounds on the Web until this week. It’s unclear why the video was made, but it was most likely for internal Microsoft purposes.

This isn’t the first time Ballmer or Gates starred in silly Microsoft videos, usually shown to employees or at trade shows. The two have done quite a few, including one in which they dressed up as two head-bopping clubbers from “Saturday Night Live’s” A Night at the Roxbury skit. That video can be seen below.

Asked why Ballmer and Gates made the Austin Powers video, Microsoft simply said, “Back when the movie was popular, Microsoft created a fun internal spoof video as part of a company meeting.”