This video made my week last week:

No one really knows who Merton is, though Ben Folds seems to be everyone's #1 guess. I'd say I'm a pretty devoted Ben Folds fan – I own all of his albums, seen him live x3, waited in line to meet him and get his autograph – if that's not a decent fan resume, I don't know what is. But that said, I can't tell for sure if Merton is Ben Folds... though I'm going with yes. The voice is slightly different (maybe it's Ben Folds singing deeper on purpose?) and the face doesn't look the same (hard to tell with the hoodie). But Mr. Merton has certain mannerisms and inflections in his voice that are pretty simliar to Ben Folds. From the "More Info" section on the YouTube video page:

Not Ben Folds. Seriously. Ben is a much better pianist, and listen to the voice on the "Man in the Dark" part - totally not his voice at all. Besides, wouldn't Ben cover more of his face to disguise his identity?

1) That last question seems a bit rhetorical.

2) This info was put up with the original video (the current version is a repost due to some YouTube violation by the old video... hence the blurred out faces). Seems odd to volunteer the fact that you aren't someone else right out of the gate. It would be like me saying I'm not the guy who was on American Idol this past season (I'm not).

3) If you listen to the "Man in the Dark" part, find the line where Merton sings the line, "Turned up the contrast..." (at 1:24). That sounds exactly like Ben Folds.

Ben Folds fans... weigh in.

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UPDATED: Not Ben Folds. Bummer.