Bill Gates shows Zuckerberg how a genius pours ice water on his head

Genius at work. Bill Gates/ Facebook screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

Look, I know you hated them, but I still think the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft ads were marvelous.

The Microsoft co-founder's timing and insouciant humor has always been underrated. Well, mostly.

Still, he wasn't going to just pour a bucket of ice water over his head, just because lesser techies like Mark Zuckerberg were doing it.

They'd been doing it to raise funds for the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Foundation. How had they been doing it? Why, they'd been standing in front of a camera and pouring a bucket of ice water over their heads.

Where's the imagination in that? Where's the soul? Where's the design sense?

Microsoft has always been known for all three. So when Zuckerberg challenged Gates, the latter got to work. And I mean work.

He also challenged three of the greatest tech personalities alive to take up the Ice Bucket Challenge: Elon Musk of Tesla, Chris Anderson of TED, and former CNET employee Ryan Seacrest.Displaying his process on his Facebook page, Gates made a contraption, a da Vincian work of art.

One of the great joys of this piece, though, is the various emotions that course through Gates, as the ice water courses over him.

There's fear, elation, horror, satisfaction, and a tinge of pain.

Bill Gates is a great performer. Please don't let anyone tell you otherwise.