On one of the Star Trek DVD's Sirtis talks about her accent. She was apparently instructed to come up with something "new" to be a Betazoid accent.

I wasn't aware of this. After hearing her real voice, now Troi just sounds to me like a Brit trying to do an American accent. The over-emphasized R's are what makes it sound that way to me.

You just reminded me of the Angel/Buffy folks,
Anthony Head - cockney doing a Queens English
James Marsters- californian doing cockney
Both doing a pretty good job too.

Did Costner's awful half-assed attempt at an English accent irritate you guys as much as it did me?

Yes.

I think that Brits have a better chance of doing a US accent than the other way around for a few reasons;

Britain is a small place. If the actor is doing a regional accent then chances are that most Brits will have heard the original at some point, and will be able to hear blatent flaws. The US on the other hand is a huge place with many more accent variations. It's going to be easier to find a middle of the road US accent that cannot be regionally pin-pointed. Obviously if the role calls for a specific accent then this doesn't apply, but I would guess that the majority of roles do not.

Many of the 'upper class' UK accents are often quietly spoken, sometimes with a very stiff upper lip, eg 'Sandhurst' (Army Officers). This isn't second nature to most USians who tend to speak louder in everyday life, and the stiff upper lip thing is just unnatural. I suppose that Botox might help

There is more US content on British television and movie screens than the other way around. Admittedly many of the accents there are probably CA or NY, but Brits are exposed to more US accents in the media.

That all being said, I couldn't do a US accent if my life depended on it.

Anthony Head - cockney doing a Queens English

That reminds me of another funny one: In Frasier, Jane Leeves, from Sussex, affects a Mancunian accent after being helped with it by John Mahoney, who is actually from Manchester, but speaks in a totally natural American accent, which is his normal speaking voice these days.

Also, Head's ``American'' accent in the first episode of Jonathan Creek is pretty amusing. You'd think he'd have been better, having lived in LA for quite a while at that point.

Hey, speaking of favorite brits...

A number of years ago, our local PBS station ran an old situation comedy from England. I do not remember its title or the names of the actors. But the premise was that it was a nice couple who lived in a rural area out in the country, and their new neighbors were formerly filthy-rich city folk suddenly "caste down", who now had to cope with doing mundane day-to-day living tasks that they'd never had to do before.

An example of one of the show's gags: The neighbor wife wants to know why her vacuum cleaner started whistling all of a sudden, and needs to have it explained that the bag must be emptied once in a while. Sub-gag: The male predilection for trying to find the most complicated possible thing wrong with a gadget in order to fix it, when a simple "empty the bag" will do.

Anyone got the name of the series and the actors? Reason: The leading lady might get my vote for favorite British superstar. I thought she was just so cute. And I don't necessarily mean attractive or sexy (although I think she had those qualities as well), I mean she had one of those faces that makes you go "awwwwww, she's so CUTE".

Hmm...Felicty Kendal in The Good Life?

Someone else as a nomination for favorite Brit...

Rowan Atkinson.

Hmm...Felicty Kendal in The Good Life?

That's the one. Although the photos available at that link don't do her justice. I think this one best captures the way she looked when she was working on that series.

I think Madonna's is the most irritating, affectatious (if that is a word - Bitt?) accent ever. She should be shot for it.

-Zeke

affectatious (if that is a word - Bitt?)

I believe that the word you're looking for is ``affected''. But we unambiguously knew what you meant, so that's not so bad.

Madonna has an accent? What's that like? I thought she was from Jersey or something.

Rowan Atkinson

...but only for Blackadder, not Mr. Bean, surely?!

Ah, finally! Someone else who doesn't find Mr. Bean funny!

I don't know many people who do... (or, at least, who admit to it!)

I always regarded it as rather feeble slapstick at best. My parents seem to like it, though. Mind you, their taste in comedy is something I seem to have been able to use as an inverse measure of my own preferences for many years now...

I've never found Mr Bean funny. I have a friend who can't believe I feel that way, but the humor of it never struck me.

Anyway, currently my favorite Brit is the tech support at my web host. I was having problems with the PHP safe mode on my subdomains, and after a several very quick email responses, he asked me for my phone number and gave me a call. Very good support.

Mr Bean is hilarious. I can't understand how people don't think that way.

Because we just have different tastes

Over the past few years I've been really interested in what people find funny. It's really amazing how subjective it is, and how much it varies from person to person. It usually doesn't even have much to do with the type of humor it is. In all cases it seems that the humor either really clicks or doesn't do anything for you.

In freshman year of college, I had a roommate with the opposite taste in comedy I had. I would watch the Kids In the Hall hour block every day, which he thought was the weirdest thing ever. He, on the other hand, did impressions of the SNL cheerleaders. Needless to say, we didn't get along that great

Which brings me to my question: does anyone here find the cheerleader sketches funny? If so, WHY??

Madonna has an accent? What's that like?

Well, since she's been living in London with Guy Ritchie, I think she's effectively turned into a Brit -- goes to the pub, drinks real ale, that kind of thing. Her accent's still (mostly) American, but she uses exclusively British words like "bollocks" these days.

My trouble with Madonna's accent is that it began seemingly overnight after moving to London. It feels like she changed her accent for the same reasons she changes her hair - to get attention and manipulate the public. She simply rubs me the wrong way.

Don't get me wrong, I think everyone adapts their speech(intentionally or not) when surrounded by people with an different accent. Hers, however seems to me a bit of a con job.
-Zeke

Hers, however seems to me a bit of a con job.

Yeah, but you gotta understand that her whole life has been a con job. From the very start of her career. So she's just doing what comes naturally. She's a product of a public that needed a female icon, and she's just used to being a chameleon and evolving with whatever the public wants. Occasionally, she's been very good at being one or two steps ahead of the public, but nowadays, she's just trying to raise a family and still remain relevant (so the checks keep coming in.)

Can't blame her.

"Yeah, but you gotta understand that her whole life has been a con job."

I don't really feel that's been the case, but at this point I don't believe her music or performances are really inspired, rather they are just milking the cash cow - so basically we agree about that part.

If she still really feels the need (at this point - after having been so enormously influential) to remain 'relevant', it casts her as a bit insecure. It may be that I'm totally wrong, and her awful accent is perfectly normal and not at all a put-on, but I still hate it!

-Zeke

If I were a World-famous Brit with a career in the performing arts looking to go out for a quiet pint in NY then I'm sure that I'd do my best to put on a NY accent too!

What amazes me is these reports suggest that she can do a British accent fairly well - something that her previous acting performances wouldn't have predicted.

It may be that I'm totally wrong, and her awful accent is perfectly normal and not at all a put-on, but I still hate it!

Is anyone else picturing the scenes in "Rockstar" with Mark Wahlberg trying to do a brit accent and then slipping?

Or better yet, Ghostbusters 2, with Peter MacNicol as Janosz Poha... Where he's got that outrageous transylvanian accent, and when asked where he's from, he answers matter-of-factly... "Ze upper vest side."

I depise Bean and soak up Blackadder
Bean is pathetic, but Blackadder is real, twisted, sadist humor
Wonderful!

Of course!

My new favo(u)rite Brit is the guy who came up with this hoax:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/05/12/financial0014EDT0002.DTL

And, my least favo(u)rite Brit is this douchebag who wants to put an end to the best snack food ever invented.

For nostalgia purposes, here's an old thread extolling the virtues of Oreo cookies.

Another of my favorite Brits. Someone who is very easy to overlook because he seems to avoid the glitzy side of showbusiness;

Robert Carlyle.

Trainspotting
The Full Monty
Angela's Ashes
The World Is Not Enough
Formula 51

...and currently showing on US TV; "Hitler: The Rise of Evil"

Very true. Phenomenal actor. Speaking of The Full Monty, Tom Wilkinson is an excellent actor, too. And, unrelatedly, Miranda Richardson.

How about Clive Owen? Jeremy Northam? Stephen Fry? Kristin Scott Thomas? Colin Firth? Helena Bonham-Carter? Jim Broadbent? Ben Kingsley? Edward Fox? Richard Attenborough? Stanley Kubrick (oops, no, he's American)? Malcolm McDowell? Peter Sellers? Arthur C. Clarke? Alan Moore? Neil Gaiman? Grant Morrison? Rik Mayall?

I think I'm out for now.