Craig Ferguson

Post by **Dale** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:36 am

One of the things that struck me about the clip is that the guy is an exceptional storyteller. In a way, standup comedy doesn't play to his strengths. I was absolutely riveted. By the way, I'm told he has a semi-autobiographical novel out called "Between the Bridge and the River."

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 8:34 pm

Thanks for posting clip. I had never watched him and had him confused with Billy Connolly in concept...

He stretched the boundaries of late night chat for sure, which is a good thing. I kept expecting to see a corporate hook come from nowhere and cut to commercial to be honest.

I wish he wasn't on so late. Way past my bedtime...If he's that entertaining serious, he must be pretty funny when he's trying to do comedy.

Just a side note. Do any of our Scots chiffers recognize his accent as a certain region or town? Is he exaggerated within the accent? I found it to be one of the most interesting I have heard. I mean, I guess I can look it up, but I know that sometimes you can have two people from the same place and one is very affected while the other is not. I just wondered about him.

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:49 am

amar wrote:
djm wrote:Here is the eulogy that Mukade mentioned: http://youtube.com/watch?v=dGqkKphLg4A

I was trying to think of where I had seen this guy before, and then it came to me - The Drew Carey Show - as Nigel Algernon Wick, a man who lost a toe and a nipple in a fox hunt that went terribly wrong. No wonder I liked the guy right away.

djm
holy sh*t, that's beautiful.

Unfortunately that isn't the full version.

Mukade

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:50 am

A follow up interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NocUu9aY7TQ

Mukade

chrisoff · Post by **chrisoff** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:42 am

The Weekenders wrote: Just a side note. Do any of our Scots chiffers recognize his accent as a certain region or town? Is he exaggerated within the accent? I found it to be one of the most interesting I have heard. I mean, I guess I can look it up, but I know that sometimes you can have two people from the same place and one is very affected while the other is not. I just wondered about him.

He's Glaswegian (which adds to his Connolly like nature I guess) but it's not the strongest Glaswegian accent around.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:51 am

Thanks, Chris. I watched him last night and the accent didn't seem as strong on the tv as it did on the youtube clip. I think I was listening a lot closer because the clip was so compelling and he was emoting a pretty serious point.

The hardest and most distinctive accent I experienced in Scotland was at a place called Peebles. Our rental car broke down and the AA man showed up. This was funny for our part. The guy looked like our local comedian Robin Williams. When he opened his mouth, he sounded like Robin Williams in the Popeye movie. His accent was "half-swallowed" down his throat, like a growl. Amazing. I could barely understand him but he was a super nice guy so it was embarrasing as hell. I didn't hear an accent anything like it for the rest of the trip (we were in Edinburgh area and Stirling, didn't make it west to Glasgow).

I wonder if in Scotland, like in America, the accents are getting ironed out and regularized by tv exposure. Or that a certain accent is being favored.

chrisoff · Post by **chrisoff** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:50 am

There is a school of thought that the abundance of English accents on our TVs is introducing more english phrases into our speech. Especially with the likes of Eastenders (lots of london cockneys) being shown almost every night.

Also with the number of people from south of the border and abroad now living and working in our cities I think the accents in the likes of Edinburgh and Aberdeen especially are becoming more mild. However if you go into the country and the surrounding towns the accents are still generally strong. Lots of people from the central belt (Glasgow and Edinburgh) have trouble understanding people from up here as there's a lot of words and phrases we use that aren't used anywhere else in the country.

There was a funny moment recently when the BBC broadcast a documentary series on north sea fisherman based in Peterhead and Fraserburgh (both fishing towns situated just north of Aberdeen). The programme was broadcast across the whole of the UK and despite the fisherman speaking English the show was broadcast with subtitles so the strong doric accent could be translated for English viewers.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:04 am

I remember one such program with subtitles, myself. I think the speaker was from John O' Groats. He was speaking another language altogether, to my ears.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:18 am