Line #6 Main/MockCousteau


1	[[quoteright:350: [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spongebob80kimpressions.png]] ]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: '''Narrator''': Would you please stop imitating me? It is starting to get ''very'' annoying.]]
3
4	->''"Supposedly Cousteau and his cronies invented the idea of putting walkie-talkies into the helmet. But we made ours with a special rabbit ear on the top so we could pipe in some music."''
5	-->-- '''Steve Zissou''', ''Film/TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou''
6
7	Whenever an oceanographer or marine biologist character must be shown on TV, there is a high chance that they will be based on Creator/JacquesCousteau. They will speak with a French accent when talking about fish, and often wear a [[IconicOutfit red woolly hat]] like he did.
8
9	A similar example would be how every TV terrestrial biologist/documentarian would resemble Creator/DavidAttenborough. We give it another five to ten years before they start basing characters off Creator/SteveIrwin (without it being a direct parody of him, that is). Compare WildlifeCommentarySpoof, of which this is a component. A subtrope of NoCelebritiesWereHarmed.
10
11	----
12	!!Examples:
13
14	[[foldercontrol]]
15
16	[[folder:Advertising]]
17	* A 2011 [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oTW_MPMkz8E series of commercials/]] for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD feature the character Marco [=LeMonde=], [[BrilliantButLazy "the world's laziest explorer"]]. He follows this trope except for the fact that instead of conducting research out in the field, he goes to the aquarium.
18	* [[https://www.ispot.tv/ad/7wrt/seaworld-the-sea A 2013 advertisement]] for Ride/SeaWorld features a young boy walking around Sea World while spouting on about how beautiful the ocean is. He's wearing Cousteau's trademark blue button-up shirt and red knit watchcap.
19	[[/folder]]
20
21	[[folder:Comic Books]]
22	* [[http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/submerman.htm Submerman]], a French comic from the 1960s and 70s, had the Cousteau-expy Captain Goujon as an ally of the [[ApparentlyHumanMerfolk Apparently Human Merman]] hero.
23	* [[https://m.comixology.com/Carthago/comics-series/82798 Carthago]], a French comic based on various myths and rumors about sea monsters, adapts an UrbanLegend about [[https://www.sfgate.com/sports/amp/Mysteries-of-the-deep-at-Lake-Tahoe-2738671.php Cousteau hiding a shocking discovery]] because [[TheWorldIsNotReady The World Was Not Ready]] with the character of retired explorer Major Bertrand. (Bertrand being most famous by his military title and last name even mimics Cousteau being commonly called "Commandant Cousteau" in French media.)
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Fan Works]]
27	* ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace''. [[Film/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] makes contact with the FishPeople of Deep Sea Nine -- a [[NationalAnimalStereotypes frog-like]] humanoid wearing a red watch cap.
28	-->"I am an aquanaut! [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Why do you theenk I 'ave thees outrageous accent]], you silly Queen of Rocket Men?"
29	* In ''Hardcore Entertainment presents "Seven Does Voyager"'', [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Captain Janeway]] watches the distant descendant of David Attenborough present a documentary on tribbles, only to be rapidly buried under a pile of the {{Explosive Breeder}}s.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
33	* In ''Film/AquamanTheCastOfTheAngler'', one of the two narrators speaks with a French accent and is nicknamed "Jacque" in the credits.
34	* The titular character of ''Film/TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou''. [[ExpyCoexistence Cousteau is explicitly mentioned as a rival of Steve Zissou at one point]]. (Steve does not, however, speak with a French accent at all.)
35	* The AM Today segment of ''Film/TheKentuckyFriedMovie'' features a marine biologist with a French accent talking about the poisonous fish, clearly meant as a Cousteau {{Expy}}, and used for all sorts of [[VisibleBoomMic Boom Mic Gags]].
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
39	* The classic ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow'' sketch "Jacques Too Close'' staring Havey Korman and Tim Conway.
40	* A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08DlsAKxG1Y sketch]] from ''Series/TheBenStillerShow'' features Andy Dick as an alcoholic {{Cloudcuckoolander}} version of Cousteau who does bizarre impressions of manatees.
41	* ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'': Referenced in "Foux du fafa" in which Jemain and Bret show off their very limited smattering of French vocabulary by walking through a grocery store and naming items they pull from shelves. When Bret pulls out a fish, he calls it "Jacques Cousteau!"
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Music]]
45	* One of the Bob Rivers Christmas albums include a sketch entitled "The Under Tree World of Jacques Cousteau", in which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a Cousteau impersonator narrates about exploring underneath a Christmas tree]], instead of underneath the sea.
46	* The novelty surf pop song "Jacques Cousteau" by the band The Young Jacques features spoken vocals from a Cousteau impersonator.
47	* Ogden Edsl, a novelty music act which gained recognition on the Creator/DrDemento Show, released a skit called "Jean Paul" which also featured a Cousteau impersonator.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
51	* ''Series/SesameStreet'' features a sketch with "Captain Elmo Cousteau", who goes exploring the depths of the ocean for "the treasure of the missing soap".
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Radio]]
55	* "The Underseen World of Claude Jateau" series on Pacifica radio in the early 90s, notable for being the length of real documentaries, complete with imitating other characters and telling coherent (if comical) stories.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
59	* Not a marine biologist, but the narrator in one of the Wizards of the Coast videos for 4th Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' uses a silly French accent and speaks as though he's describing a "rare species" (''D&D'' Players).
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Theater]]
63	* ''Theatre/TheSpongeBobMusical'': As in the [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants cartoon]], the French Narrator is an homage to Cousteau.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Video Games]]
67	* ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame'' has Jacques Douteux, a diver at the science exhibition in Episode 5. [[spoiler:His suit is taken by Doc Brown as a disguise]].
68	* ''[[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon]]'' features the seemingly antagonistic marine biologist Henri Crousteau, who reports his battle with Crypto in WildlifeCommentarySpoof style.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Web Animation]]
72	* ''WebAnimation/TheDementedCartoonMovie'': "Today in ze underwater world, we explore ze territory of ze dreaded bubble fish."
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Western Animation]]
76	* Averted, oddly enough, by the animated series ''Jacques Cousteau's Ocean Tales'', where Cousteau's voice actor is Canadian.
77	* The French-accented narrator from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is intended as an homage to Jacques Cousteau, as he documents the antics of the titular character and those around him as if he were narrating a nature documentary. In the few episodes he appears (as a [[MediumShiftGag live-action human]]), he even wears a hard-hat diving suit with a red beanie on top of the helmet.
78	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart Simpson in the ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'' short "Bathtime".
79	* The French Guy on ''WesternAnimation/Sealab2021'', whose lines were always subtitled even though he spoke in JustAStupidAccent. "For me, ze ocean was a return to the womb."
80	* An episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Muppet Babies\|1984}}'' has Gonzo pretend to be Jacques Cousteau.
81	* In ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', Fifi la Fume '''naturally''' does one hunting for the [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench "mysterious Sea Minkee (monkey)"]]. Only slightly subverted in that Fifi stayed high and dry with Plucky and Hamton in the boat while ''Elmyra'' does all the chasing.
82	* In the episode of ''Literature/{{Babar}}'' where a sea serpent is discovered in Celesteville's lake, Babar calls in an old friend to investigate -- a bird based on Jacques Cousteau who rambles on about "ze astonishing wondairs of ze deep" at every opportunity.
83	* ''WesternAnimation/EekTheCat'' has a maritime episode centered around one Jaques Le Duck.
84	* The leader of the diving team exploring the Titanic in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' episode "Terror on the Titanic", right down to the red cap. His divers even call him "Jacques" at one point.
85	* In ''WesternAnimation/SevenLittleMonsters'' episode "My Favorite Crustacean" Three spends the episode as the French-accented "Jacques Threesteau" as he exposits to the cast about the ocean.
86	* Cousin Fethry from ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' wears a red knitted cap and works in an undersea laboratory befriending sea life. The kids actually mistake him for a marine biologist when they first meet. He doesn't have a French accent, though.
87	* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', Brain is aboard a submarine and challenged as to his identity, freezes and declares that he ''is'' Jacques Cousteau, then ad-libs such a convincing impression of the man that the authorities are briefly convinced and shaken in their mission to destroy him. (The gambit ends when Pinky audibly says, ''"Good Cousteau, Brain!"'')
88	* The human cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheGodzillaPowerHour'' and their little scientific research ship the ''Calico'' are clearly based on Jacques Cousteau and his ship the ''Calypso.''
89	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MockCousteau