History Main / WhatTheHellIsThatAccent

* ''Film/{{Dolittle}}'': Creator/RobertDowneyJr speaks with a dialect that can only be described as a bizarre hybrid of Welsh, Irish, Italian, Scottish, Spanish and a HORRIBLY mangled attempt at a South African accent.

* Creator/MartinShort as Franck Eggelhoffer in ''Film/FatherOfTheBride1991''.

* ''Film/{{Dolittle}}'': Creator/RobertDowneyJr's speaks with a dialect that can only be described as a bizarre hybrid of Welsh, Irish, Italian, Scottish, Spanish and a HORRIBLY mangled attempt at a South African accent.

* {{Music/Ween's}} Gene Ween gradually developed a ManOfAThousandVoices style, and that includes some attempts at accents:
** On "I Can't Put My Finger On It", he's apparently supposed to sound vaguely Middle Eastern, as the music gets close to sounding like [[RegionalRiff "The Streets Of Cairo"]] at times, the music video depicts Gene as working in a Middle Eastern restaurant, and in an interview Dean Ween once commented that the music should make the listener "smell falafel"

* Creator/EddieIzzard {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this a couple of times; namely, in her impressions of a Bond villain and a push-me-pull-you carpet sweeper. The Bond villain's accent is explained as being the result of his losing the instructions to a synthetic voice box, which is consequently stuck in shop demonstration mode. During a joke about Pavlov's dog, she suddenly realized her Pavlov sounded more Welsh than Russian and ran with it.

** In "Sneak Peek", Creator/MichaelMcKean plays [[{{Paparazzi}} Ian Peek]], who speaks with an ostensibly British accent that sounds vaguely Australian, which, if it is the latter, leads to a StealthPun about his fate: [[spoiler:thanks to his malfunctioning intangibility, [[FateWorseThanDeath he's heading to the]] LandDownUnder.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'': According to WordOfGod, Mr. Lunt is meant to speak in a "quasi-ethnic" Italian/Hispanic accent.
** Given that he's supposed to be from New Jersey, it could be worse.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' has Red Mantle, whose accent was described by his very creators as "drunk [[Franchise/StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]]". And to make it even more surreal, it's heavily implied that he's actually [[spoiler:Music/BuddyHolly]].

* Unlike most versions of the character prior, [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]]'s voice in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' is a rather weird, high-pitched rasp that swings between a fairly generic American accent, a slight impersonation of Creator/MarkHamill's version, a New Yawk accent, something that's been occasionally compared to a young Music/TomWaits, and a touch of Creator/HeathLedger's natural Australian. And sometimes he drops the clownishness entirely for a [[EvilSoundsDeep terrifyingly deep]] demonic snarl. His habit of constantly licking and sucking at his lips while he eats doesn't make it any clearer. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools It's incredibly creepy.]]

* Don Karnage from ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin''. According to his voice actor Creator/JimCummings it's a mixture of French, Spanish, and Italian.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles''' animated series has the disaster that is George Harrison's accent. Good luck trying to figure out where it's supposed to be from because it sure as hell ain't Liverpool[[note]]One cartoon claims that he's ''Transylvanian''![[/note]]. At least the other three Beatles sound British...
** Harrison himself didn't mind. He lumped the series as a whole in the SoBadItsGood category.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': the Amish operatives of Sector A speak in what can only be described as a confusing mix between American Southern, vaguely Scandinavian, and really BAD Liverpool accents. It doesn't help that the accent is inconsistent with almost every spoken line.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader. It's noticeable watching the six films in chronological order rather than production order: Creator/JakeLloyd gives Anakin Skywalker a Midwestern American accent in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', while Creator/HaydenChristensen uses an upper-crust New England accent for ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''. Once in the black armor, he sounds like a roboticized ScaryBlackMan (courtesy of Creator/JamesEarlJones) speaking in a Mid-Atlantic accent. When Luke removes his mask at the end of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Sebastian Shaw inexplicably gains a British accent just before he dies.

* Creator/RayMilland in 1974's ''Film/{{Gold}}'' is supposed to be playing a South African mine owner. (The movie's BigBad[[note]]his son-in-law the mine's manager[[/note]] is played by American actor Creator/BradfordDillman who does a '''much''' better job of the accent).

* Creator/EdwardJamesOlmos is well known for having a low voice, but he forgoes that completely as Gaff in ''Film/BladeRunner'' in favor of a weird, hissing bark of a voice that sounds like he's simultaneously shouting and whispering every other word. Given that Gaff's first language seems to be [[{{Conlang}} Cityspeak]], the unholy creole offspring of Spanish, French, Japanese, Hungarian, Chinese, and German, (and which Olmos also created himself) this is most likely [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools intentional.]]

* Creator/NicolasCage in ''Film/VampiresKiss'' appears to affecting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfcJUl39iiA something between California surfer accent and that of an English gentleman]] (when it's not [[OohMeAccentsSlipping slipping]]). What it ''actually'' is meant to be is hotly contested. Cage explained that the accent is supposed to be a nonsensical affectation that the character uses to seem cultured and to impress others.

** Vegeta's accent is an interesting case. When he was voiced by Creator/BrianDrummond, he had a British-Canadian accent (albeit more so favoring the Canadian side of it), but once Creator/ChristopherSabat initially voiced him, it became a mix of a British/New English accent. With both voices, it was more pronounced upon him saying certain words, like "nothing", "understand" and "unbelievable". However, since ''Dragon Ball Z Kai'', Sabat now speaks with a [[GutturalGrowler much lower and raspier voice]] for Vegeta and his British accent is strongly downplayed.

* Creator/EdwardJamesOlmos is well known for being a GutturalGrowler, but he forgoes that completely as Gaff in ''Film/BladeRunner'' in favor of a weird, hissing bark of a voice that sounds like he's simultaneously shouting and whispering every other word. Given that Gaff's first language seems to be [[{{Conlang}} Cityspeak]], the unholy creole offspring of Spanish, French, Japanese, Hungarian, Chinese, and German, (and which Olmos also created himself) this is most likely [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools intentional.]]

*** The Dunmer [=NPCs=] have a gender-separated accent: The females speak normal American, but the males are constantly switching between a neutral American accent and some kind of mixture of faux-Australian and an imitation of Dick Van Dyke's Bert from ''Film/MaryPoppins'' at random intervals. This is a stark change from their previous uniquely voiced appearance in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' where they spoke in a neutral American accent with a GutturalGrowler voice.

** While not as extreme, and much easier to understand, Wesker's accent is also quite confusing. As TheMole in STARS in the first game he puts on a generic American accent. The rest of the time, however, it blends RP, Boston Brahmin, Creator/DavidBowie, and occasional traces of Canadian (one voice actor, Richard Waugh, was Canadian, and the other main voice actor, Creator/DCDouglas, who is from California, tried to imitate his voice to some extent) into something that is almost, but not quite, Transatlantic. Possibly Justified as he is a former secret agent (for Umbrella), and [[spoiler:was raised by the Wesker Project, so his place of birth is unknown and he might well have been taken somewhere else at a young age.]] It's made even more... unique... by the fact he uses TrrrillingRrrs when saying "Uroboros", presumably for emphasis, as he doesn't do this the rest of the time; goes from a smooth, posh and occasionally slightly nasal tone to GutturalGrowler when angry; and often talks in a slight monotone with a lot of dramatic pauses. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]], though: the strange accent suits the character quite well.

* ''VideoGame/ThereIsNoGame'': The narrator has what seems to be a vaguely Russian accent. His successor in ''Wrong Dimension'' has the same accent which often makes people ''think'' he's Russian, much to his own irritation.

* [=YouTuber=] Alia "[=SSSniperWolf=]" Shelesh was born in England to parents of Iraqi, Greek, and Turkish descent, immigrated to Arizona with her family as a child, and moved to Texas as an adult. As a consequence, her manner of speaking is extremly distinct and hard to pin down.

** Also from ''Inquisition'', this becomes a subtle foreshadowing with party member Blackwall. His accent can be best described as "French person trying to do a British Yorkshire accent." Then you find out [[spoiler:He's an Orlesian mercenary who went on the run after a job went horribly wrong, and is trying to pass himself off as Ferelden]].

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Invoked this trope for comedy, as all of the characters' "accents" are how a typical American in TheSixties might have perceived it. The Spy's accent, in particular, is the hardest to pin down; [[Characters/TeamFortress2TheSpy his character page]] on This Very Wiki used to say that it "seems to take a drunken tour of most of southern Europe". His mixed use of French, Italian, and Spanish pronunciation and vocabulary in his dialogue was so confusing that before "Meet The Spy" ([[CharacterizationMarchesOn and every subsequent update thereafter]]) made it definitively clear that he was French, there were massive Edit Wars on both the Official [=TF2=] Wiki and The Other Wiki over the Spy's nationality, labeling him as Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Basque and Corsican, among other ethnicities.
** The Scout brings an interesting variation of this trope into the mix; his accent reeks of the Bronx, but his backstory says he is from ''[[{{Southies}} South Boston,]]'' which a Bronx accent sounds almost nothing like.

* [[WebVideo/UnusAnnus Unus Annus]]: Mark and Ethan do a video titled "2 Men 200 Accents," which goes about as well as it sounds. At one point, they call [[LetsPlay/JackSepticEye Jacksepticeye]] to test out their Irish accents. Jack can't figure out what part of Ireland Ethan is supposed to be from and Mark does a weird fusion of Scottish and French.

** Also from ''Inquisition'', this becomes a subtle foreshadowing with party member Blackwall. His accent can be best described as "French person trying to sound British." Then you find out [[spoiler:He's an Orlesian mercenary who went on the run after a job went horribly wrong, and is trying to pass himself off as Ferelden]].

* In 2001's ''WesternAnimation/ChristmasCarolTheMovie'', Jacob Marley seems to come from a hitherto unknown part of England, judging from the weird accent he speaks with. Marley is voiced by Creator/NicolasCage (''[[WTHCastingAgency of all people]]''), which might explain it.

* Creator/RayMilland in 1974's ''Film/{{Gold}}'' is supposed to be playing a South African mine owner. (The movie's BigBad[[note]]his son-in-law the mine's manager[[/note]] is played by American actor Bradford Dillman who does a '''much''' better job of the accent).