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11->''"We do not even have a language! Just a stupid accent!"\
12"She's right! We all talk like Maurice Chevalier! Hon-hon-hon!"''
13-->-- '''Creator/MelBrooks'''' ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI''
14
15Actor and singer Creator/MauriceChevalier was the first UsefulNotes/{{Fr|ance}}ench entertainer who became an international superstar after he moved to Hollywood. His fame and long career made him the most famous and easily recognized Frenchman of the 20th century. So, whenever comedians or even serious actors had to portray an archetypical Frenchman they imitated Chevalier's voice, which had a heavy French accent. A StockParody that is still in vogue today, even though most comedians and audiences [[ParodyDisplacement have no idea where this stereotype originated from]].
16
17The Maurice Chevalier accent is a typical FunnyForeigner subtrope, especially whenever a story is set in France. All these French characters talk in the same way: ''"the"'' and ''"this"'' are pronounced ''"zee"'' and ''"zis"''. The ''"w"'' is pronounced ''"ooweee"''. Some GratuitousFrench words ''"mais oui", "sacrebleu", "zut alors", "mon ami"'' or ''"mon chéri"'' are used non-stop. There's often a grotesque emphasis on the final syllable of the last word in a sentence, for instance: ''"Zis is veiry importààààààànt!"'' Chevalier's iconic ''"hon hon hon"'' SignatureLaugh has also become the standard way Frenchmen laugh in English-speaking fiction.
18
19Nowadays the Maurice Chevalier Accent is used to voice ''many'' French characters in English-speaking media. In comedy and animation this can be amusing, but in serious stories it becomes JustAStupidAccent and can really take you out of the story, because it literally becomes ridiculous PoirotSpeak. In fact, whenever a comedic accent is needed you can rest assured that it will usually be French. It gets to the point of overkill. Sometimes, like in the movie ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' (where the British character Myth/RobinHood [[UnexplainedAccent inexplicably speaks English with a French accent]][[note]]This may be explained by the fact that Robin Hood was a Norman[[/note]]), people are depicted as being French for no apparent reason other than evoking laughs while using the accent.
20
21The accent is a bit TruthInTelevision for most Frenchmen whose English is not yet that fluent, though everyone who tries to speak a language that isn’t his own will have problems mastering it. Ironically enough even Maurice Chevalier himself lost his native accent after a while and sounded more like a normal English speaking man. Only in his early Hollywood years it was very rusty, but he also played it up for the microphone and cameras, because he was usually typecast as the archetypical Frenchman and thus had to sound like an "authentic" Frenchman who didn't speak English that fluently.
22
23Almost always applies for people who live in GayParee. Compare with MockCousteau, whenever a scene takes place underwater.
24
25It may be worth pointing out that this trope is even more unrealistic when the French speaker in question is from Quebec. Québécois Francophones have markedly different accents in English than people from France (for example, ''th'' tends to be alveolarized, turning "this thing" into "dis ting" rather than "zis sing"). Giving a Quebec character this accent, as some films and movies have, piles CulturalBlending on top of it, especially if the character is also supplied with a beret, Gauloises, etc.[[note]]Obviously, you can meet people ''in'' Quebec with a France French accent — lots of people from France have moved there, especially in recent years — but not people culturally ''from'' Quebec.[[/note]]
26
27----
28!!Examples:
29
30[[foldercontrol]]
31
32[[folder:Comic Books]]
33* Although he cannot be heard, as this is the printed page, [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Batroc the Leaper]] [[FunetikAksent is written with a thick "Frontch" accent]], and has even reflected (in his own plainly written thought balloons) that he plays it up for effect.
34* Gambit of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' is so infamous for laying on the "mon amis" and "ma chéris" that he's given a TakeThat in one storyline where MadScientist villain Mr. Sinister clones an army of him.
35--> '''Gambit Clone:''' ''Ma chéri''.
36--> '''Lackey:''' Is the accent ''genetic''?
37--> '''Mr. Sinister:''' Of course not. It's trained, because it's so folksy and charming. [[CrossesTheLineTwice But I left him brain damaged, because Mister [=LeBeau=] always did lean that way]].
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
41* Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon:
42** Louis the cook in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''.
43** Lumière in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', whose voice actor (Jerry Orbach) goes beyond the usual joke and actually [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed does a full Chevalier impression]], not just the accent- though note that the entire story takes place in France and yet he and his feather duster girlfriend are the only ones speaking in a heavy French accent.
44*** The French dub of the movie rolls with this by having Creator/DanielBeretta keep Lumière's accent but making everyone else use modern intonations.
45** The Genie in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' plays a French waiter and typical Frenchmen near a romantic dinner, while using the accent.
46** Prince Naveen in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', even though he's supposed to be from a fictional European country, and the few native words he uses sound closer to Italian than to French.
47* ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'': Again, the frog speaks French for no particular reason. Except that he is voiced by Creator/JohnCleese, who seems to enjoy voicing French characters. (And it could be a StealthPun, as "frog" has long been a slang word for the French.)
48* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Robin Hood, despite being an English folklore character, speaks with a French accent.
49* In ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest'' the French Cat in Cat R. Waul's gang speaks with an incredibly thick Chevalier accent.
50* The English dub of ''WesternAnimation/AsterixInBritain'' gives the Gauls this accent (and the French version had the Britons speaking French with a British accent).
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
54* Trope Namer in Mel Brooks’ ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI''
55* John Cleese as the French Taunter in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', despite the film taking place in an anachronistic but pre-Norman medieval England. Even Galahad asks him: "What are you doing in England?"
56* Eric Idle during the title song, ''"The Meaning of Life"'' and the waiters in ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife''.
57* Inspector Clouseau in ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther''.
58* Creator/TheMarxBrothers, ocean liner stowaways in ''Monkey Business'', each try to pass themselves off as Chevalier at the passport desk by singing - Harpo's sounds most accurate, thanks to the phonograph record he's lip-synching to.
59* ''Film/TheRedShoes1948'': Some people speak actual French, others talk English with a grotesque French accent.
60* In ''Film/FrenchKiss,'' every single French character speaks this way. In particular, Luc (played by Creator/KevinKline) is all but doing an outright Maurice Chevalier imitation.
61* In ''Film/Reality2014'' a French character has a terrible accent in spite of being a successful businessman who lives in an English speaking country.
62* Creator/SachaBaronCohen talks with this accent as Jean Girard in ''Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby''.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66* Frenchie in ''Series/{{The Boys|2019}}''. He also [[GratuitousFrench sprinkles his phrases with French words]].
67* French teacher Monsieur Leblanc on ''Radio/OurMissBrooks''. Likewise with any French character that appears on the show (or was heard in the radio version).
68* John Cleese and Michael Palin in the ''"Flying Sheep"'' sketch in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
69* ''Series/AlloAllo'': All the French characters speak with this accent.
70* During the "Everyday French with Pierre Escargot" segments on ''Series/AllThat'', Kenan Thompson would affect Maurice Chevalier's signature laugh. And that's pretty much the extent of the accent.
71* In an early episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' it was mentioned that Coach was learning French by listening to tapes in his car. Carla told him she didn't think they were doing him any good, asking him to say "How are you today?" in French. Coach responded, in English, repeating "How are you today in French?" in a Chevalier accent.
72* Presenter Antoine de Caunes realised there was only one way to go when he presented spoof European-cultural show ''Series/{{Eurotrash}}'' for British TV. In a show sending up the weirdest aspects of European pop culture for British viewers, with a French presenter [[note]]originally two French presenters[[/note]], de Caunes seriously exaggerated his French accent to play up to the expectations of a British audience. Complete with the laugh.
73* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
74** Averted by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. The producers originally wanted the Captain to sound French but Creator/PatrickStewart's attempts at a French accent came off as this. The producers then decided that a Captain's voice based on a comic actor was unsuitable for their series, and told Stewart to just use his trained RP accent (Stewart naturally - being a Yorkshireman -- then had an OopNorth accent). In just one episode does he speak French, and it's in an RP accent then too. His family are also English-speaking and accented too when they appear (in just one episode again), which is presumably TranslationConvention since it's France.
75** Played straight in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', when Picard is trying to pretend to be a [[EvilIsHammy black marketeer with an eyepatch]]. He opts to go for an over-the-top French accent.
76---> '''Picard:''' I thought I looked...''(puts on accent)'' appropriately sini''sterrrr''.\
77'''Raffi:''' No comment.
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Music]]
81* The Music/WeirdAlYankovic song ''Genius In France'' references this trope repeatedly, as the singer sings about how French people sound when they talk and the way they go "hon hon hon" when they laugh at his stupid jokes.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Pinball]]
85* This accent was used in a recurring nasal-sounding voice from Bally and Williams machines in the latter half of the '90s. The most prominent usages are in ''Pinball/AttackFromMars'', as a Parisian bystander watching the Martians [[MonumentalDamage wreck the Eiffel Tower]]; and in ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'', as EliteMook Francois du Grimm.
86[[/folder]]
87
88[[folder:Podcasts]]
89* Laureline was given these speech mannerisms in Podcast/RoleplayRetcon 's remake of Film/ValerianAndTheCityOfAThousandPlanets as an homage to the source material's [[{{ComicBook/Valerian}} French roots]].
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
93* Jacques le Roach, the French cockroach chef on ''The Animal Show'', talks like this.
94[[/folder]]
95
96[[folder:Radio]]
97* Invoked in the pre-show warm-up for ''Radio/TheNowShow'' 2017 Edinburgh Festival special (and probably other ''Now Show'' warm-ups). Steve and Hugh first explain that the sound guys need the audience to do a quiet laugh and a loud laugh, so they know what to expect and can get the mixing right. In order to make this more fun, they then suggest the audience do a pirate laugh. They then ask for the audience, without thinking about it or discussing it with each other, to do a French laugh. And almost everyone goes "Hon-he-hon-he-hon" in unison.
98* In the "Voltaire" sketch on ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'', the characters all have "out''rrrraj''ous French accents". Finnemore-as-Voltaire informs Simon Kane that if he's not going to do one, he doesn't get any more lines.
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
102* During one of his early albums, Creator/SteveMartin mentioned going to Paris, without speaking a word of French. When the cab driver asked, in French, where he'd like to go, Steve tried adopting a French accent, "I would like to go to ze 'otel!" as if it would help.
103* Whenever he did a French impression, Creator/RobinWilliams used this accent. See above in the Film -- Animation folder.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:Theatre]]
107* The Broadway production of ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' has Lafayette, originally played by Daveed Diggs, use this accent when he appears in Act 1 to fight alongside the revolting Americans fighting for independence from Britain after coming from France. At first it's PlayedForLaughs in "My Shot" when he doesn't know how to pronounce "anarchy", but as the story and war go on his lines become more complex and fast-paced. It becomes very impressive when he gets to "Guns and Ships", in which he has to rap in that accent at what is probably the fastest lines in Broadway history at ''nineteen words in three seconds'' while also jumping around the stage.
108* ''Theatre/OfTheeISing'': The [[FrenchJerk French Ambassador]] is typically acted with a thick Chevalier-like accent. Some justification can be found in the fact that Chevalier is name-dropped in the soldiers' chorus preceding his entrance.
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Theme Parks]]
112* Ride/DisneyThemeParks: Pierre the French parrot briefly imitates Chevalier in ''Ride/TheEnchantedTikiRoom''.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Video Games]]
116* In the original dub of ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', Jean Vicquemere (played by the English Dot Major) is voiced with this kind of accent ("'''Arry, I'm your FACK-quing PART-néirrrrrrre!!''"), emphasising his FrenchJerk qualities. When ''The Final Cut'' replaced him with an actor doing a geniune Franco-American accent, several fans reported finding the new accent [[RealityIsUnrealistic unrealistic]].
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Web Comics]]
120* Randie's friend Jacques in ''Webcomic/SquidRow'' combines this with FunetikAksent.
121* ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'': Franceball's laugh is usually portrayed as "Hon hon hon", but its actual way of speaking is more PoirotSpeak like other non-anglophone countries.
122* In ''Webcomic/GorgeousPrincessCreamyBeamy'', natives of French West Stereotypia talk like this.
123--> Eet eez a small nation, deevoted to upholding zee stereotypes of owair fairfazzers! Cheese, wine, love, berets, stripy shairts, a zense of cultural zuperioretee, and talkeeng like zis [[JustAStupidAccent instead of speaking ze actual French]]!
124[[/folder]]
125
126[[folder:Web Original]]
127* In the first videos of the Italian Webseries ''Insopportabilmente donna'', Creator/TessMasazza's French accent is quite prominent. Over time her Italian has quite improved.
128* Lapoleon in the ''WebAnimation/BestFiends'' web shorts is given this accent, to further highlight his name, while also adding to an air of wealth that he has thanks to being prepped to be the "Emperor of Everything" in the future.
129* The animation ''[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kCpjgl2baLs The End of the World]]'' uses unabashed HollywoodGeography and a hurricane of accents for all the different characters, in addition to the narrator's "own" [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent indescribable accent]] ("''WRAUNG!''"), but it's the French characters who are remembered above all:
130--> "Sheet guys, we got ze missiles, zey are comingue! Fire our sheet!"
131--> "But I am le tired."
132--> "Well, have a nap. ZEN FIRE ZE MISSILES!"
133[[/folder]]
134
135[[folder:Western Animation]]
136* In the WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse cartoon ''Mickey's Gala Premier'' (1933), Maurice Chevalier is one of the celebrities who welcomes Mickey by singing in his signature accent.
137* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': Creator/MelBlanc used this voice for many French characters, and even other francophones, such as Canadians like the lumberjack in ''WesternAnimation/WetHare''. However, WesternAnimation/PepeLePew was based more on actor Creator/CharlesBoyer's accent, although he does do a brief Chevalier imitation in ''Scent-imental Romeo''.
138* The earliest Chevalier impressions can be found in the Merrie Melodies cartoons "Buddy's Show Boat" (1933) and "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" (1933).
139* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
140** Jacques the bowling instructor in the episode "Life in the Fast Lane".
141** The clumsy waiter in the episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".
142** Jacques and Ugolin in "The Crepes of Wrath".
143** In the "Treehouse of Horror VIII" segment, the French militaries who bomb Springfield all speak with a Maurice Chevalier accent and even conclude with a ''"hon hon hon"'' laugh.
144** The French cook in "Guess Who's Coming To Criticize Dinner?"
145** The French military officer in "The Trouble with Trillions".
146** The West Springfield Elementary French teacher and his students in "Trilogy of Error".
147--> '''Lisa:''' I'm ''at the wrong school!''
148--> '''Class:''' HA HA HA HA HA HA!
149--> '''Teacher:''' En français!
150--> '''Class:''' HON HON HON HON HON HON!
151* Jacques, male member of the ice dancing team from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' has this although he's French-Canadian
152* On ''WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow'', Creator/DawsButler voiced Powerful Pierre in this way.
153* In ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM' Antione speaks with a thick French accent with all the idiosyncrasies of Maurice Chevalier.
154* The narrator on ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', who is a reference to Jacques Cousteau.
155* ''WesternAnimation/PlanetSketch'': June Spume had one, as her only line in the show was "I am June Spume, zis is mah tune.".
156* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'': Fog's French servant and travelling companion, Rigodon, has a stereotypically French accent in the English dub, complete with words like "the" and "this" being pronounced as "ze" and "zis", though he does sometimes pronounce the ''th'' sound correctly. He also throws in a few GratuitousFrench words and phrases.
157[[/folder]]
158
159[[folder:Real Life]]
160* In some TV documentaries and news broadcasts, real-life French people are often dubbed while using Maurice Chevalier accents (presumably because that's the French interpreter's natural accent in English). This often comes across as comical instead of being serious.
161* Certain French actors in English movies speak with this accent, including Creator/JeanReno.
162[[/folder]]

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