So, I’m a big Danny Kaye fan, and I’m trying to introduce him to my friends. Most of them know ‘The Court Jester’, or at least the part with the pellet with the poison. What I’d -like- to show them is his pseudo-linguistic skills; that is to say, his ability to babble in any language convincingly, even though he’s not really talking the language. I haven’t had any luck finding clips of this on YouTube. Anyone out there able to lend me a hand?
I doubt he’s actually speaking French in this clip from The Secret Life of Water Mitty.
Did you know that the Muppets’ Swedish Chef had an uncle?
Here’s a recording of Kaye singing Tongue Twisters.
And, of course, he can crack you up hardly even saying a word.
I haven’t looked on You-Tube, but there is a scene exactly like what you’re describing in The Court Jester (well before the “pellet with the poison” bit). Danny Kaye’s character, Hawkins, in the costume of the new jester, is greeted by the captain of the king’s guard, whom he had befuddled only a few scenes earlier while disguised as a deaf old man. The captain, finding him suspiciously familiar, demands to know why someone from the Italian court should “speak the King’s English with no trace of accent.” At which point, Hawkins launches into a monologue of polyglot babble.
The “German” busts me up every. single. time.
Less well known than the “pellet with the poison” routine is this wonderful bit of back and forth from the Court Jester:
Found it. Here it is.
There’s a bit in Walter Mitty where he’s imagining himself as a French fashion designer, and he does the French, But Not French bit.
HBO has that movie in their rotation this month.
This was -exactly- the bit I was looking for, thanks!
(I love the expression on the guard’s face during the ‘german’. He has no idea what’s being said, but he’s pretty sure he’s being insulted!)