# House, Hugh Laurie, Englishness, Accent **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208 "2008-10-30T03:54:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/21 "2008-10-30T09:46:43Z")
Personally, I think he hits his Rs just a trifle too much. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/22 "2008-10-30T12:19:55Z")
I love his audition tape. He’s being the proper Englishman, apologizing for his scruffy looks, and just becomes House. The casting people must have fallen off their chairs. In a TV Guide interview from last week, Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson) says that when Hugh Laurie is on the set, he IS House. He is not an actor portraying a character, he is the person. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/23 "2008-10-30T12:30:30Z")
What I find jarring is that I am now watching _The Mentalist_ in which Simon Baker sounds pretty American to me. Then at the end he says “Stay tuned for scenes from next weeks Mentalist” or whatever, but it is in his Aussie accent. Way to take me out of the moment Simon! ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/24 "2008-10-30T13:05:14Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In a TV Guide interview from last week, Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson) says that when Hugh Laurie is on the set, he IS House. He is not an actor portraying a character, he is the person. Didn’t Stephen Fry say that when he visited Laurie on set he stayed in the House accent the whole time? Apparently it’s easier than switching back and forth from American to English. Must have been a bizarre experience for Fry, talking to his old friend like that. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/25 "2008-10-30T13:26:13Z")
He ain’t Bertie Wooster, that’s for sure. I think his accent is pretty damned good, although I haven’t seen House since maybe the second season. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/26 "2008-10-30T14:09:34Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > He ain’t Bertie Wooster, that’s for sure. Yep, House ain’t Bertie. But, Hugh Laurie _IS_ Bertie. No one else comes close. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/27 "2008-10-30T14:14:35Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > But, Hugh Laurie _IS_ Bertie. No one else comes close. Jeeves and Wooster is when I realised how good an actor Laurie is. When the programme was announced I thought, “What a good idea, Stephen Fry will make the perfect Jeeves”. In reality he was a bit disappointing. Hugh Laurie, however, nails it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/28 "2008-10-30T14:49:33Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > Didn’t Stephen Fry say that when he visited Laurie on set he stayed in the House accent the whole time? Apparently it’s easier than switching back and forth from American to English. Must have been a bizarre experience for Fry, talking to his old friend like that. It’s true. On the “House” set, he keeps his American accent all the time. In fact, one time on Letterman, Dave asked him to do his “House” voice and Laurie politely refused, claiming that he wasn’t at work at the moment. He won’t do his American voice at home either, because he claims it disturbs his family when he does. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/29 "2008-10-30T15:00:51Z")
Another American – who lived in England for 2 years and watches _House_ every week – who thinks that Hugh Laurie’s accent is perfect. I recently finished watching all 5 seasons of _The Wire_ on DVD, and I wish I could say the same for Dominic West’s accent! It was very good, but there were definitely still moments when I was reminded that he’s British. The episode where he went undercover and had to fake a British accent was pretty funny, though – and even funnier when I realized that my SO didn’t know that West is British. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/30 "2008-10-30T15:13:04Z")
Yep, flawless accent. Great show. It also floored me to discover Jimmy McNulty and Stringer Bell from _The Wire_ are both English. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/31 "2008-10-30T15:16:18Z")
If I had the wherewithall to revive any Broadway show, one of my ideas is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s original " Jeeves," starring Fry & Laurie. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/32 "2008-10-30T15:19:11Z")
What I want to know is HOW actors/actresses from the UK and Aussie-land can do American accents so well. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/33 "2008-10-30T15:19:19Z")
House once called up another hospital to get some of Cutty’s private records and he pulled out a crisp proper English accent. I laughed so hard. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/34 "2008-10-30T15:28:53Z")
**Sitnam** - I remember that scene differently. I remember him calling up and using an American version (not very good) of a British accent, which I found even more remarkable. StG ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/35 "2008-10-30T15:29:54Z")
> [@Ataraxy](#): > > Other Brits who I’m less familiar with do it better, but that may be because I don’t know their real accents. I think Anna Faris is great on “Pushing Daisies,” for example. Anna Faris is as American as baseball, apple pie and syphilis. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/36 "2008-10-30T15:35:19Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > His accent is fantastically good. > > The unsung genius is whoever cast him in the role. Think about it. Somebody was sitting around and thought “we need someone to play our brilliant, sarcastic, limping, unshaven, pill-popping, New Jersey doctor; let’s get George from _Blackadder_!” Having seen the show, I know how good he is. But whever knew that _in advance_ is a freakin’ genius. They didn’t have the idea of casting Laurie, it was an open audition call. Good thing too, because nobody would have thought of him for the role. Laurie just happened to nail the character of House (and boy, wouldn’t I like to do the same) ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/37 "2008-10-30T15:44:05Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > It also floored me to discover Jimmy McNulty and Stringer Bell from _The Wire_ are both English. The guy who played Stringer Bell is British?? :eek: (In a highly tangential hijack, Marlow Stanfield and Bubbles are both on _Heroes_.) ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/38 "2008-10-30T16:02:42Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Anna Faris is as American as baseball, apple pie and syphilis. Anna Faris may be. However, Anna Friel, who stars in _Pushing Daisies_, [is definitely British](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Friel) and is most famous here for being one half of the first lesbian kiss ever shown on British primetime. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/39 "2008-10-30T16:09:12Z")
His accent is right on but can’t he shave once. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208/40 "2008-10-30T16:10:53Z")
I prefer [this one.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkpNkBFUKMM) 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-hugh-laurie-englishness-accent/470208.md?page=3)