# Voice impressionists with accents - why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-impressionists-with-accents-why/63071 "2001-04-24T01:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-impressionists-with-accents-why/63071/1 "2001-04-24T01:05:14Z")
I have seen/heard some very good voice impressionists or impersonators or whatever you want to call them. The one who stands out in my mind at the moment is a French-Canadian guy (I think); Marc-Phillip Gagnon or something… hope I remembered the right name… He could do any voice flawlessly as far as I could tell, but when he introduced another bit of the act or spoke normally he had a very noticeable french accent. That is his normal speaking voice of course, but my question is why would a voice impersonator have to have any accent at all since they have the ability to put on a news castor’s voice for example. Is it just too stressful to always have an “on-stage” mentality when talking? ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-impressionists-with-accents-why/63071/2 "2001-04-24T04:22:03Z")
His accent probably isn’t an accent to him - it’s the norm. It all depends on what his ideas of a “normal speaking voice” and an “accent” are. You speak a certain way, and I ask you to speak without an accent. You argue that you _are_ speaking without an accent, and yet you speak differently than I. It’s merely a regional opinion, and I don’t think there is any standard way of speaking. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2001, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-impressionists-with-accents-why/63071/3 "2001-04-24T06:43:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FireUnderpantsBoobs \* > \*\*His accent probably isn’t an accent to him - it’s the norm. It all depends on what his ideas of a “normal speaking voice” and an “accent” are. You speak a certain way, and I ask you to speak without an accent. You argue that you _are_ speaking without an accent, and yet you speak differently than I. It’s merely a regional opinion, and I don’t think there is any standard way of speaking. \*\* Nah…foreigners all really know how to speak perfect English. They just use accents and foreign languages to annoy us. I thought everyone knew that… jayjay 😃