Benedict Cumberbatch celebrates his 46th birthday today, so it’s time to revisit the iconic moment he repeatedly mispronounced “penguin.”
Benedict is a man of many talents, but the pronunciation of “penguin” is not among them. With his flawless British accent and deep silky voice, you’d think the Marvel star would be the perfect narrator for an animal documentary.
Well, it is, but just make sure it’s not on the penguins – or he’ll accidentally call them “penguin wings” and “penguins.”
Watch Benedict Cumberbatch as he struggles to say ‘Penguins’
In a 2014 interview on The Graham Norton Show, the star revisited a time when he couldn’t pronounce penguins in the 2009 BBC Two documentary, South Pacific. The show asked him to talk about the wildlife of the South Pacific islands – including the royal penguins.
‘Penguin’ doesn’t seem to come naturally to the star, as he proceeds to call waterfowl ‘penguin wings’. Or did he say “penguins”? Whatever it was, he definitely wasn’t penguins. And that was the moment the meme was born.
Defending his mistake, the Imitation Game representative explained: “The funny thing is that you don’t do this in isolation; you have a team of natural history experts based in Bristol – you fund them. [the audience], taxpayers. But there are others who should take some of it [credit]. ”
He joked that maybe the production team just gave up trying to get the pronunciation right.
Hopefully he’s got the penguins right in Madagascar
What do you have when you have a guy who can’t say penguins correctly? He rented it in an animal-based movie, and that’s exactly what DreamWorks did.
In 2014, Cumberbatch voiced the role of Ranked Agent – a Eurasian wolf with a British accent – in Madagascar, The Penguins of Madagascar. Although we’re not sure he’s succeeded in vocalizing yet; He’s got something right in the movie, but according to this beautiful montage, it’s still a challenge.
He can’t escape from the penguin’s word.
In other news, Google Doodle: Who is Oscar Sala and how did he create electronic music?
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