Another installment of my audio confessions!
My voice is one of my few personal attributes about which I feel unequivocally good. I really like my voice! I’ve always felt like I could a lot with it. Although sometimes I get asked to do voice-over for a preteen or teenage role, and then I’m a bit lost —I didn’t even sound like a teenager when I was a teenager! I’ve had a voice like Bea Arthur (if she were doing a cover of Moon Unit Zappa’s part in “Valley Girl”) since I was eleven.
I’ve been told by other people that I have a great voice, too, but I do wonder sometimes if my hybrid New York/Valley Girl dialect diminishes things. A few weeks ago I asked people on Twitter what they thought the sexiest English-language accents were. Nobody said New York or Valley Girl. Most people said Irish, which I could definitely understand, though I personally said Scottish and New Zealand were my favorites. The Kiwis fell all over themselves to insist that their accent wasn’t pleasant at all, and the Scottish response was basically just “Damn right, we’re sexy!” (Apparently people in the UK agree, it comes up on polls as the best or sexiest accent all the time — although surprisingly, it’s often tied with the Geordie dialect. I only learned that Geordie was a thing like a month ago.)
A few people said Southern U.S. (especially Louisiana), but aside from, that pretty much nobody said any other American accents. Northeast accents aren’t considered attractive, Midwest and Pacific Northwest accents aren’t even known about outside of the US, and our baseline General American dialect seems to be considered about as exciting as water. Maybe because it’s all over TV, so we’re used to it? Although honestly, most of the TV and films I watched growing up were made in Canada. One of my favorite games to play when I was watching movies as a teenager (especially when something was set in “New York” but very obviously filmed in Toronto or Vancouver) was “Spot the Canadian.” When Ellen Page asked Jason Bateman why yuppies loved “herbs” so much in Juno I all but stood up in the theater and yelled “CANADIAN SPOTTED!” Not that it’s a bad thing; as I’ve mentioned on here before, nothing makes me feel closer to an actor than an accent slip. I heard Sarah Snook say pronounce “been” like “bean” the other day on Succession and my heart fluttered a little.
But please don’t tell anyone I’ve been watching Succession, or I will be legally obligated to tweet about it. (Probably something about how I want the theme as my ringtone. Who even uses ringtones anymore?)
Stuff I Did This Week: I was on the podcast Coming Out with Lauren and Nicole! They were so wonderful, welcoming and funny. I talked about imposter syndrome, myths about bisexuality, and which world-famous actress that I worked with as a child was my first big crush.
I also did an interview with the International OCD Foundation about facing fears, and discussed one very specific one I am facing right now!
Coming up soon, I will be performing a very personal true story on RISK! at Dynasty Typewriter in LA on October 24th! It’s a great show, one I’ve always loved doing, and I can’t wait to do again. Get your tickets now!
I’m also going to be on the Wrestlesplania podcast! I recorded this with my good friend Rachel Millman, and I cannot wait for it to come out!
Fake BBC Show Title of the Week: Let’s Fetishize the Geordie Accent
Midnight Confession #24: Face for Radio, Voice for Biopics