BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Judy J.
Date: 01 Mar 06 - 01:26 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Mar 06 - 12:05 AM

After Lyold's of Lodon realized the bite of the Chinese Dragon, they mutated from a Lion to a reptile. Darwin in reverse, it was a matter of survival.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 11:32 PM

I agree with a post that it is the husband of the oldest sister on WB's related...but it's driving me crazy. I have to know!!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 06:52 PM

I'll have the duck with mango salsa.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that they have gone full-bore with the gecko and have only done two Caveman spots.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 01:34 PM

sounds totally like callum blue, but is it???

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: robomatic
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 01:10 AM

Scales!
100

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Guest Christine
Date: 28 Feb 06 - 12:32 AM

A cockney who loves pie and chips especially free pie and chips - I love that ad and drive my husband mad with my version of free pie and chips - and yes I'm a Londoner living in the US.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Rob in Pa
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 12:47 AM

I saw the exact same episode of frasier the other night, with Elvis Costello, and he did sound just like the Gecko. i rewound it an watched it like ten times. He sounded exactly like him.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Scotus (minus cookie)
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 08:03 PM

Hi Jacqui,

How often do we have to say it's estuary English before someone believes us?

Jack

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: Cluin
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 03:41 PM

When I've figured out why Stewie on Family Guy has a fake Rex Harrison accent, then I'll get to work on the gecko thing.

Don't do nuthin' `til ya hear from me...

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Carol in Michigan
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 02:30 PM

Just the other night, Elvis Costello was on a Frasier rerun singing as a folk singer in their favorite coffee shop.........I swear I thought HE WAS the GEICO GECKO voice........he wasn't speaking in his "normal" voice, but he sounded EXACTLY like the gecko!!!! But if it is Dave Kelly, I'm glad to finally know the man behind the voice...........LOVE IT.............and the scripts he reads!!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 03:14 AM

Dave Kelly posted on this very thread; he is no longer the voice. So it's still a mystery.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From:
Date: 24 Feb 06 - 11:43 AM

I thought he was Australian

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 03:55 PM

Oh, the original voice of the gekko was Kelsey Grammer, now it's David Kelly.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 23 Feb 06 - 03:53 PM

The bit Esteban is playing is from 'the tango flamenco'. It can be downloaded in numerous places.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: Anonny Mouse
Date: 22 Feb 06 - 01:37 PM

Quote GUEST: question--"Does anyone know the song that Esteban is playing at the end of the geico commercial?"

No, but you'll notice it ain't one of HIS POS guitars he's playing! If you ever need a laff, go to a place called "Harmony Central" (dot com I think) and read reviews on the Esteban "hand-made" gits. I'll bet you wont see the Gecko playing one either. Someone actually threw his guitar into a tree after bashing it up pretty good and it became a bird house. LOL.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 09:43 PM

Sounds like the English guy in Home Edition Makeover?? He is one of the renovator guys...bald??

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 02:24 PM

Lizard?

Looks like an arborial amphibian to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,westernbuddha
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 02:15 PM

I have to go with those who think it's the voice of Ian Wright .the PBS Globetrekker and worldwide wanderer from ( I think, the lonely planet series?)

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Sir Geoduck
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 06:19 AM

Anybody think it's Marc Warren of "Hustle"?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: valvehouse
Date: 21 Feb 06 - 12:32 AM

The Geiko lizard used to have a different, more posh accent. It was much more refined. Then, at some point they gave him the low class Cockney accent. It makes him sound like a thug.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,jasperlily
Date: 20 Feb 06 - 11:02 PM

The gekko's accent is British. Specifically, it's Cockney. Specifically, a Cockney is one born within the sound of Bow Bells (bells of a specific church in London :)

I love the way he pronounces "inshoowance" - totally Cockney.

Does anybody know the name of The Voice? I whisks me right back to my younger days, growing up in England.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,question
Date: 20 Feb 06 - 07:12 PM

Does anyone know the song that Esteban is playing at the end of the geico commercial?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 11:35 PM

There is a difference between estuary, which is what the gecko is and cockney.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 10:47 PM

The Geiko lizard used to have a different British accent. It was much more refined. Then, at some point they gave him the low class Cockney accent.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,this guy claims to be the one
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 07:27 PM

This guy says hes the voice:

http://kellywillett.voice123.com/

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Bob Holmes
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 12:10 AM

The Gekko's accent is "Cockney" from London. It does not specifically represent someone who is well educated BUT street wise and of working class. Like the BBC television program EastEndeers Grant and Phil Mitchell or Dirty Den in the old days.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: John Hardly
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 11:26 AM

The gecko is an American. The accent is merely a sign that he is suffering from a reptile dysfunction.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 09:05 AM

In the UK there are fish and chip shops which, in addition to selling the traditional fried fish with what the USA calls french fries, also sells various pies, the most popular of which tends to be steak and kidney - a real British delicacy. Pies also come with chicken filling and sometimes vegetable filling.

In the West Country, Devon and Cornwall, for instance, they will stock the traditional pasties, made of a circle of pastry folded in half with fillings of meat and vegetables for the main part but which may also contain cheese and vegetable or chicken and vegetable.

Mostly these pies or pasties will have been mass produced and heated up in the shop before sale.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: Anonny Mouse
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 01:05 AM

wow--this goofy little thread I started up 'cause of so many U.Kers here really had some legs! That little Gecko critter is really showing up a lot on TV it seems...and the "free pie and chips" is still my favorite of all of 'em. I guess my follow up question is who eats "pie" and "chips"(which I presume is 'taters). What kinda pie do you eat with fried taters? Fish pie? Is there such a thing? Or is "pie" another piece of Brit shorthand for some well-known example of cuisine? LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Ginni
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 12:34 AM

HA! I was wondering if was an Aussie or a Brit because he says some things that sound more British and others that sound more Australian (I lived in Oz for a while). So I did a google search and came up with this website. Glad to see others are just as confused and curious as I am about a silly commercial!
Ginni

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 14 Feb 06 - 05:23 PM

My mom agrees with u...i kinda do to

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Feb 06 - 01:37 PM

I think the voice sounds like the oldest sisters husband on the wb tv show "related". any agree??

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,George
Date: 13 Feb 06 - 11:30 PM

I agree with LauraC that the voice sounds very much like Ian Wright, one of the hosts of PBS' Globe Trekker.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Guest Linda
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 09:18 PM

I have thought from the start that the voice was that of Charlie from Lost... Dominic Monaghan. May have spelled that incorrectly.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,beadie
Date: 10 Feb 06 - 02:57 PM

I rather thought that he was Bahamian.

. . . . .Rapaire:    If I were a reptile, I'd be offended that someone thought that I was English (as opposed to Scots, Irish or Welsh).

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 11:48 PM

Dave, I was hoping that it was you...just to get closure on the subject! Thanks for posting...by the way, before I noticed this thread I went to your website. Very good. Hope you get more voice overs in US. You have an awesome voice.
To me the new vox does sound like Ian Wright! That was my first thought. I'm still trying to confirm.
But I miss the more posh Gecko...he was funnier.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,LauraC
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 10:50 PM

The voice sounds to me like Ian Wright, one of the hosts on Globe Trekker travel program which is shown here in Houston on PBS.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,brit
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 10:31 AM

I am an English person who has been living in the US since August - the accent is definitely from London and would probably be classed as Cockney though it is NOT as strong as the majority you would hear (I used to live in East London when I was young and mine was very strong).

Regarding Charlie from Lost - he is actually from the town I am from just south of Manchester - he is fairly well spoken and though I know he's from this area he doesn't have a proper thick accent! If you want a Manc accent listen to the Gallagher brothers of Oasis.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: SharonA
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 05:03 PM

Thanks, MMario! You've not only enlightened me but driven home my point: I didn't know what the gekko was talking about!!! Yeah, okay, I guess we're supposed to be amused that the reptiles to whom the gekko is speaking can't understand him, but if I can't understand him either, then I'm not amused, just confused.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,Dave Kelly
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 04:57 PM

Hello!

Hope you don't mind me popping in here. A friend in Seattle told me that the Gecko ads were back on air. So, excitedly, I did a bit of a Googlebash.

I couldn't remember voicing anything Geckoish recently - and thanks to this e banter, the truth is out. I am sobbing with a massive tear, but I can deal with it. Cease with the tissues.

I miss being the Gecko. They were good times. Unfortunately, i'm a tinpot local radio DJ, and when it came to acting, I couldn't quite pull it off. The scripts were getting busier, and I think the Martin Agency creatives were running out of patience with my "i can't do this" style tantrems.

I'm actually a cockney / essex boy, and during the "stop calling" period, i acted posh. For an untrained brit bloke like me, "a mock posh" caricature is easier to "act in", than ones own accent.

So is it not ironic that a US vox is now doing a cockney delivery. It's probably not ironic actually, like every line in Alanis' tedious rant - not ironic - just a pisser! Did anyone tell her.

Right, back to the telly, I wonder if Shep Smiths eyes are any farther apart tonight...

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: MMario
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 03:50 PM

Sharon - that would be "meat pie and steak fries"

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,THE GERMAN.
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 03:40 PM

I DON'T MIND THAT HE IS A BRIT. MOST OF THE SEXIEST MEN IN THE WORLD ARE BRITISH. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHO'S THE VOICE OF THE GEICO-GECKKO?

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 03:22 PM

It sounds like a convict accent to me...

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 02:49 PM

Posh? Wiv that accent? Gissa break!

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: SharonA
Date: 08 Feb 06 - 02:10 PM

The "pie and chips" reference in one of the commercials puzzles me, not so much because it's not a common expression here in the U.S. (it means "pizza and French fries", right?), but because the advertising agency chose to include the phrase in an ad aimed at Americans who would be unfamiliar with the expression.

Perhaps the ad execs figured that, even if Americans interpreted the phrase as meaning "baked fruit pie and potato chips" (as they most likely would), the basic message would be the same when placed in the context of the gekko's discussion (i.e. "who doesn't like free food?"). But it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, if you'll pardon the pun, because I feel it alienates the listener -- makes him/her feel like an "outsider" unfamiliar with the vernacular -- and why in the world would an advertiser want to alienate its target audience???

I prefer the older series of Geico ads, like the one where the gekko was driving his car into the Employee of the Month parking space! That was cute. The current ads have very slick computer tricks and all that, but they leave me cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,mustang_dvs
Date: 07 Feb 06 - 10:26 PM

The initial Gecko commercial ("Stop Calling") was voiced by Kelsey Grammer (of "Cheers" and "Frasier" fame). The follow-on commercials used Dave Kelly, at first imitating Grammer, but eventually drifting away from that distinctive voice.

The voice for this new round of Gecko ads seems very similar to in accent and tone to the voice of Mackenzie Crook, who played 'Gareth Keenan' on the original, BBC version of "The Office."

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: jacqui.c
Date: 07 Feb 06 - 07:39 AM

Scotus is right - the gecko is speaking estuary English, an accent that is becoming ever more common and is, to some degree, replacing the normal regional accents in the south eastern UK.

The accent would not, in the UK, be considered to be 'posh' - it has rather downmarket connotations, but tends to be the accent of choice of a number of television personalities, particularly, it seems, to those appearing on children's programmes, from the stuff I've watched with my grandson. As a result there has been a watering down of the regional accents, not to mention a drop in the standards of grammar.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 07 Feb 06 - 07:18 AM

Actually, we do better in British accents than just Cockney and BBC/Queen's English--we can also tell Scottish apart from these--though distinguishing among Scottish accents is, admittedly, beyond our ken.

But I, for one, love to hear any British accents--and that sure ain't so for American accents.

Subject: RE: BS: Why is the Geico Gekko a Brit?
From: GUEST,bluestateslose
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 10:46 PM

I thought he was an Aussie, but I'll admit my ear can tell straight Geordie from Manchester from general South England and not much more than that.

For those who are perplexed by the American tendency to confuse all Brit accents beyond "posh" and "Cockney in Mary Poppins," remember that we can tell apart our own twenty-odd regional accents.