Oh man, Benedict Cumberbatch is simply the gift that keeps on giving. I feel like every frame of his Graham Norton guest appearance is a little nugget of comic gold, his self-depreciating charm oozing from the crevice of his casually opened collar. There’s just so much Cumber to talk about, but let’s first get started with his adorable pronunciation of "penguin." (The discussion begins around the 3:17 mark in the below video.)
After imploring fans to send in questions for the British actor, there was only one thing on the minds of most Cumberbitches: why can’t he say the word "penguins"? In a clip then unearthed by Norton, a South Pacific nature documentary, we repeatedly here Cumberbatch’s charming idiosyncrasy as he narrates the life of island "peng-wings." Things only get progressively worse as the commentary then shifts to "penglings." Let’s see it again…
So much squee! As the (potentially) newly appointed Doctor Strange actor explains, he’s now "completely terrified of the word" after the BBC documentary blip, but has pretty much figured out where he’s going wrong. Best of all, as Norton points out, this tidbit is only made weirder (and inevitably better) by the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch is lending his soothing voice to the upcoming Madagascar spin-off... Penguins of Madagascar. He was appearing on The Graham Norton Show to promote that very film’s release on November 26, 2014, which I’m still quietly hoping contains the occasional malady of diction.
As for the rest of Benedict Cumberbatch’s interview with Norton, well it only gets better. He shows off his "Crazy in Love" walk, brushes off Star Trek questions, talks about his visit to the set of Star Wars and does the most incredible Jar Jar Binks impersonation at around 1:58.
"You don’t make much money out of doing a good Jar Jar, the most loathed character out of any franchise ever, rightfully so in my opinion," he says after denying rumours he was involved in Star Wars: Episode VII.
To top off his offbeat appearance, Cumberbatch later unleashes his ferocious Smaug voice from The Hobbit at 2:30, growling at unsuspecting fellow guest Miranda Hart, "So Miranda, is your heart beating faster or slower than before?" Like we needed yet another reason to love this man.
Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Twentieth Century Fox/AP Images
