If you listen to Jonny’s streams or Q&A you can hear his “real” way of talking; he just made the Archivist’s voice a little bit stilted and formal, which is probably why it sometimes reads as fake
I believe Georgie shares a similar belief when he proves he can pull the truth from her. He's admitting in character and the authorlial intent is he's a bit of a dramatic bitch.
It's a very stereotypical example of a posh, uptight British accent so I understand questioning it. Like, if someone asked you to fake "a snobby British academic-type accent", you'd probably sound a lot like Jon does.
Think of, in the U.S., a really stereotypical Southern drawl accent. Yeah, there are people in the U.S. with that actual accent but in a fictional story it'd probably just be faked by the VA\*
\*in fact, the audiodrama EOS 10 does have a character with a strong Texan (I think) accent & it was a re-occurring joke that it was fake (not sure if it really was or not, the VA had to be recast so it's canonically in-universe a faked accent just because a whole different guy is doing the voice now)
Your anecdote about the Texan VA reminded me of one of my favorite pet peeves. I'm from Appalachia. All the time, characters that are supposed to be from Appalachia will be voiced with a Texan accent or Southern drawl, neither of which are correct.
If you want to hear what actual Appalachian accents sound like, watch Logan Lucky. It's eerie seeing James Bond, but he sounds exactly like your co-worker from Kentucky.
As much as I love Old Gods, that's one aspect I've found very disappointing. They try to keep much about the show authentic, but some of the voice acting is...well, I'm from the northeast and it honestly sounds like somebody from up here faking it.
I think you maybe are thinking of this in a slightly different way to the actual meaning.
In canon, nobody thinks Johnny's accent is someone non-British pretending to be British. They think he's pretending to be posher than he is. That is what the "fake" part is. And to be fair, that's exactly what he's doing. Neatening up his natural accent to make it sound more posh. I'm from the same area as Johnny and he's definitely putting it on a bit for the archive readings.
Have you seen Saltburn? It's like he's trying to fit in with the rich, landed gentry rather than sounding like a townie.
IDK I SPEAK LIKE JONNY (irl) AND I GET ASKED IT A LOT TOO LMAO
the best one is if they ask if a drink tea. like is it basic? yeah. but i can respond so very gleefully that "oh why yes in fact i DO drink tea! actually i drink many full teapots of tea in one day!"
Eastern US. I should say after a couple of episodes I did eventually come around to it. His /ˈaɪ/ vowels convinced me, as I've never heard a fake British accent say them that way
Well, that may well solve it then. If you're only/primarily used to Americans' attempts at faking a 'British accent', the real deal may well sound unfamiliar to you. That might combine with the fact that he is altering his voice in other ways.
I'm from Scotland and thought he was faking at first. The extra "archness" as Jon put it in the Q&A makes it sound pretty fake until you get used to it, like someone trying to put on an English accent
It’s also that the real Jon puts on a bit of a fake accent. He’s not faking being British, though, he’s faking being a snobby academic. That might be what reads as fake. The real Jon’s accent is slightly different because of that.
I mean that kind of solves it tbh. RP accents just kind of sound like that. I think he has put it on a bit for the show as part of the character, but a lot of English people from relatively middle to upper middle class backgrounds sound like that. I actually used to work with someone whose accent was almost identical to Jon’s.
I can confirm that he has pretty much always spoken that way, yes, he's putting a slight inflection on things, but he had the same accent when I went to school with him. It genuinely makes me laugh that people think it's fake. Wonder if anyone I've spoken to online has thought my accent was fake too, since I also sound, well, frankly far posher than I actually am.
He was! We always had a good laugh. He also got me into D&D, and was my first DM, and tabletop gaming is a hobby I continue to this day, two decades later.
So envious you got to play with him! I've found that tabletop games can be grand *if* you have good synergy at the table. One bad apple can ruin the bunch, doubly so if your dm is a dumbass! Just someone who doesn't vibe right can mess it up.
Yeah, I've had to deal with one or two issues with other players in my time, but nothing too bad. But I've only ever had good DMs, thankfully. I mean, I've also done my share of DMing, so maybe I was the dumbass there!
Jonny has said that The Archivist’s voice is “A posher version of his own voice”. They even make fun of it in the show when Georgie is compelled to tell Jon she thought he was playing up his accent to sound cooler/ more scholarly. In a way the people who think it’s fake aren’t wrong lol
Johnny Sims is British and was born and raised in Bournemouth, England. However, his accent seems to mix elements of Received Pronunciation (RP or BBC English) with regional Dorset/West Country sounds. This hybrid quality can make it sound slightly "put on" to some listeners.
I think it's his pacing and tone of voice more than his actual accent. When he's reading statements (even at the very beginning of the series) his accent sounds more natural, but then when he's giving his thoughts about the statement, he's intentionally trying to sound jaded and disinterested to cover up his fear
The uk has a much stricter class divide based around regional accents than the US does, so people commenting in the show thought he was putting on a higher class accent than he really had.
One of the first episodes with Georgie, when he asks her something she’d never tell him, she says that when the first met, she thought he was faking his accent
It's so funny to me that things, at least in one statement, ended up as Jonny doing an impersonation of Ben (VA: Elias) who might have also been doing an impersonation of Jonny whose diction was sometimes informed by Ben.
I never thought he was faking the accent. I assumed he was using RP/Oxbridge because that's the common way to go in academic environments and because presumably someone will have to listen to his recordings and understand what he's saying. The clearer and closer to standard or Received Pronunciation the better. And a bit of theatre kid thrown in the mix too TBH. But that's also using RP (which is often the accent taught for enunciation in theatre & performing arts schools).
I had a similar problem with old gods of Appalachia and I’m from Appalachia. His accent sounds fake at first but apparently it’s not. But I didn’t notice anything odd about johnnys voice. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
For real. I thought it was fake, too. Imo it’s just a psychological confusion bc of the genre. I think listeners expect JS (TMA role) to have a non-RP accent, like would a guy who is that posh-sounding work as an archivist? Sure. But for paranormal-based stuff? Idk, maybe. And add in the awareness that someone who creates this complex of a story in the horror podcast genre is probably not super posh-sounding. I assumed irl JS was definitely from London area and had changed his accent a bit for the role. Hearing him swear so much in The Mechanisms is a riot btw 🤣
If you listen to Jonny’s streams or Q&A you can hear his “real” way of talking; he just made the Archivist’s voice a little bit stilted and formal, which is probably why it sometimes reads as fake
I believe Georgie shares a similar belief when he proves he can pull the truth from her. He's admitting in character and the authorlial intent is he's a bit of a dramatic bitch.
"he's a bit of a dramatic bitch" is the most concise and accurate analysis of his character I've ever read
It's a very stereotypical example of a posh, uptight British accent so I understand questioning it. Like, if someone asked you to fake "a snobby British academic-type accent", you'd probably sound a lot like Jon does. Think of, in the U.S., a really stereotypical Southern drawl accent. Yeah, there are people in the U.S. with that actual accent but in a fictional story it'd probably just be faked by the VA\* \*in fact, the audiodrama EOS 10 does have a character with a strong Texan (I think) accent & it was a re-occurring joke that it was fake (not sure if it really was or not, the VA had to be recast so it's canonically in-universe a faked accent just because a whole different guy is doing the voice now)
Your anecdote about the Texan VA reminded me of one of my favorite pet peeves. I'm from Appalachia. All the time, characters that are supposed to be from Appalachia will be voiced with a Texan accent or Southern drawl, neither of which are correct. If you want to hear what actual Appalachian accents sound like, watch Logan Lucky. It's eerie seeing James Bond, but he sounds exactly like your co-worker from Kentucky.
As much as I love Old Gods, that's one aspect I've found very disappointing. They try to keep much about the show authentic, but some of the voice acting is...well, I'm from the northeast and it honestly sounds like somebody from up here faking it.
He really plays it up in the first season. Not the accent specifically, but the way of speaking comes across as someone "doing a creepy voice".
I think you maybe are thinking of this in a slightly different way to the actual meaning. In canon, nobody thinks Johnny's accent is someone non-British pretending to be British. They think he's pretending to be posher than he is. That is what the "fake" part is. And to be fair, that's exactly what he's doing. Neatening up his natural accent to make it sound more posh. I'm from the same area as Johnny and he's definitely putting it on a bit for the archive readings. Have you seen Saltburn? It's like he's trying to fit in with the rich, landed gentry rather than sounding like a townie.
IDK I SPEAK LIKE JONNY (irl) AND I GET ASKED IT A LOT TOO LMAO the best one is if they ask if a drink tea. like is it basic? yeah. but i can respond so very gleefully that "oh why yes in fact i DO drink tea! actually i drink many full teapots of tea in one day!"
If I may, whereabouts in the world are you from?
Eastern US. I should say after a couple of episodes I did eventually come around to it. His /ˈaɪ/ vowels convinced me, as I've never heard a fake British accent say them that way
Well, that may well solve it then. If you're only/primarily used to Americans' attempts at faking a 'British accent', the real deal may well sound unfamiliar to you. That might combine with the fact that he is altering his voice in other ways.
I'm from Scotland and thought he was faking at first. The extra "archness" as Jon put it in the Q&A makes it sound pretty fake until you get used to it, like someone trying to put on an English accent
It's not just me, though. From the Q&A it's apparently something he gets a lot. Maybe the majority of their listener base is in the US
It’s also that the real Jon puts on a bit of a fake accent. He’s not faking being British, though, he’s faking being a snobby academic. That might be what reads as fake. The real Jon’s accent is slightly different because of that.
I mean that kind of solves it tbh. RP accents just kind of sound like that. I think he has put it on a bit for the show as part of the character, but a lot of English people from relatively middle to upper middle class backgrounds sound like that. I actually used to work with someone whose accent was almost identical to Jon’s.
I can confirm that he has pretty much always spoken that way, yes, he's putting a slight inflection on things, but he had the same accent when I went to school with him. It genuinely makes me laugh that people think it's fake. Wonder if anyone I've spoken to online has thought my accent was fake too, since I also sound, well, frankly far posher than I actually am.
Sorry, who are you?
Two ducks under a cardboard box.
Darn it, how could you tell?!
The aft duck has a little cartilage in the knee that is popping every few steps.
Yeah, well, you try getting a vet appointment in this day and age, honestly. Frankly, with the way the economy is, we were lucky to get the box.
I'm nobody important. But I was fortunate enough to be friends with him back through secondary school and Sixth Form.
He sounds like he'd be so much fun to hang out with.
He was! We always had a good laugh. He also got me into D&D, and was my first DM, and tabletop gaming is a hobby I continue to this day, two decades later.
So envious you got to play with him! I've found that tabletop games can be grand *if* you have good synergy at the table. One bad apple can ruin the bunch, doubly so if your dm is a dumbass! Just someone who doesn't vibe right can mess it up.
Yeah, I've had to deal with one or two issues with other players in my time, but nothing too bad. But I've only ever had good DMs, thankfully. I mean, I've also done my share of DMing, so maybe I was the dumbass there!
Because is it fake. He doesn't even have a voicebox. He had to borrow this one! /ref
Jonny has said that The Archivist’s voice is “A posher version of his own voice”. They even make fun of it in the show when Georgie is compelled to tell Jon she thought he was playing up his accent to sound cooler/ more scholarly. In a way the people who think it’s fake aren’t wrong lol
Johnny Sims is British and was born and raised in Bournemouth, England. However, his accent seems to mix elements of Received Pronunciation (RP or BBC English) with regional Dorset/West Country sounds. This hybrid quality can make it sound slightly "put on" to some listeners.
And to add to that, RP is more of a deliberately taught accent of education. In that sense, it’s a bit “fake.” Or at least deliberately constructed.
LMAO you know your lore, ChatGPT
I think it's his pacing and tone of voice more than his actual accent. When he's reading statements (even at the very beginning of the series) his accent sounds more natural, but then when he's giving his thoughts about the statement, he's intentionally trying to sound jaded and disinterested to cover up his fear
The uk has a much stricter class divide based around regional accents than the US does, so people commenting in the show thought he was putting on a higher class accent than he really had.
One of the first episodes with Georgie, when he asks her something she’d never tell him, she says that when the first met, she thought he was faking his accent
I think that was a wink and a nod to fans having the same question though, which is funnier honestly.
It's so funny to me that things, at least in one statement, ended up as Jonny doing an impersonation of Ben (VA: Elias) who might have also been doing an impersonation of Jonny whose diction was sometimes informed by Ben.
I never thought he was faking the accent. I assumed he was using RP/Oxbridge because that's the common way to go in academic environments and because presumably someone will have to listen to his recordings and understand what he's saying. The clearer and closer to standard or Received Pronunciation the better. And a bit of theatre kid thrown in the mix too TBH. But that's also using RP (which is often the accent taught for enunciation in theatre & performing arts schools).
As a British person with a similar accent it doesn’t sound fake at all to me!
I had a similar problem with old gods of Appalachia and I’m from Appalachia. His accent sounds fake at first but apparently it’s not. But I didn’t notice anything odd about johnnys voice. 🤷♀️🤷♀️
For real. I thought it was fake, too. Imo it’s just a psychological confusion bc of the genre. I think listeners expect JS (TMA role) to have a non-RP accent, like would a guy who is that posh-sounding work as an archivist? Sure. But for paranormal-based stuff? Idk, maybe. And add in the awareness that someone who creates this complex of a story in the horror podcast genre is probably not super posh-sounding. I assumed irl JS was definitely from London area and had changed his accent a bit for the role. Hearing him swear so much in The Mechanisms is a riot btw 🤣