TNT’s Leverage is of course basically an attempt to do a slightly less cool, funnier version of Ocean’s 11 for the small screen. So it was heartening to see last week’s episode, The Ice Man Job, homage Ocean’s 11 in an oblique sort of way – by taking the piss out of Don Cheadle’s accent.
At first, I thought it was just one of those typically bad British accents that US TV occasionally puts out – not as much as it used to, mind – confident in the knowledge that few people will care or even notice (cf Burn Notice). But as various characters started to take the piss, it became obvious that in fact, it was deliberately bad. Anyway, see/hear for yourselves: it’s a laugh.
Oh, and I’ve followed that with a clip of the character, Hardison, speaking in his normal Texan accent, just for comparison. And because it contains Rob’s GBE list member, Beth Riesgraf, at her best.