So I’m watching NBC’s hit comedy show about comedy, “Last Comic Standing” and they break for one of those show-sponsored comercials, you know like the ones during “American Idol” where all the contestants are ludicrously singing whie driving around in a Ford Focus. Except this ad was for a Honda Pilot (why are they always cars?) and the gimmick was that you were invited to call in to rate a comic as he did a quick set, literally on the road.

He wasn’t that funny, but what really made me mad was the “host” of the commercial and her I’m-almost-certain fake British accent. 1) Why does the spot need a host and 2) why does she talk like a limey? It’s a Honda Pilot.

Honda’s not alone, of course. They’re merely the latest in a string of companies to impose the Queen’s English on us: Orbit Gum, the Geico Gecko, and, of course, Grey Poupon are but a few. What’s up with this? Do ads in Britain use actors with American accents to sell their products? What do they use in New Zealand? Canadian accented actors?

If I could shake my fist with a British accent I’d be doing it right now…