Actor Brian Cox — from Scotland! — pronounces the names of more than 40 brands of scotch.
Even if you don’t care to know the difference between Glenfiddich and Glengarry Glenross, the video is still amusing, and someday you may very well have to know how to pronounce Laphroaig correctly, or be humiliated in front of tough guys who slick back their hair.
Here’s the pronunciation guide from Esquire.
Maybe you don’t know who Brian Cox is right away, but as soon as you watch this video you’ll probably say, “Oh, THAT guy.” In the last decade or so, Brian Cox has been in every third movie released, it seems. Last year alone he appeared in eight feature films. He’s the United Kingdom’s version of Bryan Cranston — “didn’t I just see this guy in the movie I saw last week?”
My first Brian Cox experience was in 1986, when he appeared as Hannibal Lecter in the original version of Manhunter. Yes, Cox was Hannibal Lecter before Anthony Hopkins was Hannibal Lecter. And he did a great job. The Cox Lecter was more restrained and more intelligent, and a little bit scarier. As great as The Silence of the Lambs is, Hopkins as Lecter is a tad over the top, making it harder to believe he could have survived undetected all those years.
Brian Cox’s turn as Hannibal Lecter didn’t make him a star, obviously. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that he began popping up here and there, usually as the go-to guy to play a blustery authoritarian. He was in both Braveheart and Rob Roy in 1995, and I don’t think I’m saying that just because I get those two movies confused.
I remember him from Rushmore (1998), and after The Ring (2002) it started to seem as though Cox was taking every job offered to him (and good for him). Some roles were in very good movies (2005’s Match Point), and some roles were in very bad movies (2004’s Troy). He can also be seen getting irritated by that pesky Matt Damon in those Bourne Identity movies, and his credits include 2009’s Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword. Yes, you read that right, a Scooby-Doo movie from 2009.
The most recent Brian Cox release is the 2012 comedy The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. Brian Cox plays Zach’s father, a blustery authoritarian.