Happy "Talk Like a Pirate Day" 2026
Today is one of the more offbeat holidays of the year, International Talk Like a Pirate Day. And as always, Talk Like a Pirate Day gets me to think about the quite-wonderful video I've posted here before, Ahaarrrr! This is one of my favorite videos that I've ever tracked down. As I've written here in the past, it's a little British film, 13-minutes long, which I came across back in 2010 and have been passing it around since -- mostly to friends of my who do voice-over work, on either side of the microphone. Oh, boy howdy, do they ever empathize with it... And now I post it on this site every year.I don't know very much about its history or the wonderful creative mind behind it, Jonathan Kydd, who wrote and stars in the short film (impressively, as both the voiceover artist and the director! I didn't even realize that the first half-dozen times I watched it). But it did win the (Mid Ulster) Critics choice at the DIY Festival LA. As it happens, I also know very little about that festival -- other than that sentence I just typed. I do see on the iMDB that Mr. Kydd deservedly has had a long career with a great many acting credits -- not shockingly, most over the past 20 years in voiceover work, notably eight Harry Potter video games, as well as the Toy Story That Time Forgot video. And for the animated series, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, he provided the voice of Paddington. But yes, mixed in among that and especially before getting involved with voiceover acting, he has also done a good deal of live-action, on-camera TV work.
And I have an addendum to all this. I recently watched a 1960 British comedy with Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas, I'm All Right Jack. And I noticed in the credits an actor named Sam Kydd. So, hmmm -- I wondered. And checked it out. And yes, Sam Kydd is the father of Jonathan Kydd. Furthermore, he is credited as having been in 346 movies! Most were small roles, but still. And at least on Wikipedia, it says that this is considered the most movies by any British actor. Anyway, back to video. As the description below says, this is indeed the voice over session from hell. But for the rest of us, once again, a total joy.
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