Features: How to Speak Philadelphian: Accent on David Brenner
“I have a mixture of the South and West Philly, so people think I’m from New York.”
“The first time I worked somewhere in the Midwest, I was an unknown then, and I got out onstage and there were about 2,000 college students, and I said, ‘How ya doin’?’ and they all started laughing. I thought, ‘Why are they laughing?’ Afterwards, the students who booked me said, ‘When you walked out and you said that with that Philadelphia accent, it was so funny. What a great opener.’ What opener? I was just saying hello.”
“We say ‘soda.’ We don’t say ‘pop.’”
“Sneaks. We never said sneakers, or tennis shoes, or tennys.”
“There are certain things I’ve tried and gotten rid of. I no longer say ‘bee-ooo-tee-ful.’”
“Years ago, a Philadelphia-native waitress in Beverly Hills told me, ‘There was a young man in here, and he kept saying to me, ‘Keep talking, keep talking.’ And she said, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Your accent — I’m trying to get David Brenner’s accent down pat. I’m playing a role as a guy from South Philly and I wanna get it right.’ And that was Sly Stallone.”
