Corneil and Bernie
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Corneil and Bernie was a series of short cartoons (each spanning around 15 minutes), about a talking dog, Corneil, and his dogsitter, Bernie Barges. The series was produced, written, and animated in France. The English dubbing took place in London. The series was distributed by Millimages. It starred Keith Wickham, Ben Small, Dian Perry, and Dan Russell. In Europe, the show is called Watch My Chops, named after Corneil's catch phrase.
Most episodes are driven by Corneil's reluctance to let anyone know that he is intelligent and capable of speech. The only person who does know is dogsitter Bernie, whose uncle minds the apartment of Corneil's "well-off" owners. Bernie found out about Corneil's speaking abilities by accident, and unfortunately he is somewhat lacking of intelligence and mostly devoid of morals. All this puts Corneil in an uncomfortable position—as Bernie often takes it upon himself to 'be the voice' of Corneil, capitalising on Corneil's reluctance to communicate and ignoring Corneil's requests. This sets the scene for some situations one would not expect from a children's cartoon.
The show can still be seen on Nickelodeon's NickToons channel.
Theme Song
Chorus: (singing) Corneil and Bernie!
Corneil: (talking) I am a dog, a dog that's incredibly bright. (higher voice) I can talk, read, and write! (singing) ... and surf the net all of the day and all of the night!
Bernie: (talking) Corneil, you can talk!
Corneil: (talking) And much more, Bernie, but keep it to yourself.
Bernie: (singing) If you let the cat out of the bag, you'd be a celebrity! If you wanna lead a dog's life, the secret's gonna stay with you and me!
Corneil & Chorus: (singing) Watch my chops,
Corneil: (talking) Shush!
Chorus: (singing) It's no joke, the dog, he spoke, he said, "watch my chops!"
Corneil & Bernie: (singing) They must never hear a word!
Bernie: (singing very lamely) A talking dog!!... [Corneil's owners come in] (talking) ...how absurd! [Corneil barks like a dog].