I dismissed Marcurio as a follower and then returned to Riften to pick him up again. I was standing in the BEe and Barb inn next to him and heard this strange voice shout...

'Hey melon nose!'
'Skeever butt!'
'Melon for brains!'

I turned around and it was Marcurio, his lips were moving! But the voice sounded like a bad recording, distant sounding not like his. Or maybe the voice was drowning out his voice.

Is this some freaky quest that I have yet to come across, if so what quest? For a moment I wondered if a mod I had downloaded was taking the mickey, but I really don't see that as the case. I did just drink one of those strange drinks form the bartender, a Whitegold tower or something.

I have no idea but Marcurio is being weird to me too. I haven't played with him as a follower before but last night this happened:

I hired Marcurio last night on my Breton witch character, and proceeded to make our way to Mzulft. Partway thru there is a rock trap, which I triggered and we avoided damage. But then while Marcurio and I are walking past the rocks, apparently he kicked one and got a little pissy. He started shouting "Hey watch it!" etc, and then I saw "Your follower has left your service" flash on my screen and a red dot appears on my compass. Apparently Marcurio has a little bit of a temper! I had to Calm him to keep him from attacking me, then I re-hired him. Not two minutes later, he stepped on a Lightning Rune just as a construct rolled over it... and he blamed me for that too, and went aggro again!

Is he seriously this easy to offend? I'll have to reload an old save and find a new follower if this is how it's gonna be!