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Why is there such a disconnect between European and American humor? In your opinion

Chippendale said:
I was on a date recently when she told me that big bang theory was her idea of brilliant comedy. Thankfully the date went terribly and we haven't spoken since.
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I'm loving your courtship criteria lol! <3=D....

Bob Funkhouse said:
Completely disagree Felix. BB takes the piss in a way that is really supposed to endear you to the geeks and half the audience are those geeky types.
It is pretty shitty though tbf but I find it watchable at times and Sheldon does make me laff. He's a really good character imo.

People keep advising me to watch Community (and Parks n Rec).
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I nearly "got" Parks n' Rec, but then it's my kinda thing, but just couldn't quite laugh at it like I would the Office or the Thick of It!
 
Dunno if father Ted qualifies as British humour, I always assumed that quite a bit of it went over the heads of British viewers, but then I have been wrong about a lot of things. The It crowd was the last good UK sitcom is been a while, but then again Fraser is the last US one I enjoyed and that's even longer ago, Fraser was much better than its begetter, Cheers which was only cat. Fraser had great writing and even better acting, Martins dog done better work on an off day than anybody in big bang theory on their best.

What ever about Al Murray, if you want to experience English humour at its best read Vanity Fair.
 
koneko said:
Rab C <3=D Totally!

Takes me onto Still Game?

Maybe too Scottish now :sus:
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Nah. I <3 Still Game. Never needed subtitles for Rab C either. Am very fond of Scottish comedy in general. Shame so little gets shown south of the border :\

One Thousand Words said:
I've been getting a giggle from Drunk history lately
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Been whoring that around the TV Thread since it started but no bites. They don't know what they're missing ;)

Nobody mentioned Garth Marenghi's Dark Place yet I notice. Probably made me laugh more than any single comedy series ever has. Comedy gold <3
 
Chippendale said:
I agree with all of the above.

I was on a date recently when she told me that big bang theory was her idea of brilliant comedy. Thankfully the date went terribly and we haven't spoken since.
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Excellent. Definitely for the best.

gannetsarewe said:
Dunno if father Ted qualifies as British humour, I always assumed that quite a bit of it went over the heads of British viewers, but then I have been wrong about a lot of things.
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I was going to fervently disagree, but then we lived in Ireland for a bit so perhaps I can't.

Shambles said:
Nobody mentioned Garth Marenghi's Dark Place yet I notice. Probably made me laugh more than any single comedy series ever has. Comedy gold <3
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That's a cracking series, I watched it again not too long ago. It sort of reminds me of diagnosis murder, but you know, weirder and with less Dick van Dyke.
 
I'd only be concerned if I was the messiah.

I mean hang on my every word by all means, but don't expect me to give two shits if you covert your neighbours donkey
 
steewith2ees said:
Covert your neighbours donkey. Like make it stealthy and that -

ah - so you mean convert your neighbours donkey

Its spelt covet dude
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Indeed. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's donkey. OTW bro do you even Proverbs?


"Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes"

Proverbs 6:25-26
 
'covert donkey' lol.

1RnPQTW.jpg
 
Droppersneck said:
Alasdairm is a pretty regular poster in the lounge is Scottish originally but has become Americanized, and while he tries to hang I do not think he fully understands the deprecating humor.
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ignore droppers everybody - he loves to think he knows me and understands me but he does not. he makes a lot of assumptions about me which could not be more wrong.

isn't it kind of obvious why humour from different countries is different? culture is different and humour relies on a lot of cultural markers and waypoints. i think 'the office' is a great example. i'm sure most people here - who've worked in a british office in the 90s/00s - can immediately think of people they've worked with who are tim, dawn, gareth, keith and david. the humor relies on the dynamic of the uk workplace, the work ethic, the zeitgeist, the media of the day, etc. how does that - how can that - translate when you haven't spent 20 or 30 years growing up in the uk, absorbing all these details subtly by osmosis?

to me the us 'the office' and the uk 'the office' are exactly the same but completely different.

beyond that, i think that there are differences in the style of comedy. it's easy to generalise but, when i think of british comedy i love i think of acutely observed caricatures and clever wordplay. when i think of us comedy i think of more mainstream stereotypes and situational comedy. that's not to sat they the former does not have the latter (and vice versa) but i can't imagine anything like the blackadder the 3rd episode 'ink and incapability' coming from the us for all the reasons i've described.

further, i think that british comedy does satire better than anybody. again, i can't imagine a show like 'brass eye' succeeding in the u.s. maybe that's because so many things in the u.s. seem like they're doing a ridiculously good job of satirising themselves. that said, i think of tv shows like 'mr. show' and movies like christopher guest's 'best in show' and there's definitely great american satire.

when i first moved to the us i discovered 'mr. show' and loved it. soemtimes, i wasn't even 100% sure i understood which facet of america life they were satirising exactly but i knew they were nailing it. the longer i've lived here, the more i've absorbed the culture and the more i appreciate it as great satire and well-observed, at times very intellectual comedy.

people from the uk and us are different. their culture is different. their media are different. why would their comedy not be different?

alasdair
 
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satire certainly seems to be lost on a lot of americans, for example the recent video of stephen colbert doing a public access tv show in which he interviews eminem (basically an american alan partridge knowing me, knowing you) - I've seen so many people think it is 100% serious.

video here : https://youtu.be/rVPlMM_aSn4?t=1315 (it is very funny but again it is 'different' from alan partridge in the way the US 'the office' is different from the UK version)

I think you are right in saying that some things in the US are just so ludicrous from a british perspective that they already seem like satire or comedy.

I have hesitated to bring this up since it's a sensitive subject but this particular clip of brass eye, https://youtu.be/NAQy8v0d_qo - I have shown it to americans who thought it was real and factual - but is telling that shortly after the massacre in Charleston, the NRA was suggesting it could have been prevented if priests were armed with guns.

Brass eye was as much a cultural critique as it was comedy, like Jonathon Meades programmes perhaps but with a sense of humour. I don't think this kind of introspective analysis has much space in america where so many are convinced they live in the worlds greatest country with the worlds greatest culture and are too busy criticising other nations (politically and with force) to look too closely at their own failings and absurdity.

The only american comedy that springs to mind that I've enjoyed bits of was Portlandia, is it fair to compare it to Nathan Barley?
 
alasdairm said:
ignore droppers everybody - he loves to think he knows me and understands me but he does not. he makes a lot of assumptions about me which could not be more wrong.

isn't it kind of obvious why humour from different countries is different? culture is different and humour relies on a lot of cultural markers and waypoints. i think 'the office' is a great example. i'm sure most people here - who've worked in a british office in the 90s/00s - can immediately think of people they've worked with who are tim, dawn, gareth, keith and david. the humor relies on the dynamic of the uk workplace, the work ethic, the zeitgeist, the media of the day, etc. how does that - how can that - translate when you haven't spent 20 or 30 years growing up in the uk, absorbing all these details subtly by osmosis.

to me the us 'the office' and the uk 'the office' are exactly the same but completely different.

beyond that, i think that there are differences in the style of comedy. it's easy to generalise but, when i think of british comedy i love i think of acutely observed caricatures and clever wordplay. when i think of us comedy i think of more mainstream stereotypes and situational comedy. that's not to sat they the former does not have the latter (and vice versa) but i can't imagine anything like the blackadder the 3rd episode 'ink and incapability' coming from the us for all the reasons i've described.

further, i think that british comedy does satire better than anybody. again, i can't imagine a show like 'brass eye' succeeding in the u.s. maybe that's because so many things in the u.s. seem like they're doing a ridiculously good job of satirising themselves. that said, i think of tv shows like 'mr. show' and movies like christopher guest's 'best in show' and there's definitely great american satire.

when i first moved to the us i discovered 'mr. show' and loved it. soemtimes, i wasn't even 100% sure i understood what facet of america life they were satirising exactly but i knew they were nailing it. the longer i've lived here, the more i've absorbed the culture and the more i appreciate it as great satire and well-observed, at time very intellectual comedy.

people from the uk and us are different. their culture is different. their media are different. why would their comedy not be different?

alasdair
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Ace post. And true. Culture makes stuff different. That's why when one country tries to replicate another's comedy show, it's not a reflection that the copied country has poor comedy but the culture is different thus a copied version cannot work, only a version suited to the culture of the place.

Evey
 
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