h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am staying out of this Am humor vs. Eng humour because I like both (weird ain't it). Sure not all of Am humor is really actual funny (I don't like SouthPark). [Also, my stupid PBS station won't play most of the good Brit stuff like Dr. Who, Monty P., Red Dwarf.]

I'll take the category titles on Win Ben Stein's Money over all of the overrated late night comedians,any day.

The station here used to run British sitcoms almost exclusively. Now we're pretty much down to "Are You Being Served?" fiftieth-time-reruns. However, I do enjoy Mystery, which runs mostly British stuff.

Why argue... if the Americans think they are funny.. let them be.

Personally being Canadian.. I love the humour we keep at home. "The Royal Canadian Air Farce" and "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" are distincly Canadian.. outsiders would miss most of the points.. but all generations of Canadians can enjoy it. Just this past summer had to take a picture of my son..holding his "Mike" sign..at the entrance to Canmore... the picture was for his grandparents.. crossed the generations..

then even ones who make forays into the USA.. for the big bucks.. like Andre-Phillipe Gagnon.. when they come home..put on a decidely "Canadian " performance... again one which outsiders would miss. the point of

But I love British humour too... never laughed so hard as when I went to see a live performance by Dave Allen ( Iknow he's Irish..but..)
then there's that beloved Dame Edith..whatever.. believe she/he's Aussie...

rather than argue about who is better..why not tell us about the really good ones we may be missing...
share your knowledge...

Exactly. There are funnies in every country which are culture-specific, but that doesn't mean that just because one doesn't live there they woudn't 'get it' ... Especially not in these days of internet culture-sharing.

some humour yes..others will get...

but when references are made to decidely national characterisitics..or situations... many people from other countries just can't see what is humerous

nothing wrong with that... especially since the humour likely was intended for the home audience

some humour is more universal... but then there will always be certain types of humour that appeal to one type of audience and not another.... I once went to see a live perfromance of a popular Canadian singer..as one of the opening acts..a comdeian had been hired... unfortunately it was done thru an agency... and this particular comdeian was inappropriate for the audience. The audience consisted of all ages..from young children to senior citizens. The comedians act was definitely geared towards an adult audience..and one that liked off-coloured humour.. lots of sexual innuendos, jokes about disabled people... the audience was generally quite disgusted..some even shouted for the comdeian to get off the stage.. and the guy (not his fault he'd been booked to the wron place) tried retaliating..making cracks about the people who shouted at him... bad experience all around.. I did write to the singers agent complaining about it.. they explained the error... and the next time the singer came to town.. he had a juggler as an opening act.. not really appropriate either.. but at least no one was offended

That's a sad indictment of British Imperialism. It is impossible for smaller weaker nations such as America to keep their individuality in the face of such swingeing attacks

Well, they could have had the stuttering ventroliquist from Broadway Danny Rose. That was so funny I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.The tragedy inherent to the humour.

Yes you do, and we love it. (by the way we call it called Wankwatch)

i didn't mean to say that i think that all british comedy is wonderful and fabulous and a shining example to all, and that all american stuff is complete codswallop. all i meant was that if you look at the majority of american comedic output it is mediocre. of course there are crap british sitcoms. the especially dire 'Babes in the Wood' (ITV) and the repulsive and appalling 'Heartbreak Hotel' (if you don't know what it is, you are one of the lucky ones. if your american, it is the one occasion when i have envied your prime time comedy for its socially incisive capabilities...exactly. you get the picture now?) are prime suspects. but it is true that the highpoint and the envy of world comedy is british stuff. god knows how eddie izzard does it, but he's a hilariously funny bloke.

'in the old testament, they all had big long beards and stuff, but primarily big long beards. and they're wandering round the desert, always on the lookout for commandments and (here he goes into character, speaking as the first person)
"oh look there's a burning bush. i'll just go and talk to it. oh no, my beard's on fire, help". and dogs, too, all with big long beards saying:
"woof, woof, and i say to you: i want a biscuit."
"but hang on a sec, you've just nicked a biscuit from there."
"yeah, but look at what mankind has done: started wars, committed atrocities, killed millions of people. and you have the nerve to tell me off for taking one biscuit?
"fair enough, have the biscuit. in fact, have another, i'm sorry."'

There are a few very brilliant comedies of British origin. But "highpoint and the envy of world comedy?" That's a rather large pill to swallow, I'll need another gallon of water to wash it down.

So far everything that has been mentioned is television. Television comedy in the US is watered down so that it offends nobody, which is why it is mediocre. The FOX network broke ground because they quit doing that, with the shows 'The Simpsons' and 'Married With Children,' both of which are maddeningly funny.

But in the cinema is where we shine. 'Dumb and Dumber.' 'Something About Mary.' 'Mystery Men.' These are all uproariously funny films that have been released rather recently. The only British competitor: 'Mr. Bean.' I find his shows amusing, but I don't think I could take 90 minutes of him, so I passed on that one. Looks like a lot of Americans felt the same way.

In slight defence of my country's cinema, the USA takes movies much more seriously than we do, and have appropriate mechanisms in place for producing quality films. Although mostly the mechanisms are mis-used, you must admit.

In England, we had the industry at one point, and quite productive it was too, but we broke it, and lost all the bits to fix it, so we put it in a drawer for later on.

On Mr. Bean, I couldn't cope with 90mins of him either. I can only cope with 30 if I've got the remote so I can watch something else at the same time. (A really irritating habit for anyone trying to watch the same tv, I know)

H&K
Z

Howard Stern, the King of All Media.

If you don't think that somebody who has a woman eat carrots from between a man's buttocks so she can win a free beast augmentation is irony, then I don't know what is.

The Traveller
ISO-9001 Certified

Wait a minute. Now, I will give you Monty Python. Very funny bunch of guys. Fawtly Towers? Also very funny (this may just be a John Cleese thing, however). But before you get all high-and-mighty, before you put on a "funnier-than-thou" sort of air, let's examine a few doozies that Great Britain has come up with:

Hugh Grant: The most UN-funny man I have ever seen. Maybe you can tell me, is looking confused and mumbling really the basis for an entire career in England?

Keeping up Appearances: Another bunch of mumblers. From watching this, one could start to think that all there is to writing a funny show is to use the same old, hackneyed, tired fish-out-of-water gag over and over again.

Benny Hill: I realize I may be profaning a sacred institution here, but an old fat man running around saying "Ooops, she saw me bum!" just doesn't do it for me.

I'm sure there are others. Any other Yanks want to help me out here?

The Traveller
ISO-9001 Certified

I rather prefer One Foot in the Grave to Keeping up Appearances.

Think of Jim Carrey for a minute. Then we'll talk about unfunny British film stars. Oh and are you seriously telling me that you didn't piss yourself laughing at Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and The Full Monty?

Lock Stock: never heard of it

Two Smoking Barrels: never heard of it

Full Monty: I make it a rule to avoid movies with naked fat dudes.

You are picking on the unfunniest of british shows when you talk about Keeping up Appearances and as for Benny Hill he hasn't had a show in the UK for 15 or 20 years. No one ever said Hugh Grant was a funny man I think the majority of brits will agree with you about him. I think he found fame in Hollywood. Funny shows in the UK are The Adam & Paul Show, Fast Eddie, The Big Breakfast, & Drop the Dead Donkey. Unfortunatly the latter ended about two years ago but I catch the reruns when I can. Oh we musn't forget Ab Fab (sadly defunct now) but we have The Vicar of Dibley to make up for it.

French and Saunders are not funny. Both were good in the Comic Strip, years ago, and Saunders was hilarious in AbFab. Together? Just not funny, I'm afraid. I can't cope with vicar of dribbly, far too old hat for me.

BTW, does anybody else get a very strong sense of deja vu in this forum?

H&K
Z

We brits know there are loads of good US shows really. Like Dream On, There are probably loads that we never get to see, It is allways the commercial crap that seems to cross the pond both ways. the funny stuff seems to be shown on some obscure channel at about 2.am