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

Two words????? eh! Are you mad. "Howard Stern the king of all media"
7 words, 7 words, 7 words!!!!!!!!!!!! . I guess American education isn't up to much either. As for the comedy. It's all about personal preference! I prefer stand up comedy to situation comedy and it has to be said that where ever you go in the world you will find good stand up!

The best comedy in the world ever is not something you will ever hear on the TV, the radio, on video, cassette, dvd, cable etc. The best comedy in the world comes from those drunken nights at the local bar with your best mates. You know what I mean.....those moments when it hurts to laugh any harder!!!!.

I'm sure Bill Gates smiles a lot. All the way to the bank, along with every so-called comedian who sells their soul for a slice of the dollar, or whatever other currency. If you think that selling yourself in a marketplace is funny, then go ahead and laugh. If American comedy fails in any way, it's because the people who promote and distribute it have their unwavering eyes on the profit and homogenise their "products" to avoid alienating a sizable chunk of their potential buyers.
Isn't it frightnening to know that the majority just accept it?

Just along for the Ride? Viva Bill Hicks!

Non Sequiter Theater ! I love it.Linux or Mac may suit you.

Strange how humour considered 'great' in the US always involves farce and slapstick.
Benny Hill was funny, as is being hit on the head with a frying pan.

I'm sure the UK has some much more rewarding and thoughtful humour.
Can't think of any right now though

Sorry to nit-pik, but you forgot the commercial breaks.

A typical example of an unfunny American, taking their country far too seriously.... Please don't nuke me!!!

I think Americans are very funny. Every time I see one I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!

British comedy starting to go down the drain though, simply because it's trying to be American (no offence). No one seems prepared to take risks anymore, and risk is what's brought some of the greatest works of comic genius. Today, no one in their right mind would think of giving a bunch of university students a sketch show at nine o'clock on BBC2 in which hedgehogs get squashed under princess Anne's tyres, or where people piss in phone boxes, and yet without it we might never have heard of Smith and Jones, Rowan Atkinson, Ricahard Curtis... Try and imagine a world without "Blackadder"...

I would say that "the fast show", "Goodness gracious me" and "the league of gentlemen" are pretty off-the-wall stuff which are all comparable to both Monty Python and Not the 9-Oclock news, so I don't agree that British comedy is becoming blander.

You've got a point there... damn.

I think I was referring to "Babes in the Wood", "Dotcomedy" and that ilk. The thing with the Fast Show and Goodness Gracious Me is that in a way they were already proven - Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson were already reasonably accomplished writers, writing for Harry Enfield's "Stavros" character, etc., whilst Goodness Gracious Me had already been a great success on Radio 4. Radio seems to be the most promising ground for new comedy at the moment; risks are still taken - and from these some of the BBC's most successful television items have been derived (see "Alan Partridge").

I like radio comedy. As you may have noticed, I also think it's a window of opportitunity - this is why I am bombarding the BBC with rather poor radio sitcoms...

I agree totally with this - if something isn't funny on radio, it won't be on television, on the whole. The only pity is that here (Dublin) radio comedy is limited to impersenations of Japp Stam and/or Charlie Haughey...

None of this is fair. I wasn't even going to say anything since this conversation is over a year old, but what the heck. I think it's a stupid topic, however I also thought that the very first person who contested it was just adding to the cycle. You can't say that any one country has constituents who are one way or another. Alot of people think British people are stuffy. I don't. Canada actually has a greater track record of comedic exports than any of the other countries, in my humble opinion. Kids in the Hall, all the wonderful people from Second City (John Candy, Rick Moranis, Dan Ackroyd, the list goes on and on) Mike Meyers and more than I can even think of. Just as I'm sure there are funny Mexican people,funny Icelandic people, funny Swedish people...Okay, so can this topic stop?

Thanks. I feel so well esteemed right now.

I thought the vein into which we had drifted was an unilateral decline in the quality of humour. I'll not dispute that some good comedians have come out of Canada (although Mike Myers himself has attributed much of his comic inspiration to British sources - eg. Monty Python, as well as his parents), or even from the USA; the thing is, that an awful lot of crap has come out of them too. Fair enough, in my opinion an awful lot of crap is coming out of the UK at the moment, for reasons I've already discussed. I suppose the fact that a disproportionate amount of the crap comes from the USA could be attributed to the fact the industry there is so much larger, and (gasp) perhaps even because of the industry's general dumbing-down of the product. I can't speak for most instances, but I know that in the UK at least there is a sense of putting American culture on a pedestal, eg. after the release of "Friends" (not dire, but getting worse in later series), a great deal of writers started churning out "Friends Transplanted To Fashionable London" scripts. It happens everywhere; anyone looking at the bestsellers stands in the aftermath of "Bridget Jones" could see it - there are Fielding clones all over the place at the moment.

I think I rambled a bit there. I've confused myself now. Basically, I've got nothing against US comedy... okay, well I've got rather a lot of objections, but I can get around them by just choosing not to watch them... Third Rock I liked, ditto The Simpsons and Mike Judge. But even so, this just proves my original point - lack of originality! Television companies, radio, please take the odd risk...

No offence.

I would not own a television here in Canada if it were not for the Simpsons, and if I could not watch old Blackadder, etc. on the "Arts" and "Education" stations (ie. stuff that is less crap and usually is produced in Britain and outside of English speaking North America). Quebec produces a lot of good video and film entertainment fortunately - but it's mostly in French.

I think that all these so called new US TV comedies are manufactured by a new computer software product - Microsoft Lobotomy 2000 - also offered in the Orifice 2000 package, for professional TV screenplay writers in Los Angeles.

I have my SW radio ready to receive BBC world service at home, and I can get Radio 4 of the internet. What's worth listening to?

The standard comedy slot on Radio 4 is at 6.30pm; they have some great stuff on - "the Alan Davies Show" was on a while back; okay, so the title character was called Alan and it bore some resemblance to "Seinfeld", but it was better than a lot of the crap on TV. "Hitch-hiker's" was repeated too.

Listen to the panel games... and the plays... but for God's sake, don't listen to "the Archers"...

I think my grandparents listened to the Archers. At least my parents did. I never had/would. I hope these shows at 6:30 are on the weekends, otherwise I will have to sneak away from work to log onto www.bbc.co.uk and try to catch a live broadcast.

I heard the H2G2 series on the BBC when it first came out. The TV series did it service, I believe - it was well done, although of course the radio series had far more detail - and for those whose imaginations have not atrophied from watching Friends and the such, quite descriptive and wonderful (as was the book, as it was pretty much the radio script I understand).

Seinfeld used to be on here every Thursday night. I used to watch television on Thursday night. "What's with the television shows these days?" (attempt at a Seinfeldism).

There is actually a new show which is not half bad for the post internet/literate/etc. society mass media - "Malcolm in the Middle" - It has been kicking around in the US and Canada over the last year. It is about a family with 4 boys - 1 in military school and the rest living with their worn down parents - The mother scares everyone into cooperating and the father never appears to be bothered to much about things. Good characters.George's parents on Seinfeld are far funnier though.

We unfortunately do not get many nw UK shows. I think most people here don't understand them - or for some other reason they have to be dubbed or modified to suit US tastes. I remember my suprise first seeing Monty Python on US TV with a laugh track in the 80s.

what!i was taught in grade school that the u.s. was the mixing pot all humour was that just another government lie?

Yes.