COMMENTS:
I don't know the names of half the British shows I watch, but I love the fact that they're not afraid to take chances and push the envelope when they feel like it. From the insanely hilarious "Monty Python's Flying Circus" to the comforting comedy "As Time Goes By", there are so many I enjoy in between.
i don't see how it's different from any other kind of humour. maybe it's just an american thing.
then you don't really get it
Most of the time I do. I watch a lot of it.
Voted : Yes, I Love British Humor
I British humor. What I don't get is SNL-type humor.
Voted : I Can Take It Or Leave It
But, I don't always 'get' it. crikey!
Voted : Yes, I Love British Humor
Almost as much as I fancy a bit of how's your father? 
Voted : Yes, I Love British Humor
"Black Adder Goes Forth", "The Vicar of Dibley", "Red Dwarf", "Coupling"- let me stop. I've got to breathe.
can somebody explain the difference?
^British comedies are extremely diverse, whether it's about a tiny group of people left drifting on a giant mining ship, about a character which spans the ages, about priests which live on a small remote island, or about a hotel owner, rarely are two British comedies the same.
However many many American comedies seem to follow the safe "Friends" approach of a family. American humour is great in places, but many seem to be very similar.
Also you don't seem to get very many American sketch or panel shows, whereas there's tons of British ones.
lemming the tv show Friends is not even considered comedy in the US. If you want to see what is called American comedy look up Dane Cook, Lewis Black, Pablo Francisco, and Ron White. You can find them on youtube. They are brutal, quick, vulgar and very funny.
^Done. British comedy is around 10x funnier. Look up Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connelly, John Thomson, Paul Whitehouse, Simon Day, Steve Coogan, Phil Cornwell, Alan Davies, Ben Elton, Bill Bailey, Harry Hill, Eddie Izzard, Peter Kay, Rik Mayall, Paul Merton, Andrew Maxwell, Jason Manford, Chris Morris, Lee Evans, Graham Norton, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Ross Noble, Mackenzie Crook, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker, Dave Gorman, Ardal O’Hanlon, Jack Dee, David Baddiel, Ricky Gervais, Mark Steel, Shaun Lock, Mark Lamarr, Jonathan Ross, Phil Jupitus, Sasha Baron Cohen, Jasper Carrott, Russel Howard, Andy Parsons, Hugh Dennis, Ian Stone, Matt Watson, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Roy Brown, Johnny Vegas, Avid Merrion, Frankie Boyle, Frank Skinner, Dermot Morgan, Lenny Henry, Matt Lucas, Al Murray, Jim Davidson for true comedy.
Besides you can't deny that a huge amount of US comedies follow the Friends concept.
^Balls, forgot Mark Willaims. I'm sure I've forgotten many others. Ah well.
No actually I can deny it considering it is a tv show not comedy. What is that a list of all the British comedians in history?
^You can deny it, but with absolutely no credibility whatsoever. It's true, the proof is there.
And no, just good comedians I can think of atm. I love my comedy if you haven't noticed.
I love British and American humour. They're both fucking hilarious and I disagree slightly with Lemming that Brit comedies are 10 times funnier.
America has some great comedies like Frazier and The Simpsons - as funny as anything I've ever seen.
As far as Britain goes I love a bit of Blackadder or the better episodes of Only Fools and Horses.
Trig eh? What a character he is, mysteriously calling Rodney 'Dave' all the time amongst other oddball traits haha!
I do find American comedy hilarious at times. SCrubs and Family Guy are among my all time favs, and shows like Cheers and 3rd Rock From the Sun were great, if not all-time classics.
But I personally find that, overall, British comedy is far better. While there are many amazing US comedy shows out there, there are FAR more great British shows. Plus, there are an embarrassing amount of poor-quality US shows, more than there are poor British shows. I mean, OK, so we gave the world the terrible Catherine Tate Show and Bo Selecta, but the US gave the world... *shudder* Married With Children. Don't Google that, it's bad enough to make Gandhi scratch out a nun's eyes.
Plus I don't really find US standup funny, whereas people like Ricky Gervais, Bill Bailey, Jack Dee and Harry Hill have me in stitches the whole time.
(also when I said British comedy is 10x funnier, I actually meant standup, something I still stand by. Should've been more specific I suppose.)
damnit lemming that is not comedy those are tv shows. I am talking about stand up
and US stand up is very funny, I don't think you have even seen the people who I am talking about. I am not saying British standup isn't funny, it is but you seem to be at a loss
I like both American and British. I was watching Eddie Izzard a couple of nights ago, very funny guy.
USRocks, notice how I was responding to Kishkumen, not you. he thought I was saying that US comedy (because TV shows are comedy as well you know) was vastly inferior to British comedy. It isn't, in many places it is amazing.
But personally I don't like US standup. British all the way for me in standup. But you're right, maybe I am missing out on some greats, but that's just me.
u like the show whose line..not to change the subject or anything
Voted : Yes, I Love British Humor
I think British humour is better than US comedy, that is my personal opinion. I just find that American comedy a little... predictable, the tv shows anyway, and British comedy is quite subtle and focus on a lot of word play whilst US comedy tends to go for the 'hit you in the face with a wet fish' technique as i call it. I'd just like to go through a few:
Red Dwarf... Absulute classic with out a doubt, you can't help but love the characters because they are so different from eachother, they balance eachother out so well that you just can't afford to lose one of them because they work so well.
Billy Connally... He is by far (in my opinion of course) the best stand up comedian of all time, he has me in stitches every time i watch him, an absulute legend.
With all the success of British comedy Britain has made two of the worst comedys of all time: :shudder:
The Catherine Tate Show
&
Little Britain :Screams!:
Two very, very bad attempts at Monty Python style comedy that brings itself down to the level of mocking and descriminating against those most vunerable (the overweight, ethnic minorities, the old and the disabled etc) just to get a few cheap laughs.
Things like Friends are comedys in themselves but i don't find friends funny (predictable) and the simpsons was funny when i was 12 but not now. Having said that the US has made very good and classic comedys and their stand up is up there with the top 3 in the world.
^I'm surprised that you said Little Britain was worse than Bo Selecta. OK, Little Brtain series 2+ were utter cack, but Bo Selecta! That show is the definition of turd. At least LB had a few laughs in it, Bo Selecta is utter piss.
Also, Little Miss Jocelyn is actually 100x worse than almost any other show, I'd rather watch Married With Children than that again... and if you've seen MwC, you'll know that that REALLY is saying something.
No i haven't seen Married with Children to be honest.
I only watched one episode of Bo Selecta and it was utter shit but i think LB is worse because of the way they try to get their laughs by utturelly discriminating against almost all minorities. For example for those who haven't seen it. (I don't know the names of the characters so bare with me).
Andy and luo: Some guy in a wheel chair who always gets out and walks about. To me they are suggesting that people in wheelchairs are just lazy.
Fat fighters: A 'kill two birds with one stone' sketch, take the piss out of the fat by saying they eat to much and mock an Indian woman saying that she is unaudable over her accent and only eats Teca masala(the fact that teca masala is British completely alludes them in the sketch).
Some guy fancying a granny: It is just sick that is all i can say really.
LB series 1 was good but they just over stepped the mark completely in the later series.
A quote by Johann Hari.
"Little Britain has been a vehicle for two rich kids to make themselves into multi-millionaires by mocking the weakest people in Britain. Their targets are almost invariably the easiest, cheapest groups to mock: the disabled, poor, elderly, gay or fat. In one fell swoop, they have demolished protections against mocking the weak that took decades to build up."
I also do like comedy that discriminates but LB takes it way to far.
^That's all true, but I still think the Scottish guy with the flute is a classic sketch. There's some gold in the first series... but 2nd series is just disgusting.
"I just find that American comedy a little... predictable, the tv shows anyway, and British comedy is quite subtle and focus on a lot of word play whilst US comedy tends to go for the 'hit you in the face with a wet fish' technique as i call it."
"Billy Connally... He is by far (in my opinion of course) the best stand up comedian of all time, he has me in stitches every time i watch him, an absulute legend."
"Things like Friends are comedys in themselves but i don't find friends funny (predictable) and the simpsons was funny when i was 12 but not now."
by spartan001 on Fri Mar 09, 07 12:46pm
Spartan my friend. You stopped watching The Simpsons at 12 (did you get the gags??) yet you appreciate subtle comedy and adore Billy Connolly who must be one of the most brainless, unfunny 'comedians' out there?! Quite extraordinary.
Kudos on Red Dwarf though (classic!) and I LOVED the young bloke fancying the old woman in Little Britain! What was wrong with that?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
|
