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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: No fun please we're British
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rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
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Posted
People have sometimes said to me "You don't know how to enjoy yourself". Something I don't take as an insult because there's probably some truth in it.
However I awoke this morning with the wider feeling that maybe it's a cultural thing, British to be more precise. It was triggered by a news item about the unexpected success of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London. I weighed this against the flop of the Millenium Dome and thought to myself -- is there something going on here?
The same thought occurs to me some mornings when putting our new radio on. For some reason it automatically tunes in to an Asian channel first, so I soon change it to Radio 2. There also I briefly find a comparison between something essentially lively as opposed to something slightly dour.
Then there's Britain and it's rather more reserved approach to charismatic worship than, say the US.
In fact there's quite a lot of evidence to support the British problem with 'letting go', although I'm sure there's also plenty to the contrary.
Coming back to WW1, and going a bit Black Adder, even the Germans were the first to initiate fraternization on the Western Front.
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Change is the only certainty of existence
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
You never met my mother, then. ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
I suspect it might be that the middle classes trying to be more like the upper classes and their famed "keep a stiff upper lip" and be an example to the servants.
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Even more so than I was before
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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967
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Posted
It's rather the case that Britishness (but not so much the multicultural variety) seems to require copious amounts of alcohol for true enjoyment to be achieved.
Posts: 6668 | From: UK | Registered: Feb 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by rolyn:
It was triggered by a news item about the unexpected success of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London. I weighed this against the flop of the Millenium Dome
In that case it's the difference between an individual creative idea, tapping into and drawing out a collective response to a profound tragedy - and a vacuous puffball of a project designed (doubtless by committee) to try and project an image people knew and felt to unreal. One was art, the other propaganda.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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justlooking
Shipmate
# 12079
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Posted
It may just be a different understanding of 'fun'. The weather has a lot to do with it. I can recall seeing pensioners in the 1960's sitting on deckchairs on Morecambe beach, wrapped up in warm coats and 'pacamacs' with thermos flasks at their side, resolutely enjoying themselves in the bracing air and light drizzle. Now I'm at that age I can understand.
[ 08. November 2014, 12:21: Message edited by: justlooking ]
Posts: 2319 | From: thither and yon | Registered: Nov 2006
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
I reckon the Brits have the best sense of humour. They are quite singular in being able to laugh at themselves quite happily.
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I think we do know how to have fun, but it might be a different sort of fun to others. The British sense of humour has always been something subtle, understated. This is one reason that British comedy tends not to export very well.
Monty Python is an interesting example. It has exported well, all across the world, but that is a lot of the humour in them that other cultures cannot understand. The fish-slapping sketch, which is funny whatever, but to really appreciate the sketch, you need some cultural background. Without an understanding of things like Morris Dancing, it is merely hitting people with fish.
So I think we do know how to have fun. It just might not look the same as others.
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justlooking
Shipmate
# 12079
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
...Monty Python is an interesting example. It has exported well, all across the world, but that is a lot of the humour in them that other cultures cannot understand. The fish-slapping sketch, which is funny whatever, but to really appreciate the sketch, you need some cultural background. Without an understanding of things like Morris Dancing, it is merely hitting people with fish.....
I like the 'self-defence against fresh fruit' sketch. The concept of defence against an assailant armed with a piece of fruit must be understandable in any culture. Just brilliant!
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Mudfrog
Shipmate
# 8116
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Posted
Stand a Brit next to a German and you'll soon see who has the sense of humour.
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G.K. Chesterton
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I think we do know how to have fun, but it might be a different sort of fun to others. The British sense of humour has always been something subtle, understated. This is one reason that British comedy tends not to export very well.
I think it exports very well. I sometimes think I was English in a previous life*, partly because I find English television, movies, books, etc., much funnier than anything in the U.S. Many of my friends also prefer English comedy.
(*I don't really believe in reincarnation, but if I did...)
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
I reckon the Brits have the best sense of humour. They are quite singular in being able to laugh at themselves quite happily.
I think that is absolutely true. We can laugh at ourselves like nobody.
There again, look at our political leaders, and we need to.
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
I love the British sense of humour which is so clever. I loathe the custard pie throwing type of humour and don't find it remotely funny.
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I love the British sense of humour which is so clever. I loathe the custard pie throwing type of humour and don't find it remotely funny.
Yeah, well, I'll take The Three Stooges over "I **** your granddaughter" any day of the week.
[ 08. November 2014, 16:38: Message edited by: Stetson ]
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Stetson:
Yeah, well, I'll take The Three Stooges over "I **** your granddaughter" any day of the week.
Dinna cash yersel Stetson. A lot of us don't think Russell Brand is very funny either. He gives the impression that he thinks being rude, facile and uncouth somehow gets you by so that people won't notice you've actually had a sense of humour bypass.
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Enoch wrote:
quote:
He gives the impression that he thinks being rude, facile and uncouth somehow gets you by so that people won't notice you've actually had a sense of humour bypass.
Yeah, something I'be noticed about a lot of that real-life shock humour, is that it doesn't really live up to its own billing, ie. the targets don't even seem shocked.
Like, this prank by the Canadian comic Tom Green. There's nothing particularly funny about his parents' reaction to the pornography on their car, they're about as annoyed as you would expect them to be.
And I think it was Christopher Hitchens who pointed out that the most notable thing about the Borat movie was how polite some of his targets were. Like, the scene where he goes into the Confederate memorabilia shop, starts smashing up the merchandise, and the owner just stands there watching, and then says "Well, I guess I'll have to charge you for that."
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
quote:
Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious
Well, except that in the case of Fawlty and(pretty much extrapolating from Archie Bunker here) Garnett, the intention was for the audience to laugh AT the characters.
Chaplin's Little Tramp would be an example of an underdog character you're supposed to root for, and laugh with. Again, extrapolating from Sanford And Son, I'd say that's probably true about Steptoe as well.
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
These are all TV characters from a different era, though. Do you think there would be much humorous potential in losers like these on today's TV?
Posts: 6668 | From: UK | Registered: Feb 2012
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
(This is a follow-up to my own previous post)
Also...
quote:
Basil Fawlty
I'm not sure I would call Basil an underdog. In terms of social status, he's a relatively priviliged individual, and in fact tries to identify himself with the most "respectable" idea of Englishness, as witnessed, for example, by his dislike of foreigners and the working class.
The humour is not that he's an underdog in the way that Chaplin or Steptoe were, just that he's a major screw-up at everything he does.
[ 08. November 2014, 19:31: Message edited by: Stetson ]
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I have the power...Lucifer is lord!
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
These are all TV characters from a different era, though. Do you think there would be much humorous potential in losers like these on today's TV?
Well, for more up,to date stuff, I could list most of the Little Britain characters. Then there's Rev who, although not a loser as such, is funny because he's always being dumped on.
[ 08. November 2014, 19:38: Message edited by: Spike ]
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
These are all TV characters from a different era, though. Do you think there would be much humorous potential in losers like these on today's TV?
Lee in Not Going Out, most of the cast of The IT Crowd, Mr. Khan in Citizen Khan.....
I would not put Alf Garnett or Archie Bunker in quite the same category as the others.
Stetson, Basil is a "loser" in that nothing he does goes quite right.
ISTM, self-depreciation is a bit more pronounced in British humour, but is well present in American humour as well.
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Hallellou, hallellou
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Bib, much slapstick is extremely sophisticated. See Paul Merton's documentaries on silent comedies.
Enoch and Stetson - you may not find him funny, but Brand is extremely intelligent, has survived and conquered severe heroin addiction, and is a very good writer. Comedy is personal taste, but there's no need to be rude about an individual is there? You've not lived in his shoes.
As it happens, I was listening to the Andrew Sachs incident live as I was a fan of Brand's Radio 2 show, and it was much funnier IRL. On the night it actually only got 2 or 3 complaints by the way - the furore only started when the Daily Heil got hold of it. So clearly those who actually listened to it did not find it too offensive.
[ 08. November 2014, 20:05: Message edited by: Pomona ]
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
Spike
Some people have complained about the fairly privileged cast of 'Little Britain' making fun of the working classes. That doesn't appear to have been an issue with the earlier sitcoms.
I suppose I remain to be convinced that modern Britain is sufficiently at ease with itself to spend too much time laughing at or with losers....
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I love the British sense of humour which is so clever. I loathe the custard pie throwing type of humour and don't find it remotely funny.
Custard pie throwing is also part of the British sense of humour. But not angrily - as in the people who make political points form it. It is about challenging pomposity in a character whom we are not expected to like.
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Blog
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Lord may all my hard times be healing times
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pomona:
As it happens, I was listening to the Andrew Sachs incident live as I was a fan of Brand's Radio 2 show, and it was much funnier IRL. On the night it actually only got 2 or 3 complaints by the way - the furore only started when the Daily Heil got hold of it. So clearly those who actually listened to it did not find it too offensive.
Well, what do you know. People who like Russell Brand listen to his program and those same people aren't especially disposed to complain about him.
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(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pomona:
... Enoch and Stetson - you may not find him funny, but Brand is extremely intelligent, has survived and conquered severe heroin addiction, and is a very good writer. Comedy is personal taste, but there's no need to be rude about an individual is there? You've not lived in his shoes. ...
Pomona, I recognise that Russell Brand has personal issues of his own to contend with. I said on the 'Russell Brand: Mayor of London' thread,
quote:
Sad though this man's childhood was, and one can feel sympathetic and all that, as an adult, he shows no signs of having developed any worthwhile qualities or even any aspiration to do so. Even as a comedian, he doesn't manage to be funny.
I don't follow the man, but as it happens, since the Mayor issue arose, I did happen to hear him as one of the talking heads wheeled out on an R4 programme. Having commented on him, I thought I'd better listen. Yes, when it comes to comedy, personal taste has a bearing on whether we find someone funny, amusing or even interesting. It's also possible that age has a bearing on this. But as far as I'm concerned, I stand by what I said.
As a comedian, he doesn't manage to be funny, and as a political commentator, he's juvenile and facile.
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
Actually I prefer the other Brand, Jo. (I know there is yet another as well). She is (or rather the characters she plays are) the archetypal losers. Brilliant was Getting On, the NHS-set sitcom in which she was the caring but slobbish and put-upon lowest-grade nurse.
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pomona:
So clearly those who actually listened to it did not find it too offensive.
Andrew and Melody Sachs quite clearly found it profoundly offensive, which is the point. It's really not relevant whether the people who habitually listen to the radio show in question found it offensive or not - that might be interesting from the point of view of whether offences under the Broadcasting Act were committed and so on, but it's irrelevant to questions about the character of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Actually I prefer the other Brand, Jo. (I know there is yet another as well). She is (or rather the characters she plays are) the archetypal losers. Brilliant was Getting On, the NHS-set sitcom in which she was the caring but slobbish and put-upon lowest-grade nurse.
She used to be a psychiatric nurse irl.
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Dog Activity Monitor
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Actually I prefer the other Brand, Jo. (I know there is yet another as well). She is (or rather the characters she plays are) the archetypal losers. Brilliant was Getting On, the NHS-set sitcom in which she was the caring but slobbish and put-upon lowest-grade nurse.
I agree. I really enjoyed that series. Vicki Pepperdine, and Joanna Scanlan were also very good in it, as they were as their cameo double act in Rev.
Incidentally both those series demonstrate the best sort of sit-com in that it is the situation itself and the way it is handled that is the comedy.
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Getting On was superb, and, as has been said, epitomised something of British humour. They were seeing the situations and finding the humour in the situation, rather than, as some comedy does, making the situations deliberately exceptional and comic. I do think M.A.S.H. did manage something similar - the humour was found in the situations, not introduced.
I think we do find the absurd in situations. We find the absurd in our own situations. We have fun in our own way, sitting on freezing beaches, or ridiculing ourselves. Such a lot of comedy and fun actually involves ridiculing others.
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Blog
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Lord may all my hard times be healing times
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Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
I think we do find the absurd in situations. We find the absurd in our own situations. We have fun in our own way, sitting on freezing beaches, or ridiculing ourselves. Such a lot of comedy and fun actually involves ridiculing others.
It's true the British humour involves a certain level of gentle piss-taking. Remember when David Bliane suspended himself in a box with no food for a month? He memory that has always stuck with me was the person who used a remote control helicopter to dangle a cheeseburger in fron of him. I remember thinking at the time "only in Britain..."
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
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goperryrevs
Shipmtae
# 13504
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
These are all TV characters from a different era, though. Do you think there would be much humorous potential in losers like these on today's TV?
Alan Partridge is still going strong.
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"Keep your eye on the donut, not on the hole." - David Lynch
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
Mr Partridge is an idiot, but is he a loser?
These things are all relative, I suppose. It depends on who's looking, and how successful their life is!
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by goperryrevs:
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
These are all TV characters from a different era, though. Do you think there would be much humorous potential in losers like these on today's TV?
Alan Partridge is still going strong.
Count Arthur Strong is a five-star, fur-lined, ocean-going loser. He's on BBC 2 now but started on Radio 4, also home to Ed Reardon (fictional writer) and Dave Podmore (fictional cricketer) both all-time losers. Half the principal characters of Cabin Pressure, which could never have been done anywhere else on earth, are losers.
The breed is alive and well, if not so common on TV. Not in sit-coms anyway.
[ 09. November 2014, 13:45: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]
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(Paul Sinha, BBC)
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
Schroedinger's Cat wrote:
quote:
Custard pie throwing is also part of the British sense of humour. But not angrily - as in the people who make political points form it.
One of these days, a political pie-tosser is gonna hit someone with an allergy or a weak heart, and find out just how useless the "C'mon man, lighten up!" defense is in a manslaughter case.
[ 09. November 2014, 13:48: Message edited by: Stetson ]
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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goperryrevs
Shipmtae
# 13504
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
Mr Partridge is an idiot, but is he a loser?
These things are all relative, I suppose. It depends on who's looking, and how successful their life is!
His chat show gets cancelled, his marriage breaks up, his book gets pulped. Any success he has is usually short-lived (mainly because he is an idiot). So very much in the vein of Basil Fawlty and others like him. Another more obvious example of a contemporary loser/idiot protagonist would be The Office's David Brent.
Yeah, it's not quite the same as the loser/hero. For more contemporary examples of that, I submit Spaced, where the protagonists are a wannabe (unsuccessful) writer and a comic-book geek who's just been dumped by his girlfriend, and the IT crowd - oh, and the Inbetweeners too. Geek-loser-hero has been a very successful narrative in the UK and in the US over the last decade. And what about Skins and Misfits, for chav/loser/hero comedy?
I'd say the genre's going pretty strong.
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goperryrevs
Shipmtae
# 13504
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Posted
(And The League of Gentlemen had a large number of loser characters in their repertoire too)
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"Keep your eye on the donut, not on the hole." - David Lynch
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
I'm not a big follower of the modern ones, I have to admit. But many of them seem rather middle class to me, although there are exceptions. Very male too. And men dressing up as women is somehow more amusing than women dressing up as men.
Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic! With the older ones you could watch them and laugh with your family, but the newer ones seem to have more of a niche appeal.
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mark_in_manchester
not waving, but...
# 15978
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Posted
Sioni Said ( ![[Smile]](smile.gif) )
quote:
Count Arthur Strong is a five-star, fur-lined, ocean-going loser. He's on BBC 2 now but started on Radio 4, also home to Ed Reardon (fictional writer) and Dave Podmore (fictional cricketer) both all-time losers. Half the principal characters of Cabin Pressure, which could never have been done anywhere else on earth, are losers.
I found Arthur Strong a bit hard to listen to, but Cabin Pressure is good and Ed Reardon is brilliant. Reminds me - I must ask for whatever has taken the place of box sets of tapes, of Ed Reardon's Week, for Christmas.
Before we get too self-congratulatory, I find some US humour outdoes us in what we might otherwise be tempted to group as some kind of dry, 'British' style - The Onion being my favourite example.
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"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)
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mark_in_manchester
not waving, but...
# 15978
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Posted
Oh - and to add - talking of classic British comedy losers, there was a very funny drama about Willy Rushton collecting Hancock's ashes from Austalia where he died, on R4 last weekend. Well worth a listen if you can find it online.
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"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)
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goperryrevs
Shipmtae
# 13504
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
I'm not a big follower of the modern ones, I have to admit. But many of them seem rather middle class to me, although there are exceptions. Very male too. And men dressing up as women is somehow more amusing than women dressing up as men.
Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic! With the older ones you could watch them and laugh with your family, but the newer ones seem to have more of a niche appeal.
I think there's some truth to that. When you and I were kids there was just children's BBC / ITV. So the appeal of a lot of TV was family-oriented programming, rather than narrowing down to specific demographics. So comedy-wise it'd be universal viewing. Nowadays there are a lot more channels (inculding children's channels), and most programming targets specific demographics. Which means a lot of comedy is 15+ rating.
I think the gender thing is a bigger deal than the class thing (see Misfits and Skins above). It seems a lot harder for women to succeed in comedy than men. I find that frustrating, and tire of the panel show format where you have five men trying to out-vulgar each other, with one token woman who's usually just there as some eye-candy to laugh at the 'funny' men. But then, I prefer crafted comedy to spontaneous wit (unless it's Paul Merton).
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"Keep your eye on the donut, not on the hole." - David Lynch
Posts: 2098 | From: Midlands | Registered: Mar 2008
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by goperryrevs:
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
We certainly have a very self deprecating humour and favour the underdog. Look at some of the most successful and funniest British comedy characters - Basil Fawlty, Alf Garnett, Steptoe & Son and others - they're all losers yet we love them and they are hilarious.
These are all TV characters from a different era, though. Do you think there would be much humorous potential in losers like these on today's TV?
Alan Partridge is still going strong.
I blame Tony Hancock.
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by goperryrevs:
I think the gender thing is a bigger deal than the class thing (see Misfits and Skins above). It seems a lot harder for women to succeed in comedy than men. I find that frustrating, and tire of the panel show format where you have five men trying to out-vulgar each other, with one token woman who's usually just there as some eye-candy to laugh at the 'funny' men.
The best QI episodes usually are because of the contributions of Jo Brand Victoria Corren Mitchell or Sandi Toksvig (I know the last one is not British). The problem is fewer female commedians. The misogeny of comedy clubs could be the problem, preventing more women from breaking through.
Mel and Sue presenting Bake Off don't skimp on innuendo, vulgarity is not necessarily a male trait.
[code]
[ 09. November 2014, 18:34: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by SvitlanaV2:
I'm not a big follower of the modern ones, I have to admit. But many of them seem rather middle class to me, although there are exceptions. Very male too. And men dressing up as women is somehow more amusing than women dressing up as men.
Maybe I'm just the wrong demographic! With the older ones you could watch them and laugh with your family, but the newer ones seem to have more of a niche appeal.
That's because being female is transgressive and femininity is seen as shameful. I mean, do you never wonder why 'male' clothing is frequently made part of womenswear but not vice versa? And why dressing a boy in pink is usually a bigger deal than dressing a girl in blue? Feminised men are a bigger taboo, which gets translated as being funnier. It's why Viola crossdressing in Twelfth Night was funnier to Shakespeare's audiences - actors playing women was normal for all-male companies, but a woman dressed as a man was much more taboo.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Thinking about my favourite comedies/comedians (Russell Brand is not a favourite as such but I do like him), many seem to have Graham Linehan/Richard Ayoade/Noel Fielding involved - Father Ted, Black Books, The IT Crowd, Nathan Barley, The Mighty Boosh. I love Ross Noble and Bill Bailey for standup - especially Bill Bailey with his use of comedy music. Also, I love Miranda.
I agree that much comedy is very middle-class, although if it can laugh at itself for that then it comes across much better - I think Jack Whitehall is generally very good at poking fun at his poshness.
I generally prefer sitcoms to panel shows but I like Jon Richardson, David Mitchell, Lee Mack (much better on panel shows IMO) and Paul Merton. Merton did some excellent documentaries on silent comedy for BBC4 some years ago.
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Re dangers of pie throwing:
Yes, could definitely lead to a death. Throwers don't necessarily take the possibility of unknown health problems into account.
Years ago, a group of pie-throwing activists called the "Biotic Baking Brigade" decided to take on Willie Brown, San Francisco mayor, at an event.
Trouble was, they didn't know that the mayor had impaired vision in one eye--and they snuck up on him from that side. He was startled, and defended himself. Things escalated. I know they were arrested, but I don't remember how it turned out.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
... I find English television, movies, books, etc., much funnier than anything in the U.S. ...
That's because it Just Is. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
Seriously though, D. and I were watching a 20-year-old episode of As Time Goes By last night, laughing our heads off, and he said, "why can't the Americans make anything as funny as that?"
I agree with Evensong that we're good at laughing at ourselves (and our politicians and leaders), and with Schroedinger's Cat that there's a subtlety to British humour that doesn't always export well.
ISTM that the reason Benny Hill and Norman Wisdom (and later, Mr. Bean) were such a success abroad is that there's no presumed previous knowledge, no in-jokes and for the most part little script, so there's no linguistic barrier: the comedy is purely visual.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
As Time Goes By is considered quite weak by most fellow UK folks I know; I can think of US comedies that are funnier - Big Bang Theory springs to mind.
Mr Bean is more appreciated abroad than at home, I think; Rowan Atkinson was far stronger in Black Adder IMV.
But then I may have a strange sense of humour ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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