i find it shocking how few people have made the comparison between dropout and panel shows. I get americans not quite knowing what they are so missing the comparison (A lot of commentators have claimed that Dropout is completely brand new and never done before) but more Brits really needed to come out and make this comparison
WILTY relies you knowing the celebrities to some extent, as a lot if the comedy comes from playing siuations against their personalities. The size of the US may make this more difficult. Standups become mega stars too big for tv shows
US WILTY: This is Jane and I went to school with her. UK WILTY: Me and my friends once visited a witches house and there was a room and the only thing that was in it was a single miniature horse (true story)
US WILTY: "This is Julie, we lived in the same dorm in college" UK WILTY: "This is Mick, and for 6 months he was my sworn enemy. AND, and I want to make it clear, I HATE this child!"
And why that works is because the comedian then needs to improvise a whole story about Snooker Table Man, describe what he looks like, his personality, explain what inspired them to make the character, make up some story about attempts to sell the comic to other kids. And all those points can then be used to pivot to a different talking point. Like they could make some absurd statement like that they came up with the character while sleeping on a snooker table, then the conversation becomes about how they could afford a snooker table but not a bed. I don't make eye contact while road raging limits what they can talk about quite a lot.
US: I don't like it when people cut me off in traffic UK: For the past 15 years I have performed my own dentistry. I once accidentally bought a horse I was invited to Harry and Meghan's wedding but turned it down because I had to come here and do this I once spent the night in a bush wearing a dress I once caused a man an injury whilst trying to get another man to say vegetables For three weeks I was listed as a missing person by Interpol
The wedding story works so well because it highlights the genuine friendship between the three of them outside the show. David and Rob's reactions feel so authentic-David looks like he might cry, and Rob looks genuinely betrayed. When the story is revealed to be a lie, their relief is palpable, and their joy is so infectious. It’s clear they were ready to defend their friend if it were true, and that level of connection makes the humor hit so much harder. It’s a perfect example of how these shows thrive on real relationships and camaraderie. You can tell they genuinely hang out and have a rapport beyond the cameras. It’s similar to Taskmaster, where many contestants already know Greg Davies or have shared experiences with him. The prize tasks often include items stolen from Greg’s house, or contestants reference wild nights out together. Rhod Gilbert and Roisin Conaty being close friends with Greg adds a personal layer to their jokes, and Jon Richardson joking about buying Greg a schedule book because Greg bailed on plans with him is a great example of how these personal dynamics enhance the humor. What makes these moments shine is how they feel natural and human. The relationships are real, and that authenticity adds so much to the jokes and interactions. Hearing behind-the-scenes stories about the cast going out for drinks after filming or just chatting makes the shows even more relatable. This contrasts with the forced friendships and laughter you often see in American versions of similar shows. There’s something uniquely special about the way these British shows lean into genuine connections. It’s especially great when a guest on one show later hosts another and holds a playful grudge against their former host, flipping the dynamic. It all feels like a group of friends just messing around, and that’s what makes it so enjoyable. Alot of peaple mention drop out being a good example of American panel shows, and I think it's for the same reason, they are all friends already, and that makes it work
I’ve done things and had things happen to me that could have been things Bob Mortimer could have told on Would I Lie.. and I’ve told some of these on Reddit or Facebook, and it always just ends up with Americans saying I’m lying, so for me it’s very obvious why the stories on the US version of Would I lie was so lame.
@@aaakkk112our comedy all times greats are things like brass eye, Mitchell and Webb, Mortimer and reeves etc. the American mind can’t comprehend absurdity. With that being said people like Sam Hyde, norm macdonald(yes Canadian) Matt Mccusker exist over there but they’re rare gems.
Looks similar to the US taskmaster where the guests all look like they were chosen by a panel of boring network execs who wouldn’t know funny if it tickled them in the onions
There was a Nerdist podcast about a decade ago with Jimmy Carr as a special guest. He told a story on there about how he tried to sell an American remake of 8 out of 10 Cats, but the studio he pitched it to (I don't think he ever said which network it was) just couldn't get past the idea that the "contestants" wouldn't actually win anything at the end. They even expected a "play-off" at the end of the series. For whatever reason that network head just couldn't figure out that the show was just there to be fun. The idea of doing a show without someone winning anything at the end was completely foreign to them.
I think it comes down to a culture of risk management. A production in America cannot exist as a means to have a laugh amongst peers. The focus groups, previous results, immediate ratings, trends, are all taken seriously by TV companies, to the extent that anything leftfield has to be scripted to be "on-point" leftfield so that it can guarantee a known response and therefore advertiser security. Untamed banter that cuts too close to the edge presents unknowns, and so the managers and editorial controllers eliminate it and demand off-the-cuff humor that fits to a narrative.
@@roberthindle5146 I don't know how this show would've passed focus groups. It's a CW show, kinda the garbage child that Warner Bros lets do whatever. Realistically, it could've been a late night show like how Craig Ferguson used to just goof around for a hour but at the end of the day, WILTY wouldn't have survived with David, Lee, and Rob and who they chose for the US version don't even come close for a show's that essentially meant to be a 3 person talk show. Aasif Mandvi seems like a net zero choice when all the others are negative. I don't know who the Canadian lady is but the ginger dude from VEEP does not have enough charm to carry a show.
I think the biggest rule of a panel show is the points should never matter. Who wins should never matter, and anyone who takes the game to seriously should be intentionally sabotaged by the other players
I'm British, but I live in Asia in a community with a lot of Americans. A friend of mine from the UK was visiting, and he was hanging out with lots of Americans, and he said to me something which explains exactly why their panel shows fail. "They're alright people," he said, "but they've got no banter"
Exactly. The general American people are probably just as kind and courteous as anyone....but you can't take the p!ss out of them, and they CERTAINLY can't take the p!ss out of themselves.
It's true they only know how to be arrogant and offensive with their jokes it's never tongue and cheek it's always at your expense. The British on the other hand will take the piss knowing that you can easily hit them right back and allow that back and forth, without fail the Americans will make it personal or as if they are one upping you, they can't help it. They can't take a joke.
If we're talking about adapting panel shows, execs should absolutely look to Asia. I want to see a-list celebrities fight interns dressed as crabs while answering questions to help educate the public about new recycling laws
dropout tv is proof americans can do panel-ish shows when they just get funny people on and let them do their thing, without producers trying to control every aspect of it
Yep that is their issue the producers try to Americanise it when they actually get proper comics on it and let them just do their thing it's perfectly fine and that's what we do so well over here
Except that producers do meticulously control what they're supposed to: the prompts. Dropout writes the perfect prompts specifically for whoever's on the show. Every "writer" from US WILTY should be blackballed from showbiz.
The great thing about Gamechanger is that Sam Reiche *is* the CEO of the company and hosts the panel. Goes to show that when your company is run by people who can actually perform, it works wonders.
@@andrew66862 iit shouldn't have writers it should have a framework of the show which you tell the guests and that's about it the only writing that should get done is the little bit for the host
@@matthewgrist5234 well someone has to come up with the lies and write the cards. the lies on UK WILTY give the comedians something to work with, and often seem to be tailored specifically for the persona of the panelist (or at least that’s the case for the regulars and returning guests). the cards in the US version are just…nothing. no meat on the bone.
The X-factor that UK panel shows have, that the US ones can't have, is that the UK comedy circuit is tight-knit, intimate, and everyone knows everyone. It allows for so many well-known and popular (in the UK) comedians and personalities to banter and interact more naturally. In the US, all the big-name comedians are spread too far afield, don't all know each other as well, and are so branded that they wouldn't be able to make themselves look silly on TV. Not to mention, to get those big comedy names would cost far too much
This is one of the things that makes Dropout's comedy/panel shows work well, they're pretty much all members of the LA improv/stand up scenes and likely know each other. Especially on Dirty Laundry (quite close to WILTY) where they get groups of people who know each other (e.g. this week they had an episode the cast of Lower Decks)
And the ones who DO know each other are that tight-knit that they only seem to know how to talk to each other as buds & not putting on a show for the benefit of an audience. More like - they're catching up over a beer & the audience gets to watch a combination of opaque in-jokes & self-indulgence for half an hour.
It's deeper than that. Americans aren't good at conversation - whether in the pub, at the dinner table, or in the office. Hence their best comedy is in the form of specials where a comedian (George Carlin, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor) talks at an audience instead of talking to other comedians. UK comedians meanwhile can sit together in a group and be funny without interacting with the audience.
Dropout's shows are good examples of US 'panel shows'. Their show Dirty Laundry is a bit like WILTY, Make Some Noise is like Whose Line and Game Changer has a similar feel to Taskmaster.
I think what it just comes down to is the contestants having chemistry. British comedians seem to know each other well, and are a tight group, just like the former CollegeHumor comedians. It seems in the failed adaptations they just throw random people together which leads to bad shows.
@@roelliesafari9988I agree, and I think it’s americas problem with panel shows is that American is too big. Most comedians in the uk know each other or have some people they’re familiar with, it’s because they’re working the same circuits, they see each other perform and and chat in the pub afterwards, they’re supporting each others gigs and going to see their sets at Edinburgh fringe. In the US is hard to get that kind of chemistry, maybe in New York or Boston, where there’s a lot of comedians concentrated in the same area.I remember who’s line is it anyway working really well because they all knew each other and had great chemistry
This has the same problem that the US Taskmaster adaptation had. Americans seem to think banter just means ACTUALLY being mean to each OTHER rather than playfully joking.
Do you remember that one where the contestant just kept being mean to Alex? He genuinely looked disheartened and frustrated because this person wouldn't stop plainly insulting him and laughing it off.
Please don't confuse our television for our citizens, it will greatly distort your view of us. American pannel shows generally suck, I don't watch them either with the exception of dropout's stuff, but this is generally due to branding and over-meddlesome producers, not an inherent unfuniness in our character
as an american and a fairly die hard wilty fan, i avoided this like the plague. the clips in this are terribly uncomfortable. i'm really sorry on behalf of the nation.
😅 please don't be sorry, it's gratifying that our charm is appreciated and America outdo us in their own ways. You guys especially do sitcoms very well and your comedy movies made my childhood
As someone else pointed out in another comment, the problem isn't Americans, it's the industry that's crap. Fan made things like Would I lie to you Minnesota are good (apparently, Idk, I'm just quoting what they said).
It's completely and utterly incomprehensible to think that there are shows being made on your side of the pond that originated here in the UK, every single British show your country has remade has been utter dog shit. Shameless, Skins, The Inbetweeners WILTY, The Office and so many others, but I'm glad you recognise that this is the case. Therefore, your apology is accepted lol.
For a supposedly "free" country, they're awfully squeamish and prudish about what they can say on TV. This, coupled with their apparent inability to be humorously self-deprecating (preferring earnestness instead), may be the reason why they don't have the types of comedian we have in the UK. And it is our comedians who make these shows work.
God bless South Park for taking the piss out of that. The whole movie was mocking how you can be as violent as you like but if you say a curse word the angry parent brigade will come in and ruin you.
I might be overinterpreting but the appearance of an actress from The Bear on the This Is My... section has done a lot to convince me that the main reason that UK panel show formats don't work in the US is that it's a hellish Hunger Games style dystopia completely bereft of any media space not completely controlled and dedicated to class war against regular people
What's funny is that these people are so bland, the most unbelievable story that's ever happened to them is "I didn't make eye contact with somebody in another car"
American culture doesn't encourage self deprecation as much as Britain. It is less likely that American panelist will share embarrassing and therefore more interesting stories about themselves.
Yeah. If they wrote it as: "When I get angry while driving, I sing a song". The first questions would naturally be, "What song?", and he would have to think fast and probably end up performing it
@@PianoKwanMan If it were the British version, it’d be more like “When I get angry while driving, I shout lines from a West End production while winking repeatedly.”
Worse for me was when the lady made a joke about the guy being pale and he seemed legitimately pissed. On the British version the response would have been a joke.
@@MC-yt1uvI don't understand why Americans can't take the piss out of themselves. If you can't laugh at yourself, your insecurities and your issues you're truly struggling. British humour (and that of Aus/NZ, not sure about Canada) is built on self-deprication and absurdism
The reason Whose Line is it Anyway worked is because it was improv where they had to bounce off each other, most traditional US comedians want the lime light for themselves so can't or won't do banter
Didn't some of the regulars on Whose Line US also do it in the UK for a while too? It was also kind of annoying when they brought Whose Line back and the CW kept having to shove the stars of their show as random guests and most of the time they clearly had no idea what they were doing. Where the guests on the original run seemed to have much more fun and go with it more.
There are lots of reasons it worked. Firstly there are a lot of decent improv comics in America. Secondly the U.K version had a series in America which served as a backdoor pilot. Thirdly Colin, Ryan and Greg who were regulars in the U.K versions also appeared regularly in the U.S version so their chemistry was already established before the U.S series had even started. Lastly the quality of the scenarios remained high so the comedians had a lot to work with.
@@kinolibby6580 I really didn't care for Whose Line when Drew Carey hosted it. He seemed to think he was basically the star of the show and it grated on me. Aisha Tyler has a far better chemistry with the performers and only occasionally takes part in the actual improvs.
What helped was having the original british director, plus cast members who'd worked on the original UK show, so they knew how it worked. They still had constant problems behind the scenes with censorship, often having to restart whole segments for ridiculous reasons. The cast admitted they preferred working on the original UK show because they had more freedom. They also tried to hype up the show with guest stars who were often women in skimpy clothing, and the audience would wolf whistle and scream at them. This and the guys flirting with female guests always made me so uncomfortable.
@@ianz9916insane. Drew Carey basically made the US version what it was, also he understood comedy timing and had chemistry or bonding with most the performers. Drew knew his limits, he knew he wasnt as good as the others but could still contribute and be the butt of jokes. Aisha Tyler suucks, she had no comedic timing, her jokes bombed and the punchline was always sexual or about race. She never watched any of the original shows.
8:57 this moment feels so odd to me? the comedian's immediate answer to the host's joke was basically just to shut him down in (what looked to be) an offended way, instead of playing off the joke. and after the other comedian says he does have an expensive car, he spends the bit putting himself up. and this just feels so weird to me! maybe its the way its presented, but it feels like there is genuine ego behind it, rather than doing it in a self aware, sarcastic way. maybe im misreading it, or something, but to me it doesnt come off as funny, just as self centred
American comedy largely sucks and their comedians often aren't witty enough to riff and have banter. That's a big generalisation of course, but it's true in a lot of cases.
That plus his response to the the joke about him being pale really makes he seem like he has nowhere close to the temperament to be on a show like this. The hosts have to be able to laugh at themselves for this format to work. Imagine if in the British version if David Mitchell got legitimately mad whenever someone made fun of him for being posh or nerdy.
All those British panelists have their own distinct character, and their facts/ lies on WILTY fits their character specifically. You expect David Mitchell's to be about societal flaws, Greg Davies' to be about teaching, and Bob Mortimer's to be the most random and weird shit you've ever heard Also, British panel shows the comedians sometimes derail from the main game in the best way possible and thats what makes me love them The synergy between British panelists is also what makes it special, they've worked with each other for many years, going onto each others' shows etc. They just know how to interact with each other to make it entertaining.
Yes, seeing Jimmy Carr, Dara O'Brien, Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig, and Rob Bryden (to name my favourites) absolutely lose control of the shows they're hosting is peak comedy!
The absolute most important thing for a panel show is a pair of team captains who can bounce off each other and are witty enough to make another panelists flop funny.
"They never took themselves seriously." Right there is the problem. The people who cast US panel shows don't get that aspect. There are US comedians who would be able to do that, but that isn't who they cast.
Seems the US version couldn't think of enough prompts for funny anecdotes and just put a few things in the hope the comedians would improv something on top of that, but the comedians just read the cards and didn't embellish anything. Almost like they are treating it like it's a real competitive game that is worth winning, rather than letting someone else run with a joke you handed them by adding a funny detail when making up a lie.
I also think American culture and celebrity culture especially discourages people from sharing embarrassing stories. So, we don't get things like David Mitchell talking about how he has a special bathrobe for traveling or how James Acaster almost drowned himself over a Spice Girls album.
Fully agree at how bad American panel shows have so often been. One of the oddities for me in the US media space right now is Dropout which somehow DOES seem to understand what the appeal of panel shows is - seeing a semi-regular cast of people that know each other engaging in pointless banter and showing off their personalities. They even have a 'Would I Lie To You' type game which isn't my favourite but does at least go out of its way to cast people that know each other and actually, when it's better, telling somewhat interesting stories.
I never really thought about Dirty Laundry in the context of panel shows but I guess you're right-- and I think Dropout could actually do a lot with the format, as they have a regular rotation of quick-on-the-draw comedians that all know each other pretty well and just like to banter.
That is also largely put into a different stratosphere by how good the cast is. Returning cast are welcomed and new cast always add something interesting.
Stuff like Dropout and various fan-made Taskmaster adaptations (like Taskmaster Minnesota) made me realize the problem isn't with 'Americans ', it's with the industry. American TV and movies have become victims of their own success; they're SO big and lucrative that bean counters and middle management outnumber the actual creatives 10 to 1. Consistency is favored over originality, so even when it tries to adapt something else it can't help but pulp it into mush to fit into its prepackaged 22 minute cubes.
Another comment pointed out that it really helps that Dropout has a regular rotating roster. You get a feel for each comedian. You know Brennan will give 100% just as surely as you know Bob Mortimer will confuse David on WILTY. At Midnight was the closest network version because they brought back people enough to let them develop a personality American network shows
The two things I think are key to panel shows are they feel authentic and the cast is cooperating to make it funny. There's the understanding between the audience and the panel that the winner doesn't actually matter and the panelists are often very different to how they are when performing on stage. In WILTY they are genuinely playing the game, no matter how mundane the story may be they want to work out if it's true and it's great how invested they get sometimes. Greg Davies' absolute glee seeing Bob Mortimer rip an apple in 2 is one of the most iconic panel show moments. In US versions of these shows it feels much more like each person wants to steal the spotlight, they want to be the biggest, the funniest the loudest. I particularly felt this in the US version of Taskmaster. I think a big factor is the fact that many people on UK panel shows have worked together in the past, the seem like genuine friends and have chemistry and there are occasions that one person doesn't quite get it like when Katie Hopkins was on WILTY.
I think the comedians in the us shows are basically amateurs hired from the long, long, list of wannabe celebs and this is their first and only chance to get somewhere in TV
the whole point about being the funniest and the loudest really cuts to the heart of it i think. on british panel shows, when a joke is made about a comedian, unless the character they play into is specifically meant to be egocentric and defensive, they will play into the joke or come up with a witty, sarcastic response. while for the american ones it seems like everytime someone makes a joke about them they have to get defensive and have to fire back with something else to maintain that they are the 'funniest' and best comedian there which always ends up spoiling the joke and making everyone come off as assholes who cant take a joke
There's a weird thing to American culture where the default level of fakeness is very high. Look at pro "wrestling" as an example. They just accept the blatant, cartoonish fakeness as a given. Even highly admired shows like Seinfeld are actually very cheesy and fake feeling, despite ostenibly being quite gritty and "real". There are examples that go against this, like Red Letter Media here on TH-cam. But generally, the default level of cheese, forced performance; the fact that it's either trying to be edgy but is too safe so it feels more like cheeky kids' TV, or it's trying to be edgy but overdoes it like an angry teenager (like US roasts)... They just can't tune it in to the right level of brash but friendly.
I get what you mean. I recently saw an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts with Sabrina Carpenter where she’s endorsing their espresso drink (a reference to her song), and the joke was everyone nicknamed the drink “Ess” and it sounded like “ass”. Then at the end, someone says, “Oh I get it! It sounds like [bleep sound]!” As I scrolled through the comments of Americans calling it the funniest commercial all year, all I could think was, “Is this the best thing the ad agency could come up with? Something that wouldn’t be funny to a ten-year-old?” So yeah, the forced edginess you were talking about and its fake sheen is definitely alive and kicking
Aasif Mandvi spent his first 16 years growing up in the UK. He would have been exposed to panel shows over there. surely he must notice how bad the American WILTY is by comparison and is clearly in it just for the steady pay check.
Yeah but think about how you understood the world when you were 16 compared to now. And as a side note, but not all people watch or realise the same things by any given age. But that's not even the main point - it's just that at 16 you have a pretty basic view of things. If I lived in Japan until I was 16, then lived in Canada for the next 20 years, I wouldn't feel I had a great grasp of Japanese culture - especially 20 years after I left.
@@matroska_5625 I disagree entirely with that! If you spend your most formative years growing up in a culture, you WILL have a deep understanding of that culture, even if you aren't necessarily able to explain its nuances to others. I did a student exchange for a year when I was 16 and New Zealand culture was just wired into every fibre of my being. Every interaction I had in the USA was coloured by my upbringing in NZ. I was, when suddenly immersed in a superficially similar society to my own, able to clearly see all the things that made my childhood different. :)
@@smithryansmith It's ok to not be naturally funny. Most British Panel show hosts aren't funny and read off a card. But they have a personality and the panelists say how pointless their jobs are. For example, Lee and David regularly take the piss out of Rob, his welshness and the fact anyone can read off a card. Ian Hislop and Paul Merton ripped Angus Deaton to shreds about his affair, and Politicians. And the guest hosts HIGNFY has had may not be naturally funny, such as Brian Blessed and Tom Baker. QI, the guests took the piss out of Stephen Fry for being posh, and Stephen played into the roll. US hosts wouldn't say, "It's a perfectly sensible way of cooking things" in reponse to 'cooking on an Aga'. And Panelist says "No wonder fucking Twinings had you power it". And crucially, the host laughs it off and not have a comeback
@@PianoKwanMan Yeah, the host being serious can work if it creates a funny dynamic with the comedians playing the game. It can actually be funny having a serious host dealing with chaotic comedians. But, that is a tricky dynamic to set up.
I've seen other people comment it, but I'll add my vote to the pile; Dropout's shows are about the only example of American panel shows I've seen that really measure up to what us Brits can do. Dirty Laundry never clicked for me the same way Would I Lie To You does, put I can appreciate that it's still doing 100 times better than this lackluster US attempt. and then Game Changer is truly up there with QI , Mock the Week and Taskmaster as shows that truly live in my heart as just silly fun with people messing about in an unserious entertaining way
The thing that makes UK panel shows great is that usually the comedians all know each other. They are either friends who hang out or they at least tour with each other and play the same venues and events. A lot of them went to university together or started performing at the same tiny clubs together. America is too big for that kind of thing.
This is a complete misconception. Do you know how many comedy clubs there are in the UK? There's 70 million people here, you talk like we're some tiny nation with no people. David Mitchell barely knew Rob Brydon or Lee Mack before he started doing WILTY. The reason it works is because they're willing to be the straight man for someone else, when that's what's needed, but also to be the fool, when that's what's needed. It's a fundamental difference in attitudes.
@bipolarminddroppings That's part of it too. But also it's because a lot of comedians do know each other. Taskmaster is the best example of that. They often talk on the podcast about how they all know each other. Sure, some of them don't, especially across generations, but a lot of the same generations of comedians know each other. Ed Gamble, Rose Matifo, Nish Kumar all lived with other at various points. And they are all friends with Greg Davis, James Caster and Lou Sanders. Greg Davis is close friends with Rosin Conity and Rhod Gilbert. I think maybe they even loved together at some point too. Alex Horne is friends with Mark Watson and Tim Key. The list goes on and on.
They made a Have I got news for you US version recently. The US host guest hosted a UK episode and was actually good. It confirmed in my mind that American panel shows could be funny if they just get the right people together. Its an issue of the networks not getting the right people in IMO.
Roy Wood Junior got the concept, and so did most (not all) of the guests. They can screw up their own panel shows too - Taylor Tomlinson is doing her best, but she needs a panel game good enough for her talent
@doughope2870 Yeah, she does a good job but I can never quite put my finger on the issue with her show. It feels like the guests are taking it too seriously. Panel shows only real work when everyone on it agrees that it doesn't really matter.
Their panel shows are way too “safe”. They’d never hire a comedian that would say something slightly edgy, even if it was funny. For the “land of the free” they’re awfully particular when it comes to TV shows towing the party line. Like neither one of their WILTY hosts are funny at all, juxtaposed with Lee Mack who’s probably the funniest panel show comic of all time
@@InnuendoXP "The US loves the freedom for enormous private entities to exert extremely rigid controls over how people live & work." One hundred percent agree. However, the UK is not a million from this sort of power dynamic. Over here ninety percent of everything is controlled by people who went to two schools and two universities. Sure, we have a National Health Service and a more generous welfare system, but these have been slowly eroded for decades, with a not insignificant amount of American corporate money driving this. Couple that with an indigenous ruling class that have held power for centuries and it's a recipe for something that almost as bad, with very little room for change.
I go back and watch golden era Buzzcocks so often. I always liked when they had an American pop star on there that didn't know what they were in for. There is a similar joy from watching someone completely out of their depth on Shooting Stars.
Even though you didn't talk about it, I'm so glad you showed a shot of "What's My Line" when talking about the history of panel shows because honestly, I think it's the best U.S.-original panel show of all time. Many similar reasons to what you explained here for why British panel shows are so great - the core group and the rotating guests all genuinely like each other, and the stakes aren't all that high. Even though $50 was worth a lot more in those days than it is now, it never feels like winning or not winning the full amount will make or break the contestants' livelihoods - regardless of whether they win any money or not, they're going to go back to their jobs. There's an inversion where Would I Lie to You brings on one ordinary person amidst a group of celebrities and What's My Line brings on one celebrity for the mystery guest amidst a group of ordinary people as contestants, but the acknowledgment of that as the special segment of the show goes a long way, as does the fact that they all have a genuinely good time with it. (I'll never forget one of the first episodes I watched, where Walt Disney was the mystery guest... he struggled for a minute to come up with a silly voice to use to try and avoid being recognized immediately by the blindfolded panel, and after the panel removed their blindfolds, he said, "I was planning to do a falsetto, but then I realized, that's the mouse," and everyone just losing it.) They make jokes about how absurdly hot the weather is and reference events in their lives. They feel like real friends. And that's what makes it funny when they do banter and rag on each other - we as the audience feel like it's coming from a place of love rather than a place of mean-spiritedness. What's My Line had that, but nowadays a lot of U.S. television doesn't have that sense of genuine friendship that makes something banter rather than mockery. So grateful to have access to shows across the pond like Would I Lie to You and 8 Out of 10 Cats where that feeling is still there.
Eight out of ten cats is good because everyone makes fun of each other all the time!!! I love when Jimmy Carr tries to make fun of somebody then they just laugh at him for getting caught for tax evasion and he can't say anything back.
Jimmy Carr is the perfect example of how to weather a scandal. First, it has to be a scandal that isn't THAT bad (no Diddy's or Gary Glitters need apply), next you have to actually accept the blame without trying to wriggle out of it, then, and this one's critical, you have to take your lumps - laugh at the jokes at your expense, make a load of self-deprecating comments about it - and finally, don't get caught doing it again! (Preferably don't actually do it again, of course)
The other reason Carr's jokes at the expense of others tend to work is that he makes fun of himself at least as much, so it's clear that he's not just being insulting. So he'll say something mean about someone, and then they clap back at him and he just goes along with it and agrees with them.
I'm Canadian and I love UK WILTY so much. I didn't even know there was an American remake and I want to go back to not knowing about it because it looks so painfully unfunny.
American comedians just don’t understand that they don’t need to be funny, just fun. That’s why Alan Davies is king; his ego doesn’t get in the way of a good time.
And that is in spite of him originally being quite offended that he was being made out to be the idiot. Once John Lloyd explained why he needed to be the fall guy so the others could feel safe, he was happy to do that.
Ok, i havent seen the American adaptation but from this video and especially the clip at 11:24, all im seeing is that they take themselves way too seriously. On British WILTY and QI, i generally completely lose track of the scoring, and rarely remember there are points being won or lost. But in this clip it seems like the US version actually care about winning points. To me, in UK WILTY, the points thing doesnt matter, its just about how shocked the others are
The ACTUAL American panel show is what Dropout is doing. A tight-knit group of comedians doing something authentic and original, rather than just copying the Brits.
Seriously how do you even make eye contact with other drivers? The only situation I can think of is when it is unclear who has right of way: Eye contact, a hand sign, a quick wave to signal thanks and that's it. Do American drivers after cutting you usually look back at you to gloat? I always thought that the reason for road rage is that we do not get any non verbal clues from the others. Such nonsense would never fly with David on the panel.
Cultrually, the format is different too. In the US, panel shows have one goal: win. In the UK, panel shows are about having a chat; winning is a consequence of whatever happens during the chats (think of QI, WILTY).
I find them in mainstream UK comedy, where they are more willing to make fun of themselves. In mainstream US comedy, not so much. Some smaller US comics lean more towards self-deprecation. This means that banter develops between guests, even if they don't really know each other.
Yeah, I think this is the main issue. Admittedly the clips on the video are the only bits of the American "Would I Lie to You" that I have seen but the lack of self deprecation was rough. The guy getting upset about the pale joke really took the energy out of the scene.
I’ve noticed when Americans try to do panel shows they always make the set look a generic late night show set. The same happened with taskmaster where the US version looks like it was filmed in a New York loft meets corporate reception while every other version kept the original quirky charm. In the uk you can identify the show based on their set but the American ones all look like could have been recorded in the same place.
As someone who has worked and been in the audience of these shows I can tell you at 16:37 that this is proof that the edit are good at their jobs. They in fact do cut up conversations all the time.
From what I understand the Kevin Bridges horse story took about half an hour during taping. That they managed to neatly edit it down to about seven minutes without missing any of the context...
I think I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue deserves a mention for really being the antidote to panel shows. It really showed that comedy could work in a panel show and moved us towards the era of panel shows that we have seen. I hope panel shows can become a popular format again, and I also hope we can see a couple of more serious ones. I think a lot of concepts that are turned into podcasts now could work better as panel shows
One of the biggest differences: No one on British panel shows actually care about winning. They know they're only there to be entertaining and the 'game' is just there to service that. Americans take any form of competition way too seriously. If Bob Mortimer was on American WILTY, half the people on there would probably storm off and accuse him of cheating for the embellishments he adds to make his stories actually funny. I'm guessing a lot of those comedians rejected a bunch of lies given too them because they'd be too difficult to sell and it wouldn't be 'fair' if their lies were more difficult than the others.
I was really pleasantly surprised that the recent American version of Have I Got News For You was really good in its own right. Somehow they’ve managed to understand the idea that no one needs to ‘win’ and the main goal is to make fun of politics
I think another thing they often miss in the US is that shows like QI or WILTY don't necessarily need to be populated entirely by funny people, but *interesting* people. Once you have a comic framework in place (Mitchell, Mack & Brydon or Fry/Toksvig & Davies), you can invite other comedians as your guests, but it can be just as (or even more) successful if you invite scientists, historians, actors, musicians, weather forecasters, newsreaders, or even politicians.
This is a great analysis. Also, you short changed Rob Brydon a bit there when you referred to the chemistry between the three hosts but didn't mention him. But yep. You got it. Even the fact that they know each other and just straight-forwardly call each other out adds to the humour. For example, Lee pretending (spoiler..... you've been warned....) ...to have written a cook book, (which fooled some number of reactors on You Tube and is a bit plausible, because celebs sometimes do that sort of thing) and David Mitchell just outright saying, (paraphrase) "It's false. I know Lee; it's evident." Just the shear straightforward completely uncontrived relaxed nature of it. Americans, with a few exceptions, just can't seem to transfer that in comedy.
it is absolutely incredible that Craig got away with half of the crap he did on that show. Singing the intro, sure. Being serious about addiction and mental illness in the early 2010s, oooh scary... but the pantomime horse, the robot skeleton, the whole Bridger-bit, the sexy CBS executive lady?! An absolute miracle that will never be repeated.
It's because Americans don't understand that the point of the show is to be funny and entertaining, not to win. They are too competitive to get the tone right.
The difference is that no one really cares if a comedian doesnt like getting cut off, like thats not a situation People care if David Mitchell has a button in his house he's always been too scared to push because theres a conversation there
To be fair to the American would I lie to you, the first season of the original wasn't much better, aside from the great interplay between Lee and David. The set was ugly, there were other games that didn't work awkwardly inserted in and every story was incredibly rushed like the first story by dom joly about going to school with Osama bin laden was barely given 2 minutes.
Sure, but the UK version didn't have a template based on 15+ years of successful broadcast. They were figuring it out as they went, and the landed the winning formula pretty quickly all things considered.
This just isn't true. They tried out stuff that didn't work, but they tried out stuff that did work, and worked so well it is still going strong some 20 years later.
Next you're going to say the first attempts at making an aeroplane didn't fly very well, had some very arguable design decisions, and the in-flight meals were terrible... and we must take that into consideration when evaluating Ryanair, because it's not like they have knowledge of or access to all the improvements made since then.
God, I love Buzzcocks. I’ve always had a love for UK comedy - weirdly, old Whose Line episodes would air on the children’s channel here in Canada when I was younger. (RIP Tony Slattery) But Buzzcocks introduced me to so many UK comedians and musicians that I probably never would’ve found otherwise, and some (I’m looking at you, Jedward, Dappy) that I wish I never did. I gave the new US Whose Line a shot but the weird shoehorning of CW stars who obviously had no improv skills turned me off. As soon as I saw they were trying WILTY, I put it out of my mind and literally only remembered it when I saw this thumbnail. Bless you for suffering so we don’t have to.
I never got over the fact Drew Carey used to introduce Whose Line... By explicitly saying "the show where the points don't matter." So lame. Clive Anderson would simply give a million points to Ryan and everyone would get it.
Have to assume the American pilots didnt test well as if the test audience was actually shouting "Why is that worth a million points!? This is bullshit!"
I'm Canadian, but I don't have the CW so I've never seen this adaptation. I can't judge the quality, but I can also say that looking at the list of guests, I personally know 90% of the guests. They're alternative comedians, Daily Show contributors, cast members on American sitcoms, TV writers, Broadway people,... Much in the way that the UK WILTY, which I love, has a lot of guests I do not know as a Canadian because their shows don't make it to my TV or they don't tour here. I don't think the deficit here is necessarily the quality of guests, but in the huge landscape of US entertainment industry, the combo of celebrities they've paired together don't really know each other. I think that's a big difference between the US and UK entertainment industries. I grew up on French language comedy panel shows in Quebec, which also tend to work super well, partly again because it's a smaller community where a lot of comedians and actors know each other. I definitely think that helps in making cozy shows where people riff well off of each other.
The difference is that the UK guests are considered to be the top tier of British comedy. The US equivalent would be comedians like you'd see on the Comedy Central Roast dais or Chris Hardwick's At Midnight--not people trying to break into the industry and people with one or two notable things on their resumé. There absolutely is a deficit in guest quality.
@ Yes, the UK show has some excellent comedians but also a lot of young comics, a bunch of reality show contestants, presenters of different kinds of shows, musicians,...; acting like it's all top-notch comedians as guests is just not the case. The size of the entertainment industry is so different between the US and the UK, you cannot really compare the two. As I said, I'm Canadian but knew most of the American guests so they can't be that obscure!
@ the size of the respective entertainment industry isn't relevant--the fact of the matter is the guests in the US are of low quality to even the American audience, and the guests (comedians or otherwise) in the UK are mostly the more well-known, highest quality to the British audience. Even to a neutral audience like yourself, the British guests are almost always objectively more talented and experienced. I'm saying this as a half Brit, half American, who's lived half his life in each country. Just as an extra side note, I said comedians in my last post because that's the most common type of guest on a comedy panel show and they're the ones who essentially carry the entertainment; no need to nitpick such a small detail.
@ I wasn't trying to nitpick. I really think you are focusing on the best stuff out of 17 seasons of WILTY UK and forgetting the duds. I love the show, but for every episode with Bob Mortimer, Greg Davies or Claudia Winkleman, you have an episode where Lee, David and Rob have to do the work to keep the game flowing. They cast the show well, but not everyone is a quick mind or a born storyteller. Again, I'm not saying the US show was better than the UK one, but the US version also only had one season worth of episodes. Also, I still stand by the fact that the video was saying most guests were mostly unknown when they are not.
@@MorningAngel they are mostly unknown in my experience in the US, though. Maybe they're known more by a certain older generation who still have cable, but they're not popular and your point about a quality deficit still doesn't stand. Funnily enough, I even know one of the guests in this video (her long-term partner is one of my close friends) and I didn't even know she did this show until I watched this video.
Whose Line’s a rare successful US panel show adaptation because all the parts needed to succeed were already there by the end of the UK run. The last few series were regularly filmed in the US (they were already using the US version’s stage design by the end) and most of the core cast members were frequently featured throughout the UK version. Their chemistry is probably one of the strongest to ever exist considering it’s coming up to 30 years or more now since they started on the UK version. I feel that’s why it’s lasted so long and is still airing new seasons to this day, because the core cast have been working together that long and don’t take themselves seriously (plus it helps that they seem to always know when to adapt their material regarding satirical topics and social changes). You can probably tell I’m a big fan of the show as a whole lol 😂😅
The big difference with Whoes line though is they kept the key regulars and mostly the same rotational guests from the original. I think US versions of panel shows would work better if they kept the UK regulars until they find adequate replacements and just have US focused guests to fill the other spots until they find out who is good at doing panel shows. In the UK we already know who will be good on a panel show as there are so many of them, so if proposing a new panel show if you said yeah it's going to have David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Bill Bailey every week, then you know you are going to be in good hands regardless of the theme or format of the show. Where as in the US you are just guessing who would be good, although you think they'd stick with the proven improv performers initially.
Exactly. It certainly can work with the right team. They should really hire the teams behind the many now-cancelled UK panel shows to run them. And get a few UK guests in as ringers. I'm sure some mock the week producers and writers would do a year in LA.
I went to a Jedward concert when I was young, not sure what my mother was thinking, my brother had a giant Jedward poster on his wall for years just to have something on his wall.
Most Americans in smaller gatherings don't feel comfortable vocally disagreeing with each other any more (This is not about online spaces, and definitely not valid on Twitter). There has to be this outward performance of acceptance and tolerance, even for things that you may think are objectively objectionable. This is in contrast to the French, who enjoy setting off fireworks in small gatherings. The skill of spirited debate without taking it personally is appreciated, and developed. Most Americans don't develop it in small doses, and their larger communities are worse off for it. Watching the awkward attempts of the American panelists to simulate camaraderie without the slightest *ability* to be pointed or cutting, like the UK panel, was a sad reminder of that loss.
I'm not sure I've ever done this before but I'm cringing with my arms wildly at 9:18. This is so much worse than I ever could have imagined. 11:40 That was genuinely disturbing. Why the fuck would you serve that?!
My guess is that ironically she was lying about that. Either she was trying to make a memorable story or the producers were encouraging people to try to say anything mildly interesting.
I think one of the key issues is this specific calibre of American absolutely will not under any circumstances allow themselves to be shown in anything but the best light on Tv/infront of a crowd, that’s why you get really generic ‘lies’ and nothing interesting or stand out, I’m sure they all have things like that that have happened to them but refuse to be ‘made fun of’
The thing with UK panel shows is that it's such an established format and the comedians cycle through them all so often that they can just be loose because they already have another booking next week. US comedians have the flop sweat of having to play for their next gig.
Same goes for talkshows. In the US they're these incoherent rambling, host interrupting kind of affairs, whilst in the UK you have someone like Graham Norton who's almost like a support character and the guests can talk amongst themselves just as much as to or with Graham. It's no wonder people love that show and guests seem to genuinely love being there.
Your edit at 15m made me laugh, which was way more than any of the previous clips you'd shown 😂 I do miss original buzzcocks, and actually that kind of savage brutal British humour that's dying in general.
These American adaptation always are truly terrible. It’d interesting to see you compare all the various TM adaptations. The US one was a disaster, but it has 7 version! I’m only familiar with the NZ ones, but I’ve seen a lot of acclaim for the others.
@@ianz9916 I didn't think I'd like it as much as the NZ one (because Aussies :P) but yeah, Taskmaster AU is pretty good too. I have yet to venture into the non-English speaking TMs because I'm slightly worried that subtitles might dilute the banter for me.
14:48 - you nailed the timing and repetition on this one. It hit that sweet spot of it still being funny, because and in spite of the anticipation. Beautiful.
Very well-made video. I was surprised when I saw the view count, this is the type of video you'd expect to have a few 100k views. I hate to sound patronising, but I will anyway, I implore you keep making videos and keep-up this kind of quality.
Poor Michael Ian Black. To be fair, Taylor Tomlinson's show is basically a version of Mock the Week/HIGNFY and it's okay. And the US version if HIGNFY, which also has Michael Ian Black, is fine. Even when they had the US host appear on the UK version, he mostly fit in (other than not being aware of any of the British news items he was reading). This format, like thE US Taskmaster, just doesn't work for the US market and the fact that the comedy scene is on podcasts if they're not doing live shows.
I think one point you may have missed on here as to why the US gets it wrong so often is the casting and more specifically the team captains of the teams, they are often from different backgrounds or have different character traits. You look at David and Lee, Paul and Ian, Jon and Sean, often from very different social economic backgrounds with often very different strengths and weaknesses. Those character traits are well known and can be latched onto by the guests, that it makes joining a panel easier for an episode. The characters weaknesses become the shows greatest strengths. So in a culture of perfectionism where nobody can show their weaknesses on set, then the show becomes weak.
Yo bro. Dunno if you’ll read this but your videos are ace. Feels cool to of found you while you’re a still relatively small channel. I sense big things for you lad. Keep going with it x
There was a Swedish version called ”Tror du jag ljuger? ”. I think it only lasted a season, completely different vibe to the UK version. We also have or have had Swedish versions of QI and Taskmaster. I guess Taskmaster kinda worked but QI didn’t translate well imo. It’s often the combo of people that makes the shows work. I think Would I Lie To You works much better with Rob Brydon than it did with Angus Deayton. The chemistry between Rob, David and Lee is what makes the show so good.
When I found the US one funny is when the British woman was saying something… because she took the piss. It’s not a concept that can be taken seriously.
dude please keep uploading consistently your content is like peak i am FEEDING off of it rn. I know it's been said but you are seriously underrated and I really want to see more from you!
I could go on about this subject for hours, but watching this is very well put. We do have this style of comedy in the UK where absolutely nothing funny is said yet people falsely laugh on command on late night TV. But have noticed slowly people are going back to old style comedy. It's great for example seeing comedy programs again where people not long ago were saying couldn't be shown in case someone might be offended. Next that should be banned is warnings before TV programs some viewers might be offended.
One of the most memorable moments of NMTB for me growing up in the Simon Amstell era was when Anthony Costa from Blue was on it and Simon spent the whole episode ripping into him, and Anthony just went along with it. You can't imagine any nationlly-recognised American non-comedian responding like that to such jokes.
Oh! I watched a bit and it felt sadly lacking, I like many of the comics they featured but maybe they were lacking a Hislop, I'm not sure whether there is a tradition of satire in the US but they really need one.
I really enjoy the US version of HIGNFY, and I think it works for a North American sensibility. Then again, I really like Roy Wood Jr, Amber Ruffin, and Michael Ian Black, which made it easy to buy into it.
@@MorningAngel I didn't know any of the people there but I still enjoyed some bits! The US host also came over and did a UK episode, which I thought was not bad at all
how the hell did Bob not get a mention??? And for me one of the biggest reasons is british mannerisms and social bonding, we brits insult the ones we care about, we tease them relentlessly about their failings seemingly in quite a mean manner, Lee always attacks Davids 'posh silver spoon' persona, and david attacks Lee's general uneducated background, but BOTH also make themselves the butt of the joke, David tells tales of his little bell and his travel dressing gown while Lee tells tales of his own stupidity, its like mates at the pub having each other on and it feel sincere and welcoming. Americans, dont mock each other, and they dont like mocking themselves so if they copy they look like they are acting - badly
I remember hearing a Bob Mortimer story on WILTY that I had never heard before and I actually made me spit out my drink, not once, in the clips you showed, did I crack a smile
I don't know, I thought that story about having road rage and not making eye contact was... actually I was going to jokingly praise it but then I just started thinking about how lame it all was.
In hindsight if I were to do an American adaptation of WILTY I’d just have the same core trio (Brydon, Mack and Mitchell) but replace the guests with American Personalities. (Not guys we’d know) Also I’ve never seen an episode before so when you did your skit I legit thought that a BBNO$ esque rapper was one of the guests.
4:26 is exactly why it doesn't work in the US, that would be the entire show, most US celebrities just cannot actually laugh at themselves, they pretend for sure but behind the empty self deprication there's an inherit and unjustified pride that's waiting to fight back against any non-surface level jab and panel shows are built on guests being able to take a joke and laugh at themself There are very specific US personalities that have fit in on UK panel shows but usually it ends up with them either having a tantrum or having no chemistry with anyone else on the show. The product of celebrity worship, why I'm glad down here in Australia we hate our celebrities as much if not more than the UK.
You guys are completely right, dropout is good
legion of skanks (i think) have done a WILTY format type thing called story warz that has some of the comedians like gillis etc
And After Midnight
Suggestion: Brennan and Grant on Davids team against Zac and Katie on Lees team.
i find it shocking how few people have made the comparison between dropout and panel shows. I get americans not quite knowing what they are so missing the comparison (A lot of commentators have claimed that Dropout is completely brand new and never done before) but more Brits really needed to come out and make this comparison
WILTY relies you knowing the celebrities to some extent, as a lot if the comedy comes from playing siuations against their personalities. The size of the US may make this more difficult. Standups become mega stars too big for tv shows
US WILTY...I don't like pickles on my burgers.
UK WILTY....I once bought a horse in Bulgaria without knowing it.
AND IT WAS FUCKIN TRUE
US WILTY: This is Jane and I went to school with her.
UK WILTY: Me and my friends once visited a witches house and there was a room and the only thing that was in it was a single miniature horse (true story)
damn i read in the guys accent the horse one 😂
@@bonbonnybon I don't know this story on the UK version xD
@@PianoKwanMan "Kevin Bridges accidentally buys a horse".
US WILTY: "I don't make eye contact when I'm road raging"
UK WILTY: "When I was a kid I invented a superhero called Snooker Table Man"
US WILTY: "This is Julie, we lived in the same dorm in college"
UK WILTY: "This is Mick, and for 6 months he was my sworn enemy. AND, and I want to make it clear, I HATE this child!"
And why that works is because the comedian then needs to improvise a whole story about Snooker Table Man, describe what he looks like, his personality, explain what inspired them to make the character, make up some story about attempts to sell the comic to other kids. And all those points can then be used to pivot to a different talking point. Like they could make some absurd statement like that they came up with the character while sleeping on a snooker table, then the conversation becomes about how they could afford a snooker table but not a bed.
I don't make eye contact while road raging limits what they can talk about quite a lot.
@@scragar Another classic Acaster scrape.
US WILTY: I don't like apples
UK WILTY: I used to cut peoples hair and get paid in egg sandwiches
The US show wouldn't survive Bob Mortimer
US: I don't like it when people cut me off in traffic
UK: For the past 15 years I have performed my own dentistry.
I once accidentally bought a horse
I was invited to Harry and Meghan's wedding but turned it down because I had to come here and do this
I once spent the night in a bush wearing a dress
I once caused a man an injury whilst trying to get another man to say vegetables
For three weeks I was listed as a missing person by Interpol
The best part about the dress in a bush is the fact he was wearing a dress didn't even get mentioned until about half way through
The wedding story works so well because it highlights the genuine friendship between the three of them outside the show. David and Rob's reactions feel so authentic-David looks like he might cry, and Rob looks genuinely betrayed. When the story is revealed to be a lie, their relief is palpable, and their joy is so infectious. It’s clear they were ready to defend their friend if it were true, and that level of connection makes the humor hit so much harder. It’s a perfect example of how these shows thrive on real relationships and camaraderie. You can tell they genuinely hang out and have a rapport beyond the cameras.
It’s similar to Taskmaster, where many contestants already know Greg Davies or have shared experiences with him. The prize tasks often include items stolen from Greg’s house, or contestants reference wild nights out together. Rhod Gilbert and Roisin Conaty being close friends with Greg adds a personal layer to their jokes, and Jon Richardson joking about buying Greg a schedule book because Greg bailed on plans with him is a great example of how these personal dynamics enhance the humor.
What makes these moments shine is how they feel natural and human. The relationships are real, and that authenticity adds so much to the jokes and interactions. Hearing behind-the-scenes stories about the cast going out for drinks after filming or just chatting makes the shows even more relatable.
This contrasts with the forced friendships and laughter you often see in American versions of similar shows. There’s something uniquely special about the way these British shows lean into genuine connections. It’s especially great when a guest on one show later hosts another and holds a playful grudge against their former host, flipping the dynamic. It all feels like a group of friends just messing around, and that’s what makes it so enjoyable.
Alot of peaple mention drop out being a good example of American panel shows, and I think it's for the same reason, they are all friends already, and that makes it work
This is a list of bangers lol
props for having them all be from different people
I love that all of these apart from one ended up being true
And all of Bob Mortimer's 🤣
The American mind could not handle Bob Mortimer. It would break in a way that not even David Mitchell's has.
We do beg your pardon, but we are in your garden.
Tbh I don't think the British mind can handle bob either
The man has the weirdest life in the world
I’ve done things and had things happen to me that could have been things Bob Mortimer could have told on Would I Lie.. and I’ve told some of these on Reddit or Facebook, and it always just ends up with Americans saying I’m lying, so for me it’s very obvious why the stories on the US version of Would I lie was so lame.
@@aaakkk112 Americans are so fake, that even public freak-outs seem like poorly prepared after-school specials.
@@aaakkk112our comedy all times greats are things like brass eye, Mitchell and Webb, Mortimer and reeves etc. the American mind can’t comprehend absurdity. With that being said people like Sam Hyde, norm macdonald(yes Canadian) Matt Mccusker exist over there but they’re rare gems.
Looks similar to the US taskmaster where the guests all look like they were chosen by a panel of boring network execs who wouldn’t know funny if it tickled them in the onions
thats a new one
They way that american old hag yelled at Little Alex horne broke my heart
The Brit’s use a and b list celebrities and the Americans keep trying them with c and d listers
@@robertfram932 try H listers and K listers. Even SNL barely gets C Listers these days
That and changing the format to fit more ads is simply stupid.
There was a Nerdist podcast about a decade ago with Jimmy Carr as a special guest. He told a story on there about how he tried to sell an American remake of 8 out of 10 Cats, but the studio he pitched it to (I don't think he ever said which network it was) just couldn't get past the idea that the "contestants" wouldn't actually win anything at the end. They even expected a "play-off" at the end of the series. For whatever reason that network head just couldn't figure out that the show was just there to be fun. The idea of doing a show without someone winning anything at the end was completely foreign to them.
He just had to say "Whose Line" and they would get it 😂
@@Jmcinally94Even whose line had a "winner" for all intents and purposes lol
They are born and bred to live in the rat race, you either win or lose, there is no motivation other than cash
It seems thats just how america and americans work. You have to do things that get you a return, rather than just doing it for the sake for doing it.
I find it unsatisfying if there's no point, no prize. And I'm Australian.
The biggest problem is that Americans don't do banter well. They take themselves too seriously.
This cuts it right to the heart of the matter. Even the comedians lack humility, in comparison.
I think it comes down to a culture of risk management. A production in America cannot exist as a means to have a laugh amongst peers. The focus groups, previous results, immediate ratings, trends, are all taken seriously by TV companies, to the extent that anything leftfield has to be scripted to be "on-point" leftfield so that it can guarantee a known response and therefore advertiser security. Untamed banter that cuts too close to the edge presents unknowns, and so the managers and editorial controllers eliminate it and demand off-the-cuff humor that fits to a narrative.
@@roberthindle5146 I don't know how this show would've passed focus groups. It's a CW show, kinda the garbage child that Warner Bros lets do whatever. Realistically, it could've been a late night show like how Craig Ferguson used to just goof around for a hour but at the end of the day, WILTY wouldn't have survived with David, Lee, and Rob and who they chose for the US version don't even come close for a show's that essentially meant to be a 3 person talk show. Aasif Mandvi seems like a net zero choice when all the others are negative. I don't know who the Canadian lady is but the ginger dude from VEEP does not have enough charm to carry a show.
And when they do try it, it just comes through as actually being mean.
@@roberthindle5146you cooked with this one
I think the biggest rule of a panel show is the points should never matter. Who wins should never matter, and anyone who takes the game to seriously should be intentionally sabotaged by the other players
Yeah I've only ever seen clips of WILTY and I didn't even know there was a points system.
@@mhenderson7673they literally read out the points at the very end of the episode for like 2 seconds and that’s it 😂
@@hippieyoda1993 QI still has the best point system of literally nobody understanding it but alan will never win
@@mhenderson7673I’ve watched every episode and still don’t understand the point system lmao
I'm British, but I live in Asia in a community with a lot of Americans. A friend of mine from the UK was visiting, and he was hanging out with lots of Americans, and he said to me something which explains exactly why their panel shows fail. "They're alright people," he said, "but they've got no banter"
Exactly. The general American people are probably just as kind and courteous as anyone....but you can't take the p!ss out of them, and they CERTAINLY can't take the p!ss out of themselves.
It's true they only know how to be arrogant and offensive with their jokes it's never tongue and cheek it's always at your expense. The British on the other hand will take the piss knowing that you can easily hit them right back and allow that back and forth, without fail the Americans will make it personal or as if they are one upping you, they can't help it. They can't take a joke.
If we're talking about adapting panel shows, execs should absolutely look to Asia. I want to see a-list celebrities fight interns dressed as crabs while answering questions to help educate the public about new recycling laws
dropout tv is proof americans can do panel-ish shows when they just get funny people on and let them do their thing, without producers trying to control every aspect of it
Yep that is their issue the producers try to Americanise it when they actually get proper comics on it and let them just do their thing it's perfectly fine and that's what we do so well over here
Except that producers do meticulously control what they're supposed to: the prompts. Dropout writes the perfect prompts specifically for whoever's on the show. Every "writer" from US WILTY should be blackballed from showbiz.
The great thing about Gamechanger is that Sam Reiche *is* the CEO of the company and hosts the panel. Goes to show that when your company is run by people who can actually perform, it works wonders.
@@andrew66862 iit shouldn't have writers it should have a framework of the show which you tell the guests and that's about it the only writing that should get done is the little bit for the host
@@matthewgrist5234 well someone has to come up with the lies and write the cards. the lies on UK WILTY give the comedians something to work with, and often seem to be tailored specifically for the persona of the panelist (or at least that’s the case for the regulars and returning guests).
the cards in the US version are just…nothing. no meat on the bone.
I think numberwang is one of the best ever panel shows
I prefer the Quiz Broadcast. Remain indoors.
@@andrewdevine3920 Wrong! It's definately Hole in the Ring. Ann Robinson is uncharacteristically less unpleasant in that one.
@@andrewdevine3920 Although that stopped being quite so funny in 2020........ 😉😂
@@carolineskipper6976Nah, it only got funnier
That's Numberwang!
The X-factor that UK panel shows have, that the US ones can't have, is that the UK comedy circuit is tight-knit, intimate, and everyone knows everyone. It allows for so many well-known and popular (in the UK) comedians and personalities to banter and interact more naturally. In the US, all the big-name comedians are spread too far afield, don't all know each other as well, and are so branded that they wouldn't be able to make themselves look silly on TV. Not to mention, to get those big comedy names would cost far too much
One great producer can probably fix that, but they have to notice.
This is one of the things that makes Dropout's comedy/panel shows work well, they're pretty much all members of the LA improv/stand up scenes and likely know each other. Especially on Dirty Laundry (quite close to WILTY) where they get groups of people who know each other (e.g. this week they had an episode the cast of Lower Decks)
Thanks Edinburgh Fringe!
And the ones who DO know each other are that tight-knit that they only seem to know how to talk to each other as buds & not putting on a show for the benefit of an audience. More like - they're catching up over a beer & the audience gets to watch a combination of opaque in-jokes & self-indulgence for half an hour.
It's deeper than that. Americans aren't good at conversation - whether in the pub, at the dinner table, or in the office. Hence their best comedy is in the form of specials where a comedian (George Carlin, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor) talks at an audience instead of talking to other comedians. UK comedians meanwhile can sit together in a group and be funny without interacting with the audience.
Dropout's shows are good examples of US 'panel shows'. Their show Dirty Laundry is a bit like WILTY, Make Some Noise is like Whose Line and Game Changer has a similar feel to Taskmaster.
I think what it just comes down to is the contestants having chemistry. British comedians seem to know each other well, and are a tight group, just like the former CollegeHumor comedians. It seems in the failed adaptations they just throw random people together which leads to bad shows.
@@roelliesafari9988I agree, and I think it’s americas problem with panel shows is that American is too big. Most comedians in the uk know each other or have some people they’re familiar with, it’s because they’re working the same circuits, they see each other perform and and chat in the pub afterwards, they’re supporting each others gigs and going to see their sets at Edinburgh fringe. In the US is hard to get that kind of chemistry, maybe in New York or Boston, where there’s a lot of comedians concentrated in the same area.I remember who’s line is it anyway working really well because they all knew each other and had great chemistry
Game Changer is a good one
Which is why I subbed to them and dropped Amazon Prime - I watch Dropout way more than I ever watched Amazon.
After Midnight is a great example of a panel show done well in the US!!
This has the same problem that the US Taskmaster adaptation had. Americans seem to think banter just means ACTUALLY being mean to each OTHER rather than playfully joking.
They literally cannot help but one up eachother and be mean spirited. The British can be offensive if they want but it's always tongue in cheek.
Do you remember that one where the contestant just kept being mean to Alex? He genuinely looked disheartened and frustrated because this person wouldn't stop plainly insulting him and laughing it off.
That’s because they don’t understand self deprecation. They take themselves too seriously
Please don't confuse our television for our citizens, it will greatly distort your view of us. American pannel shows generally suck, I don't watch them either with the exception of dropout's stuff, but this is generally due to branding and over-meddlesome producers, not an inherent unfuniness in our character
@@tjs8433 cap americans take themselves way too seriously and get overly competitive about everything
as an american and a fairly die hard wilty fan, i avoided this like the plague. the clips in this are terribly uncomfortable. i'm really sorry on behalf of the nation.
😅 please don't be sorry, it's gratifying that our charm is appreciated and America outdo us in their own ways.
You guys especially do sitcoms very well and your comedy movies made my childhood
As someone else pointed out in another comment, the problem isn't Americans, it's the industry that's crap. Fan made things like Would I lie to you Minnesota are good (apparently, Idk, I'm just quoting what they said).
You should be.
It's completely and utterly incomprehensible to think that there are shows being made on your side of the pond that originated here in the UK, every single British show your country has remade has been utter dog shit. Shameless, Skins, The Inbetweeners WILTY, The Office and so many others, but I'm glad you recognise that this is the case. Therefore, your apology is accepted lol.
For a supposedly "free" country, they're awfully squeamish and prudish about what they can say on TV. This, coupled with their apparent inability to be humorously self-deprecating (preferring earnestness instead), may be the reason why they don't have the types of comedian we have in the UK. And it is our comedians who make these shows work.
Yep, the land of the "free" where a boob is considered too graphic for anyone under the age of 18 to see.
America is a clown country.
God bless South Park for taking the piss out of that. The whole movie was mocking how you can be as violent as you like but if you say a curse word the angry parent brigade will come in and ruin you.
@@MCDreng American priorities:
Ultraviolence = No problem
Mild swearing = No chance
Exposed nipple = IT"S THE END OF DAYS!!!!
I might be overinterpreting but the appearance of an actress from The Bear on the This Is My... section has done a lot to convince me that the main reason that UK panel show formats don't work in the US is that it's a hellish Hunger Games style dystopia completely bereft of any media space not completely controlled and dedicated to class war against regular people
like and comment this one for visibility guys
which actress from the bear did wilty?? I'm so curious
2:48 amazing to see David Mitchell's grandad hosting the first ever panel show.
I thought the exact same thing lol
Lol
OMG it's uncanny
Thank god I wasnt the only one who saw the resemblance, I started to wonder if David Mitchell is really immortal lol :-)
I actually wondered if that was a clip from "Mitchell and Webb".
What's funny is that these people are so bland, the most unbelievable story that's ever happened to them is "I didn't make eye contact with somebody in another car"
American culture doesn't encourage self deprecation as much as Britain. It is less likely that American panelist will share embarrassing and therefore more interesting stories about themselves.
The fact that it wasn't called 'Would you lie to us' is disappointing, more than the show itself
Nobody smart enough to think of that would be allowed in an American TV writer's room.
Wow, despite the intro, I was not ready for how cringe the actual clip of the US version was at around 8:15. Fucking hell
Yeah. If they wrote it as: "When I get angry while driving, I sing a song". The first questions would naturally be, "What song?", and he would have to think fast and probably end up performing it
@@PianoKwanMan If it were the British version, it’d be more like “When I get angry while driving, I shout lines from a West End production while winking repeatedly.”
@denisovan_the_menisovan and you just know that it would be true for one of the panellists
Worse for me was when the lady made a joke about the guy being pale and he seemed legitimately pissed.
On the British version the response would have been a joke.
@@MC-yt1uvI don't understand why Americans can't take the piss out of themselves. If you can't laugh at yourself, your insecurities and your issues you're truly struggling.
British humour (and that of Aus/NZ, not sure about Canada) is built on self-deprication and absurdism
The reason Whose Line is it Anyway worked is because it was improv where they had to bounce off each other, most traditional US comedians want the lime light for themselves so can't or won't do banter
Didn't some of the regulars on Whose Line US also do it in the UK for a while too? It was also kind of annoying when they brought Whose Line back and the CW kept having to shove the stars of their show as random guests and most of the time they clearly had no idea what they were doing. Where the guests on the original run seemed to have much more fun and go with it more.
There are lots of reasons it worked. Firstly there are a lot of decent improv comics in America. Secondly the U.K version had a series in America which served as a backdoor pilot. Thirdly Colin, Ryan and Greg who were regulars in the U.K versions also appeared regularly in the U.S version so their chemistry was already established before the U.S series had even started. Lastly the quality of the scenarios remained high so the comedians had a lot to work with.
@@kinolibby6580 I really didn't care for Whose Line when Drew Carey hosted it. He seemed to think he was basically the star of the show and it grated on me. Aisha Tyler has a far better chemistry with the performers and only occasionally takes part in the actual improvs.
What helped was having the original british director, plus cast members who'd worked on the original UK show, so they knew how it worked. They still had constant problems behind the scenes with censorship, often having to restart whole segments for ridiculous reasons. The cast admitted they preferred working on the original UK show because they had more freedom.
They also tried to hype up the show with guest stars who were often women in skimpy clothing, and the audience would wolf whistle and scream at them. This and the guys flirting with female guests always made me so uncomfortable.
@@ianz9916insane. Drew Carey basically made the US version what it was, also he understood comedy timing and had chemistry or bonding with most the performers. Drew knew his limits, he knew he wasnt as good as the others but could still contribute and be the butt of jokes.
Aisha Tyler suucks, she had no comedic timing, her jokes bombed and the punchline was always sexual or about race. She never watched any of the original shows.
8:57 this moment feels so odd to me? the comedian's immediate answer to the host's joke was basically just to shut him down in (what looked to be) an offended way, instead of playing off the joke. and after the other comedian says he does have an expensive car, he spends the bit putting himself up.
and this just feels so weird to me! maybe its the way its presented, but it feels like there is genuine ego behind it, rather than doing it in a self aware, sarcastic way. maybe im misreading it, or something, but to me it doesnt come off as funny, just as self centred
American comedy largely sucks and their comedians often aren't witty enough to riff and have banter.
That's a big generalisation of course, but it's true in a lot of cases.
That plus his response to the the joke about him being pale really makes he seem like he has nowhere close to the temperament to be on a show like this.
The hosts have to be able to laugh at themselves for this format to work. Imagine if in the British version if David Mitchell got legitimately mad whenever someone made fun of him for being posh or nerdy.
All those British panelists have their own distinct character, and their facts/ lies on WILTY fits their character specifically. You expect David Mitchell's to be about societal flaws, Greg Davies' to be about teaching, and Bob Mortimer's to be the most random and weird shit you've ever heard
Also, British panel shows the comedians sometimes derail from the main game in the best way possible and thats what makes me love them
The synergy between British panelists is also what makes it special, they've worked with each other for many years, going onto each others' shows etc. They just know how to interact with each other to make it entertaining.
Yes, seeing Jimmy Carr, Dara O'Brien, Stephen Fry, Sandi Toksvig, and Rob Bryden (to name my favourites) absolutely lose control of the shows they're hosting is peak comedy!
The absolute most important thing for a panel show is a pair of team captains who can bounce off each other and are witty enough to make another panelists flop funny.
"They never took themselves seriously."
Right there is the problem. The people who cast US panel shows don't get that aspect. There are US comedians who would be able to do that, but that isn't who they cast.
Seems the US version couldn't think of enough prompts for funny anecdotes and just put a few things in the hope the comedians would improv something on top of that, but the comedians just read the cards and didn't embellish anything. Almost like they are treating it like it's a real competitive game that is worth winning, rather than letting someone else run with a joke you handed them by adding a funny detail when making up a lie.
If it was called "whose lie is it anyway?“ maybe they'd get it
I also think American culture and celebrity culture especially discourages people from sharing embarrassing stories. So, we don't get things like David Mitchell talking about how he has a special bathrobe for traveling or how James Acaster almost drowned himself over a Spice Girls album.
@@MC-yt1uv Or Greg Davis and his childhood bear...
Fully agree at how bad American panel shows have so often been. One of the oddities for me in the US media space right now is Dropout which somehow DOES seem to understand what the appeal of panel shows is - seeing a semi-regular cast of people that know each other engaging in pointless banter and showing off their personalities. They even have a 'Would I Lie To You' type game which isn't my favourite but does at least go out of its way to cast people that know each other and actually, when it's better, telling somewhat interesting stories.
I never really thought about Dirty Laundry in the context of panel shows but I guess you're right-- and I think Dropout could actually do a lot with the format, as they have a regular rotation of quick-on-the-draw comedians that all know each other pretty well and just like to banter.
That is also largely put into a different stratosphere by how good the cast is. Returning cast are welcomed and new cast always add something interesting.
Stuff like Dropout and various fan-made Taskmaster adaptations (like Taskmaster Minnesota) made me realize the problem isn't with 'Americans ', it's with the industry. American TV and movies have become victims of their own success; they're SO big and lucrative that bean counters and middle management outnumber the actual creatives 10 to 1. Consistency is favored over originality, so even when it tries to adapt something else it can't help but pulp it into mush to fit into its prepackaged 22 minute cubes.
Another comment pointed out that it really helps that Dropout has a regular rotating roster. You get a feel for each comedian.
You know Brennan will give 100% just as surely as you know Bob Mortimer will confuse David on WILTY.
At Midnight was the closest network version because they brought back people enough to let them develop a personality
American network shows
@@alexnelson3703 Agreed. The problem is definitely not with Americans. There's a huge fanbase for British panel shows over there.
The two things I think are key to panel shows are they feel authentic and the cast is cooperating to make it funny. There's the understanding between the audience and the panel that the winner doesn't actually matter and the panelists are often very different to how they are when performing on stage. In WILTY they are genuinely playing the game, no matter how mundane the story may be they want to work out if it's true and it's great how invested they get sometimes. Greg Davies' absolute glee seeing Bob Mortimer rip an apple in 2 is one of the most iconic panel show moments. In US versions of these shows it feels much more like each person wants to steal the spotlight, they want to be the biggest, the funniest the loudest. I particularly felt this in the US version of Taskmaster. I think a big factor is the fact that many people on UK panel shows have worked together in the past, the seem like genuine friends and have chemistry and there are occasions that one person doesn't quite get it like when Katie Hopkins was on WILTY.
I think you meant: "The two things I think are key..."
@@SmileySimian much appreciated
I think the comedians in the us shows are basically amateurs hired from the long, long, list of wannabe celebs and this is their first and only chance to get somewhere in TV
The fact that Victoria Coren Mitchell can only ever be on David's team because they're married is genuinely delightful to me
the whole point about being the funniest and the loudest really cuts to the heart of it i think. on british panel shows, when a joke is made about a comedian, unless the character they play into is specifically meant to be egocentric and defensive, they will play into the joke or come up with a witty, sarcastic response. while for the american ones it seems like everytime someone makes a joke about them they have to get defensive and have to fire back with something else to maintain that they are the 'funniest' and best comedian there which always ends up spoiling the joke and making everyone come off as assholes who cant take a joke
There's a weird thing to American culture where the default level of fakeness is very high. Look at pro "wrestling" as an example. They just accept the blatant, cartoonish fakeness as a given. Even highly admired shows like Seinfeld are actually very cheesy and fake feeling, despite ostenibly being quite gritty and "real". There are examples that go against this, like Red Letter Media here on TH-cam. But generally, the default level of cheese, forced performance; the fact that it's either trying to be edgy but is too safe so it feels more like cheeky kids' TV, or it's trying to be edgy but overdoes it like an angry teenager (like US roasts)... They just can't tune it in to the right level of brash but friendly.
I get what you mean. I recently saw an ad for Dunkin’ Donuts with Sabrina Carpenter where she’s endorsing their espresso drink (a reference to her song), and the joke was everyone nicknamed the drink “Ess” and it sounded like “ass”. Then at the end, someone says, “Oh I get it! It sounds like [bleep sound]!” As I scrolled through the comments of Americans calling it the funniest commercial all year, all I could think was, “Is this the best thing the ad agency could come up with? Something that wouldn’t be funny to a ten-year-old?” So yeah, the forced edginess you were talking about and its fake sheen is definitely alive and kicking
Aasif Mandvi spent his first 16 years growing up in the UK. He would have been exposed to panel shows over there.
surely he must notice how bad the American WILTY is by comparison and is clearly in it just for the steady pay check.
plus hes not funny naturally. He could read scripts on the daily show, but has no improv talent.
Yeah but think about how you understood the world when you were 16 compared to now. And as a side note, but not all people watch or realise the same things by any given age. But that's not even the main point - it's just that at 16 you have a pretty basic view of things. If I lived in Japan until I was 16, then lived in Canada for the next 20 years, I wouldn't feel I had a great grasp of Japanese culture - especially 20 years after I left.
@@matroska_5625 I disagree entirely with that! If you spend your most formative years growing up in a culture, you WILL have a deep understanding of that culture, even if you aren't necessarily able to explain its nuances to others.
I did a student exchange for a year when I was 16 and New Zealand culture was just wired into every fibre of my being. Every interaction I had in the USA was coloured by my upbringing in NZ. I was, when suddenly immersed in a superficially similar society to my own, able to clearly see all the things that made my childhood different. :)
@@smithryansmith It's ok to not be naturally funny. Most British Panel show hosts aren't funny and read off a card. But they have a personality and the panelists say how pointless their jobs are.
For example, Lee and David regularly take the piss out of Rob, his welshness and the fact anyone can read off a card.
Ian Hislop and Paul Merton ripped Angus Deaton to shreds about his affair, and Politicians. And the guest hosts HIGNFY has had may not be naturally funny, such as Brian Blessed and Tom Baker. QI, the guests took the piss out of Stephen Fry for being posh, and Stephen played into the roll. US hosts wouldn't say, "It's a perfectly sensible way of cooking things" in reponse to 'cooking on an Aga'. And Panelist says "No wonder fucking Twinings had you power it". And crucially, the host laughs it off and not have a comeback
@@PianoKwanMan Yeah, the host being serious can work if it creates a funny dynamic with the comedians playing the game. It can actually be funny having a serious host dealing with chaotic comedians. But, that is a tricky dynamic to set up.
I've seen other people comment it, but I'll add my vote to the pile; Dropout's shows are about the only example of American panel shows I've seen that really measure up to what us Brits can do. Dirty Laundry never clicked for me the same way Would I Lie To You does, put I can appreciate that it's still doing 100 times better than this lackluster US attempt. and then Game Changer is truly up there with QI , Mock the Week and Taskmaster as shows that truly live in my heart as just silly fun with people messing about in an unserious entertaining way
The thing that makes UK panel shows great is that usually the comedians all know each other. They are either friends who hang out or they at least tour with each other and play the same venues and events. A lot of them went to university together or started performing at the same tiny clubs together.
America is too big for that kind of thing.
This is a complete misconception. Do you know how many comedy clubs there are in the UK? There's 70 million people here, you talk like we're some tiny nation with no people.
David Mitchell barely knew Rob Brydon or Lee Mack before he started doing WILTY.
The reason it works is because they're willing to be the straight man for someone else, when that's what's needed, but also to be the fool, when that's what's needed. It's a fundamental difference in attitudes.
@bipolarminddroppings That's part of it too. But also it's because a lot of comedians do know each other. Taskmaster is the best example of that. They often talk on the podcast about how they all know each other. Sure, some of them don't, especially across generations, but a lot of the same generations of comedians know each other.
Ed Gamble, Rose Matifo, Nish Kumar all lived with other at various points. And they are all friends with Greg Davis, James Caster and Lou Sanders.
Greg Davis is close friends with Rosin Conity and Rhod Gilbert. I think maybe they even loved together at some point too.
Alex Horne is friends with Mark Watson and Tim Key.
The list goes on and on.
It's mostly from doing panel shows together that they know each other.
They made a Have I got news for you US version recently. The US host guest hosted a UK episode and was actually good. It confirmed in my mind that American panel shows could be funny if they just get the right people together. Its an issue of the networks not getting the right people in IMO.
Roy Wood Junior got the concept, and so did most (not all) of the guests.
They can screw up their own panel shows too - Taylor Tomlinson is doing her best, but she needs a panel game good enough for her talent
@doughope2870 Yeah, she does a good job but I can never quite put my finger on the issue with her show. It feels like the guests are taking it too seriously. Panel shows only real work when everyone on it agrees that it doesn't really matter.
@ Americans dont really seem to get the idea that its just for fun. All the their panel shows are for points and they actually compete to win.
Their panel shows are way too “safe”. They’d never hire a comedian that would say something slightly edgy, even if it was funny. For the “land of the free” they’re awfully particular when it comes to TV shows towing the party line. Like neither one of their WILTY hosts are funny at all, juxtaposed with Lee Mack who’s probably the funniest panel show comic of all time
The US loves the freedom for enormous private entities to exert extremely rigid controls over how people live & work.
@@InnuendoXP "The US loves the freedom for enormous private entities to exert extremely rigid controls over how people live & work."
One hundred percent agree. However, the UK is not a million from this sort of power dynamic. Over here ninety percent of everything is controlled by people who went to two schools and two universities. Sure, we have a National Health Service and a more generous welfare system, but these have been slowly eroded for decades, with a not insignificant amount of American corporate money driving this. Couple that with an indigenous ruling class that have held power for centuries and it's a recipe for something that almost as bad, with very little room for change.
I go back and watch golden era Buzzcocks so often. I always liked when they had an American pop star on there that didn't know what they were in for. There is a similar joy from watching someone completely out of their depth on Shooting Stars.
Except for Josh Groban! That guy got it.
I've never seen anyone looking as confused as Larry Hagman on Shooting Stars
@@TPRM1 I always remember the lass from Destiny's Child dealing with Frankie Boyle was a highlight.
Even though you didn't talk about it, I'm so glad you showed a shot of "What's My Line" when talking about the history of panel shows because honestly, I think it's the best U.S.-original panel show of all time. Many similar reasons to what you explained here for why British panel shows are so great - the core group and the rotating guests all genuinely like each other, and the stakes aren't all that high. Even though $50 was worth a lot more in those days than it is now, it never feels like winning or not winning the full amount will make or break the contestants' livelihoods - regardless of whether they win any money or not, they're going to go back to their jobs. There's an inversion where Would I Lie to You brings on one ordinary person amidst a group of celebrities and What's My Line brings on one celebrity for the mystery guest amidst a group of ordinary people as contestants, but the acknowledgment of that as the special segment of the show goes a long way, as does the fact that they all have a genuinely good time with it. (I'll never forget one of the first episodes I watched, where Walt Disney was the mystery guest... he struggled for a minute to come up with a silly voice to use to try and avoid being recognized immediately by the blindfolded panel, and after the panel removed their blindfolds, he said, "I was planning to do a falsetto, but then I realized, that's the mouse," and everyone just losing it.) They make jokes about how absurdly hot the weather is and reference events in their lives. They feel like real friends. And that's what makes it funny when they do banter and rag on each other - we as the audience feel like it's coming from a place of love rather than a place of mean-spiritedness. What's My Line had that, but nowadays a lot of U.S. television doesn't have that sense of genuine friendship that makes something banter rather than mockery. So grateful to have access to shows across the pond like Would I Lie to You and 8 Out of 10 Cats where that feeling is still there.
Eight out of ten cats is good because everyone makes fun of each other all the time!!! I love when Jimmy Carr tries to make fun of somebody then they just laugh at him for getting caught for tax evasion and he can't say anything back.
Jimmy Carr is the perfect example of how to weather a scandal. First, it has to be a scandal that isn't THAT bad (no Diddy's or Gary Glitters need apply), next you have to actually accept the blame without trying to wriggle out of it, then, and this one's critical, you have to take your lumps - laugh at the jokes at your expense, make a load of self-deprecating comments about it - and finally, don't get caught doing it again! (Preferably don't actually do it again, of course)
The other reason Carr's jokes at the expense of others tend to work is that he makes fun of himself at least as much, so it's clear that he's not just being insulting. So he'll say something mean about someone, and then they clap back at him and he just goes along with it and agrees with them.
I'm Canadian and I love UK WILTY so much. I didn't even know there was an American remake and I want to go back to not knowing about it because it looks so painfully unfunny.
Same with the US taskmaster, I was happier when I didn't know about it.
American comedians just don’t understand that they don’t need to be funny, just fun. That’s why Alan Davies is king; his ego doesn’t get in the way of a good time.
And that is in spite of him originally being quite offended that he was being made out to be the idiot. Once John Lloyd explained why he needed to be the fall guy so the others could feel safe, he was happy to do that.
Ok, i havent seen the American adaptation but from this video and especially the clip at 11:24, all im seeing is that they take themselves way too seriously. On British WILTY and QI, i generally completely lose track of the scoring, and rarely remember there are points being won or lost. But in this clip it seems like the US version actually care about winning points. To me, in UK WILTY, the points thing doesnt matter, its just about how shocked the others are
The ACTUAL American panel show is what Dropout is doing. A tight-knit group of comedians doing something authentic and original, rather than just copying the Brits.
The guy who says he won't make eye contact during road rage must be lying on the grounds that his statement is so utterly pedestrian.
Seriously how do you even make eye contact with other drivers? The only situation I can think of is when it is unclear who has right of way: Eye contact, a hand sign, a quick wave to signal thanks and that's it. Do American drivers after cutting you usually look back at you to gloat? I always thought that the reason for road rage is that we do not get any non verbal clues from the others.
Such nonsense would never fly with David on the panel.
Cultrually, the format is different too. In the US, panel shows have one goal: win. In the UK, panel shows are about having a chat; winning is a consequence of whatever happens during the chats (think of QI, WILTY).
I find them in mainstream UK comedy, where they are more willing to make fun of themselves. In mainstream US comedy, not so much. Some smaller US comics lean more towards self-deprecation. This means that banter develops between guests, even if they don't really know each other.
Yeah, I think this is the main issue. Admittedly the clips on the video are the only bits of the American "Would I Lie to You" that I have seen but the lack of self deprecation was rough. The guy getting upset about the pale joke really took the energy out of the scene.
Only Bob Mortimer can save this
I love Bob and have for decades but he would die on stage in the US, especially with these shitty comedians.
Not even Bob Mortimer can make "I iron my pants before important meetings" funny.
no, he can't
@@JackhammerJesus He could if he was still wearing them!
@@drunkenhobo8020 Okay, theoretically yes.
But we are talking about AMERICAN tv.
The examples they seem to give are just boring and mundane things rather than something that sounds to ridiculous to be true but actually could be.
US: I once bought a cucumber instead of a pear.
UK: "We do beg your pardon, we are in you garden."
'Joggle tops'. 😄
I’ve noticed when Americans try to do panel shows they always make the set look a generic late night show set. The same happened with taskmaster where the US version looks like it was filmed in a New York loft meets corporate reception while every other version kept the original quirky charm. In the uk you can identify the show based on their set but the American ones all look like could have been recorded in the same place.
As someone who has worked and been in the audience of these shows I can tell you at 16:37 that this is proof that the edit are good at their jobs. They in fact do cut up conversations all the time.
From what I understand the Kevin Bridges horse story took about half an hour during taping. That they managed to neatly edit it down to about seven minutes without missing any of the context...
I think I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue deserves a mention for really being the antidote to panel shows. It really showed that comedy could work in a panel show and moved us towards the era of panel shows that we have seen. I hope panel shows can become a popular format again, and I also hope we can see a couple of more serious ones. I think a lot of concepts that are turned into podcasts now could work better as panel shows
One of the biggest differences: No one on British panel shows actually care about winning. They know they're only there to be entertaining and the 'game' is just there to service that.
Americans take any form of competition way too seriously. If Bob Mortimer was on American WILTY, half the people on there would probably storm off and accuse him of cheating for the embellishments he adds to make his stories actually funny.
I'm guessing a lot of those comedians rejected a bunch of lies given too them because they'd be too difficult to sell and it wouldn't be 'fair' if their lies were more difficult than the others.
God I love when people are able to articulate why I hate something so accurately. You nailed it.
I was really pleasantly surprised that the recent American version of Have I Got News For You was really good in its own right. Somehow they’ve managed to understand the idea that no one needs to ‘win’ and the main goal is to make fun of politics
@@mollymcdade4031 And I think Michael Che even hosted an episode of the original, and was actually quite good!
I think another thing they often miss in the US is that shows like QI or WILTY don't necessarily need to be populated entirely by funny people, but *interesting* people. Once you have a comic framework in place (Mitchell, Mack & Brydon or Fry/Toksvig & Davies), you can invite other comedians as your guests, but it can be just as (or even more) successful if you invite scientists, historians, actors, musicians, weather forecasters, newsreaders, or even politicians.
This is a great analysis. Also, you short changed Rob Brydon a bit there when you referred to the chemistry between the three hosts but didn't mention him. But yep. You got it. Even the fact that they know each other and just straight-forwardly call each other out adds to the humour. For example, Lee pretending (spoiler..... you've been warned....)
...to have written a cook book, (which fooled some number of reactors on You Tube and is a bit plausible, because celebs sometimes do that sort of thing) and David Mitchell just outright saying, (paraphrase) "It's false. I know Lee; it's evident."
Just the shear straightforward completely uncontrived relaxed nature of it. Americans, with a few exceptions, just can't seem to transfer that in comedy.
American panel and game shows from the 50s and 60s were often polite and witty but that world disappeared
Same contrast between Graham Norton and US talk shows (Craig Ferguson excepted), the idea of being unpredictable and slightly edgy.
it is absolutely incredible that Craig got away with half of the crap he did on that show. Singing the intro, sure. Being serious about addiction and mental illness in the early 2010s, oooh scary... but the pantomime horse, the robot skeleton, the whole Bridger-bit, the sexy CBS executive lady?! An absolute miracle that will never be repeated.
One of my favourite Graham Norton clips is Matt Damon, almost crying with laughter saying it's the most fun he's ever had on a talk show.
US WILTY: I don’t like sauce on my Burgers and Hot Dogs
UK WILTY: I once set fire to my house with a box of fireworks
Were they _indoor_ fireworks?
It's because Americans don't understand that the point of the show is to be funny and entertaining, not to win. They are too competitive to get the tone right.
The difference is that no one really cares if a comedian doesnt like getting cut off, like thats not a situation
People care if David Mitchell has a button in his house he's always been too scared to push because theres a conversation there
To be fair to the American would I lie to you, the first season of the original wasn't much better, aside from the great interplay between Lee and David. The set was ugly, there were other games that didn't work awkwardly inserted in and every story was incredibly rushed like the first story by dom joly about going to school with Osama bin laden was barely given 2 minutes.
Sure, but the UK version didn't have a template based on 15+ years of successful broadcast. They were figuring it out as they went, and the landed the winning formula pretty quickly all things considered.
This just isn't true. They tried out stuff that didn't work, but they tried out stuff that did work, and worked so well it is still going strong some 20 years later.
@@alexander9703 I don't think he said otherwise.
And Rob was considerably taller and less Welsh
Next you're going to say the first attempts at making an aeroplane didn't fly very well, had some very arguable design decisions, and the in-flight meals were terrible... and we must take that into consideration when evaluating Ryanair, because it's not like they have knowledge of or access to all the improvements made since then.
God, I love Buzzcocks. I’ve always had a love for UK comedy - weirdly, old Whose Line episodes would air on the children’s channel here in Canada when I was younger. (RIP Tony Slattery) But Buzzcocks introduced me to so many UK comedians and musicians that I probably never would’ve found otherwise, and some (I’m looking at you, Jedward, Dappy) that I wish I never did.
I gave the new US Whose Line a shot but the weird shoehorning of CW stars who obviously had no improv skills turned me off. As soon as I saw they were trying WILTY, I put it out of my mind and literally only remembered it when I saw this thumbnail.
Bless you for suffering so we don’t have to.
I never got over the fact Drew Carey used to introduce Whose Line... By explicitly saying "the show where the points don't matter."
So lame. Clive Anderson would simply give a million points to Ryan and everyone would get it.
That phrase became iconic though.
@cookieface80 yeah, that makes it even more annoying.
Have to assume the American pilots didnt test well as if the test audience was actually shouting "Why is that worth a million points!? This is bullshit!"
It was usually a setup to a joke
"That's right the points don't matter, they're like Colin's hairbrush."
@@OMGSAMCOPSEY Clive would get sued for unfairly awarding a million points.
I'm Canadian, but I don't have the CW so I've never seen this adaptation. I can't judge the quality, but I can also say that looking at the list of guests, I personally know 90% of the guests. They're alternative comedians, Daily Show contributors, cast members on American sitcoms, TV writers, Broadway people,... Much in the way that the UK WILTY, which I love, has a lot of guests I do not know as a Canadian because their shows don't make it to my TV or they don't tour here. I don't think the deficit here is necessarily the quality of guests, but in the huge landscape of US entertainment industry, the combo of celebrities they've paired together don't really know each other. I think that's a big difference between the US and UK entertainment industries. I grew up on French language comedy panel shows in Quebec, which also tend to work super well, partly again because it's a smaller community where a lot of comedians and actors know each other. I definitely think that helps in making cozy shows where people riff well off of each other.
The difference is that the UK guests are considered to be the top tier of British comedy. The US equivalent would be comedians like you'd see on the Comedy Central Roast dais or Chris Hardwick's At Midnight--not people trying to break into the industry and people with one or two notable things on their resumé. There absolutely is a deficit in guest quality.
@ Yes, the UK show has some excellent comedians but also a lot of young comics, a bunch of reality show contestants, presenters of different kinds of shows, musicians,...; acting like it's all top-notch comedians as guests is just not the case. The size of the entertainment industry is so different between the US and the UK, you cannot really compare the two. As I said, I'm Canadian but knew most of the American guests so they can't be that obscure!
@ the size of the respective entertainment industry isn't relevant--the fact of the matter is the guests in the US are of low quality to even the American audience, and the guests (comedians or otherwise) in the UK are mostly the more well-known, highest quality to the British audience. Even to a neutral audience like yourself, the British guests are almost always objectively more talented and experienced. I'm saying this as a half Brit, half American, who's lived half his life in each country.
Just as an extra side note, I said comedians in my last post because that's the most common type of guest on a comedy panel show and they're the ones who essentially carry the entertainment; no need to nitpick such a small detail.
@ I wasn't trying to nitpick. I really think you are focusing on the best stuff out of 17 seasons of WILTY UK and forgetting the duds. I love the show, but for every episode with Bob Mortimer, Greg Davies or Claudia Winkleman, you have an episode where Lee, David and Rob have to do the work to keep the game flowing. They cast the show well, but not everyone is a quick mind or a born storyteller.
Again, I'm not saying the US show was better than the UK one, but the US version also only had one season worth of episodes. Also, I still stand by the fact that the video was saying most guests were mostly unknown when they are not.
@@MorningAngel they are mostly unknown in my experience in the US, though. Maybe they're known more by a certain older generation who still have cable, but they're not popular and your point about a quality deficit still doesn't stand.
Funnily enough, I even know one of the guests in this video (her long-term partner is one of my close friends) and I didn't even know she did this show until I watched this video.
Whose Line’s a rare successful US panel show adaptation because all the parts needed to succeed were already there by the end of the UK run.
The last few series were regularly filmed in the US (they were already using the US version’s stage design by the end) and most of the core cast members were frequently featured throughout the UK version.
Their chemistry is probably one of the strongest to ever exist considering it’s coming up to 30 years or more now since they started on the UK version.
I feel that’s why it’s lasted so long and is still airing new seasons to this day, because the core cast have been working together that long and don’t take themselves seriously (plus it helps that they seem to always know when to adapt their material regarding satirical topics and social changes).
You can probably tell I’m a big fan of the show as a whole lol 😂😅
The big difference with Whoes line though is they kept the key regulars and mostly the same rotational guests from the original. I think US versions of panel shows would work better if they kept the UK regulars until they find adequate replacements and just have US focused guests to fill the other spots until they find out who is good at doing panel shows.
In the UK we already know who will be good on a panel show as there are so many of them, so if proposing a new panel show if you said yeah it's going to have David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Bill Bailey every week, then you know you are going to be in good hands regardless of the theme or format of the show. Where as in the US you are just guessing who would be good, although you think they'd stick with the proven improv performers initially.
Exactly. It certainly can work with the right team. They should really hire the teams behind the many now-cancelled UK panel shows to run them. And get a few UK guests in as ringers.
I'm sure some mock the week producers and writers would do a year in LA.
@ Mock the week was made by the same people that made "whose line"
And of course Whose Line always included Amrrican contestants, and improv is a much bigger thing in US comedy than it is in the UK.
Your channel is very underrated!
I had no idea the Americans remade *Would I Lie to You*
2:08 Oh dang, it's Jedward! I took a selfie with them at a con once! One of them complimented my beard!
I went to a Jedward concert when I was young, not sure what my mother was thinking, my brother had a giant Jedward poster on his wall for years just to have something on his wall.
Which one? 😂
@@archivist17 - I bet it was the annoying one.
Most Americans in smaller gatherings don't feel comfortable vocally disagreeing with each other any more (This is not about online spaces, and definitely not valid on Twitter). There has to be this outward performance of acceptance and tolerance, even for things that you may think are objectively objectionable.
This is in contrast to the French, who enjoy setting off fireworks in small gatherings. The skill of spirited debate without taking it personally is appreciated, and developed. Most Americans don't develop it in small doses, and their larger communities are worse off for it.
Watching the awkward attempts of the American panelists to simulate camaraderie without the slightest *ability* to be pointed or cutting, like the UK panel, was a sad reminder of that loss.
American social dynamics are absolutely steeped in fake niceties and cartoonish friendliness. It's exhausting - and it makes for terrible banter.
I'm not sure I've ever done this before but I'm cringing with my arms wildly at 9:18. This is so much worse than I ever could have imagined.
11:40 That was genuinely disturbing. Why the fuck would you serve that?!
My guess is that ironically she was lying about that. Either she was trying to make a memorable story or the producers were encouraging people to try to say anything mildly interesting.
I think one of the key issues is this specific calibre of American absolutely will not under any circumstances allow themselves to be shown in anything but the best light on Tv/infront of a crowd, that’s why you get really generic ‘lies’ and nothing interesting or stand out, I’m sure they all have things like that that have happened to them but refuse to be ‘made fun of’
The thing with UK panel shows is that it's such an established format and the comedians cycle through them all so often that they can just be loose because they already have another booking next week.
US comedians have the flop sweat of having to play for their next gig.
Same goes for talkshows. In the US they're these incoherent rambling, host interrupting kind of affairs, whilst in the UK you have someone like Graham Norton who's almost like a support character and the guests can talk amongst themselves just as much as to or with Graham. It's no wonder people love that show and guests seem to genuinely love being there.
The only good Yank panel show is Whose line is it anyway, and that was originally British. It's like they got it but didn't realise it
Your edit at 15m made me laugh, which was way more than any of the previous clips you'd shown 😂 I do miss original buzzcocks, and actually that kind of savage brutal British humour that's dying in general.
These American adaptation always are truly terrible.
It’d interesting to see you compare all the various TM adaptations. The US one was a disaster, but it has 7 version! I’m only familiar with the NZ ones, but I’ve seen a lot of acclaim for the others.
The Australian one is good too.
@@ianz9916 I didn't think I'd like it as much as the NZ one (because Aussies :P) but yeah, Taskmaster AU is pretty good too. I have yet to venture into the non-English speaking TMs because I'm slightly worried that subtitles might dilute the banter for me.
Same. Though I hear that Norway knocked it out of the park.
14:48 - you nailed the timing and repetition on this one. It hit that sweet spot of it still being funny, because and in spite of the anticipation. Beautiful.
What about Hollywood Squares? The old one. I never watched it but saw clips with Gilbert Godfried and he was funny.
Waiting in fear for the day America copies peep show
Very well-made video. I was surprised when I saw the view count, this is the type of video you'd expect to have a few 100k views. I hate to sound patronising, but I will anyway, I implore you keep making videos and keep-up this kind of quality.
British comedians would have made a dozen jokes about dog spunk in a banana bread within seconds. The Americans won't "go there".
Poor Michael Ian Black.
To be fair, Taylor Tomlinson's show is basically a version of Mock the Week/HIGNFY and it's okay.
And the US version if HIGNFY, which also has Michael Ian Black, is fine. Even when they had the US host appear on the UK version, he mostly fit in (other than not being aware of any of the British news items he was reading).
This format, like thE US Taskmaster, just doesn't work for the US market and the fact that the comedy scene is on podcasts if they're not doing live shows.
I think one point you may have missed on here as to why the US gets it wrong so often is the casting and more specifically the team captains of the teams, they are often from different backgrounds or have different character traits. You look at David and Lee, Paul and Ian, Jon and Sean, often from very different social economic backgrounds with often very different strengths and weaknesses. Those character traits are well known and can be latched onto by the guests, that it makes joining a panel easier for an episode.
The characters weaknesses become the shows greatest strengths. So in a culture of perfectionism where nobody can show their weaknesses on set, then the show becomes weak.
We do beg your pardon, but we are in your garden
Yo bro. Dunno if you’ll read this but your videos are ace. Feels cool to of found you while you’re a still relatively small channel. I sense big things for you lad. Keep going with it x
There was a Swedish version called ”Tror du jag ljuger? ”. I think it only lasted a season, completely different vibe to the UK version.
We also have or have had Swedish versions of QI and Taskmaster. I guess Taskmaster kinda worked but QI didn’t translate well imo.
It’s often the combo of people that makes the shows work.
I think Would I Lie To You works much better with Rob Brydon than it did with Angus Deayton.
The chemistry between Rob, David and Lee is what makes the show so good.
Don't forget Snacka om Nyheter, the Swedish version of Have I Got News, which ran for 14 seasons.
When I found the US one funny is when the British woman was saying something… because she took the piss. It’s not a concept that can be taken seriously.
dude please keep uploading consistently your content is like peak i am FEEDING off of it rn. I know it's been said but you are seriously underrated and I really want to see more from you!
💙🙏
Alright parents evening
I could go on about this subject for hours, but watching this is very well put. We do have this style of comedy in the UK where absolutely nothing funny is said yet people falsely laugh on command on late night TV. But have noticed slowly people are going back to old style comedy. It's great for example seeing comedy programs again where people not long ago were saying couldn't be shown in case someone might be offended. Next that should be banned is warnings before TV programs some viewers might be offended.
I dont like getting cut off... thats it? THATS THE WHOLE BIT!?
One of the most memorable moments of NMTB for me growing up in the Simon Amstell era was when Anthony Costa from Blue was on it and Simon spent the whole episode ripping into him, and Anthony just went along with it. You can't imagine any nationlly-recognised American non-comedian responding like that to such jokes.
What do you think of the U.S. version of HIGNFY? I caught an episode of it on BBC and it was much better than I expected
Oh! I watched a bit and it felt sadly lacking, I like many of the comics they featured but maybe they were lacking a Hislop, I'm not sure whether there is a tradition of satire in the US but they really need one.
I really enjoy the US version of HIGNFY, and I think it works for a North American sensibility. Then again, I really like Roy Wood Jr, Amber Ruffin, and Michael Ian Black, which made it easy to buy into it.
@@MorningAngel I didn't know any of the people there but I still enjoyed some bits! The US host also came over and did a UK episode, which I thought was not bad at all
@@Para2normal I don't know if I'll ever live to see a Hislop appearing on American TV...
The set looks like they stole the jeremy kyle show
I note you don't mention WILTY when it was hosted by Angus Deayton nor Buzzcocks when it was presented by Mary Anne Hobbs.
WILTY with Angus was fine (though the format wasn't quite as dialled in), but Rob is better at -being- playing dumb.
how the hell did Bob not get a mention???
And for me one of the biggest reasons is british mannerisms and social bonding, we brits insult the ones we care about, we tease them relentlessly about their failings seemingly in quite a mean manner, Lee always attacks Davids 'posh silver spoon' persona, and david attacks Lee's general uneducated background, but BOTH also make themselves the butt of the joke, David tells tales of his little bell and his travel dressing gown while Lee tells tales of his own stupidity, its like mates at the pub having each other on and it feel sincere and welcoming. Americans, dont mock each other, and they dont like mocking themselves so if they copy they look like they are acting - badly
It's amazing that the funniest bit in this whole video was the bit you did yourself.
I remember hearing a Bob Mortimer story on WILTY that I had never heard before and I actually made me spit out my drink, not once, in the clips you showed, did I crack a smile
I don't know, I thought that story about having road rage and not making eye contact was... actually I was going to jokingly praise it but then I just started thinking about how lame it all was.
In hindsight if I were to do an American adaptation of WILTY I’d just have the same core trio (Brydon, Mack and Mitchell) but replace the guests with American Personalities. (Not guys we’d know)
Also I’ve never seen an episode before so when you did your skit I legit thought that a BBNO$ esque rapper was one of the guests.
4:26 is exactly why it doesn't work in the US, that would be the entire show, most US celebrities just cannot actually laugh at themselves, they pretend for sure but behind the empty self deprication there's an inherit and unjustified pride that's waiting to fight back against any non-surface level jab and panel shows are built on guests being able to take a joke and laugh at themself
There are very specific US personalities that have fit in on UK panel shows but usually it ends up with them either having a tantrum or having no chemistry with anyone else on the show.
The product of celebrity worship, why I'm glad down here in Australia we hate our celebrities as much if not more than the UK.