US show: oh my god I just fell over, hahaha that’s so relatable and funny, oh my god her crush just saw that and someone called her and idiot U.K. show: he’s getting a divorce, his boss is gunna fire him, he’s got massive secret debts, he’s started doing coke and just got arrested and now he wants to kill himself, omg this comedy is so fucking funny and relatable 😂
Bono described it this way: When an American walks past a mansion on the hill, he looks up at it and thinks “One day, that will be me.” An Irish person walks past the mansion, looks up at it and thinks, “One day, I’m gonna get that bastard.”
Someone once said the difference between British and American comedy is this: A customer finds a fly in their soup and starts yelling at the incompetent waiter. In an American comedy, the main character is the customer or their date. In a British comedy, the main character is the waiter.
Someone else said the difference between American and British comedy is a director saying "We're going to do the pie gag!" and the American says "OK, I'm ready to throw the pie!" while the Brits says "I'm ready to be hit by the pie!". I think they had just been watching Laurel & Hardy to be honest.
I think British comedy has a tendency to be dark, sarcastic and very much “taking the piss out of general life” comedy, we do enjoy that. Friday Night Dinner and The Inbetweeners are quite good examples of that. Panel shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway you have Mock the Week. There are similarities between American and British humour but I think British humour tends to be very specific.
I totally get what you mean by this though at the same time things like Family Guy really push the boundaries of offensive..i guess they got cancelled a bunch of times hahaha...then again they never say the word "shit" 😂 it's so funny what is and isn't viewed as offensive in the different countries
Brits can only be offensive to white folcc. They don’t have a loicense to be actually offensive. Vulgarity is neither the pinnacle of humour or offensiveness.
For me it’s like, American humour: here’s the joke! Here’s another joke! Hey have another! * end * British humour: have a joke! Let’s build on this joke, subtle reference to past joke, build joke further, climax of joke where you’re dying with laughter * end * I’m conclusion, I will pay you £100 if you can find me an American show that’s as funny to me the first time round as Blackadder is the forty eighth time round...
why didn’t you talk about the inbetweeners and how the american version is awful because the jokes are changed so much. really shows how being vulgar is acceptable in british comedy but not in US comedy.
But then you have a US comedy like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where the show's enduring popularity is dictated by vulgarity and general immorality. While it's not a critical darling, it's definitely a pop culture hit. And I can't imagine its format working in the UK. A Russian edition was attempted but it didn't pan out.
No that completely isn't the case. The us Inbetweeners is just a bad show, by itself. You can't just say one is an 'American' interpretation of it, because you could have bad writers, bad producers, bad actors. It's just a bad show.
Djantai Otorbaev how can you say it’s a bad show when soooo many people love it? if you were to say that you personally didn’t like it then fair enough but it’s very arrogant to say it’s a ‘bad show’ as it clearly isn’t because so many people enjoy it!
@@Chloesfarmbecause the US Inbetweeners was widely considered a fail, scoring a 3.2 on IMDB, and 1/5 on the Telegraph. Not to mention it was immediately canceled after its debut season. Literally search US Inbetweeners and there will be nothing but videos destroying the show. I'm sorry, but this just makes it a bad show. Not to be confused with the UK Inbetweeners which is good and is widely praised
yeah same! some of my fave tv shows are american sitcoms (friends, Brooklyn nine nine) but I think when it comes to stand up especially British wins by a long shot for me personally
@@leahj2495 this sums me up pretty well. I like american tv comedies, but standup the british are crushing it. Also British panel shows are the best, taskmaster, 8 out of 10 cats - with ot without countdown, WILTY ect. Its just so funny, because so much of the humor is just them playing of each other.
@@craigtrish2011 To be fair, nobody is saying that ALL American humour is one way, and all British humour is another way. The point is there's a general trend. You could say that some American comedy is kind of British (eg South Park, which was inspired by Monty Python to a large degree), and some British comedy is kind of American (like Gavin and Stacey, which has a level of optimism and uplift to it which you don't find much in British comedy). But as a general rule, I think its fair to say that at the heart of British comedy is an appreciation of failure, and a desire to mock hypocrisy and pretension, whereas at the heart of American comedy is an appreciation of success. Many of our most beloved characters aren't even all that likeable: Mark Corrigan, Basil Fawlty, Alan Partridge, Edmund Blackadder, Steptoe and Son, Mrs Bucket, David Brent. There are of course examples of the antihero in American comedy, but they're much rarer in my experience. A weird exception I've noticed is American cartoon sitcoms - for some reason they're often much more willing to have unlikable characters and failures at the heart of their stories. The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, King of the Hill... somehow, they seem to be the exact opposite of live action sitcoms being made in the same era.
My favorite US later night show was when Craig Ferguson was at the helm of the Late Late show. And I think that was because he basically did whatever he wanted and broke out of the American talk show mold.
I adore Graham Norton, but no one has ever made me laugh more than David Letterman did in his heyday. Johnny Carson wasn't as funny as either of these guys, but he's my favorite because I absolutely loved him when I was a kid. There's been a lot of great talk show hosts, past and present.
Big thing with Graham is it's never about him. He's naturally funny and chimes in but it's never more important that he's funny over the rest of the show.
He's Scottsh and made a bit of a name for himself at the Edinburgh Fringe as the character "Bing Hitler", but not for much else before he moved to America.
As an outsider (non-British non-American) who consumes both media: I feel like American comedy puts emphasise how even in the worst day the main character will get their rainbow and sunshine after the storm at the end of the episode. So the viewer is supposed to root for the main character. While British comedy puts emphasises on the main character's shitty life, which means that happy ending is not always guaranteed and you just have to deal with it. This makes the main character either becomes more relatable to the viewer OR it makes the viewer laughs at someone whose life is worse than theirs.
In your honest opinion then, which style of comedy do you prefer? What are your favourite shows of each time? It's really interesting seeing an outside perspective ☺️
Hannah Vasby-Burnie Honestly, when it comes to sitcom, I can’t choose which one I prefer simply because I like different things depending on my own mood. I watch American sitcom to cheer me up and it’s generally easier to digest. I watch British sitcom when I’m in the mood for something more wicked, dark, or dry. On the top of my head, I can recall more American sitcoms than British, simply because I watch a lot more American sitcoms due to accessibility (for the fact that it’s readily available on my country’s Netflix and some also aired in my local TV while for British sitcoms I have to actively look for it). Brooklyn 99, Friends, and HIMYM are some American sitcoms that I quite like. For British, I love the IT Crowd, Bad Education, and The Office. (I haven’t actually watched Gavin and Stacey and I’m ashamed to admit to that haha.) But if we’re talking about standup comedy, I feel like I prefer British ones. (Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know the reason. I don’t even know the diff between the two styles of standup comedy.) I’m currently enjoying James Acaster. Though I really, really like John Mulaney. The thing is, he’s the only American standup comedian that I love. I can’t stand the others that I’ve tried to watch for unknown reasons. TL;DR I love both American and British sitcoms and I have no preference for it. I love British standup comedians more than American standup comedians for unknown reasons.
@@nakaharaindria thank you so much for taking the time to reply. This was really interesting to me, so thanks. I'm the same as you I think, I watch a lot of American shows because of accessibility and I prefer British standup.
You know Friends and BBT where in front of a live audience right? Not every show is a laugh track... Plus, they're Sitcoms which literally stands for situational comedy. So it's by very definition a comedy show, just a different kind. Maybe open your mind a bit and expand your knowledge :)
In my eighth grade English class (in the us) our teacher showed us twilight zone, Simpson’s, and mr bean to 1) give us a break and 2) teach us plot structure. The class found both comedies to be quite funny. : )
This might be related but probably not.....anyway British people love complaining about Britain but when other people *coughcoughamericanscoughcough* (no offence) complain about Britain we get all defensive. or maybe thats just me
@@yourgaycousin5728 We do have a self depricating humour in the UK, quite famous for it. Most people are fine with being made fun of. But when you really look at it, the USA doesn't really have a slef depricating humour at all. In fact quite the reverse they have a self elevating humour and then a depricating humour for other countries. You can probably see why it would get the backs up of some people. Typically Americans are not very self critical or even self aware, but are very good at picking on others. Just an observation.
I'd agree with the last two, but I'd go with "pessimistic" over the first. There's only a handful of offensive British comedians, and as far as I can tell most of us aren't so into that. Experiences differ though
As the guy above said, it's realistic humour too. And, I'm only half way through the video, but Americans have a lot of canned laughter which kinda kills the whole point of laughter in my opinion.
They would have re-runs of Ab Fab on TV back in the day, but I could never understand what that were saying. I was assured that they were in fact speaking English.
I think the difference is that American comedies assume their viewers are idiots that need to be spoon-fed, whereas British shows assume that you're 100% in on the joke
Evan: I think a great American comedy show is whose line is it anyway Whose line: actually ran in the UK for about 10 years before they made a US version
And it started out on Radio 4, as did many British comedies. That's another difference - the trying a format on Radio (lower budget) and it may then move to tv. Whose Line, Goodness Gracious Me, Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh etc. I don't know whether that happens as much now as in the past though. I grew up in the UK and now live in the US so not as in the loop. I wish panel shows worked over here, there is Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR. They tried to do a version of Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1 (or maybe MTV) in the early 2000s and it just didn't work. More recently there was The Fix on Netflix, with Jimmy Carr hosting and Katherine Ryan as a regular panelist, which I quite enjoyed partly because I'm starved of that format here, but I see no indication there'll be a second season. I can't imagine Countdown, or even Cats Does Countdown, working in the US for a few reasons.
I was recently waiting for a TV programme to start and had to sit through the last five minutes of the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and quite frankly it got on my nerves. Friends I’ve never found funny and my daughter couldn’t understand why. Yeah.
I find what Evan said about the office needing to make Michael likable for the american office to succeed interesting because in British comedy I think it's fairly common that nobody is actually that likable and it doesn't affect our enjoyment of the show. Also though his favorite seems to Senfield where I would also argue nobody was actually likable and that succeeded in the US.
I thought this too! David Brent is a twat and a half...the only thing he had going for him is that he was never malicious...nothing seemed intentionally offensive or mean and he wanted nice things for people in his own way...he was just extremely annoying. I don't think we have to feel like we want to be friends with every character. We're like "some people are twats we all know them". Ricky Gervais is generally pretty good at staying juuuuuust on the boundary of being able to get away with something. It's either skill or luck I'm not sure yet hahahah
Also Michael is not like-able in any season. As soon as you start to root for him he says something racist or nasty or someone offends him and he gets The Look of just pure stubbornness where you know he’s going to spend the rest of the episode overreacting like s.t.o.p. But most of the other characters are so like-able or good cringe it makes up for him.
The fact that in the US office season 2 they actually changed his character to make him more likeable and almost more perfect compared to season 1 itself shows the difference between british and american comedy though, given that in the uk characters that are flawed, are far from perfect, maybe even plain awful people are appreciated because we know that there are people like that in real life too and you can laugh at their misery they experience or create for others, whereas americans to a certain extent would not find such a character likeable because perfection and optimism still to a certain extend is desired in american tv. In british comedy, the main character does not need to have admirable qualities or look good to be enjoyed. It doesn't even matter if the character gets a happy and positive outcome where they achieve what they wanted either, because that's life. In reality, you a lot of the times will still fail to get what you want despite numerous efforts and struggle. Hard work doesn't always pay off.
Hilarious that you mentioned whose line is it anyway as an example of an American sort of comedy panel show as it was actually a British show that was then imported over to America where they did it with the same format but different comedians, the American one got way more famous but it's actually a British show!
As an American, yes our humor is definitely escapism. To be fair though, have y’all seen what’s happening in our country? We need an escape, even if it’s just in a comedy show.
as an impartial Norwegian, I really prefer British humor. Everything from Monty Python, The It Crowd, Hot Fuzz and the panel shows! Thank God for the panel shows! Norwegian tv has gained SO much from just adopting a few panel shows. "Nytt på Nytt" is the Norwegian "Have i got news for you" and it has been on since 1999 with viewership numbers as high as 1/5 of Norway!
Same! As an European in the USA for a few decades I continue to prefer European humor. British humor is the best known but Europeans in general prefer that kind of humor. The more time I spend in the US the more I notice I am European to the core!
I love that Doctor Who achieves that by doing the exact opposite thing! People nowadays may whine that things keep changing, but the show's only *lasted* because it has *no* real status quo. No one thing about the show is always constant, except inconstancy. Not the sonic, not the themes, not the cosmology, not even the time travel! It constantly changes and always has done. Which is why, to me, it is ageless.
They mention 'who's line is it anyway' at the end. It actually started off as a British show. They had people like Stephen Fry come on regularly. It also came out 10 years before the American version
Okay but talking about remakes to do with comedy: the inbetweeners. That just didn’t work because they could say or do anything that made the uk show so funny in the first place and it was awful
@Emma Taylor Ngl, your comment was a little... defensive. And I say this as someone who went through the pain of GCSEs & A Levels. It's cool man. Everybody's humour is a lil' different.
@Emma Taylor No need to apologise! 😊 I didn't want to go in on you, I just wanted to point out how it may have come across. Everyone's a little patriotic to some extent so believe me, I know what it's like to want to instantly defend your country in little or big ways; no matter the bullshit they put you or anyone else through 😂
Akinyi Omer don’t mean to butt in on ur convo but I just wanted to say that it’s so heartwarming to see people being nice when looking through TH-cam comments. I wanted to look at the replies on this post ‘cause I myself was gettin a bit defensive over my AmErICAN-ness so seeing this kinda helped me view things a bit lighter. Thanks
@@oldlantern4754 Awww thank you so much, I really appreciate it. Yeah honestly sometimes I think the reason we feel so threatened and defensive over anything UK vs USA is cause there's a begrudging respect there on both sides; like we're both proud of our countries yet at the same time badly want the other side to recognise and respect the special things about us? 😂 Its kinda hilarious when I think about it sometimes. And just - the last few years of national & international politics have been really depressing for me ... a lot of our world leaders could do with calming the fuck down and realising that hyper-nationalism is not the highest form of patriotism, it's just blind love without critical or conscious thinking; without maturity. People start thinking there's nothing to improve or fight for, that other nations and the Earth aren't worth fighting for, because we believe we're already perfect. And that ends my depressing essay! Lmao
Actually British comedians tend to come more from Cambridge, because they have a really prestigious comedy club called footlights, a lot of big comedians come from there
That's one particular type of comedian, they don't work the Northern clubs they go from footlights to the fringe to tv and they're generally only good for tv quiz show hosting , they all think that they're John Cleese in Monty Python but they're more like John Cleese in reality.
it would've been interesting to see them talk about like old UK comedy - I'm talking Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served, the Carry-on films, all the very british very slapstick 'Ooh mrs windermere' type stuff. I'm yet to see an American who likes that.
When I think of British comedy, I tend to think of things pre-naughties. I'd love Evan to see things such as Are You Being Served?, The Good Life, Dad's Army, One Foot in the Grave, and The Vicar of Dibly. I wonder what he'd make of them.
I only recently "discovered" panel shows because I'm not British but I absolutely fell in love! I sometimes get the felling that American shows just assume their audience is dumb and make jokes really obvious, in contrast to British shows where you have to use your brain to get all the jokes.
Most successful started off on radio where they have to rely on genuinely funny scripts to work. Others come through the Fringe Festival and the theatre circuit with low budget props etc. Before they pitch to tv so they know what will and wont work.
Not only was The IT Crowd filmed in front of a live audience (Faulty Towers too?), it contained a mixture of slapstick, situational and very british subtle humour.
I'd love to see you talk about documentaries. British produced documentaries are almost ASMR experiences - you have some relaxing voice actor providing narration over diagetic footage. American produced documentaries are like action films - jump cuts, sound effects, high octane music, and even cliffhangers at ad breaks. Heck, the same distinction seems to apply to daytime television shows like the ones where you're looking for quality products amidst junk (e.g. we have shows where people are browsing antique shops, while you have them where they're going through people's storage units); or buying a new property; or renovating a property. In the UK, it's just the narrator/presenter talking over real footage - but in the US everything's edited to feel like an action film with a high-stakes narrative.
Mentioned laughter tracks/studio audience, would love to see Evan react to some classic British comedy like Red Dwarf, Father Ted and also historic greats like Dad's Army :)
The thing with the British shows with laugh tracks/studio audience is that they actually enhance the actor's performance I think. I'm thinking Red Dwarf specifically, when they didn't have an audience in series 7 (though they then would screen the episodes for an audience and record the laughter and add it. IDK. That was a dark time for the show). The performances just aren't the same competed to even series 8 when they brought back the audience. You can just see the difference in energy in the performers.
@@Olivia_-nd7qc Father Ted was written by Irish writers based in the UK and made by Channel 4 - just like Black Books, the IT Crowd and Toast of London. (the same writers). All fantastic comedies but not uniquely Irish.
The mighty boosh. Vic and Bob. Shooting stars. Faulty towers. IT crowd. Richard ayowade. Would I lie to you. Joe Lycett. Bob Mortimer again because he's a god. The height of British comedy.
LOOK AT THOSE TANNED ARMS! And I feel like even with friendships it changes a lot as in the UK you can make really dark jokes and digs at your friends without it being offensive. I'd love to see Evan's reaction to Misfits or something like that.
@@evan Colin and Ryan (and a few others I think, Greg Proops maybe?) we're actually on the UK version of the show and stayed with it after it migrated to the States and we kept it.
True. I loved Clive Anderson as host, and then one day Drew Carey was host (who I already loved from his own show), so I've enjoyed both versions over the years. :)
@@evan You can still go and see the original members of the UK show perform it at the comedy store in london every single sunday and wednesday. I'm someone who is a huge fan of the UK format, and really don't get on with the Americanised version of it just because it's very over the top in your face (to me at least). Would highly recommend going to the comedy store to see it done properly
-British stand up to me is identifying common problems in life eg - Lee Evans , Peter Kay, Mickie Flanagan -most old English shows have laugh tracks eg- Only Fools and horses , vicar of dibley, many more. -Uk comedy is more quotable, if you say something someone will know what your talking about
The thing Evan said about making characters era more likeable made me think of Ross from friends - so many Americans hate him as a person and somehow that means they hate him as a character. Personally I love that he is so dislikable and that’s what makes him so much funnier than the rest of the cast.
British Comedy has changed throughout the decades; dad's Army, and some mother's do 'av them are different to the royal family, my family and Inbetweeners, and different to, as time goes by, birds of a feather, keeping up appearances.
I suppose they all reflect society as it is at the time though, so they have to change in order to be relatable to the audience of the time. People of the 2000s can see themselves in the Royle Family, the Inbetweeners etc. but in the 90s they'd have related to Keeping up Appearances, we all know someone like that. :)
8:40 I feel the need to point out that Fry and the Python gang actually came from and/or met at Cambridge. A lot of famous British comedians apparently started out at Footlights there :)
I'm more into dark humor, but that might be the Gen Z coming out. Also, surrealism is cool, just show me any warp and deep fried meme and I'll at least snort, unless it's a really bad joke. Also Dad Jokes and Dry Humor because I'm fond of sarcastic asshats. I get really bad second hand embarrassment, so Cringe will automatically drop my mood into the negatives as I wince and try to cover my eyes and ears and wait it out, or just leave.
@@sanityisrelative I didn't know there was an American version, though I would of thought it could have been done quite easily, like the general format fits well to the American style , finishes in the same situation it starts so it can continue for many seasons, all they would have to do is change the plot of episodes a bit
@@georgiaevans2123 there's a pilot episode of the American version (which is almost a shot for shot remake, bus somehow worse). The thing is, they even brought Ayoade over to play Moss. And they had Joel McHale to be Roy. It's abysmal. (And I'm pretty sure this was pre Community, so I'm honestly glad it failed so Joel was available for Community.)
Brits like something relatable and real e.g. The Royle Family. Nothing really happens but it makes you think about how ridiculous some things in life are and allows you to see family life from everyone’s perspective
British humour in a nutshell, Ricky Gervais at the golden globes the other week! American humour in a nutshell, American Hollywood big shots not getting Ricky Gervais at the golden globes the other week!
Tbf you've also got Ab Fab, Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools, dinnerladies and even Yes Minister all with laugh tracks - I think a lot of British sitcoms have them but perhaps the emphasis on them is slightly different?
I'm from America and watch a lot of U.K. shows. They have less episodes per series/season, but they don't seem to have any mediocre or crappy episodes. They're all good. I think that they take more time with the writing and as they said here, it's not just some random writers writing the episodes, it's people who created the show, etc. They are totally investing in their creations and are given more time to write and make the episodes great.
Dan Owen yes it started out on BBC and in the first season of the American one they had British comedians from the British one appear too (and I believe Ryan and Colin where on the British one too)
Yes, then transferred to tv in the UK for a few seasons before moving to the US. I think the concept was to bring improv to the UK though as we didn't really have an improv culture over here. The comedians in the UK version were mainly Canadians I seem to remember.
Mighty Boosh, in my opinion is such an amazing show. the weirdness and the surrealism is so captivating PS:THAT WAS AN AMAZING JAMES ACASTER, WELL DONE
@@biscuitsforyouall Yeah he nailed the comedy in Gavin and Stacey but I think they were referring to his chat show where he tries too hard for the US audience and is generally not as funny
6:55 its a remake issue! and then goes and describes how 1st season which was true to the original UK version wasnt successful and thus in second season they changed the style of humour to be more palatable for US audience...
@Judeau im not saying theres no such shows but first the point was him disagreeing with the English dude and then basically confirming his point. and second even if there are such show anyone who watched US movie or TV or watched news or just watched few mins of anything US made can clearly see in general the mainstream and most commonly accepted type of humour is noticeably less ironic and dry and more literal and sweet or idealistic( for some even childish) than the one we enjoy in Europe( not just UK). Its the same as mainstream US culture is way more obsesses with violence/ gore and nudity/ sex( one is usually glorifies and other is erased or feared) than is in general usual and even acceptable in most of Europe.
Jiří Řehůřek I think a major difference between the US and UK that a lot of people forget is that the US is hugely variable in terms of culture. I’m not saying the UK isn’t, because it is, but the starting point of US culture comes from innumerable sources, all quite recent and distinct, while the UK (to my understanding) has had a very long standing single line of culture that has had time to settle. I don’t think I’m articulating what I’m trying to say very well but the basic point I’m trying to make is that grouping American humor and British humor in the same context won’t garner the most accurate results.
@@oldlantern4754 well China or India are much bigger and even more variable than US and also had many times more time to settle( whatever it means) than UK but we still acknowledge there are certain things and certain traits that are typical for Chinese or Indian culture and civilisation. Youre just trying to muddle the waters and obscure fact that there is thing like typical US culture and cultural traits. America is not so unique- every country and every culture is variable and mutable but there are always general trends same as there is Chinese or French cuisine with its typical dishes and cooking techniques we all recognise despite every French and Chinese region having its own widely different style and dishes. PS US is far less variable than you'd like to pretend- theres basically one mass culture originating from mostly British( and German) settlers and then 2 more niche or socioethnically determined cultures: one Afroamerican and one Hispano American which is mostly coming from and is shared with US southern neighbours, of course there are local variations derived from and influence by other sources- native or other European and recently increasingly non European ones but the above mentioned 3 are the only ones spread all across US and also all across the world. In that regard theres comparable diversity to many European states- e.g. in Germany theres noticeable North and South German culture and universals but we dont claim Germany is too diverse to make any generalisation or talk about things that are typically German.
@@rehurekj I don't know if you've read any of the other comments under this video but the shows she mentioned get brought up a lot..thats because they are mainstream shows not outliers lol..In your opinion what is a typical or general mainstream American comedy? Like Big Bang Theory? yes that is one. Or like How I met your mother?
@@Kayodoms its hard to say what sitcom is typical- Friends? yea deffo one of possible ones but its also from less PC- obsessed times so is it still really typical? i dont think e.g. Married with children is one of them cos the outrage it caused would led to cancellation during its 1st season in todays oversensitive America. But both your examples can be called typical- both would fit and both are noticeably less dry and more mellow( specially in later seasons) than most British sitcoms. even if you look at e.g. 2010s and compare 2 broke girls and dunno lets say Vicious from the same period you can see even if both shows go for( or trying to) sarcasm and witty one liners theres noticeable difference and UK one is more cutting or "edgy" with barb attached to it while US style its to be just tough looking, be harsh just for show and its really about "feeling good" and showing ones soft side in the end( also UK shows tend to end after few seasons when they become noticeably and unavoidably repetitive but US ones tend to drag as long as they make money even if the concept the show started with is empty and theres no new idea one can possibly get out of it anymore)
One of the best British comedies ever has to be he inbetweeners and the worse thing I've ever watched clips of has to be the american version. Also I have to agree the American version o Gavin and Stacey is also a disgrace
the fact that you didn’t mention monty python is baffling to me as it’s been so influential for british AND american comedy! literally look up any interview with a popular comedian and it’s almost guaranteed that monty python will be given as one of their influences
They also didn’t mention SNL at all which I can kind of understand because it’s not plot based but still... The sketch about the ‘colour’ paint with Kristen Stewart(?) is a little cultural thing in the U.S. and our (joking) perception of The English™️. I find it quite funny.
Whose Line is it Anyway was actually a British series from 1988. Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie were regulars on it as they are the USA adaptation. I enjoy both!
Red-Dwarf is a great example of a British comedy sitcom with a laugh track. Although it was actually a live audience, not just canned laughter. Edit: not all the episodes had 'laugh tracks' (live audience laughter). As some of them were too complex too shoot with an audience (such as series 7- which still had laughter, but was recorded from screening).
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American escapism: everyone has a happy life.
British escapism: everyone has just as crappy a life or worse as we do.
tru
US show: oh my god I just fell over, hahaha that’s so relatable and funny, oh my god her crush just saw that and someone called her and idiot
U.K. show: he’s getting a divorce, his boss is gunna fire him, he’s got massive secret debts, he’s started doing coke and just got arrested and now he wants to kill himself, omg this comedy is so fucking funny and relatable 😂
So true, and that style has a long history: Fleabag, Green Wing, Spaced, the IT Crowd, Fawlty Towers, Steptoe and Son.
@@threethymes fawlty towers is one if the best shows ever
@@lacari0805 mood
It's a subtle but significant divide, but as an exmple: Americans want to root for Robin Hood, Brits want to see King John fail
Bono described it this way: When an American walks past a mansion on the hill, he looks up at it and thinks “One day, that will be me.” An Irish person walks past the mansion, looks up at it and thinks, “One day, I’m gonna get that bastard.”
Eat the rich
@@nyx.8254 That takes roasting to a whole new level
I'm American and at least where I'm from we identify more with what your describing as British
This is so true 😂
Someone once said the difference between British and American comedy is this:
A customer finds a fly in their soup and starts yelling at the incompetent waiter.
In an American comedy, the main character is the customer or their date.
In a British comedy, the main character is the waiter.
Someone else said the difference between American and British comedy is a director saying "We're going to do the pie gag!" and the American says "OK, I'm ready to throw the pie!" while the Brits says "I'm ready to be hit by the pie!". I think they had just been watching Laurel & Hardy to be honest.
John Cleese is the waiter.
@Karla Bradley love Monty Python & John Cleese 😂😂 UK 4 LIF3
i'd just eat it, and that would be Iraqis comedy
Excuse me I've got a bit of a dirty knife, could you get me another one?
British comedy: life is crap but at least it’s crap for everyone
Exactly!!😂😂😂😂
Pretty much sums it up 😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Black adder is sooooo depressing
😂😂
I think British comedy has a tendency to be dark, sarcastic and very much “taking the piss out of general life” comedy, we do enjoy that. Friday Night Dinner and The Inbetweeners are quite good examples of that. Panel shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway you have Mock the Week. There are similarities between American and British humour but I think British humour tends to be very specific.
And Saturday night takeaway
Whose line originated on British radio, then TV then drew Carey moved it across the Atlantic, mostly for Ryan stiles and Colin Mochrie
American sitcoms love to end happily, British sitcoms usually just end
Seinfeld ended with them in prison for a year lol
Judeau that series didn’t end.
So true
The office UK - reality
The office us - pipe dream
🤣🤣🤣
Peak British comedy is Horrible Histories and you can't prove me wrong....
(Hence why ghosts is also great)
Omg my fave
Mat baynton 😍
@@stayforthepeelpronpls4774 wtf is that channel name lol
Oh my god yes
Yaaaasss
True
British comedy can be highly offensive and no one bat an eyelid. But in America that would be looked down on.
A character could say “fuck off you cunt” during a super emotional scene in a U.K. show and it would fit
YES, we are literally made of sarcasm and dry humour. We straight up insult each other and we find it absolutely hilarious
I totally get what you mean by this though at the same time things like Family Guy really push the boundaries of offensive..i guess they got cancelled a bunch of times hahaha...then again they never say the word "shit" 😂 it's so funny what is and isn't viewed as offensive in the different countries
@@JeM130177 Yeah - "poop" sounds like baby talk.
Brits can only be offensive to white folcc. They don’t have a loicense to be actually offensive. Vulgarity is neither the pinnacle of humour or offensiveness.
For me it’s like,
American humour: here’s the joke! Here’s another joke! Hey have another! * end *
British humour: have a joke! Let’s build on this joke, subtle reference to past joke, build joke further, climax of joke
where you’re dying with laughter * end *
I’m conclusion, I will pay you £100 if you can find me an American show that’s as funny to me the first time round as Blackadder is the forty eighth time round...
I love Blackadder!
I agree, and I would recommend Arrested Development. I don't think any other American show has made me laugh as much
Blackadder is the peak of comedy. It’ll never not make me laugh out loud.
Blackadder is the best
It makes me laugh until I cry
why didn’t you talk about the inbetweeners and how the american version is awful because the jokes are changed so much. really shows how being vulgar is acceptable in british comedy but not in US comedy.
I can’t get over “bus turds” that’s when I needed to stop watching the American imbetweeners
But then you have a US comedy like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where the show's enduring popularity is dictated by vulgarity and general immorality. While it's not a critical darling, it's definitely a pop culture hit. And I can't imagine its format working in the UK. A Russian edition was attempted but it didn't pan out.
No that completely isn't the case. The us Inbetweeners is just a bad show, by itself. You can't just say one is an 'American' interpretation of it, because you could have bad writers, bad producers, bad actors. It's just a bad show.
Djantai Otorbaev how can you say it’s a bad show when soooo many people love it? if you were to say that you personally didn’t like it then fair enough but it’s very arrogant to say it’s a ‘bad show’ as it clearly isn’t because so many people enjoy it!
@@Chloesfarmbecause the US Inbetweeners was widely considered a fail, scoring a 3.2 on IMDB, and 1/5 on the Telegraph. Not to mention it was immediately canceled after its debut season. Literally search US Inbetweeners and there will be nothing but videos destroying the show. I'm sorry, but this just makes it a bad show. Not to be confused with the UK Inbetweeners which is good and is widely praised
I love both British and American humour but British wins it for me.
Only don rickles topped funnier than british comedy
@@alexmercer866 and rodney dangerfield
yeah same! some of my fave tv shows are american sitcoms (friends, Brooklyn nine nine) but I think when it comes to stand up especially British wins by a long shot for me personally
Leah xx Brooklyn I never saw the hype with it maybe I’ve grown out if it now I’m 18
@@leahj2495 this sums me up pretty well. I like american tv comedies, but standup the british are crushing it. Also British panel shows are the best, taskmaster, 8 out of 10 cats - with ot without countdown, WILTY ect. Its just so funny, because so much of the humor is just them playing of each other.
British humour is clever and dry and realistic where as american humour is more optimistic and forced imo
Not necessarily
disagree, one of my favorite all time shows is It's Always Sunny which is not optimistic at all
Yer, Always Sunny is very realistic and VERY dry humour and is hilarious. So it's wrong to say only British humour is like that lol and I'm British.
@@craigtrish2011 To be fair, nobody is saying that ALL American humour is one way, and all British humour is another way. The point is there's a general trend. You could say that some American comedy is kind of British (eg South Park, which was inspired by Monty Python to a large degree), and some British comedy is kind of American (like Gavin and Stacey, which has a level of optimism and uplift to it which you don't find much in British comedy). But as a general rule, I think its fair to say that at the heart of British comedy is an appreciation of failure, and a desire to mock hypocrisy and pretension, whereas at the heart of American comedy is an appreciation of success. Many of our most beloved characters aren't even all that likeable: Mark Corrigan, Basil Fawlty, Alan Partridge, Edmund Blackadder, Steptoe and Son, Mrs Bucket, David Brent. There are of course examples of the antihero in American comedy, but they're much rarer in my experience.
A weird exception I've noticed is American cartoon sitcoms - for some reason they're often much more willing to have unlikable characters and failures at the heart of their stories. The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, American Dad, King of the Hill... somehow, they seem to be the exact opposite of live action sitcoms being made in the same era.
In America the comedian tells the joke, in Britain the comedian IS the joke.
The Graham Norton Show is funnier than every US talk show, because Graham Norton is funny.
My favorite US later night show was when Craig Ferguson was at the helm of the Late Late show. And I think that was because he basically did whatever he wanted and broke out of the American talk show mold.
I adore Graham Norton, but no one has ever made me laugh more than David Letterman did in his heyday. Johnny Carson wasn't as funny as either of these guys, but he's my favorite because I absolutely loved him when I was a kid. There's been a lot of great talk show hosts, past and present.
Big thing with Graham is it's never about him. He's naturally funny and chimes in but it's never more important that he's funny over the rest of the show.
He's Scottsh and made a bit of a name for himself at the Edinburgh Fringe as the character "Bing Hitler", but not for much else before he moved to America.
Plus Graham Norton gives all his guests booze, get 'em liquored up and hope they say something they shouldn't lol
As an outsider (non-British non-American) who consumes both media:
I feel like American comedy puts emphasise how even in the worst day the main character will get their rainbow and sunshine after the storm at the end of the episode. So the viewer is supposed to root for the main character.
While British comedy puts emphasises on the main character's shitty life, which means that happy ending is not always guaranteed and you just have to deal with it. This makes the main character either becomes more relatable to the viewer OR it makes the viewer laughs at someone whose life is worse than theirs.
In your honest opinion then, which style of comedy do you prefer? What are your favourite shows of each time? It's really interesting seeing an outside perspective ☺️
Hannah Vasby-Burnie Honestly, when it comes to sitcom, I can’t choose which one I prefer simply because I like different things depending on my own mood. I watch American sitcom to cheer me up and it’s generally easier to digest. I watch British sitcom when I’m in the mood for something more wicked, dark, or dry.
On the top of my head, I can recall more American sitcoms than British, simply because I watch a lot more American sitcoms due to accessibility (for the fact that it’s readily available on my country’s Netflix and some also aired in my local TV while for British sitcoms I have to actively look for it).
Brooklyn 99, Friends, and HIMYM are some American sitcoms that I quite like. For British, I love the IT Crowd, Bad Education, and The Office. (I haven’t actually watched Gavin and Stacey and I’m ashamed to admit to that haha.)
But if we’re talking about standup comedy, I feel like I prefer British ones. (Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know the reason. I don’t even know the diff between the two styles of standup comedy.) I’m currently enjoying James Acaster. Though I really, really like John Mulaney. The thing is, he’s the only American standup comedian that I love. I can’t stand the others that I’ve tried to watch for unknown reasons.
TL;DR
I love both American and British sitcoms and I have no preference for it. I love British standup comedians more than American standup comedians for unknown reasons.
@@nakaharaindria thank you so much for taking the time to reply. This was really interesting to me, so thanks. I'm the same as you I think, I watch a lot of American shows because of accessibility and I prefer British standup.
yes exactly! i would describe it the same way
@@nakaharaindria have you watched the “inbetweeners And Friday night dinner”? Worth a watch.
I live in Britain but not England
Americans: “wait that’s illegal”
Then you must be a Scot!
Or Irish.
Jamie Davies Or Welsh!
Duke Robert IV
Northern Irish...
Same thing using "American" as a synonym for "from the US". Canadians and Brazilians and Mexicans are American, too
Friends isn’t even a comedy show in my mind, it’s just a show where like jokes happen and a laugh track tells me it’s funny
I’ve only seen a handful of episodes and yeah it’s... enjoyable! But I get what you’re saying
@Joe S tbbt is also just weird and perverse
Friends would be genuinely funny without it as well tbf
@@RK-ep8qy hey tbbt is amazing imo I really the enjoy the humour and science-ness it's one of my favourite shows
You know Friends and BBT where in front of a live audience right? Not every show is a laugh track...
Plus, they're Sitcoms which literally stands for situational comedy. So it's by very definition a comedy show, just a different kind. Maybe open your mind a bit and expand your knowledge :)
The reason "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" is like a British panel show is that it is the American version of the British show of the same name!
Damn you beat me to it :D
I was really worried that I'd have to comment that myself
It's not even an American version. We just straight stole it.
Came here to say just that!
sanityisrelative
You mean 🇬🇧 sold it to you. Same thing, though. It looks British because it is British.
Mr bean was designed to be universally understood 😊
yes true
My Japanese students love him haha
In my eighth grade English class (in the us) our teacher showed us twilight zone, Simpson’s, and mr bean to 1) give us a break and 2) teach us plot structure. The class found both comedies to be quite funny. : )
That's why he was part of UKs Olympic opening ceremony.
Though it is really made worse by the laugh track
Americans like seeing what they could be, Brits like seeing what they aren't
This might be related but probably not.....anyway
British people love complaining about Britain but when other people *coughcoughamericanscoughcough* (no offence) complain about Britain we get all defensive.
or maybe thats just me
@@yourgaycousin5728 We do have a self depricating humour in the UK, quite famous for it. Most people are fine with being made fun of. But when you really look at it, the USA doesn't really have a slef depricating humour at all. In fact quite the reverse they have a self elevating humour and then a depricating humour for other countries. You can probably see why it would get the backs up of some people. Typically Americans are not very self critical or even self aware, but are very good at picking on others. Just an observation.
@@yourgaycousin5728 In a nut shell. They will laugh at others, but not at theirselves.
Both of those mean the same thing lol
Americans like seeing what they want the world to be.
Brits like seeing the world as it is.
Brits like uncomfortable humour that you know you shouldn’t find funny
That literally sums up america
kaylajohn1223 but then Americans get offended by everything
Molly Yeah. Brits do too though. When you make a joke about their accent, they go off.
Say what you like about a British accent I'm not going to "go off" I would take it in the spirit it's intended.
kaylajohn1223 oi wot u sayin m8 shut ur mouf sunshine takin the bloody piss out me accent u wouldn’t av English if it weren’t for us lot >:[
Three words for british comedy: Offensive, sarcastic and dry
I'd agree with the last two, but I'd go with "pessimistic" over the first. There's only a handful of offensive British comedians, and as far as I can tell most of us aren't so into that. Experiences differ though
As the guy above said, it's realistic humour too. And, I'm only half way through the video, but Americans have a lot of canned laughter which kinda kills the whole point of laughter in my opinion.
Tris Sharp Where I am from in the north, it is hard to go anywhere that isn’t full of offensive humour tbh
@Joe S Yesss! Totally forgot that as well. You can't make a joke and then say that was a joke/explain it.
It just doesn't work like that lmao
not rly offensive as such
Video idea: American reacts to old British comedy (Dad’s Army, Faulty Towers etc)
They would have re-runs of Ab Fab on TV back in the day, but I could never understand what that were saying. I was assured that they were in fact speaking English.
Or ARE YOU BEING SERVED? 😂😂
Gabrielle Haskell dad army was the shit
Steptoe and son! That will confuse them.
Blackadder.
I think the difference is that American comedies assume their viewers are idiots that need to be spoon-fed, whereas British shows assume that you're 100% in on the joke
what American comedies have you watched?
Simpsons ( enjoyed it )
Big Bang Theory ( I think it's kinda sexist )
Some Movies ( not memorable enough to remember )
And because they assume you're in on it you become in on it
Counterpoint: Archer, Arrested Development
Community?
Evan: I think a great American comedy show is whose line is it anyway
Whose line: actually ran in the UK for about 10 years before they made a US version
And it started out on Radio 4, as did many British comedies. That's another difference - the trying a format on Radio (lower budget) and it may then move to tv. Whose Line, Goodness Gracious Me, Little Britain, The Mighty Boosh etc. I don't know whether that happens as much now as in the past though. I grew up in the UK and now live in the US so not as in the loop.
I wish panel shows worked over here, there is Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR. They tried to do a version of Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1 (or maybe MTV) in the early 2000s and it just didn't work. More recently there was The Fix on Netflix, with Jimmy Carr hosting and Katherine Ryan as a regular panelist, which I quite enjoyed partly because I'm starved of that format here, but I see no indication there'll be a second season. I can't imagine Countdown, or even Cats Does Countdown, working in the US for a few reasons.
@@rosmarinus7727 I reckon Would I Lie To You could work in the US…
I actually just said the same thing, then thought I'd better check in case anyone else has said it 😅
I was recently waiting for a TV programme to start and had to sit through the last five minutes of the American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? and quite frankly it got on my nerves. Friends I’ve never found funny and my daughter couldn’t understand why. Yeah.
Best British comedies are Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Mr Bean, Horrible Histories, Yonderland, Ghosts and Gavin and Stacey
The British Ghost yonderland was such a great show
And benidorm
Inbetweeners? 😂
Only fools and horses? Dads army?
Spaced, Father Ted, Green Wing, Peep Show, Friday Night Dinner, IT Crowd and for sketches.. Big Train, Mitchell & Webb and Armstrong & Miller
SUCH A GOOD JAMES ACASTER IMPRESSION WHAT THE HELL
Fair play
FairPlay
Fair Play
Fair play
Fair play
I find what Evan said about the office needing to make Michael likable for the american office to succeed interesting because in British comedy I think it's fairly common that nobody is actually that likable and it doesn't affect our enjoyment of the show. Also though his favorite seems to Senfield where I would also argue nobody was actually likable and that succeeded in the US.
The Inbetweeners: they're all equally terrible, but in different ways. It works.
AbFab...
Blackadder...
Bottom...
Fawlty Towers...
Keeping Up Appearances...
Steptoe and Son...
Till Death do us Part...
Etc...
Etc...
@@q.e.d.9112 May I add One foot in the Grave, Open all hours and last of the Summer wine to that list.
I thought this too! David Brent is a twat and a half...the only thing he had going for him is that he was never malicious...nothing seemed intentionally offensive or mean and he wanted nice things for people in his own way...he was just extremely annoying. I don't think we have to feel like we want to be friends with every character. We're like "some people are twats we all know them". Ricky Gervais is generally pretty good at staying juuuuuust on the boundary of being able to get away with something. It's either skill or luck I'm not sure yet hahahah
Also Michael is not like-able in any season. As soon as you start to root for him he says something racist or nasty or someone offends him and he gets The Look of just pure stubbornness where you know he’s going to spend the rest of the episode overreacting like s.t.o.p. But most of the other characters are so like-able or good cringe it makes up for him.
The fact that in the US office season 2 they actually changed his character to make him more likeable and almost more perfect compared to season 1 itself shows the difference between british and american comedy though, given that in the uk characters that are flawed, are far from perfect, maybe even plain awful people are appreciated because we know that there are people like that in real life too and you can laugh at their misery they experience or create for others, whereas americans to a certain extent would not find such a character likeable because perfection and optimism still to a certain extend is desired in american tv. In british comedy, the main character does not need to have admirable qualities or look good to be enjoyed. It doesn't even matter if the character gets a happy and positive outcome where they achieve what they wanted either, because that's life. In reality, you a lot of the times will still fail to get what you want despite numerous efforts and struggle. Hard work doesn't always pay off.
PERIODTT
I mean, look at skins, every single character has something that would be deplorable in real life, but that all have their own fanbases
"If you can't laugh you'll cry" that's it that's british humour right there 😂
Cap
Hilarious that you mentioned whose line is it anyway as an example of an American sort of comedy panel show as it was actually a British show that was then imported over to America where they did it with the same format but different comedians, the American one got way more famous but it's actually a British show!
"Things get better"
"Things stay the same rubbish all the time, yay"
Summary of American versus British attitudes to life.
"Things suck so I'll have a pint" moreso for britain
Luke’s James Acaster impression was almost spot-on, even his inability to pronounce “r” in “degwree” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
As an American, yes our humor is definitely escapism. To be fair though, have y’all seen what’s happening in our country? We need an escape, even if it’s just in a comedy show.
Escaping is a problem of escapism.
British is also an escapism but in a different way. We just like seeing people with a worse life than us
Ross Stephen
I disagree. British humour sees the world as it is, American as they think it should be.
@@rossstephen2568 Sounds like you need therapy.
can you speak proper english please
“Laugh tracks are an american thing”
Little Britain: *sweats nervously*
as an impartial Norwegian, I really prefer British humor.
Everything from Monty Python, The It Crowd, Hot Fuzz and the panel shows!
Thank God for the panel shows!
Norwegian tv has gained SO much from just adopting a few panel shows.
"Nytt på Nytt" is the Norwegian "Have i got news for you" and it has been on since 1999 with viewership numbers as high as 1/5 of Norway!
Same! As an European in the USA for a few decades I continue to prefer European humor. British humor is the best known but Europeans in general prefer that kind of humor. The more time I spend in the US the more I notice I am European to the core!
It's humour
I've always thought Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia has very British humour and it's one my favourite shows
HOW did I not bring up always sunny!! Yeah I can see that
Completely agree I was just thinking whilst watching this that always sunny is the only American comedy i really really enjoy
14:12 "you wanna stretch things out to like 10 seasons"
Doctor Who: hold my screwdriver
@Molly Nelson what?
@Molly Nelson Great minds think alike.
I love that Doctor Who achieves that by doing the exact opposite thing! People nowadays may whine that things keep changing, but the show's only *lasted* because it has *no* real status quo. No one thing about the show is always constant, except inconstancy. Not the sonic, not the themes, not the cosmology, not even the time travel!
It constantly changes and always has done. Which is why, to me, it is ageless.
...and you used the british spelling of the word
So proud *wipes tear dramatically *
I've always been a big u fan
whatevs *the correct spelling of the word... 😂
@@evan "I've always been a big fan of U" There I've fixed that for you....errr U.
@@evan I aggressively spell theatre the non-american way because I just like it so much better that way.
They mention 'who's line is it anyway' at the end. It actually started off as a British show. They had people like Stephen Fry come on regularly. It also came out 10 years before the American version
Okay but talking about remakes to do with comedy: the inbetweeners. That just didn’t work because they could say or do anything that made the uk show so funny in the first place and it was awful
one humour that the UK has, which the US hasn't :
exam memes
Yes we do but it's rare
@Emma Taylor Ngl, your comment was a little... defensive. And I say this as someone who went through the pain of GCSEs & A Levels. It's cool man. Everybody's humour is a lil' different.
@Emma Taylor No need to apologise! 😊 I didn't want to go in on you, I just wanted to point out how it may have come across. Everyone's a little patriotic to some extent so believe me, I know what it's like to want to instantly defend your country in little or big ways; no matter the bullshit they put you or anyone else through 😂
Akinyi Omer don’t mean to butt in on ur convo but I just wanted to say that it’s so heartwarming to see people being nice when looking through TH-cam comments. I wanted to look at the replies on this post ‘cause I myself was gettin a bit defensive over my AmErICAN-ness so seeing this kinda helped me view things a bit lighter. Thanks
@@oldlantern4754 Awww thank you so much, I really appreciate it. Yeah honestly sometimes I think the reason we feel so threatened and defensive over anything UK vs USA is cause there's a begrudging respect there on both sides; like we're both proud of our countries yet at the same time badly want the other side to recognise and respect the special things about us? 😂 Its kinda hilarious when I think about it sometimes.
And just - the last few years of national & international politics have been really depressing for me ... a lot of our world leaders could do with calming the fuck down and realising that hyper-nationalism is not the highest form of patriotism, it's just blind love without critical or conscious thinking; without maturity. People start thinking there's nothing to improve or fight for, that other nations and the Earth aren't worth fighting for, because we believe we're already perfect. And that ends my depressing essay! Lmao
Actually British comedians tend to come more from Cambridge, because they have a really prestigious comedy club called footlights, a lot of big comedians come from there
@ryn mcray for sure, sorry
That's one particular type of comedian, they don't work the Northern clubs they go from footlights to the fringe to tv and they're generally only good for tv quiz show hosting , they all think that they're John Cleese in Monty Python but they're more like John Cleese in reality.
Quite a few come from Oxford which has the Oxford Revue too
Tbf Richard Curtis has done a lot of movies
it would've been interesting to see them talk about like old UK comedy - I'm talking Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served, the Carry-on films, all the very british very slapstick 'Ooh mrs windermere' type stuff. I'm yet to see an American who likes that.
When I think of British comedy, I tend to think of things pre-naughties. I'd love Evan to see things such as Are You Being Served?, The Good Life, Dad's Army, One Foot in the Grave, and The Vicar of Dibly. I wonder what he'd make of them.
Only fools and horses too. I always watch that at Christmas with my mum and grandad and it is soo funny
I'm American and I grew up on Are You Being Served and Keeping Up Appearances (thank you PBS).
I grew up watching Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served, and Monty Pythons. I'm American, and I loved them. :)
it was talked about very briefly at 15:15
One word, Outnumbered.
One of the best 2000 comedy's
Rosie I love outnumbered 💖💖💖
Outnumbered is absolutely brilliant. It’s such a lifelike show and the fact that a lot of it was improvised by the kids makes it even better.
Me and my friends used to inhale helium and act out scenes from outnumbered
Loved this as a kid
Outnumbered is fantastic.
All I can say is imagine if “come fly with me” was aired in the US there would be mass outrage
"Who's Line is it Anyway" was a British show before it came to the US.
And it's a million times better too haha!
I loved watching it in the 80s, I was so disappointed when it finished. I have watched the American one, but it's not a patch on our version.
I only recently "discovered" panel shows because I'm not British but I absolutely fell in love! I sometimes get the felling that American shows just assume their audience is dumb and make jokes really obvious, in contrast to British shows where you have to use your brain to get all the jokes.
Something like that kind of happened when they tried to bring Red Dwarf across the pond (twice).
Most successful started off on radio where they have to rely on genuinely funny scripts to work. Others come through the Fringe Festival and the theatre circuit with low budget props etc. Before they pitch to tv so they know what will and wont work.
Not only was The IT Crowd filmed in front of a live audience (Faulty Towers too?), it contained a mixture of slapstick, situational and very british subtle humour.
“If you can’t laugh you’ll cry” the most accurate depiction of British humour everrr!!!😂 this is now my life quote
I'd love to see you talk about documentaries. British produced documentaries are almost ASMR experiences - you have some relaxing voice actor providing narration over diagetic footage. American produced documentaries are like action films - jump cuts, sound effects, high octane music, and even cliffhangers at ad breaks.
Heck, the same distinction seems to apply to daytime television shows like the ones where you're looking for quality products amidst junk (e.g. we have shows where people are browsing antique shops, while you have them where they're going through people's storage units); or buying a new property; or renovating a property. In the UK, it's just the narrator/presenter talking over real footage - but in the US everything's edited to feel like an action film with a high-stakes narrative.
Sir David just has the voice for it.
Watching Evan’s face when he finds out British comedies are written by just a couple of people, not a rotating team... mind blown!
When we only make a dozen episodes there's no time to rotate
I love the show called The IT Crowd it’s so funny
MY FAVE SHOW AHAHAHAH
Oh my god yes
it's the best!!
That's a perfect example of one that had terrible US remake, because our humour is so different.
I'm not particularly sure that either of them knew that "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" is a British show that moved to America.
The difference is British humour has no filter we don’t give a shot whilst everything in America is censored
Tbf Joan Rivers really pushed the boundaries! Ahh she was a comedy genius 🤣
As an Aussie, I’d agree that iconic comedies like Seinfeld and Curb have a DISTINCTLY British influence.
Me too
Mentioned laughter tracks/studio audience, would love to see Evan react to some classic British comedy like Red Dwarf, Father Ted and also historic greats like Dad's Army :)
The thing with the British shows with laugh tracks/studio audience is that they actually enhance the actor's performance I think.
I'm thinking Red Dwarf specifically, when they didn't have an audience in series 7 (though they then would screen the episodes for an audience and record the laughter and add it. IDK. That was a dark time for the show). The performances just aren't the same competed to even series 8 when they brought back the audience. You can just see the difference in energy in the performers.
Father Ted is Irish!! Irish humour is not the same as British!!
Apologies, you are right. Would like to see Evan react to it still though :)
@@Olivia_-nd7qc Father Ted was written by Irish writers based in the UK and made by Channel 4 - just like Black Books, the IT Crowd and Toast of London. (the same writers). All fantastic comedies but not uniquely Irish.
The mighty boosh. Vic and Bob. Shooting stars. Faulty towers. IT crowd. Richard ayowade. Would I lie to you. Joe Lycett. Bob Mortimer again because he's a god.
The height of British comedy.
Don't forget Black Books
British stand up is definitely better than american i think
Miranda, Fawlty Towers, Bicker of Dibley and Mr Bean.
Russell Howard??
@@ginbradbury3278 he falls into the mighty boosh category haha
'Black Books' is the best comedy TV series that I've ever seen. It is just masterpiece! Even though its laugh track is sometimes annoying.
I raise you spaced
Utterly random and ridiculousBill Bailey’s downtrodden lackey and Dylan Moran’s incorrigible incompetence. It’s very Black humour.
Luke: in Britain we love things failing.
Me (another Brit): oh like Britain for the last 20ish years!?
Nah our country was failing long before I was born.
This definitely got to be a joke ( a good joke ) because your country is one of the richest countries in the world bro.
We will never say If this is a joke all i can tell you is some British people think that pearl harbour was bombed by America....
@@merlin5407 everyone knows it was bomed by canadians
@@romanbatista3286ok but loads of people living in dire conditions and divisive politics
LOOK AT THOSE TANNED ARMS! And I feel like even with friendships it changes a lot as in the UK you can make really dark jokes and digs at your friends without it being offensive. I'd love to see Evan's reaction to Misfits or something like that.
Whose Line was originally British... that might explain why it's in the British style 😉
That makes so much sense
@@evan Colin and Ryan (and a few others I think, Greg Proops maybe?) we're actually on the UK version of the show and stayed with it after it migrated to the States and we kept it.
True. I loved Clive Anderson as host, and then one day Drew Carey was host (who I already loved from his own show), so I've enjoyed both versions over the years. :)
They hand out fake points, it had to be British.
@@evan You can still go and see the original members of the UK show perform it at the comedy store in london every single sunday and wednesday. I'm someone who is a huge fan of the UK format, and really don't get on with the Americanised version of it just because it's very over the top in your face (to me at least). Would highly recommend going to the comedy store to see it done properly
-British stand up to me is identifying common problems in life eg - Lee Evans , Peter Kay, Mickie Flanagan
-most old English shows have laugh tracks eg- Only Fools and horses , vicar of dibley, many more.
-Uk comedy is more quotable, if you say something someone will know what your talking about
Except the US Office. (Although I prefer British Comedy overall)
The thing Evan said about making characters era more likeable made me think of Ross from friends - so many Americans hate him as a person and somehow that means they hate him as a character. Personally I love that he is so dislikable and that’s what makes him so much funnier than the rest of the cast.
I am in love with Luke's jumper. I literally haven't taken my eyes off it for 20 minutes. I NEED IT NOW
How did they talk about British comedy and forget about only fools and horses
SynthesteticFlame what is that😂 and yes I’m British
Cookie Monster google it and binge watch it ☺️
@@CookieMonster-qh4pq have you actually lived under a rock your entire life???
or the Inbetweeners
Nothing will ever be better comedy than 'I'll buy the sandwiches...'
British Comedy has changed throughout the decades; dad's Army, and some mother's do 'av them are different to the royal family, my family and Inbetweeners, and different to, as time goes by, birds of a feather, keeping up appearances.
I suppose they all reflect society as it is at the time though, so they have to change in order to be relatable to the audience of the time. People of the 2000s can see themselves in the Royle Family, the Inbetweeners etc. but in the 90s they'd have related to Keeping up Appearances, we all know someone like that. :)
@@RomySews I see myself as Frank Spencer, and I was born in the late 80's
8:40 I feel the need to point out that Fry and the Python gang actually came from and/or met at Cambridge. A lot of famous British comedians apparently started out at Footlights there :)
That James Acaster impersonation was so spot on I'm actually scared
The American version of Peep Show is the most terrible adaptation I've ever seen. Followed maybe by The Inbetweeners.
I'm more into dark humor, but that might be the Gen Z coming out.
Also, surrealism is cool, just show me any warp and deep fried meme and I'll at least snort, unless it's a really bad joke.
Also Dad Jokes and Dry Humor because I'm fond of sarcastic asshats.
I get really bad second hand embarrassment, so Cringe will automatically drop my mood into the negatives as I wince and try to cover my eyes and ears and wait it out, or just leave.
Basically yeah
Same
Im curious, what’s your opinion of some of the classics (python, black adder, faulty towers, pink panther etc)?
@@babomb2146 To be honest, I'm not horribly familiar, I'll be sure to check them out and get back to you on that.
Lol I am the same
IT Crowd is sort of British and American humour mushed into one. Sort of.
It's British enough that the attempt to make an American version failed miserably (for the better probably).
@@sanityisrelative I didn't know there was an American version, though I would of thought it could have been done quite easily, like the general format fits well to the American style , finishes in the same situation it starts so it can continue for many seasons, all they would have to do is change the plot of episodes a bit
@@georgiaevans2123 there's a pilot episode of the American version (which is almost a shot for shot remake, bus somehow worse). The thing is, they even brought Ayoade over to play Moss. And they had Joel McHale to be Roy. It's abysmal. (And I'm pretty sure this was pre Community, so I'm honestly glad it failed so Joel was available for Community.)
its got a laugh track
Ooof yeah, the pilot was painful to watch.
Brits like something relatable and real e.g. The Royle Family. Nothing really happens but it makes you think about how ridiculous some things in life are and allows you to see family life from everyone’s perspective
Perfect! I was thinking about royal family too
Lil fantastic show , honestly just like me Nana’s living room back in the day
Outnumbered and Friday Night Dinner are great examples of how everything going wrong is absolutely hilarious.
Have the two of you done a comparison of British and American quiz/game shows? That would be awesome.
I like both. Parks and Rec type humour wouldn't work with British actors, and Inbetweeners type humour wouldn't work with Americans.
there’s a US remake of the inbetweeners and it’s absolutely sh*t
British humour in a nutshell,
Ricky Gervais at the golden globes the other week!
American humour in a nutshell,
American Hollywood big shots not getting Ricky Gervais at the golden globes the other week!
I never liked Ricky - I thought he was an utter prick for years. Then I saw him at the golden globes - I really, really like that wanker.
Judeau
You spend far too much time on the internet.
Leslie Knope: works hard and succeeds
Blackadder: works hard and never gets anywhere
😝😝
Miranda and Mrs Brown’s Boys have laugh tracks but they’re filmed in front of a studio audience and they’re very much in the minority
Tbf you've also got Ab Fab, Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools, dinnerladies and even Yes Minister all with laugh tracks - I think a lot of British sitcoms have them but perhaps the emphasis on them is slightly different?
love your discussions...it's so rich and respectful
I have been checking you channel for this vid. I am so happy.
ayy here it is!
Yes we’ve got some James Acaster respect in here 😂
James Acaster fans on Evan's channel, show yourself 😍
@@ananasetc Acastronauts :D
K and an E and a T and a T
E and an R and an ING
T and an O an a WN
Kettering Town FC!
@@ananasetc when I bought the ready to eat apricots, I was in fact, ready to eat apricots
@@10thhousebabe Hmmm... He thinks he's too good for a free banana.
Loving the James Acaster impression tbh
Hot Fuzz is a classic. The Cornetto trilogy are pure British humour
I'm from America and watch a lot of U.K. shows. They have less episodes per series/season, but they don't seem to have any mediocre or crappy episodes. They're all good. I think that they take more time with the writing and as they said here, it's not just some random writers writing the episodes, it's people who created the show, etc. They are totally investing in their creations and are given more time to write and make the episodes great.
Whose Line is a British show they remade in the US.
Dan Owen yes it started out on BBC and in the first season of the American one they had British comedians from the British one appear too (and I believe Ryan and Colin where on the British one too)
Natalie It was actually on Channel 4, and yes Colin and Ryan and a few others started on the original and were there for many years.
Technically was on the Beeb first, but it started on BBC Radio 4, then was nicked for (non-BBC) Channel 4 on tv later in 1988.
“If you can’t laugh you cry” - Luke Cutforth 2020
"Who's line is it anyway?" started in the UK on Radio 4 in the early '80s
Yes, then transferred to tv in the UK for a few seasons before moving to the US. I think the concept was to bring improv to the UK though as we didn't really have an improv culture over here. The comedians in the UK version were mainly Canadians I seem to remember.
Mighty Boosh, in my opinion is such an amazing show. the weirdness and the surrealism is so captivating
PS:THAT WAS AN AMAZING JAMES ACASTER, WELL DONE
James Corden is a wet fart on British comedy, don't even mention him in the same video as Monty Python or Black Adder.
Thank you.
James corden can’t be considered a comedian he’s a host I would say?
@@saxx9088 as Stuart lee once said he's an actor not a comedian.
Gavin and Stacey?
@@biscuitsforyouall Yeah he nailed the comedy in Gavin and Stacey but I think they were referring to his chat show where he tries too hard for the US audience and is generally not as funny
Two cannibal’s were eating a clown: one said to the other: “Does this taste funny to you?”
😅
Hot Fuzz
that's it, that's the comment.
Pansy Poolman completely agree, well said
The best of the Cornetto Trilogy I swear to God. Shaun of the Dead is excellent but Hot Fuzz is another level.
Wanna cornetto
When is your birthday?
July 28th*
which year?
Every year!
*cant remember the actual date.
6:55 its a remake issue! and then goes and describes how 1st season which was true to the original UK version wasnt successful and thus in second season they changed the style of humour to be more palatable for US audience...
@Judeau im not saying theres no such shows but first the point was him disagreeing with the English dude and then basically confirming his point. and second even if there are such show anyone who watched US movie or TV or watched news or just watched few mins of anything US made can clearly see in general the mainstream and most commonly accepted type of humour is noticeably less ironic and dry and more literal and sweet or idealistic( for some even childish) than the one we enjoy in Europe( not just UK). Its the same as mainstream US culture is way more obsesses with violence/ gore and nudity/ sex( one is usually glorifies and other is erased or feared) than is in general usual and even acceptable in most of Europe.
Jiří Řehůřek I think a major difference between the US and UK that a lot of people forget is that the US is hugely variable in terms of culture. I’m not saying the UK isn’t, because it is, but the starting point of US culture comes from innumerable sources, all quite recent and distinct, while the UK (to my understanding) has had a very long standing single line of culture that has had time to settle. I don’t think I’m articulating what I’m trying to say very well but the basic point I’m trying to make is that grouping American humor and British humor in the same context won’t garner the most accurate results.
@@oldlantern4754 well China or India are much bigger and even more variable than US and also had many times more time to settle( whatever it means) than UK but we still acknowledge there are certain things and certain traits that are typical for Chinese or Indian culture and civilisation.
Youre just trying to muddle the waters and obscure fact that there is thing like typical US culture and cultural traits. America is not so unique- every country and every culture is variable and mutable but there are always general trends same as there is Chinese or French cuisine with its typical dishes and cooking techniques we all recognise despite every French and Chinese region having its own widely different style and dishes.
PS US is far less variable than you'd like to pretend- theres basically one mass culture originating from mostly British( and German) settlers and then 2 more niche or socioethnically determined cultures: one Afroamerican and one Hispano American which is mostly coming from and is shared with US southern neighbours, of course there are local variations derived from and influence by other sources- native or other European and recently increasingly non European ones but the above mentioned 3 are the only ones spread all across US and also all across the world. In that regard theres comparable diversity to many European states- e.g. in Germany theres noticeable North and South German culture and universals but we dont claim Germany is too diverse to make any generalisation or talk about things that are typically German.
@@rehurekj I don't know if you've read any of the other comments under this video but the shows she mentioned get brought up a lot..thats because they are mainstream shows not outliers lol..In your opinion what is a typical or general mainstream American comedy? Like Big Bang Theory? yes that is one. Or like How I met your mother?
@@Kayodoms its hard to say what sitcom is typical- Friends? yea deffo one of possible ones but its also from less PC- obsessed times so is it still really typical? i dont think e.g. Married with children is one of them cos the outrage it caused would led to cancellation during its 1st season in todays oversensitive America. But both your examples can be called typical- both would fit and both are noticeably less dry and more mellow( specially in later seasons) than most British sitcoms.
even if you look at e.g. 2010s and compare 2 broke girls and dunno lets say Vicious from the same period you can see even if both shows go for( or trying to) sarcasm and witty one liners theres noticeable difference and UK one is more cutting or "edgy" with barb attached to it while US style its to be just tough looking, be harsh just for show and its really about "feeling good" and showing ones soft side in the end( also UK shows tend to end after few seasons when they become noticeably and unavoidably repetitive but US ones tend to drag as long as they make money even if the concept the show started with is empty and theres no new idea one can possibly get out of it anymore)
One of the best British comedies ever has to be he inbetweeners and the worse thing I've ever watched clips of has to be the american version. Also I have to agree the American version o Gavin and Stacey is also a disgrace
His James acaster impression was actually pretty good lol 😂 8:52
the fact that you didn’t mention monty python is baffling to me as it’s been so influential for british AND american comedy! literally look up any interview with a popular comedian and it’s almost guaranteed that monty python will be given as one of their influences
Totally right. I mean, they did bring up the actors, but they didn't mention the humor. Classic. I'm American and 100% classic and amazing.
I think Luke didn't mention enough UK comedy shows, while Evan named so many US comedy shows.
They also didn’t mention SNL at all which I can kind of understand because it’s not plot based but still... The sketch about the ‘colour’ paint with Kristen Stewart(?) is a little cultural thing in the U.S. and our (joking) perception of The English™️. I find it quite funny.
You Evans turning British as he spells humour with a u
I like u posting on sundays because it cheers me up before school 😊
Whose Line is it Anyway was actually a British series from 1988. Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie were regulars on it as they are the USA adaptation. I enjoy both!
Red-Dwarf is a great example of a British comedy sitcom with a laugh track. Although it was actually a live audience, not just canned laughter.
Edit: not all the episodes had 'laugh tracks' (live audience laughter). As some of them were too complex too shoot with an audience (such as series 7- which still had laughter, but was recorded from screening).
Classic british humour... The inbetweeners hilarious
Zoe Clark 100%