I'm gonna take the piss about how you say py - thon say it like pythun with no emphasis on any letter....... Now say Monty Pythun and we know what you're on about! Bless you, we'll get you there. PS how do you spell your name? I'd like to address you by your name ..... Sometimes‼️😉❤
British humour translates directly to only New York in the USA, really. Maybe Boston too because of their Irish immigrants. Apparently if a comedian can make it in New York he will be liked here, and vice versa for British comedians travelling to New York. I do think it is because of the links between England to New York. Self deprecation is the highest form of self confidence. It simply means you know what you are doing, but simply say for example "It's only part of the job." That shows a vast amount of self confidence.
Is more European tbat can handle more and are not offended fast..American have issues. And the reasons yiu se only Brits and usa comedy is because the language belgiumm Dutch arw dark to but you don't understand other languages only English
@@redrumtruecrime Yes that is true about the USA can't make it in New York, then you can, and will else where. Actually It was John Kander and Fred Ebb who wrote those words, they said it first. Plus Liza Minelli sang it first!!
I knew an American who claimed he was okay with working in the UK because he was sarcastic himself. Then he moved to the UK and he said he hadn't realised there was a professional version.
Wow! That proves Britain does have, at least a few, daring eccentrics. Had you been a Brit visiting the USA at the time, you'd have been admitted for psycho-therapy.... so a good thing you were in Blighty.
He went on Parkinson after he was diagnosed with cancer and talked about receiving the diagnosis. "How long have I got?" he asked, "10" the doctor replied. "10 what? 10 years, 10 months, 10 days?" the doctor replies "9, [pause] 8, [pause] 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, ". The British audience laughed on 8. Americans are usually appalled if they get it at all.
Monkhouse is so underrated, he was amazing and I've always rated that one-liner as one of the best jokes ever told. On a side note I also love his quote about funerals 'Although I have always loved the noise of laughter, I really can't fear the coming of quiet. As for funerals, I rather like them. Such nice things are always said about the deceased, I feel sad that they had to miss hearing it all by just a few days'
I remember in the 1980s the comedy show M*A*S*H was shown on UK TV without the laugh track that had aired in the US. We didn't realise there was a laugh track until one episode was accidentally aired with it. The BBC received a lot of complaints along the lines of "We don't need to be told when to laugh". They never aired it with the laugh track again!
A friend has been ill and told me yesterday that she is going to have brain surgery. My immediate reaction was “are they going to put one in?” This would not play well with most Americans (she laughed by the way)
My mother had a mastectomy some years ago, it was carried out on the 4th of July. We said her breast had made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence and would be celebrated with fireworks etc. This conversation was by phone from my workplace. A couple of my foreign colleagues were quite shocked that I was laughing with my mum about her cancer like that.
Obviously! I had a brain scan and my whole family was anxiously awaiting the results "do you have one or was it just a spinning wheel and a dead hamster?" Or when I phoned my uncle, who's an MD, about a stomach x-ray, and I try to explain that there's a dark shadow in one area "are you sure that's not just your black soul?" And that's how I know I'm loved.
When Liam fell off the building, I said to my American wife, "Atleast there was only One Direction to go". She looked at me shocked and said "That's Dark!" I said "Not as dark as hitting concrete at 9.8 M/s". Lets just say she didn't talk to me for the rest of the day... What a peaceful day that was!
I met some American Marines through a job in Portsmouth once. One of them, whose job was hanging outside a helicopter with a big gun. He said something like “I’ve been 190 pounds all my life.” To which I immediately said “that must have brought tears to your mother’s eyes.” The marine growled “What did you say about my mother!?!” Luckily one of his friends explained the humour. 😮💨
I was working with our marines in Norway and US marines were there too, they were so funny to drink with as they just missed too much of the nuance of our self-depricating humour at all 😂
"Ur Mum" jokes are still in heavy rotation at ours with our adult children but we have to sometimes make a concious effort to keep a lid on it. I was in a restaurant with my husband and the lass put down the food and said "Be careful with those plates they're red hot" and it took actual effort to not go "Ur Mum's red hot"
Yes the deadpan sarcastic humour can go the wrong way I had some US colleagues and we were talking about Halloween and Bonfire night. I was telling them that Bonfire night was the more traditional British autumn celebration. I told them its when we celebrate the burning of Catholics The look of horror on their faces was priceless
OK then, if it's necessary to get someone hurt, are we Americans out of order for gathering every Aug.6th as some of us do, and singing to the tune of "O Tannenbaum", "oh ATOM BOMB, oh ATOM BOMB, shouldn't have wasted the second one on Nagasaki"! And we sometimes perform this ritual in front of travel posters of London amongst other destinations. Hey Yanks and Brits are the closest of mates. Why not "take the piss" amongst other bodily fluids?! Or AM I MISSING SOMETHING?!?
But seriously folks, "girl gone London" had better never do a "meet and greet". Or AM I TAKING MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY by Brit standards (the only standard that seem to matter).?!
I didn't realise how self deprecating my humour was until I met an American at uni who would try to reassure me and compliment me after almost every sentence, it was sweet but exhausting!
Yes! Americans can feel exhausting because the positivity feels so repressive, just be mad at your situation, you're from one of the worse countries in the world.
Red Dwarf springs to mind. From what I remember, the US couldn't handle a bunch of anti-heroes so had to change the whole series beyond recognition. Which was sad because Red Dwarf was brilliant!
I believe they tried copying that twice but as you say they just didn't get what made the show they changed the characters but Kyton did get a new outfit from it for the UK show. I believe the creator did try telling the network but they just wouldn't listen to him
I love the banter and verbal sparring between Lister and Rimmer in the first two series of Red Dwarf. "Is that a cigarette you're smoking Lister?" "No it's a chicken!"
@@TheLastCrumb. They're filming a new 3-part miniseries right now. It'll be on in 2025. There's also talk of an animated version, since the main cast are in their 60s now and can only continue to play the characters onscreen for so long! The animated version is also likely to be written and produced by Rob Grant, who left the show after series 6.
I'm Canadian, and I watch more British comedy than American, and I love it. Also, the idea that someone would not find Blackadder funny sounds to me like criminal insanity.
@HoneyBunny-69 apparently the Americans love Fawlty Towers! However they did attempt several adaptations/remakes, all of which were abysmal, and cancelled immediately. The Young Ones is totally beloved and has a cult-following by the Americans, originally as MTV in 1985 aired it. What an excellent show.
Also, David Brent's redemption culminates in his telling his supposed 'friend', Chris Finch, to go f--k himself after he realises he'd been treating him like dirt for years. I can't imagine that happening in an American comedy.
@@Connor-ONeill Spot on! Best friend and I greet each other with variations of "hi twat, you ok?" responded with "can't complain, wanker, lager or Guinness?"
Went to see a good mates band last night and kept suggesting that rest of the band were great but that singer is deadweight and they'd be more successful if they dropped him. (My mate is the singer)
My best friend, over fifty years ago was Dutch Indonesian (still is) and I called her by a word that would not be allowed now. A few years ago I thought I ought to apologise, and she kindly said that she always knew it was affectionate.
Self-deprecation can be seen as a form of confidence because you're more secure in yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin, so you aren't afraid to point out your own flaws and you're OK with not being perfect.
Sarcasm and surrealism seem to confuse some people. My neighbours are from the Philippines. During a regular visit for morning coffee, I commented on how beautiful their fish are. Sol recommended I start keeping fish as pets. When I explained to him that taking my dog for a walk would become too much hassle with the added burden of dragging fish along as well... He froze, as if buffering. For an hour he explained that it is not necessary to take fish to the park three times a day. Fish do not play fetch. No, I will not need to fit collars and leads. Fresh ait is bad for fish. And no they do not play with footballs. The next hour he spent educating me further, when I asked about potty training and would I need waterproof newspapers?
Stephen Fry had a very good reflection on this, which is that in the UK, we usually side with the under dog, and most comic heros are seriously flawed or victims of circumstance, such as Rigsby, or Basil Fawlty, whereas in the US they like to watch actual heros, people who are better than everyone else, or are extrovert and sucessful using humour to get the better of others. Personally, I think it is part of taking themselves too seriously and do not really understand irony, and do not like weakness, such that they like to see their comedic heros being dominant and making fun of others, whereas in the UK, our comic heros are the underdogs.
The elderly lady next door took a fall the other week. "You'll do anything for attention" I said when I went to see if I could help. Then her very worried daughter came tearing up in her car, took one look and said "What's the silly old fool done now?" Both comments caused laughter from everyone including the elderly lady and her husband.
🤣 I love your anecdote, which perfectly illustrates the point! An older workmate went into hospital to have cancerous lesions cut out of her hand. When she eventually returned to work, one hand swathed in bandages, I told her she was getting much too old to be picking fights in the pub. My comment came out of sympathy and concern, and she knew it, going from looking sorry for herself to laughing out loud. That was in Australia, but would have worked in any former British colony.
I got cancer young - like really young, 16. My teacher had to break the news to my friends because I was going into a hospital 4hrs away next day. They all came over after school, we piled into the tv room and shut the door and there was this horrifying silence for, idk, 10-20seconds while they all looked terrified. I looked around at them all and said, ‘For goodness sake, I’m not dead yet!’ Which broke the silence, everyone laughed and we had a really fun afternoon bantering while we watched a movie or something.
In a similar note my partner worked as a carer and cared for an old lady who one night couldn't make it to the toilet she laid in bed in tears of embarrassment and shame . My partner said ' last night my husband had a curry ,this is what my bed looks like ' .This bought more tears -of laughter from the old lady.
@@wulfgold I get that but not strictly true. She's not actually posh but an Essex girl who's done well for herself and likes my straight up Scouse banter. (We now live in posh-ish Wiltshire)
In the case of Sitcoms, the biggest part of UK Sitcoms is everyone is trapped. Del Boy and Rodney are trapped by poverty in Only Fools and Horses. Jen is trapped in job with social pariahs in the IT Crowd. Lister is trapped in space with Rimmer in Red Dwarf. Blackadder is trapped by the class system. Or the general feeling that characters are trapped by their own personality that stops them being who they want to be. It reflects the cynical heart of us Brits who feel we are going to fail. In America you have Friends, Modern Family, Seinfeld, Bewitched, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Cosby Show… all these characters have aspirational lives where they live in fancy situations, meet different people all the time, and have the finances to do what they want to do. It’s aspirational. We find this stuff funny, but it isn’t based in brutal reality where everyone isn’t beautiful, Rich and a winner. Even in the I.T Crowd the Nerdy Scientist ends up with the beautiful, cool girlfriend. America likes winners, the UK likes failures.
That’s a really good point! Like in the series Ghosts, the point is emphasised that all the ghosts are stuck together, and Mike & Alison are stuck with them. But in the American version the living couple could leave whenever they want, and the ghosts don’t seem to have the same level of tension between them. Both shows funny, but in very different ways.
@AntMan-b8l But Earl could walk around his town, his county, and he even went to Mexico. He went to schools, bads, the fair, events, camp, the woods, the suburbs, prison and dozens of other settings. UK sitcoms are heavily restricted in that they are captive by their sets and the primary area. It's partly a budget thing. Take Black Books- you saw the shop, the flat above, a pub, the street and other shops outside, a police station and a few other flats. The one time they went on holiday, all we saw was the airport. It's far more constricted to a limited existence, but that adds to the pathos of being trapped in your own situation that you don't get to escape from.
As a Dane , I prefer British humour over American. We tend to use a lot of ironi and sarcasm too. There's nothing worse than laugh tracks, it's so annoying and a killer to the soul of comedy!
"fake" laugh tracks i never liked, but when you get genuine laughter from comedies filmed with a live audience like Red Dwarf was or is then i didnt mind those types of included laughter as it didnt feel fake/forced.
Yes, "canned laughter" it's called. It's annoying asf. We don't need to be told when to laugh, If it's genuinely funny, then we will laugh at it. If it's not, we won't. American sitcoms are absolutely brimming with canned laughter.
@@KarstenNygaard-d8c We swedes conquered Scania from the Danes in 1658. We've regretted it ever since. And we still don't understand what they say... cheers! / CS
When I (from the UK) lived in the US, I made the mistake of watching Brass Eye with my american girlfriend - which left her appalled. Not learning from my mistake, I made her watch an episode of The League of Gentlemen, and she vomited.
@Herblay63 did you ever watch the animated sketch show Monkey Dust? Three series were made and shown on BBC3 20 years ago. It's the funniest and darkest comedy I have ever seen. Makes League of Gentlemen look safe.
I don't want any food for thought. I'm already overweight. I lived in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK for over 30 years, and when I came beck to the US, I found that no one ever reacted to my humour, and often found people telling me not to put myself down, when that wasn't really the intent at all. When I was trying to be witty, my comments were usually met with blank stares. I think it is harder coming back to the States than it was going to the UK.
I always felt like the difference between American and British humour is that Brits laugh at their own expense while Americans laugh at other's expense.
I'm British.Many years ago, I was asked by an American colleague about my relationship with my elderly mother-in-law. I told her that she lived in Germany during World War II. I explained, with a straight face, that she had been fired from her job in the Gestapo for being too cruel. That was obviously a joke - we Brits joke about our in-laws like that. Said colleague went around telling other colleagues about my mother-in-law being a former Gestapo officer.
I am very offended that you don’t think deadpan is emotionally sincere when, in fact, it’s the most emotionally sincerity any Englishman will ever achieve.
One of the best comedies ever made. I don't know why more people don't talk about it. I love the bit where Varde finally talks and everybody slags her off for it.
@gyorkshire257 Yes.. I've watched the series several times, and there's always nuances I've missed. Star studded cast; conceived, written, directed by Mackenzie Crooke. The cinematography is second to none !
I LOVE Blackadder! But, there is some truth to this. I used to work with a British Engineering Company that was located in the USA. All the engineers were British. When I talked one-on-one with a British engineer I could understand just fine. But, when a group of them got together to back-and-forth banter and joke, it was almost a different language! Different expressions, context, dialect and ideas about humor were really hard to comprehend! Great guys to share a pint with at the Pub, always seemed upbeat!
Your observations are totally correct. As a Brit, I truly believe that Chandler made Friends palatable for a UK audience. Without his comebacks, sarcasm and self-deprecation, the programme would probably have been too lightweight for Brits. RIP Matthew Perry. I think this tone of comedy is why Cheers and Frasier were so much better received in the UK than Seinfeld. Ghosts UK and the US version is another example. The UK original is very nuanced and slow-burning humour. The US one is more obvious but I have to give the US version another chance rather than writing it off!
My mate loves Frasier but I just don't find it funny at all. Same for Friends. Cannot stand any kind of canned laughter : "you must laugh at this part".
I agree. Chandler was the closest character to appeal to Brits because he was sarcastic and self-depracating. We got Chandler. I never "got" Seinfeld or How I met Your Mother nor even Will & Grace. I did like Everyone Loves Raymond, especially his brother because he was full of sarcasm & self-doubt.
Kaylin, if you think British slapstick is understated you've never seen Bottom. It's extremely comically violent beyond anything the Americans would put out.
@@Phiyedough Actually Bottom was the evolution of Filthy Rich & Catflap as well as the Dangerous Brothers where Rik and Ade fleshed out the characters. The Young Ones was just a precursor to Bottom.
During the Falklands war some British troops came under fire from mortars one guy suddenly screamed “I have lost my leg!” To much laughter, another trooper shouted “ No you have not, it is over here!” Much laughter as the medics went to the legless guy to save his life! Gallows humour!!
This is a fascinating analysis of the differences between British and American humour. There are many points made here that are 100% valid. There are a two other points that, as a Brit, I would just add. British people enjoy laughing at poverty and misfortune. True life is perceived as a bit crappy, so you may as well laugh in the face of adversity. Historically, most of the characters in British sitcoms have been lovable failures. Examples of this phenomenon would include "Rising Damp", "Steptoe & Son", "Only Fools and Horses", "Dad's Army" and "Porridge". In contrast, it seems that the characters in American sitcoms live far more successful lives and live in greater comfort. Just look at the set for Frasier's flat and his great job on the radio. A second point that I would like to make, and I don't think that most of my fellow countrymen have realised this, but most of the successful American comedies in the U.K. have their origins in New York Jewish humour. For literally decades, we would repeat "The Phil Silver's Show" (Sgt. Bilko) on television late st night. It was still filling late night slots in the 1990s. Groucho Marx was enjoyed over here, as was Jack Benny in the Thirties and Forties. In the post-war world, we loved the comedy films of Billy Wilder ("Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment"). Then we moved on to the Neil Simon films in the Sixties and Seventies ("The Odd Couple", "Plaza Suite"). This was followed by popularity for Woody Allen ("Annie Hall") and, at around the same time, Mel Brooks ("The Producers", "Blazing Saddles"). I think that the sense of irony in humour is important here. Irony is a key ingredient to British comedy. "Custard pie"/Slapstick humour is too obvious for us. Anyway, thanks for the excellent video.
@GaggedByTH-cam Silly, childish, party political point. You know very well the reason why the Conservatives usually win General Elections in Britain: Labour are even worse!
I’m English my wife Scottish, we met an American couple outside a hotel in Glasgow. The American lady said, I heard a bag piper on a lonely hill in Edinburgh it almost made me cry. I said yes it makes me cry too! The lady grabbed me by the arm and said, I Know! 😂😂😂 my wife slapped me once inside and told me to stop it! 😂😂😂
A man is playing a guitar badly. Another man walks up, takes the guitar and smashes it against a wall. A British comedian would prefer to play the guitarist. (Or something along those lines)
One of my things is as a guide in a Scottish estate with a lot of American visitors. Part of the event is to show off the 170-year-old 200-foot Sequoia and occasionally a visitor will ask how we got it over from the US. I explain about the giant flower pot. Brits laugh, Americans accept it for a moment and then look puzzled, sometimes trying very unsurely to ask me to repeat.
I’m a Swede and I only watch British comedy. I don’t know why but Baldricks relationship with Blackadder is so funny. “That’s just Baldrick, spring cleaning.” Also of course Fawlty Towers and Keeping up appearances.
My wife is Swedish and I’ve noticed British and Swedish humour is quite similar. I thought A Man Called Ove could have been a British film for example.
@@MsPeabody1231 Probably not that many, as Swedish vikings generally did not go west, they went east, to the Baltics and the rivers of what today is Russia. Danish vikings went to southern Britain and Norwegian vikings to northern Britain & Ireland
@@johnwheatley5641 Sure, but very few Normans had Swedish ancestors. The vikings who settled in Normandie were mainly from Norway and Denmark. (BTW, If your surname is Wheatley, that is an Old English name, not Norman. It comes from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words "hwǣte" and "lēah," which mean "wheat" and "clearing")
I'm from Belgium, which is obviously very close to the UK, and I grew up with a lot of UK comedy shows as well as American ones. I've also been friends with British and American people. I think much of this video is correct, but I also think there's another typically British form of humour that Americans don't seem to enjoy as much: absurdity. If you watch UK sitcoms such as The IT Crowd or Black Books, they will often contain completely impossible, surreal situations suddenly thrown into an otherwise fairly realistic show. American shows don't do that, or if they do go for the absurd, the entire show will be surreal.
Absolutely. My family, on my mothers side, slightly diminished over the years due to some of them being so bloody inconsiderate as to die due to old age and illness, have always been the most brutally sarcastic buggers I have ever had the privilege to know. My grandmother on that side of the family was thin, frail, but in a sarcastic slanging match.... she was like what Mozart was to music.
One tip for Americans or even some Brits. If you tease a friend or acquaintance, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ruin it by adding "I'm kidding!. It, totally, ruins the vibe because you are insulting the intelligence of the recipient and any audience because we all KNOW you are. Also, it conveys the impression that the poor "victim" is sooo insecure that they need assurance that it was a joke. If you are tempted to do that, then don't joke in the first place. Rant Over..😀😀
As a Dane I completely agree! The only one I've heard get away with it is Jimmy Carr: "I'm kidding - it sounds like a verb for child abuse , doesnt it" 😂
As an Australian we got a lot of UK and US tv shows and they were always completely different. I used to hate the final scene in nearly all US sitcoms, it was the 'so what did we learn today?' scene. The main protagonist would have to learn some sort of life lesson. In the UK sitcoms the last scene was usually the ultimate humiliation of the protagonist, in a very dry and ironic style.... or darker.
I totally agree, that twee, moralistic, christian 'learning' from mistakes made or summation of the day is why I hated 3rd Rock from the Sun and they sit on the roof and moralise. I only tried a couple of episodes before I gave up in disgust. Which is a shame because I do like John Lithgow!
Can I just say that you are a very good content writer and presenter. A lot of the time this goes unnoticed by people, but as a writer myself I notice these things. Keep up the good work. 👍
Hate freinds, sugary, stupid and unfunny. Loved cheers and Fraizer because they did biting bitchy black comedy. I loved how they took the mick out of characters that were sweet and earnest.
A great example of prime British humour is 'Peep Show'. As you get all the usual stuff that you'd expect from a British comedy show, but then you have the added layer of hearing the character's inner monologues as well.
To brits self-deprecating humour is a sign of confidence, you know that person is comfortable with themself if they can laugh at themself. I do see mixed with a dryer wit it can seem as sincere.
Black Adder has to exemplify British humour the most, in my mind. The way he weasels and backstabs and manipulates his way through problems, often making them much worse, much to his own detriment as well as everyone around him, is just spot on. If you pay attention to the timeline, he starts off as a Prince then goes backwards in status further and further with each new series, which I take to representing his family lineage through the ages.
I very much enjoyed the pilot episode in which he mistakes the king for a horse thief and kills him, and later has dinner with the king's loyal knights while being haunted by the king's ghost. Rowan Atkinson's facial expressions and physical comedy were brilliant.
Surprised no one's mentioned Yes Prime Minister.Have Americans watched the video clip of the constable letting in Larry the cat into 10 Downing Street?
Kiwi/Aussie here. We get fed both countries fare and to an extent I agree with you. However Brit shows tend to get dumbed down to lowest common denominator when they jump the ditch to the US. An example of this is "Whose line is it anyway". The original British version was fantastic. The American knock off was honestly just sad. Another area where American comedy fails to land with non-Americans is the self congratulatory affect of the leads. Seinfeld's smirking is delightful to American audiences but rubs non-Americans up the wrong way.
A good example is the British car show Top Gear. The original is irreverent and hilarious. Both the Aussie and US versions took themselves far too seriously and flopped. If the British team had made an Aussie Top Gear they would have done stuff like loaded utes with dozens of fake sheep and then raced them around a cow paddock or tried lapping Bathurst on electric scooters.
Not all Americans liked Seinfeld, I couldn't stand it. Seinfeld is regional in the USA, if you're East Coast, Liberal and from NYC or Boston you loved Seinfeld. We Yanks in 'flyover' country much preferred 'Home Improvement' with Tim Allend (if you've seen that). Seinfeld got all the accolades by the Hollywood Elites, Tim Allen was ignored. But the fans loved him.
Ugh I could never stand Jerry Seinfeld - the stand up routines at the end of every episode were also rubbish and off putting, had me thinking “this is what passes for stand up in the US?!”
One of the best illustrations of British humour among friends that I've seen is from Top Gear. Jeremy Clarkson's lost his voice and James May has an eye infection, and they just take the piss out of each other's ailments for several minutes.
Porridge was the best! Writing and casting was superbly humorous without even cracking a joke. One of Fletcher's fellow prisoners was a tall thin black guy - he didn't say anything for a while and the audience was waiting for the usual Afro-Caribbean accent - hell no he was a very broad Scot on par with Billy Connolly - may not be so funny these days but in the 70's it was hilarious.
I'm happy you mentioned Gavin & Stacey, as it really is one of those shows where if you aren't paying attention, you'll miss the funniest line of the episode. Personally, I think you hit the nail on the head with this video. Perfect explanations.
Shout out to Police Squad! as an example of an American comedy doing deadpan superbly. (Yes, I know Leslie Nielsen was Canadian, but the writers weren't!)
Fun fact about Leslie Nielsen: his brother, Erik, was once the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (in the 1980s, when Brian Mulroney was PM), and a thoroughly humorless man (in public; I've no idea if he ever cracked a smile in private).
Another big difference, particularly with Sit Coms, between UK/US shows is that British shows are designed to be short runs of 6-8 episodes, and probably only 3 series even for some of the most popular shows, whereas US shows will run on for much longer, and will keep being recommissioned until they begin to lose popularity. US shows are often eventually 'cancelled' whereas British shows are designed to run for a limited period, and then stop. There is also the fact that UK shows tend to be written by one or two writers throughout (or a tight group of writers who develop it together) whereas US shows have much larger writers' rooms, the makeup of which might change considerably over time.
@wulfgold It's definitely not to do with sports seasons, as these shows don't air in slots that would otherwise be sport. It's just the way British TV has always been set up. Most shows, drama as well as comedy, has always been in short once a week runs for 6-8 weeks. The schedules were put together from blocks of this length. Obviously other things like soaps run every week of the year, and there will be special events - like award ceremonies- which are one off events. The short series format makes it easy to schedule in around those.
I think a lot of it has to do with "Network Standards" which actually means "Advertiser Standards" and the coproate fear of having your product linked to any controversy, especially pre-cable US tv. Now, in the age of tv on demand and rampant piracy, Americans can watch whatever niche they want and it slowly seems to be permeating US tv culture (a bit).
Jay Fullmer, 38, yesterday became the first American to get to grips with the concept of irony. "It was weird" Fullmer said. "I was in London and like, talking to this guy and it was raining and he pulled a face and said, "Great weather eh?" and I thought - "Wait a minute, no way is it great weather". Fullmer then realised that the other man's 'mistake' was in fact deliberate. Fullmer, who is 39 next month and married with two children, aged 8 and 3, plans to use irony himself in future. "I'm, like, using it all the time" he said. "Last weekend I was grilling steaks, and I burned them, and I said "Hey, great weather."
I think in the UK we regarded Friends more as a drama or a soap opera than a comedy though the first time it aired it didn't do too well. But if I could draw your attention to The Golden Girls (American version, UK one was crap), there was loads of darkness and self depricating humour as instances from their pasts and hints of nympomania etc came back to haunt them. This is right up our street in the UK. For what it's worth, and I'm a Brit, I found the Office cringeworthy the first time I watched it. It grew on me in time.
@taxidude I never actually 'got' The Office, and I'm a Brit. However, I loved his other stuff. I'm quite surprised that so many Americans like Afterlife. Maybe he's 'training' them to understand us.😂
I used to watch The Golden Girls 30 years ago with my mother - and I think I was more aware of the sexual undertones more than she was. It was pretty damn funny I used to think.
Just a thought about self deprication. You said Americans aren't keen on it as they like confidence. Given how comfortable one has to be in one's own skin to not only accept your own short comings but acknowledge them publicly. I'd say that was uber confidence.
I agree with this 100%, in the UK we got it without the laugh track and the US version with the laugh track made it somewhat unbearable to me - in the UK we didn't need a prompt to remind us that the dark humour was meant to be funny! Ironically an American comedy about an American war had some of the best "british style" humour ever made! MASH really is one of my favourite shows of all time!
@@vladd6787 I only ever watched the version without a laughter track. Parts of the episodes were poignant/sad, and it would be ridiculous to have a laughter track in the same episode.
Taking the piss is a massive part of getting to know someone here in the UK. You start with something mild and see how they respond, and if they don't take offence, you might push it further. If they instantly snap back with their own piss take, you know you're forming a real bond. If they take any kind of offence, or even just let it slide, you leave it and keep a distance. It's really about testing the boundaries of common ground. The sincerity isn't in the words because words can be made to mean anything - the sincerity is in the response, which is far more genuine to us.
There are always exceptions to the rule. "Cheers", "Frasier" and "Taxi" used deprecation and deadpan "The Plank", "Bottom" and "the young ones" were heavy on slapstick
The Plank is a bit of an outlier as it was intentionally a recreation of black and white, silent comedy films which were mostly American, eg. Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, though strangely those both feature British actors, Stan and Charlie.
It is true that there is slapstick in British comedy, but I think there is something slightly different about it too - slightly more subversive in its approach.
Think you are pretty spot on. I spent 6 months travelling all over the US, and was amazed at how so many of my deapan, silly comments were take totally literally ie. driving past the cemetary I just said "Ah.. dead centre of town" and my hosts helpfully pointed out no, the centre of town was over that way, as simple example. 90% of such "jokes" of it went totally unnoticed. I always tried to explain it similar to how you did "we insult our friends, because we trust them" (and so trust them not to take offence). If we don't like you, we just don't talk to you. Scousers are the hardest - if you don't insult them enough they really assume you don't like them and it escalates!
Yup... I've experienced the same when travelling across the US. Most times I let it slide, but sometimes I have to pause and feel the need to explain it to them just in case they ever meet another non-American
I don't mind American comedy, the jokes are quite funny. What i don't understand is why the characters have to always be so successful. They can always pay their electric bill are always smart and ever go to the loo.😊
Look up the Hays Code. Before film classifications US movies had to depict happy endings for the good guys (usually white, Christian, American, work ethic, etc.).
I'm a Brit living in Canada and banter and the deadpan delivery is very close to my heart, I love it - same with a really good pun..... but so often it's completely missed and taken at face value. So, I have adopted the stance that as long as I find it funny, it matters not if anyone else does. US and British comedy also differ in that sometimes, British comedy makes you think - indeed, sometimes you have to think to get the joke rather than US comedy which is more likely to spoon-feed it to you and reinforce it with laughter tracks. And yes, in conclusion, British humour and comedy is much, much better.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the sincerity reference. As a brit, I probably only mean about 20% of what I say, the rest is just me making light of bad situations or saying things for effect. No bad intentions, just trying to prevent any true feelings leaking out :D
It's not just in the States but in most countries !!! Having lived in the U K from a young age,,, I find comedian my home country is not funny ,what is funny is the translation to Greek now that is funny!! The surprise is that they love Mr Bean and Benny Hill but miss the jokes on Love they neighbour Fawlty Towers is another one they don't understand just like Americans😅😅😅😅😅❤❤❤❤
@@theocharisstylianou1822 Mr Bean was a worldwide hit - it was massive in Japan when I lived there. But I can't see why people cannot understand Fawlty Towers because a lot of the comedy is visual and the situations inately comic. But senses of humour differ from country to country.
It makes me so weird compared to everyone else lol because i just think it's so fake even when i've always live in the uk like i've never felt the need to not say what i mean or say things for effect, sometimes i might make light of bad situations if it really needs it but mostly i just say something i want to say and that's it. I don't know where it comes from honestly because my parents are as emotionally closed off as most people and i hate it.
@@capitalb5889 There was once almost an attempt at an American version of Fawlty Towers where the Basil Fawlty character was proposed to be completely written out of the script!
@@peteneville698 with the exception the Office, all attempts at remaking British comedy for the US fail. I don't see why they bother given that our sense of humour is different. It is only remaking the comedy at a very superficial level.
From U.K. here. When I used to work in a supermarket, I remember dropping a whole box of orange juice bottles, as it fell one after another, me and my superior colleague looked at each other and continued to watch and then reacted with shock and laughter as we were cleaning it all up. There’s something about us that likes laughing at misery.
I had a similar experience at home when I knocked half a dozen glasses off a high shelf. Most hit me on the head as they fell and smashed on the kitchen floor. My wife thought it was hysterically funny.
"Taking the mick" - it takes time, thought & effort to come up with something, so when we do it, it proves we've been thinking about you, which is caring. To not do anything would mean we don't care enough about you to put the time in.
This is so true. (As a Scottish person) Ive forever heard how good the American show Community is, so I decided to watch it and it just wasn't funny. It was so clean and colourful, it felt like i was watching coworkers trying to have "banter" and failing miserably. I dont understand the hype, defo a cultural difference.
I think some of the best US comedy shows are the adult cartoons like Family Guy & South Park. They have near British levels of awkwardness, crudity and not giving a f*ck. Family Guy also parodies US sitcoms with the "oh my god, you're right, I've learned a lesson" endings. My personal favourite sketch is Pete & Dud's one legged Tarzan audition. Surreal & the best deadpan punchline ever.
@@1969gawa That gag, believe it or not, was originally done by Pete 'n' Dud: Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, way back in the 1960s on BBC1 in a show called "Not Only but Also..." Nothing new under the Sun!
Stephen Fry have a great example with the difference in humour with John Belush scene in Animal House when he smashes up the guitar. Americans, relate to the hero of John Belush and find his actions funny. Brits relate to the poor guy who just randomly got his guitar smashed up. And regarding the buildup of a joke on British comedy, watch series 2 episode 1 of It Crowd, called Work Outing. There are jokes throughout, but it all builds up to the most hilarious final 5mins of TV ever.
@@Mathrox-uu1qh IT crowd was a mediocre show at best and is no match to BBT The quality of writing in BBT is far far superear to anything IT crowd can muster The scene in which the guys make fun of Zack, is better than all jokes in IT crowd combined
American sitcoms are usually predictable, sentimental and - aagh! - are accompanied by a laughter track. There are some funny ones for sure (Parks and Recreation is a gem). One of my hobbies is watching Americans trying to make sense of Vic and Bob!
I’m an Aussie. I can watch both US and UK comedy, but I do much prefer UK. I think UK humour is closer to Aussie humour. I also prefer UK drama too, as the people seem less “perfect” and therefore more real. I still enjoy drama from both countries, just my preference is slanted more towards UK.
MASH was broadcast in the UK without the laugh track (canned laughter) and was much better for it. Once an episode was broadcast with the laugh track and the BBC apologised for the error
I'm a brit, and I think you are spot on with your analysis, although I do love American shows like Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Mash, Frasier, King of Queens, Cheers andd more.
It's because we're a much, much older country, and that makes us inherently less optimistic and positive. America will get that way eventually. Same as they'll eventually become post-secular like us.
_It's because we're a much, much older country, and that makes us inherently less optimistic and positive. America will get that way eventually._ I think they already have. They've just voted Trump in.
I think one amazing example of where the British sense of humour just doesn't work for American sensibilities is Alan Partridge. I have tried to show Alan to my wife and she absolutely didnt get it. Just not in any way did it hit, but I think most British comedy fans would speak very highly of it.
I love Alan Partridge but at the same time he makes my skin crawl 😂 I can't listen to The Carpenters 'Close to you' without hearing the Alan Partridge version 😂
@@MsPeabody1231 - Who could forget such classic tourism promotion by Mr Partridge as "One of the benefits of global warming and international terrorism is that more people are holidaying in Norfolk".
What makes Partridge funny to Brits is basically, class. From the way he speaks (and dresses for the age he is supposed to be, and the phrases he uses) we guess exactly how he was brought up, what his political views are going to be, his attitude to women and minorities, and even how quickly he is adjusting to the changes in behaviour required now - which he usually mangles. It's when we realise we were right, that the frisson happens.
A French colleague once told me he was depressed because he was being bullied by a guy at work. I told him it wasn’t bullying but definitely banter. I taught him banter and he started retorting to this guy’s banter. Darren almost fell off his chair with laughter when the French guy retorted. The French guy was so thankful to me.
Good analysis. You can see that especially when watching americans reacting to the "Biggus Dickus" scene from Monty Phyton's "Life of Brian". They always laugh when Brian gets slapped or the guards giggle, but don't get the wordplay like the joke names (Silllius Soddus, Naughtius Maximus, Incontinetia etc) or the speech impediment by Pontius Pilate (he can't pronounce "R" and it sounds like "W").
I'd recommend the British comedy The Royle Family as a really interesting example. The whole show is just an ordinary family, sitting in front of the TV, watching TV and talking. It's the inspiration behind gogglebox but there's no laugh track, few cuts or story or changes of location. Most of what the characters say, dies away into dull silences where they all just stare at the TV with glazed expressions. When they do make jokes, it's often ironically funny, rather than the joke itself. The whole thing is incredibly dead pan and I imagine could be seen as a really, really dull show where nothing happens and no one makes jokes...but I find it one of funniest, oddly heart warming comedies I can think of
Can't stand the royle family its one of our comedies I cannot get behind, i'm not even sure it can be classed as a comedy, more like a warm little show that might make you smirk if you're lucky once per episode.
As an Australian we tend to have a sense of humour close to British humour with some Irish style as well. It's probably due to our convict heritage and harsh conditions for the early settlers. British tv shows have always had a very appreciative audience here but there is more American stuff coming in and I find most of what I've seen of it, is low grade humour. Comedians are odd. It's as though they feel it necessary to explain the joke in case we don't get it. I get impatient and mutter, "yes I got the joke before you'd finished telling it!" And they do seem to ramble on and on about everything.
Sure, in the way that the first motor cars, with their old chaps walking in front holding flags, were "on the Formula One end of the driving spectrum".
My friend had an American girlfriend stay while she attended University. I have a dry sarcastic sense of humour and she really struggled to know if what I said was a joke. She would nervously laugh and looked around to see if it was OK to laugh.
I've watched a few people talk about the differences and one which they almost always miss out is the British love of abstract/absurdist humour. I'm sure there is some American abstract comedy but I struggle to really think of it and it's probably quite niche. Maybe South Park and stuff like BoJack Horseman and Rick & Morty, but they're all animations weirdly and they all do well in the UK as well as the US. Here in the UK some of our best comedy is very abstract: Monty Python, anything by Chris Morris, Big Train, Green Wing, Reeves & Mortimer, Bottom, The Young Ones, etc. A lot of the time there are very hidden jokes in there which rely upon understanding a level of British culture and so Americans struggle to "get" the joke, but often it's just about laughing at the most ridiculous, least expected outcome. Often there is no joke at all, it's just the pure absurdity that is funny. I remember watching the Smell of Reeves and Mortimer with an American friend and I was in stitches and he was just confused and had no idea what was going on. I tried to explain that he ought to stop trying to figure out why, stop trying to spot the joke, and just laugh at how silly and absurd it is, and when you just get to grips with how ridiculous it is, the comedy will completely blindside you with something you least expect. It's about subverting expectations, whereas many Americans want their expectations to be met with comedy I think. It is also about mockery and taking a real subject/person and mocking it to the most ridiculous degree, making the subject/person appear as absurd as possible.
Honestly I think we're taught to be so serious in school and work etc in England that we had to learn to be funny without laughing. In school we would get told constantly to stop laughing so all of us just learnt not too 😂 Really enjoyed the video! New subscriber from the Midlands! 😁
Go to surfshark.com/ggl for an extra 4 months of Surfshark at an unbeatable price.
I'm gonna take the piss about how you say py - thon say it like pythun with no emphasis on any letter....... Now say Monty Pythun and we know what you're on about! Bless you, we'll get you there.
PS how do you spell your name? I'd like to address you by your name
..... Sometimes‼️😉❤
British humour translates directly to only New York in the USA, really. Maybe Boston too because of their Irish immigrants. Apparently if a comedian can make it in New York he will be liked here, and vice versa for British comedians travelling to New York. I do think it is because of the links between England to New York.
Self deprecation is the highest form of self confidence. It simply means you know what you are doing, but simply say for example "It's only part of the job." That shows a vast amount of self confidence.
Is more European tbat can handle more and are not offended fast..American have issues. And the reasons yiu se only Brits and usa comedy is because the language belgiumm Dutch arw dark to but you don't understand other languages only English
@thetruthhurts7675 Frank Sinatra said "if I can make it there, I'll make it, anywhere. It's up to you New York, NEW YOOOOOOOORK", 😂😂😂 ❤️🇬🇧
@@redrumtruecrime Yes that is true about the USA can't make it in New York, then you can, and will else where. Actually It was John Kander and Fred Ebb who wrote those words, they said it first. Plus Liza Minelli sang it first!!
I knew an American who claimed he was okay with working in the UK because he was sarcastic himself. Then he moved to the UK and he said he hadn't realised there was a professional version.
Most of us are really proficient at it.
I wouldn't use "sarcasm" to describe British humour. (Like banter between friends). It's not intended to hurt or undermine or mock someone.
@@kevinmcinerney1959 At least not always... 😉
@@lynettehills822most of us think they are certainly.
@@kevinmcinerney1959but we do use sarcasm. Sometimes you just want to put someone down. Much British humour is cruel; as it should be.
I’m British. It took me 30 years to have an honest conversation with my best friend. We didn’t like it. It will not happen again.
Second LOL moment of the day. Many thanks. 🙂
Now THAT'S funny..! 🤣🤣🤣
That sounds like a truly awful experience.
I can't imagine how sickening that must have been.
Wow! That proves Britain does have, at least a few, daring eccentrics. Had you been a Brit visiting the USA at the time, you'd have been admitted for psycho-therapy.... so a good thing you were in Blighty.
@MiscellanyTop I don’t know who Psycho the rapey is, but someone should probably contact the police. He does not sound safe.
The most perfect British one-liner joke was Bob Monkhouse's:
"They all laughed when I said I'd become a comedian. Well, they're not laughing now."
He went on Parkinson after he was diagnosed with cancer and talked about receiving the diagnosis. "How long have I got?" he asked, "10" the doctor replied. "10 what? 10 years, 10 months, 10 days?" the doctor replies "9, [pause] 8, [pause] 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, ". The British audience laughed on 8. Americans are usually appalled if they get it at all.
Monkhouse is so underrated, he was amazing and I've always rated that one-liner as one of the best jokes ever told.
On a side note I also love his quote about funerals 'Although I have always loved the noise of laughter, I really can't fear the coming of quiet. As for funerals, I rather like them. Such nice things are always said about the deceased, I feel sad that they had to miss hearing it all by just a few days'
@@ethelburga I don't get it. I'm not American.
@@tomsmith6513 the doctor was doing a countdown of 10 seconds, implying that the patient had 10 seconds to live.
Monkhouse was a rubbish comedian
I remember in the 1980s the comedy show M*A*S*H was shown on UK TV without the laugh track that had aired in the US. We didn't realise there was a laugh track until one episode was accidentally aired with it. The BBC received a lot of complaints along the lines of "We don't need to be told when to laugh". They never aired it with the laugh track again!
Clinger trying to get out of the Army in his dress. 😂😂😂
That is interesting. The only American comedies I have found funny were MASH and Big Bang Theory.
@@PhiyedoughI loved Mash but hate Big Bang.
M*A*S*H was truly excellent.
@@Burglar-King The rights to MASH now belong to The Disney Corporation, which means that Klinger is a Disney Princess.
A friend has been ill and told me yesterday that she is going to have brain surgery. My immediate reaction was “are they going to put one in?” This would not play well with most Americans (she laughed by the way)
My mother had a mastectomy some years ago, it was carried out on the 4th of July. We said her breast had made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence and would be celebrated with fireworks etc. This conversation was by phone from my workplace. A couple of my foreign colleagues were quite shocked that I was laughing with my mum about her cancer like that.
Obviously! I had a brain scan and my whole family was anxiously awaiting the results "do you have one or was it just a spinning wheel and a dead hamster?"
Or when I phoned my uncle, who's an MD, about a stomach x-ray, and I try to explain that there's a dark shadow in one area "are you sure that's not just your black soul?"
And that's how I know I'm loved.
Right comedian at work was absent one day, Where's Terry? Said the boss.
A chorus of
"He's gone to have his wisdom teeth put in..."
That made me laugh a lot.
When Liam fell off the building, I said to my American wife, "Atleast there was only One Direction to go".
She looked at me shocked and said "That's Dark!"
I said "Not as dark as hitting concrete at 9.8 M/s".
Lets just say she didn't talk to me for the rest of the day... What a peaceful day that was!
I met some American Marines through a job in Portsmouth once. One of them, whose job was hanging outside a helicopter with a big gun. He said something like “I’ve been 190 pounds all my life.” To which I immediately said “that must have brought tears to your mother’s eyes.” The marine growled “What did you say about my mother!?!” Luckily one of his friends explained the humour. 😮💨
🤣 that's brilliant haha
I was working with our marines in Norway and US marines were there too, they were so funny to drink with as they just missed too much of the nuance of our self-depricating humour at all 😂
Marines are not known for their intellectual humour.
@@kirksummerwill5029 true, but the US one took the biscuit 😂 really nice lads though!
"Ur Mum" jokes are still in heavy rotation at ours with our adult children but we have to sometimes make a concious effort to keep a lid on it. I was in a restaurant with my husband and the lass put down the food and said "Be careful with those plates they're red hot" and it took actual effort to not go "Ur Mum's red hot"
Yes the deadpan sarcastic humour can go the wrong way
I had some US colleagues and we were talking about Halloween and Bonfire night. I was telling them that Bonfire night was the more traditional British autumn celebration. I told them its when we celebrate the burning of Catholics
The look of horror on their faces was priceless
Brilliant.
Its all about delivery....Well Done 🤣
Don't tell him about Thanksgiving/Smallpox day.
I am an Australian of Irish and English stock ... and Catholic. My English part thinks that remark was hilarious.
...So does my Irish Catholic part .
😂
British humour - it's only funny until someone gets hurt.
And then it's hilarious....
🤣
I am stealing this quote.
OK then, if it's necessary to get someone hurt, are we Americans out of order for gathering every Aug.6th as some of us do, and singing to the tune of "O Tannenbaum", "oh ATOM BOMB, oh ATOM BOMB, shouldn't have wasted the second one on Nagasaki"! And we sometimes perform this ritual in front of travel posters of London amongst other destinations. Hey Yanks and Brits are the closest of mates. Why not "take the piss" amongst other bodily fluids?! Or AM I MISSING SOMETHING?!?
But seriously folks, "girl gone London" had better never do a "meet and greet". Or AM I TAKING MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY by Brit standards (the only standard that seem to matter).?!
Tis but a scratch!
I didn't realise how self deprecating my humour was until I met an American at uni who would try to reassure me and compliment me after almost every sentence, it was sweet but exhausting!
sweet but exhausting is exactly it! 😅
Yes! Americans can feel exhausting because the positivity feels so repressive, just be mad at your situation, you're from one of the worse countries in the world.
The worst sin you can commit in the UK is earnestness. Somebody who takes themselves or others too seriously is to be avoided at all costs.
Or else mocked mercilessly until they stop . . . !
@@gowdsake7103. Not a fan of Carr’s stage routines, but his off the cuff panel show stuff is great!
@@gowdsake7103 Not even modern. Cleese is insufferable in his old age.
Old class-driven sin, that. JRM is the poster boy.
@@gowdsake7103Carr and Gervais do not take themselves seriously. They just pretend to. Hope that helps.
Red Dwarf springs to mind. From what I remember, the US couldn't handle a bunch of anti-heroes so had to change the whole series beyond recognition. Which was sad because Red Dwarf was brilliant!
I believe they tried copying that twice but as you say they just didn't get what made the show they changed the characters but Kyton did get a new outfit from it for the UK show. I believe the creator did try telling the network but they just wouldn't listen to him
Boys from the dwarf . Any idea of they are giving it another go? I think the promised land was maybe the very last one
.. but I hope not
I love the banter and verbal sparring between Lister and Rimmer in the first two series of Red Dwarf.
"Is that a cigarette you're smoking Lister?"
"No it's a chicken!"
@bluesrocker91 it's so good lol. Oh listy listy listy 🤣. Cats acting after his shituation in the bushes on backwards world was epic
@@TheLastCrumb. They're filming a new 3-part miniseries right now. It'll be on in 2025. There's also talk of an animated version, since the main cast are in their 60s now and can only continue to play the characters onscreen for so long! The animated version is also likely to be written and produced by Rob Grant, who left the show after series 6.
I'm Canadian, and I watch more British comedy than American, and I love it. Also, the idea that someone would not find Blackadder funny sounds to me like criminal insanity.
Wibble
@@vis7139 Baaaaaa
Yank here, there is some truth in this video-our humor and that of the British are different. With that said, I loved Blackadder!
I'm not sure if 'Murica would find 'Fawlty Towers' funny. It might be a little too controversial for the most part.
And what about 'The Young Ones'?
@HoneyBunny-69 apparently the Americans love Fawlty Towers! However they did attempt several adaptations/remakes, all of which were abysmal, and cancelled immediately.
The Young Ones is totally beloved and has a cult-following by the Americans, originally as MTV in 1985 aired it.
What an excellent show.
It’s not the British version of The Office, it’s the original The Office.
Well said!
Also, David Brent's redemption culminates in his telling his supposed 'friend', Chris Finch, to go f--k himself after he realises he'd been treating him like dirt for years. I can't imagine that happening in an American comedy.
Loved the original the Office, but not the American.
Only one Office 🇬🇧
I didn't realise that the 'Office' was a comedy. I found it just boring.
Come to think of it the same with 'Friends'.
I’d almost say that in the UK probably one of the best signs that you’re close friends with someone is that you’re constantly insulting each other.
Oh, absolutely. There are things I'd call my best friend that I wouldn't call my worst enemy.
@@Connor-ONeill Spot on! Best friend and I greet each other with variations of "hi twat, you ok?" responded with "can't complain, wanker, lager or Guinness?"
Went to see a good mates band last night and kept suggesting that rest of the band were great but that singer is deadweight and they'd be more successful if they dropped him. (My mate is the singer)
Richie and Eddie in Bottom. All of The Young Ones.
My best friend, over fifty years ago was Dutch Indonesian (still is) and I called her by a word that would not be allowed now. A few years ago I thought I ought to apologise, and she kindly said that she always knew it was affectionate.
‘What first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniel’s?’
Daniels. Even though there was only one of him.
Not a lot...
😂😂😂😂
Caroline Ahern RIP.
Self-deprecation can be seen as a form of confidence because you're more secure in yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin, so you aren't afraid to point out your own flaws and you're OK with not being perfect.
100% Agree 👍
Yeah I love the self-deprecation comedy. Jeff Foxworthy, Chris Rock, John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson are very funny people.
True, and talking yourself up often comes across as egotism and/or insecurity.
Unless we get the impression it's dissengenuous , in which case we might Flip to over boasting in order to mock. Being obtuse is important too
@wolf1066 yeah exactly, it can seem like you're overcompensating for something!
Sarcasm and surrealism seem to confuse some people. My neighbours are from the Philippines. During a regular visit for morning coffee, I commented on how beautiful their fish are. Sol recommended I start keeping fish as pets. When I explained to him that taking my dog for a walk would become too much hassle with the added burden of dragging fish along as well... He froze, as if buffering. For an hour he explained that it is not necessary to take fish to the park three times a day. Fish do not play fetch. No, I will not need to fit collars and leads. Fresh ait is bad for fish. And no they do not play with footballs.
The next hour he spent educating me further, when I asked about potty training and would I need waterproof newspapers?
I have a friend who is dutch and its taken him years to get the hang of sarcasm.
I dont think it has anything to do with from where u are. Some brains just dont get it...and some brains see it everywhere
🤣🤣🤣 You made me laugh out loud. 👍🏼
This is killing me 🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂 hilarious 😂😂😂
Stephen Fry had a very good reflection on this, which is that in the UK, we usually side with the under dog, and most comic heros are seriously flawed or victims of circumstance, such as Rigsby, or Basil Fawlty, whereas in the US they like to watch actual heros, people who are better than everyone else, or are extrovert and sucessful using humour to get the better of others. Personally, I think it is part of taking themselves too seriously and do not really understand irony, and do not like weakness, such that they like to see their comedic heros being dominant and making fun of others, whereas in the UK, our comic heros are the underdogs.
Is that why he fawned all over Steve Jobs? Incidentally, it was Steve WOZNIAK who did it all - Jobs was useless!
As Hancock /Steptoe writer Galton and Simpson once said failure is more funny than success.
do you know the history of batman? he is a massive victim of circumstances
Incorrect. He said Americans root for the Underdog hero. He said Brits root for the victim.
@@Tony-lj5lr Holy predestination, Batman!
The elderly lady next door took a fall the other week. "You'll do anything for attention" I said when I went to see if I could help. Then her very worried daughter came tearing up in her car, took one look and said "What's the silly old fool done now?" Both comments caused laughter from everyone including the elderly lady and her husband.
😂😂😂😂
🤣 I love your anecdote, which perfectly illustrates the point!
An older workmate went into hospital to have cancerous lesions cut out of her hand. When she eventually returned to work, one hand swathed in bandages, I told her she was getting much too old to be picking fights in the pub. My comment came out of sympathy and concern, and she knew it, going from looking sorry for herself to laughing out loud.
That was in Australia, but would have worked in any former British colony.
I got cancer young - like really young, 16. My teacher had to break the news to my friends because I was going into a hospital 4hrs away next day. They all came over after school, we piled into the tv room and shut the door and there was this horrifying silence for, idk, 10-20seconds while they all looked terrified. I looked around at them all and said, ‘For goodness sake, I’m not dead yet!’ Which broke the silence, everyone laughed and we had a really fun afternoon bantering while we watched a movie or something.
In a similar note my partner worked as a carer and cared for an old lady who one night couldn't make it to the toilet she laid in bed in tears of embarrassment and shame . My partner said ' last night my husband had a curry ,this is what my bed looks like ' .This bought more tears -of laughter from the old lady.
Similar thing, quite an elderly lady turned up at church with a shiner. I just said 'been fighting again?' She laughed.
Called my landlady a 'Posh Cow' this morning when i found out she had an Aga in her thatched cottage. She just laughed. (We like each other)
+ this is the core of British comedy - layers.
She laughed at your cheeky joke, but also laughed because it's YOU paying for her cottage and Aga.
You should have called her a fire engine
@@spoonunit1 the wannabes have Rayburns‼️ Do you remember the ⚠️😱 "Aga Saga" mother with 2 kids sketch Catherine Tate used to do⁉️😆😆😆😆😆♥️
@@wulfgold I get that but not strictly true. She's not actually posh but an Essex girl who's done well for herself and likes my straight up Scouse banter. (We now live in posh-ish Wiltshire)
@@redrumtruecrime Don't remember that one but I get it. 🙂
In the case of Sitcoms, the biggest part of UK Sitcoms is everyone is trapped. Del Boy and Rodney are trapped by poverty in Only Fools and Horses. Jen is trapped in job with social pariahs in the IT Crowd. Lister is trapped in space with Rimmer in Red Dwarf. Blackadder is trapped by the class system. Or the general feeling that characters are trapped by their own personality that stops them being who they want to be. It reflects the cynical heart of us Brits who feel we are going to fail.
In America you have Friends, Modern Family, Seinfeld, Bewitched, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Cosby Show… all these characters have aspirational lives where they live in fancy situations, meet different people all the time, and have the finances to do what they want to do. It’s aspirational. We find this stuff funny, but it isn’t based in brutal reality where everyone isn’t beautiful, Rich and a winner. Even in the I.T Crowd the Nerdy Scientist ends up with the beautiful, cool girlfriend. America likes winners, the UK likes failures.
What an excellent analysis 👍👍
That’s a really good point! Like in the series Ghosts, the point is emphasised that all the ghosts are stuck together, and Mike & Alison are stuck with them. But in the American version the living couple could leave whenever they want, and the ghosts don’t seem to have the same level of tension between them. Both shows funny, but in very different ways.
Scrubs and My name is Earl must have followed the British style because for American sitcoms they were genuinely funny.
@AntMan-b8l But Earl could walk around his town, his county, and he even went to Mexico. He went to schools, bads, the fair, events, camp, the woods, the suburbs, prison and dozens of other settings.
UK sitcoms are heavily restricted in that they are captive by their sets and the primary area. It's partly a budget thing. Take Black Books- you saw the shop, the flat above, a pub, the street and other shops outside, a police station and a few other flats. The one time they went on holiday, all we saw was the airport. It's far more constricted to a limited existence, but that adds to the pathos of being trapped in your own situation that you don't get to escape from.
Scrubs is so underated @@AntMan-b8l
As a Dane , I prefer British humour over American.
We tend to use a lot of ironi and sarcasm too.
There's nothing worse than laugh tracks, it's so
annoying and a killer to the soul of comedy!
"fake" laugh tracks i never liked, but when you get genuine laughter from comedies filmed with a live audience like Red Dwarf was or is then i didnt mind those types of included laughter as it didnt feel fake/forced.
from spending time working in Denmark british/danish humour is v v similar. You win on cakes and pastries though!
Yes, "canned laughter" it's called. It's annoying asf. We don't need to be told when to laugh, If it's genuinely funny, then we will laugh at it. If it's not, we won't. American sitcoms are absolutely brimming with canned laughter.
@@KarstenNygaard-d8c tak. Det ved jeg ikke. ❤
@@KarstenNygaard-d8c We swedes conquered Scania from the Danes in 1658. We've regretted it ever since. And we still don't understand what they say... cheers! / CS
When I (from the UK) lived in the US, I made the mistake of watching Brass Eye with my american girlfriend - which left her appalled. Not learning from my mistake, I made her watch an episode of The League of Gentlemen, and she vomited.
League of Gentlemen.. now that's quite edgy even for British tastes.
Well, she wasn't local, what did you expect?
Is she your wife now?
@MrGorpm no, she's my wife now Dave!
@Herblay63 did you ever watch the animated sketch show Monkey Dust? Three series were made and shown on BBC3 20 years ago. It's the funniest and darkest comedy I have ever seen. Makes League of Gentlemen look safe.
I don't want any food for thought. I'm already overweight.
I lived in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK for over 30 years, and when I came beck to the US, I found that no one ever reacted to my humour, and often found people telling me not to put myself down, when that wasn't really the intent at all. When I was trying to be witty, my comments were usually met with blank stares. I think it is harder coming back to the States than it was going to the UK.
Monty Python....crowd chanting "we all all individual...(little voice at the back..."I'm not").....British humor
"American beer is like making love in a canoe...
It's f**king close to water."
(Eric Idle)
Almost the best line in the picture.
Apart from cheese makers or you’re effing nicked me old beauty
Of hundreds of other brilliant lines
My favorite joke of theirs!
That was an ad lib by Terence Baylor - not in the script
But what have the Romans ever done for us…
I always felt like the difference between American and British humour is that Brits laugh at their own expense while Americans laugh at other's expense.
I'm British.Many years ago, I was asked by an American colleague about my relationship with my elderly mother-in-law. I told her that she lived in Germany during World War II. I explained, with a straight face, that she had been fired from her job in the Gestapo for being too cruel. That was obviously a joke - we Brits joke about our in-laws like that. Said colleague went around telling other colleagues about my mother-in-law being a former Gestapo officer.
I am very offended that you don’t think deadpan is emotionally sincere when, in fact, it’s the most emotionally sincerity any Englishman will ever achieve.
Depends on whether you're the target of the joke I guess
'Detectorists', a gem; witty but gentle humour.
I found that show by accident. Quite lovely.
One of the best comedies ever made. I don't know why more people don't talk about it. I love the bit where Varde finally talks and everybody slags her off for it.
@gyorkshire257 Yes.. I've watched the series several times, and there's always nuances I've missed. Star studded cast; conceived, written, directed by Mackenzie Crooke. The cinematography is second to none !
@@denisripley8699 Yeah it is absolutely beautiful, and the soundtrack too. It'll be one of those that gets rediscovered in 10 years....
tried that the other day, only good thing about it is mckenzie crook, even then it was poor
I LOVE Blackadder! But, there is some truth to this. I used to work with a British Engineering Company that was located in the USA. All the engineers were British. When I talked one-on-one with a British engineer I could understand just fine. But, when a group of them got together to back-and-forth banter and joke, it was almost a different language! Different expressions, context, dialect and ideas about humor were really hard to comprehend! Great guys to share a pint with at the Pub, always seemed upbeat!
Your observations are totally correct. As a Brit, I truly believe that Chandler made Friends palatable for a UK audience. Without his comebacks, sarcasm and self-deprecation, the programme would probably have been too lightweight for Brits. RIP Matthew Perry. I think this tone of comedy is why Cheers and Frasier were so much better received in the UK than Seinfeld. Ghosts UK and the US version is another example. The UK original is very nuanced and slow-burning humour. The US one is more obvious but I have to give the US version another chance rather than writing it off!
Frasier was better than either Friends or Seinfeld.
Absolutely agree with this regarding Chandler. I found it hilarious when they introduced British characters, yet Chandler was more on point.
My mate loves Frasier but I just don't find it funny at all. Same for Friends. Cannot stand any kind of canned laughter : "you must laugh at this part".
I agree. Chandler was the closest character to appeal to Brits because he was sarcastic and self-depracating. We got Chandler. I never "got" Seinfeld or How I met Your Mother nor even Will & Grace. I did like Everyone Loves Raymond, especially his brother because he was full of sarcasm & self-doubt.
Friends wasn't just palatable in the UK, it was a massive success. Stop lying.
Kaylin, if you think British slapstick is understated you've never seen Bottom. It's extremely comically violent beyond anything the Americans would put out.
I would love to hear some American takes on Bottom. What they make of The Rik I can only imagine.
Bottom is an evolution of the Young Ones which was even more outrageous!
Came here to say this! Slapstick can be seen in plenty of British comedies, the difference is someone must always get hurt.
I think you can draw some comparisons with It's Always Sunny, allowing for cultural differences
@@Phiyedough Actually Bottom was the evolution of Filthy Rich & Catflap as well as the Dangerous Brothers where Rik and Ade fleshed out the characters. The Young Ones was just a precursor to Bottom.
This has some of the best and funniest comments beneath any TH-cam video, ever! Magnificent
During the Falklands war some British troops came under fire from mortars one guy suddenly screamed “I have lost my leg!” To much laughter, another trooper shouted “ No you have not, it is over here!” Much laughter as the medics went to the legless guy to save his life! Gallows humour!!
It's just a flesh wound!
Funnily enough I was just about to relate that story ,you best me to it .Did you read it in the book Don't Cry For Me Sgt Major?
Some of my favourite British comedy involves the character philomena cunk. The writing, and the way Diane Morgan plays her is just so funny to me
She’s hilarious! A lot of us Norwegians love this kind of humor.
And yet I didn’t like her and I’m raised on Brit comedy. The format seemed tired…or perhaps I was!
I have to differ, I think it's her worst character.
But Catherine Tate is funny in everything she does.
From the one bit of Norwegian comedy I've seen (Norsemen), British and Norwegian comedy seems to have a lot in common.@@biaberg3448
@@joelhall5124 I think you responded to the wrong comment: Diane Morgan is not Catherine Tate.
This is a fascinating analysis of the differences between British and American humour. There are many points made here that are 100% valid. There are a two other points that, as a Brit, I would just add. British people enjoy laughing at poverty and misfortune. True life is perceived as a bit crappy, so you may as well laugh in the face of adversity. Historically, most of the characters in British sitcoms have been lovable failures. Examples of this phenomenon would include "Rising Damp", "Steptoe & Son", "Only Fools and Horses", "Dad's Army" and "Porridge". In contrast, it seems that the characters in American sitcoms live far more successful lives and live in greater comfort. Just look at the set for Frasier's flat and his great job on the radio.
A second point that I would like to make, and I don't think that most of my fellow countrymen have realised this, but most of the successful American comedies in the U.K. have their origins in New York Jewish humour.
For literally decades, we would repeat "The Phil Silver's Show" (Sgt. Bilko) on television late st night. It was still filling late night slots in the 1990s. Groucho Marx was enjoyed over here, as was Jack Benny in the Thirties and Forties. In the post-war world, we loved the comedy films of Billy Wilder ("Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment"). Then we moved on to the Neil Simon films in the Sixties and Seventies ("The Odd Couple", "Plaza Suite"). This was followed by popularity for Woody Allen ("Annie Hall") and, at around the same time, Mel Brooks ("The Producers", "Blazing Saddles").
I think that the sense of irony in humour is important here. Irony is a key ingredient to British comedy. "Custard pie"/Slapstick humour is too obvious for us.
Anyway, thanks for the excellent video.
Absolutely! The Tory party have spent decades laughing at people in poverty and the British loved it so much, they kept voting them into power.
@GaggedByTH-cam Silly, childish, party political point. You know very well the reason why the Conservatives usually win General Elections in Britain: Labour are even worse!
I’m English my wife Scottish, we met an American couple outside a hotel in Glasgow. The American lady said, I heard a bag piper on a lonely hill in Edinburgh it almost made me cry. I said yes it makes me cry too! The lady grabbed me by the arm and said, I Know! 😂😂😂 my wife slapped me once inside and told me to stop it! 😂😂😂
This is too good!
Och Lol
This is British humour 😂
It makes me cry and all 😂
Bagpipes makes my husband cry and clap his hands over his ears....and he's Scottish!
Stephen Fry does a good piece on the differences between UK and USA approaches to comedy.
A man is playing a guitar badly. Another man walks up, takes the guitar and smashes it against a wall.
A British comedian would prefer to play the guitarist.
(Or something along those lines)
@@iainhewitt
Party scene from Animal House.
I've seen it , he's spot on.
One of my things is as a guide in a Scottish estate with a lot of American visitors. Part of the event is to show off the 170-year-old 200-foot Sequoia and occasionally a visitor will ask how we got it over from the US. I explain about the giant flower pot. Brits laugh, Americans accept it for a moment and then look puzzled, sometimes trying very unsurely to ask me to repeat.
I’m a Swede and I only watch British comedy. I don’t know why but Baldricks relationship with Blackadder is so funny. “That’s just Baldrick, spring cleaning.”
Also of course Fawlty Towers and Keeping up appearances.
My wife is Swedish and I’ve noticed British and Swedish humour is quite similar. I thought A Man Called Ove could have been a British film for example.
You do know some British people share your genes?
@@MsPeabody1231 Probably not that many, as Swedish vikings generally did not go west, they went east, to the Baltics and the rivers of what today is Russia. Danish vikings went to southern Britain and Norwegian vikings to northern Britain & Ireland
@@Spacemongerr but the Normans account for a huge proportion of the English today. My surname is a Norman name.
@@johnwheatley5641 Sure, but very few Normans had Swedish ancestors. The vikings who settled in Normandie were mainly from Norway and Denmark.
(BTW, If your surname is Wheatley, that is an Old English name, not Norman. It comes from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words "hwǣte" and "lēah," which mean "wheat" and "clearing")
I think I’ve watched other stuff you’ve done but this is quite insightful - I also appreciated your rapid delivery as I’m elderly and time is short….
🤣🤣🤣🇬🇧
I'm from Belgium, which is obviously very close to the UK, and I grew up with a lot of UK comedy shows as well as American ones. I've also been friends with British and American people. I think much of this video is correct, but I also think there's another typically British form of humour that Americans don't seem to enjoy as much: absurdity. If you watch UK sitcoms such as The IT Crowd or Black Books, they will often contain completely impossible, surreal situations suddenly thrown into an otherwise fairly realistic show. American shows don't do that, or if they do go for the absurd, the entire show will be surreal.
The harsher the banter the closer the friendship.
The politer you are , well you get it.
Absolutely. My family, on my mothers side, slightly diminished over the years due to some of them being so bloody inconsiderate as to die due to old age and illness, have always been the most brutally sarcastic buggers I have ever had the privilege to know. My grandmother on that side of the family was thin, frail, but in a sarcastic slanging match.... she was like what Mozart was to music.
One tip for Americans or even some Brits. If you tease a friend or acquaintance, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ruin it by adding "I'm kidding!. It, totally, ruins the vibe because you are insulting the intelligence of the recipient and any audience because we all KNOW you are. Also, it conveys the impression that the poor "victim" is sooo insecure that they need assurance that it was a joke. If you are tempted to do that, then don't joke in the first place.
Rant Over..😀😀
As a Dane I completely agree!
The only one I've heard get away with
it is Jimmy Carr:
"I'm kidding - it sounds like a verb
for child abuse ,
doesnt it" 😂
Hear hear
@@Comedy-sm2yk Where? Where?
Oh ! I see,my friend:)
As an Australian we got a lot of UK and US tv shows and they were always completely different.
I used to hate the final scene in nearly all US sitcoms, it was the 'so what did we learn today?' scene. The main protagonist would have to learn some sort of life lesson.
In the UK sitcoms the last scene was usually the ultimate humiliation of the protagonist, in a very dry and ironic style.... or darker.
And in every Simpsons episode (or any other American comedy) it is immediately forgotten by the next episode.
We Americans like it when they puncture that trope.
@@albertbrammer9263 I haven't wasted a moment on that show in 30 years. The shorts on the Tracy Ullman show were somewhat amusing.
I totally agree, that twee, moralistic, christian 'learning' from mistakes made or summation of the day is why I hated 3rd Rock from the Sun and they sit on the roof and moralise. I only tried a couple of episodes before I gave up in disgust. Which is a shame because I do like John Lithgow!
What would the world make of Aunty Jack?
Can I just say that you are a very good content writer and presenter. A lot of the time this goes unnoticed by people, but as a writer myself I notice these things.
Keep up the good work. 👍
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that from a fellow writer! Hope you continue to enjoy.
I've noticed that, too.
Agreed, she pretty much nailed this discussion. 👍
My no.1 hate is the laugh track - I laugh when I find something funny - not when I'm told too
Never liked Friends - too saccharine
Funny enough I used to like it but can’t stand it now, it just hasn’t aged well unlike British comedies which seems eternally funny
@@gregsmythe7705 Now *THAT'S* prime sarcasm!
I used to love it, but as it continued, it lost it's charm. It was of its time but hasn't aged that well.
@@slytheringingerwitch Exactly 👍
Hate freinds, sugary, stupid and unfunny. Loved cheers and Fraizer because they did biting bitchy black comedy. I loved how they took the mick out of characters that were sweet and earnest.
A great example of prime British humour is 'Peep Show'. As you get all the usual stuff that you'd expect from a British comedy show, but then you have the added layer of hearing the character's inner monologues as well.
To brits self-deprecating humour is a sign of confidence, you know that person is comfortable with themself if they can laugh at themself. I do see mixed with a dryer wit it can seem as sincere.
I'd say the same goes for Aussies and Kiwis
Black Adder has to exemplify British humour the most, in my mind. The way he weasels and backstabs and manipulates his way through problems, often making them much worse, much to his own detriment as well as everyone around him, is just spot on. If you pay attention to the timeline, he starts off as a Prince then goes backwards in status further and further with each new series, which I take to representing his family lineage through the ages.
I very much enjoyed the pilot episode in which he mistakes the king for a horse thief and kills him, and later has dinner with the king's loyal knights while being haunted by the king's ghost. Rowan Atkinson's facial expressions and physical comedy were brilliant.
@@wizardsuth "EDNA! Fight you with us on the morrow?" "Oh no... I thought I'd fight with the enemy..."
Fawlty towers is top tier for me
Yes, good observation
Surprised no one's mentioned Yes Prime Minister.Have Americans watched the video clip of the constable letting in Larry the cat into 10 Downing Street?
Kiwi/Aussie here. We get fed both countries fare and to an extent I agree with you.
However Brit shows tend to get dumbed down to lowest common denominator when they jump the ditch to the US.
An example of this is "Whose line is it anyway". The original British version was fantastic. The American knock off was honestly just sad.
Another area where American comedy fails to land with non-Americans is the self congratulatory affect of the leads. Seinfeld's smirking is delightful to American audiences but rubs non-Americans up the wrong way.
A good example is the British car show Top Gear. The original is irreverent and hilarious. Both the Aussie and US versions took themselves far too seriously and flopped. If the British team had made an Aussie Top Gear they would have done stuff like loaded utes with dozens of fake sheep and then raced them around a cow paddock or tried lapping Bathurst on electric scooters.
Not all Americans liked Seinfeld, I couldn't stand it. Seinfeld is regional in the USA, if you're East Coast, Liberal and from NYC or Boston you loved Seinfeld. We Yanks in 'flyover' country much preferred 'Home Improvement' with Tim Allend (if you've seen that). Seinfeld got all the accolades by the Hollywood Elites, Tim Allen was ignored. But the fans loved him.
Ugh I could never stand Jerry Seinfeld - the stand up routines at the end of every episode were also rubbish and off putting, had me thinking “this is what passes for stand up in the US?!”
Give me Fred Dag any day.
Seinfeld was hugely popular in Australia.
One of the best illustrations of British humour among friends that I've seen is from Top Gear. Jeremy Clarkson's lost his voice and James May has an eye infection, and they just take the piss out of each other's ailments for several minutes.
Of course it is.
Take any of the 1970s and 1980s shows like Dad’s Army, Porridge and Black adder.
Oh, and Father Ted from the 90s.
Unbeatable.
Porridge was the best! Writing and casting was superbly humorous without even cracking a joke.
One of Fletcher's fellow prisoners was a tall thin black guy - he didn't say anything for a while and the audience was waiting for the usual Afro-Caribbean accent - hell no he was a very broad Scot on par with Billy Connolly - may not be so funny these days but in the 70's it was hilarious.
I'm happy you mentioned Gavin & Stacey, as it really is one of those shows where if you aren't paying attention, you'll miss the funniest line of the episode.
Personally, I think you hit the nail on the head with this video. Perfect explanations.
Shout out to Police Squad! as an example of an American comedy doing deadpan superbly. (Yes, I know Leslie Nielsen was Canadian, but the writers weren't!)
And Airplane too
Fun fact about Leslie Nielsen: his brother, Erik, was once the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (in the 1980s, when Brian Mulroney was PM), and a thoroughly humorless man (in public; I've no idea if he ever cracked a smile in private).
@@pashvonderc381 Yes, there has been plenty of good humour in US movies - so why are they unable to do it in TV programmes?
Yes, anything Zucker/Abrahams shows that Americans can do deadpan.
"Nice Beaver." "Thank you, I just had it stuffed."
And Sledgehammer.
Another big difference, particularly with Sit Coms, between UK/US shows is that British shows are designed to be short runs of 6-8 episodes, and probably only 3 series even for some of the most popular shows, whereas US shows will run on for much longer, and will keep being recommissioned until they begin to lose popularity. US shows are often eventually 'cancelled' whereas British shows are designed to run for a limited period, and then stop. There is also the fact that UK shows tend to be written by one or two writers throughout (or a tight group of writers who develop it together) whereas US shows have much larger writers' rooms, the makeup of which might change considerably over time.
Yes, in UK it is more about art, in USA it is more about money.
Why was this originally? Anything to do with needing shorter run stuff to slot in between sports seasons?
@wulfgold It's definitely not to do with sports seasons, as these shows don't air in slots that would otherwise be sport. It's just the way British TV has always been set up. Most shows, drama as well as comedy, has always been in short once a week runs for 6-8 weeks. The schedules were put together from blocks of this length. Obviously other things like soaps run every week of the year, and there will be special events - like award ceremonies- which are one off events. The short series format makes it easy to schedule in around those.
I think a lot of it has to do with "Network Standards" which actually means "Advertiser Standards" and the coproate fear of having your product linked to any controversy, especially pre-cable US tv.
Now, in the age of tv on demand and rampant piracy, Americans can watch whatever niche they want and it slowly seems to be permeating US tv culture (a bit).
Big Bang Theory was good until we were expected to laugh WITH the characters not AT them.
Wow thanks. I didn't realise that 'Friends' was a comedy.
it was a docu-drama...... sort of a true story.
Just doing your head in, I am talking from British perspective
Wait for it. Some helpful American is going to explain why it was... Apparently.
Jay Fullmer, 38, yesterday became the first American to get to grips with the concept of irony.
"It was weird" Fullmer said. "I was in London and like, talking to this guy and it was raining and he pulled a face and said, "Great weather eh?" and I thought - "Wait a minute, no way is it great weather".
Fullmer then realised that the other man's 'mistake' was in fact deliberate.
Fullmer, who is 39 next month and married with two children, aged 8 and 3, plans to use irony himself in future.
"I'm, like, using it all the time" he said. "Last weekend I was grilling steaks, and I burned them, and I said "Hey, great weather."
😄
oh... FFS.
"If the sun don't come you get a tan from standing in the English rain."
I think in the UK we regarded Friends more as a drama or a soap opera than a comedy though the first time it aired it didn't do too well. But if I could draw your attention to The Golden Girls (American version, UK one was crap), there was loads of darkness and self depricating humour as instances from their pasts and hints of nympomania etc came back to haunt them. This is right up our street in the UK. For what it's worth, and I'm a Brit, I found the Office cringeworthy the first time I watched it. It grew on me in time.
Never once laughed at Friends, loads of smug people living together.
@taxidude I never actually 'got' The Office, and I'm a Brit. However, I loved his other stuff. I'm quite surprised that so many Americans like Afterlife. Maybe he's 'training' them to understand us.😂
I used to watch The Golden Girls 30 years ago with my mother - and I think I was more aware of the sexual undertones more than she was. It was pretty damn funny I used to think.
@@jimmyh6601 that Matthew Perry interview with Hitchins was quite funny.
@wulfgold he was on an episode of Graham Norton and Miriam Margoles made him extremely uncomfortable with her stories
Just a thought about self deprication.
You said Americans aren't keen on it as they like confidence.
Given how comfortable one has to be in one's own skin to not only accept your own short comings but acknowledge them publicly.
I'd say that was uber confidence.
I've never seen such an array of creative ways to spell "deprecation".
Now I'm just waiting for "defecation".
Just don't let it show.
To quote Al Murray's Pub Landlord: "I love Americans, you're simple folk aren't you"?
Dreamers...
Ain't that the truth.
And thank god we’re separated by a fucking big ocean
My favourite quote of his about America was. “It was a good idea, it just got out of hand.”
His best "You have the American Dream, we don't need a dream because We are awake!"
There is a reason why MASH will always be one of the greatest series of all time. Very much British humour but also quite slapstick
MASH without the laugh track is funny. MASH with the laugh track is painfully unwatchable. Luckily the UK release DVDs have both.
I'm a Brit, but used to absolutely love MASH.
I grew up watching MASH on BBC2 and it had no laugh track, it felt so wrong when I saw it with an American laugh track.
I agree with this 100%, in the UK we got it without the laugh track and the US version with the laugh track made it somewhat unbearable to me - in the UK we didn't need a prompt to remind us that the dark humour was meant to be funny! Ironically an American comedy about an American war had some of the best "british style" humour ever made! MASH really is one of my favourite shows of all time!
@@vladd6787 I only ever watched the version without a laughter track. Parts of the episodes were poignant/sad, and it would be ridiculous to have a laughter track in the same episode.
Taking the piss is a massive part of getting to know someone here in the UK. You start with something mild and see how they respond, and if they don't take offence, you might push it further. If they instantly snap back with their own piss take, you know you're forming a real bond. If they take any kind of offence, or even just let it slide, you leave it and keep a distance. It's really about testing the boundaries of common ground. The sincerity isn't in the words because words can be made to mean anything - the sincerity is in the response, which is far more genuine to us.
There are always exceptions to the rule.
"Cheers", "Frasier" and "Taxi" used deprecation and deadpan
"The Plank", "Bottom" and "the young ones" were heavy on slapstick
Those three did well in 🇬🇧 too
Some Mothers Do Ave Em was slapstick and that was huge. One of the Xmas episode broke audience records.
The Plank is a bit of an outlier as it was intentionally a recreation of black and white, silent comedy films which were mostly American, eg. Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, though strangely those both feature British actors, Stan and Charlie.
They British 3 all leant on the absurd and irreverent heavily too
It is true that there is slapstick in British comedy, but I think there is something slightly different about it too - slightly more subversive in its approach.
Think you are pretty spot on. I spent 6 months travelling all over the US, and was amazed at how so many of my deapan, silly comments were take totally literally ie. driving past the cemetary I just said "Ah.. dead centre of town" and my hosts helpfully pointed out no, the centre of town was over that way, as simple example. 90% of such "jokes" of it went totally unnoticed. I always tried to explain it similar to how you did "we insult our friends, because we trust them" (and so trust them not to take offence). If we don't like you, we just don't talk to you. Scousers are the hardest - if you don't insult them enough they really assume you don't like them and it escalates!
Yup... I've experienced the same when travelling across the US.
Most times I let it slide, but sometimes I have to pause and feel the need to explain it to them just in case they ever meet another non-American
"Soap" was the most underrated US comedy of all time, brilliant Richard Mulligan and the rest of the cast.
Yes. Soap was great
You made a good observation that if you get slagged off by someone in the UK it is 100% because you like them....
I don't mind American comedy, the jokes are quite funny. What i don't understand is why the characters have to always be so successful. They can always pay their electric bill are always smart and ever go to the loo.😊
I mean never go to the loo.
Look up the Hays Code. Before film classifications US movies had to depict happy endings for the good guys (usually white, Christian, American, work ethic, etc.).
Yes, the original Ghosts is utter brilliance, the US version is too gentle, too pretty and the alive characters are too rich
That's the exact opposite of real life
try Married... with Children.
I'm a Brit living in Canada and banter and the deadpan delivery is very close to my heart, I love it - same with a really good pun..... but so often it's completely missed and taken at face value. So, I have adopted the stance that as long as I find it funny, it matters not if anyone else does. US and British comedy also differ in that sometimes, British comedy makes you think - indeed, sometimes you have to think to get the joke rather than US comedy which is more likely to spoon-feed it to you and reinforce it with laughter tracks. And yes, in conclusion, British humour and comedy is much, much better.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the sincerity reference. As a brit, I probably only mean about 20% of what I say, the rest is just me making light of bad situations or saying things for effect. No bad intentions, just trying to prevent any true feelings leaking out :D
It's not just in the States but in most countries !!! Having lived in the U K from a young age,,,
I find comedian my home country is not funny ,what is funny is the translation to Greek now that is funny!!
The surprise is that they love Mr Bean and Benny Hill but miss the jokes on Love they neighbour Fawlty Towers is another one
they don't understand just like Americans😅😅😅😅😅❤❤❤❤
@@theocharisstylianou1822 Mr Bean was a worldwide hit - it was massive in Japan when I lived there. But I can't see why people cannot understand Fawlty Towers because a lot of the comedy is visual and the situations inately comic. But senses of humour differ from country to country.
It makes me so weird compared to everyone else lol because i just think it's so fake even when i've always live in the uk like i've never felt the need to not say what i mean or say things for effect, sometimes i might make light of bad situations if it really needs it but mostly i just say something i want to say and that's it. I don't know where it comes from honestly because my parents are as emotionally closed off as most people and i hate it.
@@capitalb5889 There was once almost an attempt at an American version of Fawlty Towers where the Basil Fawlty character was proposed to be completely written out of the script!
@@peteneville698 with the exception the Office, all attempts at remaking British comedy for the US fail.
I don't see why they bother given that our sense of humour is different. It is only remaking the comedy at a very superficial level.
From U.K. here. When I used to work in a supermarket, I remember dropping a whole box of orange juice bottles, as it fell one after another, me and my superior colleague looked at each other and continued to watch and then reacted with shock and laughter as we were cleaning it all up. There’s something about us that likes laughing at misery.
I had a similar experience at home when I knocked half a dozen glasses off a high shelf. Most hit me on the head as they fell and smashed on the kitchen floor. My wife thought it was hysterically funny.
@ anything to do with falling or physically embarrassing yourself and even the most stoic brits can’t help but laugh.
@@LifeOfRlai I'm American and if I see someone trip or fall I find it hysterical!
Brits dont do slapstick? The series Bottom with Ade Edmonson and the late, great Rik Mayall is adult live action Tom and Jerry
that's an excellent observation!
"Taking the mick" - it takes time, thought & effort to come up with something, so when we do it, it proves we've been thinking about you, which is caring. To not do anything would mean we don't care enough about you to put the time in.
We have a lot of surreal humour too, from Vic and Bob to The Mighty Boosh, going all the way back, past Python to Spike Milligan.
The absurd is a big part of british comedy. It is something i respond to most, slapstick and histrionic behaviour not so much.
The thick of it is too real because the humor and ineptitude is so true to life
She called us C U Next Time She 🤬 delivered it well, deadpan and insulting‼️ Wonderful, you've passed that one 😂😂😂❤️👌🏻🇬🇧
This is so true. (As a Scottish person) Ive forever heard how good the American show Community is, so I decided to watch it and it just wasn't funny. It was so clean and colourful, it felt like i was watching coworkers trying to have "banter" and failing miserably. I dont understand the hype, defo a cultural difference.
I think some of the best US comedy shows are the adult cartoons like Family Guy & South Park. They have near British levels of awkwardness, crudity and not giving a f*ck. Family Guy also parodies US sitcoms with the "oh my god, you're right, I've learned a lesson" endings.
My personal favourite sketch is Pete & Dud's one legged Tarzan audition. Surreal & the best deadpan punchline ever.
I've got nothing against your right leg......
@@1969gawa That gag, believe it or not, was originally done by Pete 'n' Dud: Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, way back in the 1960s on BBC1 in a show called "Not Only but Also..." Nothing new under the Sun!
The real strength of The Office (original version) is its bleakness.
Original British version 🇬🇧
At first I thought it was a documentary. 😂
Stephen Fry have a great example with the difference in humour with John Belush scene in Animal House when he smashes up the guitar. Americans, relate to the hero of John Belush and find his actions funny. Brits relate to the poor guy who just randomly got his guitar smashed up.
And regarding the buildup of a joke on British comedy, watch series 2 episode 1 of It Crowd, called Work Outing. There are jokes throughout, but it all builds up to the most hilarious final 5mins of TV ever.
The Outing was truly one of the funniest things I have ever seen on TV. Absolutely brilliant.
@@Mathrox-uu1qh IT crowd was a mediocre show at best and is no match to BBT
The quality of writing in BBT is far far superear to anything IT crowd can muster
The scene in which the guys make fun of Zack, is better than all jokes in IT crowd combined
That episode was so funny! Jens reaction at the end was just comedy gold! Makes me cringe now just thinking about it! 😄
English audiences are more sophisticated and comprehend subtly more readily than Americans 😂
American sitcoms are usually predictable, sentimental and - aagh! - are accompanied by a laughter track. There are some funny ones for sure (Parks and Recreation is a gem). One of my hobbies is watching Americans trying to make sense of Vic and Bob!
Parks and recreation is one of the only ones I like along with Modern family. All others seem like background noise to me.
Reeves and Mortimer are whimsy comedians, masters of the absurd. Another group using absurdity and grotesques is The League of Gentlemen.
Parks are recreation is absolutely not funny.
@@dcmastermindfirst9418 Well humour is in the head of the beholder...
@bernmahan1162 Yeah and American comedy is just stupid.
I’m an Aussie. I can watch both US and UK comedy, but I do much prefer UK. I think UK humour is closer to Aussie humour. I also prefer UK drama too, as the people seem less “perfect” and therefore more real. I still enjoy drama from both countries, just my preference is slanted more towards UK.
MASH was broadcast in the UK without the laugh track (canned laughter) and was much better for it. Once an episode was broadcast with the laugh track and the BBC apologised for the error
“Living the dream….”
“Nightmares are dreams too.”
I'm a brit, and I think you are spot on with your analysis, although I do love American shows like Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Mash, Frasier, King of Queens, Cheers andd more.
It's because we're a much, much older country, and that makes us inherently less optimistic and positive. America will get that way eventually. Same as they'll eventually become post-secular like us.
_It's because we're a much, much older country, and that makes us inherently less optimistic and positive. America will get that way eventually._
I think they already have. They've just voted Trump in.
I think one amazing example of where the British sense of humour just doesn't work for American sensibilities is Alan Partridge. I have tried to show Alan to my wife and she absolutely didnt get it. Just not in any way did it hit, but I think most British comedy fans would speak very highly of it.
I love Alan Partridge but at the same time he makes my skin crawl 😂 I can't listen to The Carpenters 'Close to you' without hearing the Alan Partridge version 😂
That's what's so funny!
North Norfolk Digital exists!!
😮
@@MsPeabody1231 - Who could forget such classic tourism promotion by Mr Partridge as "One of the benefits of global warming and international terrorism is that more people are holidaying in Norfolk".
What makes Partridge funny to Brits is basically, class. From the way he speaks (and dresses for the age he is supposed to be, and the phrases he uses) we guess exactly how he was brought up, what his political views are going to be, his attitude to women and minorities, and even how quickly he is adjusting to the changes in behaviour required now - which he usually mangles. It's when we realise we were right, that the frisson happens.
A French colleague once told me he was depressed because he was being bullied by a guy at work. I told him it wasn’t bullying but definitely banter. I taught him banter and he started retorting to this guy’s banter. Darren almost fell off his chair with laughter when the French guy retorted. The French guy was so thankful to me.
Good analysis.
You can see that especially when watching americans reacting to the "Biggus Dickus" scene from Monty Phyton's "Life of Brian".
They always laugh when Brian gets slapped or the guards giggle, but don't get the wordplay like the joke names (Silllius Soddus, Naughtius Maximus, Incontinetia etc) or the speech impediment by Pontius Pilate (he can't pronounce "R" and it sounds like "W").
I'd recommend the British comedy The Royle Family as a really interesting example. The whole show is just an ordinary family, sitting in front of the TV, watching TV and talking. It's the inspiration behind gogglebox but there's no laugh track, few cuts or story or changes of location. Most of what the characters say, dies away into dull silences where they all just stare at the TV with glazed expressions. When they do make jokes, it's often ironically funny, rather than the joke itself. The whole thing is incredibly dead pan and I imagine could be seen as a really, really dull show where nothing happens and no one makes jokes...but I find it one of funniest, oddly heart warming comedies I can think of
100% true. I can watch it any time - it's a work of genius really.
The great Carol Aherne.
An American friend of mine was totally mistyfied by The Last of the Summer Wine. Was it a comedy, or what?
Can't stand the royle family its one of our comedies I cannot get behind, i'm not even sure it can be classed as a comedy, more like a warm little show that might make you smirk if you're lucky once per episode.
@@carelgoodheir692 She's not the only one who was mystified by that
As an Australian we tend to have a sense of humour close to British humour with some Irish style as well. It's probably due to our convict heritage and harsh conditions for the early settlers.
British tv shows have always had a very appreciative audience here but there is more American stuff coming in and I find most of what I've seen of it, is low grade humour. Comedians are odd. It's as though they feel it necessary to explain the joke in case we don't get it.
I get impatient and mutter, "yes I got the joke before you'd finished telling it!" And they do seem to ramble on and on about everything.
One reason why Chandler is, I think, considered the funniest character in Friends is his humour is towards the British end of the spectrum.
Never thought about that before but he was my favorite character
Australian here, and yes, i agree
Sure, in the way that the first motor cars, with their old chaps walking in front holding flags, were "on the Formula One end of the driving spectrum".
Exactly! He's self loathing and makes fun of others.
@@KellstaytinyFavourite*
As a Brit I think that our humour is very similar to how soldiers, US or UK, interact. It's called taking the piss.....or banter 😉
I had a proper belly laugh at the blanket quote. Dont worry it all ends soon....priceless😂😂😂
My friend had an American girlfriend stay while she attended University.
I have a dry sarcastic sense of humour and she really struggled to know if what I said was a joke. She would nervously laugh and looked around to see if it was OK to laugh.
I feel a genuine sense of sympathy for her. I'm a bit socially awkward so I can imagine this being quite taxing for her.
But was she fit ?
I've watched a few people talk about the differences and one which they almost always miss out is the British love of abstract/absurdist humour. I'm sure there is some American abstract comedy but I struggle to really think of it and it's probably quite niche. Maybe South Park and stuff like BoJack Horseman and Rick & Morty, but they're all animations weirdly and they all do well in the UK as well as the US. Here in the UK some of our best comedy is very abstract: Monty Python, anything by Chris Morris, Big Train, Green Wing, Reeves & Mortimer, Bottom, The Young Ones, etc. A lot of the time there are very hidden jokes in there which rely upon understanding a level of British culture and so Americans struggle to "get" the joke, but often it's just about laughing at the most ridiculous, least expected outcome. Often there is no joke at all, it's just the pure absurdity that is funny. I remember watching the Smell of Reeves and Mortimer with an American friend and I was in stitches and he was just confused and had no idea what was going on. I tried to explain that he ought to stop trying to figure out why, stop trying to spot the joke, and just laugh at how silly and absurd it is, and when you just get to grips with how ridiculous it is, the comedy will completely blindside you with something you least expect. It's about subverting expectations, whereas many Americans want their expectations to be met with comedy I think. It is also about mockery and taking a real subject/person and mocking it to the most ridiculous degree, making the subject/person appear as absurd as possible.
......and laughing at the absurdity of life, releases tension. Comedy as terapy 🤗
Honestly I think we're taught to be so serious in school and work etc in England that we had to learn to be funny without laughing.
In school we would get told constantly to stop laughing so all of us just learnt not too 😂
Really enjoyed the video! New subscriber from the Midlands!
😁
"strange looks or possibly shot"... love it!