Do British people have a better sense of humor than us Yanks?

[kid a]

In the general, everyday life experiences way, not necessarily in the media (film, TV)

[supernova]

1. Culturally, they are less uptight than we are

I think, allowing for individual variences of course.

[billyskank]

5. Uptight in different ways, perhaps

I definitely would not say that we Brits are not uptight... :D

[SOteric]

21. I'd have to agree. In a very general way, of course,

the Brits I've known would consider it torture to have to raise their voices or make a fuss in a shop, a restaurant, a grocery, a bank...anywhere public. They'd be mortified to be in the presence of anyone who felt they did need to make a fuss.

Many Americans, on the other hand, have made a cantankerous art form out of causing an unseemly stir.

[billyskank]

25. Absolutely

God, that is the worst thing EVER :scared:

[DS1]

33. And some of us hybrids can do both

:rant: :shrug: :yoiks:

[Ravenseye]

2. It's just different

As a dual citizen of both countries I think that you can't say either has as truly a better sense of humor. It's a different sense of humor. Not better or worse. Particularly in the media, but especially in real life.

I don't know really how to describe it. Dry is often used, but I'm not sure if that really explains it. Anyway. It's just different, neither is better nor worse.

[tjwmason]

3. Yes.

In fact - we're just better in every possible sense than you are. :P

[supernova]

4. And so much more modest, too!

;-)

[tjwmason]

18. You took the words right out of my mouth.

;)

[billyskank]

6. ...

:yourock:


:rofl:

[tjwmason]

16. Hey there billy.

:hi:

How's you today?

[billyskank]

17. I am okay

How are you?

[tjwmason]

20. All good here thanks.

Back from a jolly lunch with my dear mummy.

[Deja Q]

7. Definitely...

But how many of them would be keen to crank a yank?

:yoiks:

[frogmarch]

8. I don't know if their SOHs are better

but I do know that "Father Ted" on BBC cracks me up the way no American sitcom can.

I just bought the Father Ted "Holy Trilogy" DVD set that contains all three seasons of the show. Since the actor who played Father Ted died, the show now appears only as reruns...but what reruns!

[nytemare]

9. I tend to like British humor more.

The absurd type, anyway. Monty Python, Mr Bean, Fawlty Towers, AbFab, etc. I don't like the other Brit-coms as much as the slightly off kilter ones.

Then, we have Chaplin and Stan Laurel, the classics.


It may be just a matter of taste, though. I never thought Andrew Dice Clay was the slightest bit funny, but some raved about him.

:shrug:

[RagingInMiami]

10. They have a better grasp of irony

[mwooldri]

45. Irony. This Brit hates Irony.

Irony the shirts, the trousers... Oh wait.

We're not talking about ironing?

Oh dear. I was hoping to enter this year's Extreme Ironing contest.

Oh well. There's always another post.

Mark.

[Call Me Wesley]

11. Yes, of course!

They're soooo humorous, everytime they display a German guy (preferably one who plays soccer), they manage to either put in a swastika or a WWI helmet. Tooo funny! I mean, really.

Have at me. :rofl:

[DS1]

12. Of course I have to say yes

:-)

[SOteric]

23. I know at least one Yank that seems to keep you laughing

[DS1]

32. Absolutely

:loveya:

[EstimatedProphet]

13. No, they just have a different one

In my opinion it makes no real sense to say that one country has a better sense of humor than another. Humor for a country is measured by the people who live in that country. What is funny to someone in KIenya may make absolutely no sense here, and vice versa.

[Call Me Wesley]

15. Indeed! One word:

Benny Hill. Might be two words, but who cares ... ;)

[billyskank]

19. It can't *all* be good

;)

[Call Me Wesley]

22. LOL!

My next choice would have been: Tony Blair ...

:hide:

[Oeditpus Rex]

35. I would point out

that Benny Hill's style of comedy was more Burlesque than typical British — at least, from the British comedy I've seen.

Then again, maybe Burlesque is a British invention. :shrug:

[leftofthedial]

14. very different and much more rooted in punning

and other uses of language

also more overtly bawdy

not necessarily "better"

[SKKY]

24. I would have to say no. From my experience.

[jpgray]

26. Nah. Take the best of both, it's a toss-up in my view

We've got Chaplin, Groucho, the lion's share of great standup comics, some great tv shows like M*A*S*H, or the Simpsons. This is just to point out the septic side of things, but I think each nation has a quite respectable oeuvre.

[DS1]

34. Gawd!!! Chaplin and Groucho?

I'd be ashamed to call them my own. :puke:

[mitchum]

41. Actually, Chaplin was a Limey...

now, a REAL genius like Buster Keaton was American

[jpgray]

50. Groucho was a complete genius.

I feel nothing but pity for anyone who believes otherwise. :P

[Joe Chi Minh]

27. Not strictly on topic, because it specific, but

we can no longer make sitcoms in the UK worth owt, but some of the one-liners in your sitcoms and films are absolute classics. I think at the time, it's not possible to crack another one to match it, but they turn up fairly regularly. I believe the scriptwriters tend to be Jewish, people who of course have a notoriously wry sense of humour.

[El Fuego]

28. We only see the VERY BEST Britcoms here

They have as many banal, so-so, not-very-funny TV shows as we do. The difference is that the lousy Brit shows aren't shown on U.S. networks. So it creates a false impression that their shows are funnier overall.

[AmericanErrorist]

36. Of course...

"Only Fools And Horses" has not, to my knowledge, aired in the US, but I keep hearing about its greatness.

[mwooldri]

48. There's many great UK sitcoms never aired US side.

And other shows too. Of course there are the complete banal ones too. UK shows either are remembered for being great (and either have short runs or are still running) or for being completely crap. Before the BBC had EastEnders, it tried out a soap opera based on North Sea ferries - 'Triangle' they called it. A complete flop. They replaced a chat show hosted by a jovial Irishman with a soap opera about British ex-pats living in southern Spain - called Eldorado. It bombed.

Shows I have not seen here, either in re-runs or otherwise:

Anything featuring either Ronnie Barker or Ronnie Corbett. IMO BBC America should have had a Ronnie Barker week when he passed on.

Morecambe and Wise. Yes, Eric Morecambe left us long ago, but they were comic geniuses.

The aforementioned "Only Fools and Horses" hasn't aired. My good friend BT could get it for me if I asked him nicely.

"The Vicar of Dibley" has aired here - believe it or not it isn't that far off from actual parish church life in rural England, they just send up the bits that make it really funny (plus the characters too).

"Rab C Nesbit" - you'd probably need subtitles for this one - it's an extremely thick Glasweigan accent. It needed subtitles for the judges of a pan-europe comedy award (can't remember which one).

"Rising Damp" and "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" - classics starring the late Leonard Rossiter.

"Til Death Do Us Part" spawned into "All in the Family". Enough said about cross-transatlanic comedy.

Anything with Kenny Everett in it was usually strangely hilarious.

But it could be just me but the comedy I like - half the people who did it are now dead.

Mark.

[TheBaldyMan]

37. you don't get them all - TV execs shy away from the outrageous

stuff that is a big hit in the UK but is deemed too explicit/offensive for the mainstream US audience. I still think Married With Children is one of the funniest sitcoms ever but it seems to be one way traffic.

Usually the concept is sold to US networks and they make there own version tailored for the US market. Sometimes it's a huge hit like Will & Grace, OTOH the US version of Fawlty Towers was grim, apparently the execs wanted the script changed because the male lead was rude to the guests.

[sakabatou]

29. They made Monty Python and Black Adder

What more can I say?

[Orrex]

30. That depends--do you find this post funny?

Rumsfeld completes the President's daily briefing with a sad announcement. "Yesterday three Brazilians were killed in Iraq."

"Good," says the President coldly. "Them damn Incas probably deserved it."

The staff is silent for a moment while they try to understand the President's non sequitur. At last a lowly intern summons the courage to comment.

"Incas," she says. "That's Peru."

"Of course it's per me," barks the President. "I'm the one who said it, ain't I?"

If you don't think that's the funniest damned thing you've read in weeks, then clearly the British have a better sense of humor.

I mean humour.

[CBHagman]

31. I think they just have so many great comedians and writers...

...and actors. I'm not certain that it's that they are more in touch with their sense of humor than are Americans (though I do know some really humorless types stateside), but the Brits have conquered America, so to speak, with their talent. There's a little something for everybody, too -- P.G. Wodehouse, Sue Townsend, Helen Fielding, Monty Python, Peter Sellers and The Goon Show, Benny Hill, Tracy Ullman, et al.

[YankeyMCC]

38. I don't know but my boss who's based in the UK

often makes me laugh although I'm not sure that's always he's intent.

Every time he pops out a "Bob's your Uncle" I have to bit my tounge or burst out laughing.

lol

I mean I've picked up on what a lot of UK slang means (I've even caught myself using some) but I still have a very loose grasp of that one and no matter the meaning something about that particular combination of words and the way it's usually delivered (sounding very 'non-sequiturion') cracks me up every time. ;)

[mwooldri]

46. Well, I haven't been to a c-store to ask for a packet of fags yet.

I haven't had the audacity to do that yet. Besides I bet I would definitely get some weird looks. In any case I have no reason to buy any fags since I don't smoke.

In any case, my immediate boss, who grew up in the UK and has been here in the US a darn sight longer than I have seems to appreciate my warped sense of humour. But then so do my teammates. At least they know I try to humour them from time to time (we have a stressful job and sometimes we just need to let it out).

Sometimes its the language. A colleague asked me if the British have another word for 'fart'. I couldn't recall, so I started looking around. Apparently some parts of the UK call a fart a 'puff'. Never heard that one myself. But blow-offs, yes. And they mentioned one reason Wendy's didn't take off that well in the UK is that people didn't want to 'biggie size' anything because a 'biggie' is what kids do in the toilet (i.e. a #2).

Some language just goes over the head of Americans. Like 'bollocks'. Meaning testicles, it's like the f-word that it can be used in many ways. I once listened to a hilarious skit on late night talk radio in the UK when the talk show host called the lost and found office of Chicago O'Hare airport and stated that he had lost his bollocks and if anyone had handed them in. The poor guy, clueless as to what bollocks were, went on to ask for a description of them and stated that he'd return the call if anyone handed them in. Needless to say after the conversation was over the studio team were in pains of laughter.

Also be careful of the word 'pants'. It means underwear. If you're a female, and you're wearing a skirt, never go into a pub in the British Isles saying that it is cold and that you should have put your pants on. You'll have virtually every bloke in that pub wondering if you put any knickers on.

Mark.

[TheBaldyMan]

39. let me put it this way

Phil Silvers, Bob Hope, Buster Keaton, Bill Hicks, Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers.

versus

Benny Hill, Monty Python, Rowan Atkinson, Sean Lock, Jeremy Hardy, Linda Smith, Marty Feldman

and in both groups : Laurel & Hardy.

I'd say there was an embarrassment of riches on both sides of the Atlantic.

[Blue_Tires]

40. of course!

hell, even the Canadians are ahead of us in comedy (and have been for some time)

[mitchum]

42. Only if they're Irish

[Benfea]

43. In my personal experience, no.

Then again, a number of Brits I've known in real life were stodgy and uptight, even when they were trying to be congenial.

[Gregorian]

44. Here's the results of my "study".

I've been watching them. Now that we have forums, we can do that.

Irony. They claim we Americans don't have it. It's words. Words. Words. They have words for absolutely everything. And that alone makes for humor, since humor is play on words.

So here's what I've found- Their society seems to be in a stage that is not too far removed from our 70's. Long hair, a sort of innocent optimism. I believe that is based on a few things. One is population density. Architecture of quality. Latitude, ie., colder, darker. Their vocabulary is magnitudes beyond our in complexity. And it should be, since they invented the language. And humor is language oriented. And they are far better educated. Irony requires knowledge, and then some. Also, they are an older culture. And they are more homogenous. And less corporate dominated. I'm not remembering everything. I've noticed quite a number of things about the Brits. Oh, yeah, drinking. We don't even come close. They are pathological drinkers. Here's just a copy and paste of what I've found that I had to look up. And some of it may be gross. But even so, it is a display of language complexity. Some of these are even made up on the spot.

bumlincoln

spackpelican

bunkwiffer

Braw

isswikidinit

ta

funbobs


hi cockalorum

tea- dinner

# octothorpe (how many Americans know the word for that?!

keck

bairn

chooon

biffas

'ning

[Lydia Leftcoast]

47. I enjoy British humor because I love verbal wit

One thing I've noticed about the UK people of my acquaintance is that they seem to come in two varieties: delightfully witty and capable of writing elegant prose, and delightfully witty and practically illiterate.

[swag]

49. I hope somebody does. I'm not sure it's the British.

I think it might be that African tribe whose members break into uncontrollable laughter when infants walk into open fires or when adults accidentally walk off of cliffs.