Monday 10 March 2008

Funny Ha Ha!

Unlike most bloggers in the U.K. I tend to agree with this article...I just think English humour..especially contemporary humour is rather nasty and ill tempered. Most seems to be either the whoops vicar type of humour or humour revolving around the loves and lives of various lowlife individuals or families (shameless and the royals).American humour usually comes across as a bit more upbeat and optimistic (Scrubs and Earl).I do like some homegrown stuff (blackadder and boosh) but the likes of little England leaves me cold. Comedy though is like most things in life...one mans meat etc...you've gotta laugh haven't you?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on this. Our humour these days tends to be nasty and usually involves character assassination.

It can certainly be funny. But, as you say, U.S. humour is typically more upbeat. And that can be very refeshing, a healthy does of positivity.

Also, when you listen to BBC Radio Four there's no doubt that just about all the comedians and humourists are left wing. The News Quiz is a typical example. What we need is a Brit P.J. O'Rourke, a Tory Party Reptile...

Anonymous said...

My favorite Brit comedies are The IT Crowd, which doesn't have nearly enough episodes, and the classic Red Dwarf.

phlegmfatale said...

Red Dwarf and Blackadder have always been favorites to me. Maybe the Brits' ill humours have been fueled by being a bit too crowded here and there. That whole snubbing thing is baffling to Americans, and seems rather uncivilised, to my way of thinking. But then again, I'm totally low-class. :P

Major Combs said...

The best I ever saw on TV was "Dad's Army," "Steptoe and Son," "The Two Ronnies," with a nod also to "Some Mothers do 'ave 'em", "Till Death Us Do Part," and "Man About the House." Favorite characters were Bruce Forsythe, Dave Allan, and Frankie Howard.

British television had a Golden Age in the 1970's that won't be bettered. I haven't watched Yank TV at all (except NFL football) for almost twenty years, and don't feel I've missed anything based on what I've heard and read about it.