British Humor vs American Humor

My Bob Hope story:

Back in the early 1940s when my mother-in-law was a young woman, she traveled the 15 or so miles from her home to Hollywood hoping to see some stars at a movie grand opening at Grauman's Chinese Theater (the one with the concrete footprints & handprints in the forecourt). She arrived early so she'd have a good place to stand.

Things were just getting started when someone in the crowd behind her said, "I think Bob Hope is going to be here."
My mother-in-law said, "Oh that dumb Bob Hope... I wouldn't give two cents to see him."
Quick as a wink a guy standing just inside the red ropes said, "Me either, lady." He turned around and it was, in fact, Bob Hope.
 

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Gary O' said:
We liked the low key humor of this series

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the idea of this was that the guys when they got old reverted back to childhood.. and acted in that same way.. rolling down hills on tyres, climbing trees, and of course all with having to deal with grown up women who treated them like little boys that they'd become...

Not everyone got the humour behind it, so it was something that wsns't everyone's cup of tea even in the UK.. and especially as it was a Northern Comedy with the strong northern accents.. didn't go down well with some people especially in the South , but it ran for 31 seasons..from the 70's...
 
I don't watch any of today's sitcoms although I've tried. It seems lines are being read and followed by canned laughter and I wonder what they are laughing about. Some older sitcoms are run again because they were that good and the one I watch mostly is Drew Carrey. The humor is so subtle. It just leads you to the punch line which just pops into mind. George Carlin's type of humor was like that. You finish the joke on your own and laugh.
 
Poking fun at clergy -- apparently another British favourite. You should look up some of the old Dave Allen sketches. He was an Irish comedian and made numerous jokes about the Catholic church...
example... A nun asked the parish priest if she thought that priests and nuns would ever be allowed to marry.
The priest replied, "Well not in our time, but in our children's or childrens' children.... "
 
Capt Lightning said:
Poking fun at clergy -- apparently another British favourite. You should look up some of the old Dave Allen sketches. He was an Irish comedian and made numerous jokes about the Catholic church...
example... A nun asked the parish priest if she thought that priests and nuns would ever be allowed to marry.
The priest replied, "Well not in our time, but in our children's or childrens' children.... "
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Dave Allen was Gold... :D
 
As my Father always tried to become international with many facets, I've learned three distincts humour styles.

Which is probably why I enjoy British police dramas and comedians such as Lee Evans and Michael McIntyre while still having a laugh watching Gabriel Iglesias and binging on two series by the funny, weird style, of Tim Allen namely "Home Improvement" and currently "Last Man Standing".
 
I find humor to be a very personal thing, and not so much geographical. I have watched both American & British shows, and if they don't have good witty writers, I give it a thumbs down and change channels. In that respect, I think it is a bit more intellectual in nature, than origin. I have talked with people who love a certain show, and I watch it and think, OMG, that is juvenile and stupid. I realize that this sounds judgmental, and I don't mean for it to be. It works for those people and I think that's fine. It's just not my taste. All that to say, I wouldn't put Americans in one category and Brits in another. I would lean more towards what any certain individual finds funny. Some people will pick up on very subtle nuances, and others will need it to smack them in the face. Either way, it's all good. Just my opinion.
 
Lewkat said:
The two most hilarious British shows for me were Fawlty Towers and Keeping Up Appearances. I wasn't too fond of the poor relations on the latter show, but Hyacinth and Richard were very funny.
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yes I agree... I wasn't really into the whole Poor relations thing with keeping up appearances.. especially the Rose and the vicar storyline.. but otherwise it was very funny.....Fawlty towers was hillarious, it couldn't be repeated today because it was so politically incorrect at times..
 
I had stumbled across the BBC show Miranda, where the show pretty much centered around her, and it was quite good with her delivery, facial expressions, sexual humor, etc, and had pretty good writing. Then the show was given an American remake under the name Call Me Kat with Mayim Bialik, and even though I like her, I just didn't care for the show like I did with Miranda Hart. It just seemed to lack the spontaneity and humor of the original show. The remake was just more canned and predictable in my opinion. I would love to see more of Miranda Hart in other comedic creations. To me, she is genuinely funny.
 
It's easy to tell the difference between British and American humor. American humor is funny. :)
BTW, on recently made Brit shows, the actors speak "American". It very hard to pick up a British accent. I think Brits called this "BBC speech"???
 
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This fella used to make me pee myself laughing. I only had to look at his daft face and he set me off. ☺️

Ken Goodwin on The Comedians.​


 
Lewkat said:
Holly, Lucy was not my cup of tea at all. I thought she and Ethel were a couple of idiots.
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Well I meant who could have ever beaten Lucy in the eyes of most of America...not my cup oof tea...at all.. I found her funny as a stye in the ey... but it seems to me that most Americans' thought she was Hilarious.. don't get me started on Carol Burnett..*ugh*... ..here in the Uk.. I can't stand Slapstick comics at all.. people falling over or getting pie in their face for laughs.. is as tedious as heck to me..
 
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hollydolly said:
Well I meant who could have ever beaten Lucy in the eyes of most of America...not my cup oof tea...at all.. I found her funny as a stye in the ey... but it seems to me that most Americans' thought she was Hilarious.. don't get me started on Carol Burnett..*ugh*... ..here in the Uk.. I can't stand Slapstick comics at all.. people falling over or getting pie in their face for laughs.. is as tedious as heck to me..
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:) Yikes, the face plant, or the classic banana peel waiting for action, yay, more.. :)
 
I have a great sense of humour but many shows both US and British leave me cold.
There are lots I can mention, but Fawlty Towers, Mrs Bou-quet and her adventures, Dave Allen (RIP) Sidney James (RIP) have me in stitches.
For American, my favourite is Everybody loves Raymond. Love Raymond's Mom (for me she is the star of the show). His brother makes me laugh, but sad to say, Raymond does little for me.
 
I'm not British but my two all-time favorite comedies are Keeping Up Appearances and Little Britain. I get British humor. I think it is more of a dry humor than we have in the US. Most of our current comedy shows in the US are just infantile and not funny. I will exclude Seinfeld and Curb You Enthusiasm from that list.
 
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