humour and national characteristics
 

I went to a comedy show last night where part of the comedian's subject matter was the way that when he did a few shows in the US he fell totally flat because the audience just did not get his humour.

There seems to be a strong link between a nation's humour and the general demeanour of its people. In England we do not like to shout about success, it seems a brash egotistical thing to do, and our humour reflects this. The English humour is very self-focussed and self-deprecating, concentrating on our own shortcomings, as an individual and as a nation.

On the other hand, in the US seems to be no embaressment in being loud and proud about acheivement, and lack of success is, well, failure, and is almost a guilty secret. Humour seems to be much more outwardly-aimed and success based.

However, British society seems now to be becoming much less coy about success and material possessions, and I can see the time coming when the national trait of finding humour in failure starts to disappear, and humour, like so many other things, becomes globally homogenised.

We're becoming used to more and more experiences being the same no matter where in the world you are, the fact that you find a Starbucks and a Gap in most major towns wherever you are in the world being an easy example. That is bad enough, but I can't help thinking that it would be awful if cultural experiences went the same way, but I think it's going to happen.

Sure, lack of understanding of another nation's humour can lead to silly little conflicts (we see it on here all the time), but aren't those national differences a wonderful thing.

Is this just me thinking too much on a Friday afternoon, or is it something that's apparent elsewhere too?

I prefer British humo(u)r (most of the time), but a lot of American's really "just don't get it", and think that it's "too dry".

I insist that they are all just brainless jell-o molds who need something that's in their face before they understand it.

ok, now it you'll excuse me, I'm typing with only one sock on and I WOULD get laughter if I arrived at work like this.

I don't understand your characterization. American shows like The Simpsons and South Park are self-focussed by the very nature of being satirical. Also not all comedians are the same. There are many comedians that blur the line between cult status and popularity. I wouldn't think Mitch Hedberg's stand up was all that success based.

i like the subtleness and darkness of british humour sompared to others. you take shows like nighty night, nathan barley, brass eye, day today etc and look at some of the things in that and wonder why you are laughing but you still do.

one thing i never understood, why do american audiences insist on cheering and applauding every little thing?

American comedians use self depricating material, Rodney Dangerfield made a career out of it. British humor, what I've seen, tends to be more subtle and is a welcome relief from the "Larry the Cable Guy" stuff the media was recently pushing here, you could see the punchlines from a mile away.

and I love those two shows for that fact.

I think another self-focused vs. self-depreciating humorist is Sarah Silverman. beyond being smoking hot, she's SERIOUSLY funny.

The British are definitely too sophisticated. Yakety Sax and sped-up film involving buoyant ladies goes right over our heads.

Also the blue comedy guys like Larry the Cable Guy are totally self-deprecating. In fact I'm really wondering who these "success focused" comedians sonicl is talking about. Are they transmitting comedians to England that I've never heard about?

Yeah, bad use of words on my part. I took 20 minutes to construct my post and I still worded it badly. I haven't time to correct myself right now though.

"It's a door!" [laughter]

"I'm Jewish!" [laughter]

"Hey Paul, what about that?" [uproarious laughter]

I wouldn't say your people were without their sophistication, if you look really hard.

That makes one of us.
I made no claims of superiority.
Well, except in terms of Modern Dentistry, but that's another thread.

In response to the actual thread - I think comedy proper is different to the general demeanour - good comedy is funny wherever, and there's plenty of braggard amongst British comedians - first that springs to mind is Ricky Gervais, or less comical, a Chris Evans or a Twatface Moyles.


There is a broad and generalised difference in humours, but my experience is that this isn't so much as a national divide as it is a local divide. I find the humour of my part of the south-west hilarious, but the next county along less so. Glaswegians or Scallys I can deal with, but I don't get the Manc humour. This is entirely personal, but I think there is such a thing as a regional humour, or at least, regional humourous demeanour - do many people in the south get Peter Kay?

I like the idea of you preening your glistening teeth whilst watching the strange fruit dangle in your orchard.

We are playing stereotype Table Tennis [or ping-pong, if you must] here, right?

Um, yes.
If you ignore the fact that I just finished some Earl Grey.

for the most part, the laughter that you hear is generated by machines, or maybe the CIA (depending on who you ask).

And ignore the fact that I just shouted 'Hell yeah!' at some non-F1 cars.

Don't you mean "Hellz Yeeauh?"

this thread just registered a 10 on the white-trash meter!

people in low-lying coastal areas of southeast asia should move toward higher ground.

I never liked self-deprecating humor, it was just like a cheap shot. Not very constructive. I always liked when it looks into how society works, or here in America how each segment of America looks at itself. The ones that spring to mind right now are George Lopez, and Chris Rock. They nail it.

Toward is a verb now?

Damn you and your edit.

I have no idea what yr talking about. :o

Hmmm... Humour. Crass and vulgar humour like chris farley floats my boat, as does more "sophisticated" humour like monty python. In fact the killer rabbit from the holy grail is, in my opinion, the perfect british mascot.

oh are you talking about benny hill?

ha ha ha.

i used to love that shit when i was a kid but now i watch and it's meh

There are definite differences in sense of humour between the English and the American's, although both countries obvisously have a very diverse range.
My favourite English comedian is Rik Mayall, don't suppose there is any foreign fans of his here?

Was he on The Young Ones back in the day?
I thought that show was hilarious when I was a kid, but I watched some recently and it did not age well for me at all.
Not at all.

That's shit sitcoms. It has nothing to do with nationality. British shows use canned applause too.

yeah, that's right, I've only seen a few episodes of the young ones, I really liked him in bottom. I saw him earlier this year in 'the new statesman', he was hilarious, so much better live, what without all the censorship and shit.

british and australians have a very similar sense of humour, i guess that is why shows like the mighty boosh, the it crowd, man to man, garth marenghi etc do so well here.

I've always found Dennis Miller to be extremely funny even though he turned into a supplicating neocon in his later years.

He really enjoys his similes.

hey, i'm australian and i'd like to know what the deal is with talk shows like letterman and conan o'brien and shit like that. they are the least funny and most annoying things i have ever seen and i just don't understand. now in australia we have rove which is the same sort of format and just as shit but everyone loves it. so that fucked up my theory that it was an american humour thing.
ps. best australian comedy is the chaser.

Although there are broad distinctions between US and American comedy in that - at its best, British humour tends toward a very English type of surrealism - The Goons, Python, Little Britain, etc. Great Brit sitcoms like Fawlty Towers and Rising Damp also tend to focus on v. nation-specific ideas of class mobility.

America has produced some of the greatest comics - Groucho Marx, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, etc. - but most of what i see of it today I don't really like. There's an underlying sentimentality that runs through so much of it (especially the sitcoms) that I think a lot of British people find awkward.

yeah i don't get those lcd talk shows like letterman, conan, rove etc..... comedians on australian television generally suck. our best comic ever "steve hughes" is never ever featured on australian television as he would make people realise how shit the whole rove clan really is, although steve hughes would fit in with those funny fuck chaser boys, and chris lilley who is an absolute genius......

Jerry Lewis was a God in France, not known for standup really but extremely popular anyway. Lewis was sorta like Jim Carey...only about 50 years earlier.

i love chris lilley too, shawn micallef is also awesome. new show starting next wednesday night on SBS

Indeed, Rove and friends just try to hard to be funny. Chaser is the funniest show on TV, but I doubt many American would find it funny. And yes, Chris Liley is also hilarious. Summer Heights High is my second favourite show, it's just a shame that It's almost over.

My favorite American comedian right now is Steven Wright.