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Is comedy Universal? Us vs UK Comedy

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Of course there will be variance. It's only notable/weird when both sides laugh at the same thing.

Eddie Izzard.

He might even work for more languages than UK/America
 
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I'm from the UK and I find American stand-up comedy to be superior, but generally British sensibilities with regards to humour are more my type of thing. But I suppose that's more of a cultural thing.
 
I can understand people having a preference on the whole, but truthfully I feel sorry for anyone who can say they've never found anything they liked in either British or American comedy, both countries offer a ridiculous treasure-trove of laughs.

Look harder, there's bound to be something worth discovering.
 
The best sitcom the Americans have ever made is Frasier.

What I'll never get is the love people have for the Big Bang Theory. Its fucking awful but some of my (british) friends love it.
 
Screaming Meat said:
That's not what's being said though. It is a well known show to people of a certain age and it had a cult followed here.
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He's right though.

In the US, Seinfeld is up there with Friends in terms of ubiquity. In the UK it is far, far down the pecking order. Simply because it never had consistent terrestrial representation.

I actually think its obsession with social cues and practices suits British audiences very well, but it just never got the chance here.

Oh and thanks OP you made me spend last night rewatching Shooting Stars episodes. I loved season 6 and 7 with Angelos.
 
I think US comedy is about people who are funny and UK comedy is about people who are tragic/sad.

The office UK vs the office US is a good example of this
 
there's funny in both brands of humour, but I vastly prefer UK's. More refined, deeper, smarter, unique use of sarcasm, wordplay, expression, extreme attention to even the slightest detail. That's why a lot of Americans don't get it
 
vcassano1 said:
He's right though.

In the US, Seinfeld is up there with Friends in terms of ubiquity. In the UK it is far, far down the pecking order. Simply because it never had consistent terrestrial representation.
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I'm not disputing that it was comparatively unknown and that's not what was said.

It was plugged heavily on BBC2 at the time (1993?), it just didn't get the ratings. It killed it in DVD sales, so that shows there was an audience eventually. If you're around the 30+ mark and haven't heard of it, I don't think I'd be out of line in saying you're probably in the minority.

More Fun To Compute said:
In the US it wasn't a cult show that you could only see at unusual hours. It was more popular than Friends.
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Not disputing that either. I'm disagreeing with the fact that you said it was "basically unknown/little cared for" in the UK.
 
Currygan said:
there's funny in both brands of humour, but I vastly prefer UK's. More refined, deeper, smarter, unique use of sarcasm, wordplay, expression, extreme attention to even the slightest detail. That's why a lot of Americans don't get it
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I don't think Americans are too dumb to understand British comedy.
 
MasterBalls said:
US is king of sitcoms. The UK doesn't even bother with their sitcoms anymore. Like, they're so, so bad.

It's Always Sunny and Brooklyn 99 <3
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I think the British sitcom has been replaced with something closer to a comedy-drama. Look at The Wrong Mans, Black Mirror or Inside No. 9.

That said, Yonderland is great. It's probably the only sitcom I'd go out of my way to watch these days.
 
I don't think there's any way to pigeonhole all of a country's humor as 'one type'. I would say there's a big difference in the type of humor you see from UK's standup scene to what the stereotypical British UK comedy TV style of comedy is(apart from the quiz shows, where its those same standup comedians, obviously).

If I had to generalize, I'd say UK standup is far wittier than US stand up.

And UK comedy TV is a lot more awkwardness and goofiness. A bit more ridiculous, basically.

But there's plenty of overlap, as US has witty stand up comedians(maybe just not as much, or not as well known) and US has these types of TV shows as well.

TV-wise, I think they're both about equal in terms of what I like. I think the US has done *more* that I like, but just in terms of style, I don't have a preference necessarily.

Standup wise, I prefer UK.
 
dan2026 said:
The best sitcom the Americans have ever made is Frasier.
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This. It easily knocks Seinfeld into a cocked hat.

Currygan said:
there's funny in both brands of humour, but I vastly prefer UK's. More refined, deeper, smarter, unique use of sarcasm, wordplay, expression, extreme attention to even the slightest detail. That's why a lot of Americans don't get it
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Niles Crane said:
My brother is too kind. He was already eminent, when my eminence was merely imminent.
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mclem said:
I think the British sitcom has been replaced with something closer to a comedy-drama. Look at The Wrong Mans, Black Mirror or Inside No. 9.

That said, Yonderland is great. It's probably the only sitcom I'd go out of my way to watch these days.
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Black Mirror? Did I miss a third season chock full of humor? Because the Black Mirror I watched was a relentlessly dour, depressing vision of various horrifying futures, not a comedy-drama.
 
As an American, I seem to be the only one that I know that actually gets "British comedy".Not sure why
 
Depends, most US comedies such as chat show hosts do nothing for me, however the Eric Andre Show almost had me in tears.

It's hard to generalize UK comedy, there's just far too many contrasting styles. For political humour though the UK wins hands down.
 
Yeah, I've never found Seinfeld particularly funny, either. It's just so predictable. I'll echo the sentiment that Frasier has better peaks, although it has a tendency to veer towards the maudlin too often for my tastes.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
Black Mirror? Did I miss a third season chock full of humor? Because the Black Mirror I watched was a relentlessly dour, depressing vision of various horrifying futures, not a comedy-drama.
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A lot of those visions were darkly comic, though. Right off the bat the notion of terrorists
forcing the Prime Minister to fuck a pig on TV
is arguably pretty funny from a certain point of view.
 
MattKeil said:
A lot of those visions were darkly comic, though. Right off the bat the notion of terrorists
forcing the Prime Minister to fuck a pig on TV
is arguably pretty funny from a certain point of view.
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Nah, I found nothing comedic about it. I enjoyed it, as a dark and upsetting vision of a bunch of insane science fiction concepts (outside of the first episode, which could happen tomorrow, honestly), but definitely didn't feel like it was ever intended to be humorous at all.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
Nah, I found nothing comedic about it. I enjoyed it, as a dark and upsetting vision of a bunch of insane science fiction concepts (outside of the first episode, which could happen tomorrow, honestly), but definitely didn't feel like it was ever intended to be humorous at all.
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...it's one long piece of satire. The comedy is the bleakness of it.
 
Crab said:
Yeah, I've never found Seinfeld particularly funny, either. It's just so predictable. I'll echo the sentiment that Frasier has better peaks, although it has a tendency to veer towards the maudlin too often for my tastes.
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Seinfeld gets better the older you get as it's more about modern manners and how you as human reacts to social norms.

That's why CYE is the next level up from that.
 
Crab said:
...it's one long piece of satire. The comedy is the bleakness of it.
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How in the world is it satire? I've watched and enjoyed plenty of satire in my time, and nothing about BM comes off as satire. It plays like straight science fiction, and I viewed it as such.
 
no, it's not. Some Americans don't find certain English humour funny, and some British don't find certain American humour funny. They're fundamentally different in tone, execution, depth and style. I can appreciate some American stuff like Frasier or Curb, where Seinfeld, Friends, King of Queens and similar style of comedy are quite appalling to me

The Office Uk vs Us is a good way to put them side by side. To me, there's no comparison, the nuances, timing and subtlety of the UK version are simply incomparable to the US version
 
I'll put Bruce Bruce or Dave Attell against that "Reeves and Mortimer" shit any day.

m3wIA9s.jpg
 
I think Japanese humor is really juvenile. But I think a lot of their humor seems based around shattering the formalities and politeness of the culture and daily interactions.
 
No it is not universal. I dont feel Seinfeld is funny at all for example. Also I hate laugh tracks - 'Hey viewers please laugh now even if you did not find it funny because we are telling you to do so'
 
Being neither British nor American, I'd say that comedy isn't universal, but a country doesn't have a single type of humour either.

I'm more into British comedy myself (Fresh Meat, How Not to Live Your Life, and such), even though I love some American sitcoms such as Community or Arrested Development.

Still, my favourite comedy is neither UK or US.

PHOae5111bc-b1f4-11e4-9523-a8c95cebc983-805x453.jpg

Even though most of my country's comedians are rubbish, nowadays, this guy is fucking A.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
How in the world is it satire? I've watched and enjoyed plenty of satire in my time, and nothing about BM comes off as satire. It plays like straight science fiction, and I viewed it as such.
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It's an allegorical satire, the fact that it's played straight only enhances its absurdity.
 
I'm Norwegian and my favorite comedy of all time is probably Black Books, followed closely by Seinfeld and Scrubs.

I'd say British comedy is usually more outlandish, but also more subtle, the true brilliance of a show like Black Books for example doesn't come from the jokes or situations themselves, but from the subtleties in how they're acted.
 
Vincent Grayson said:
Black Mirror? Did I miss a third season chock full of humor? Because the Black Mirror I watched was a relentlessly dour, depressing vision of various horrifying futures, not a comedy-drama.
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Black comedy is still comedy.

I'd put The League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville in the same bracket, albeit those use horror as the catalyst for the dark humour rather than bleak science fiction.
 
Well Police Academy is pretty much recognised as the best comedy in both the US and UK so I'd say at least that is universal.
 
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