British humour

[mufftickler]

Wholly approved and unfunny. I don’t find comedy funny as a rule. I just take the view that you can’t contrive comedy. We laugh at many things that are completely unscripted, farcical even. But we have to find some kind of occupation for the Poor darlings. That said they do occasionally make me laugh but it might be once in a show. Yes Minister/PM I enjoy, cos it’s pretty much close to the truth observationably. I never really took to Fawlty towers, Monty python was another I liked. Now Dave Allen, there was a comic.

I was on the floor when Dave Allen did the joke about Irish girls buying their knickers at C&A.
It went out at about seven PM on a Saturday night.
How he got away with it i will never know.

I was only about eight at the time, but i still got it.

 

[Kinch]

If the british sense of humour is so good, can anyone explain the popularity of the steaming pile of shite that is Mrs Brown's Boys?

Brit humour doesn't travel well in Dublin.

 

[Dicky Ticker]

Looking back on British Sitcom humour, we seem to have moved away from the clever, witty, well timed sitcoms of the 70's into a situation where someone will rant on for a couple of minutes, add a couple of expletives and pause for the laugh track.

As someone pointed out earlier, the "straight man" was most often a very talented actor and the timing of the response was crucial. Compare Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby and Anything Ronnie Barker did, all three could lead you down the path into a situation where a single line delivered at just the right point would leave you corpsing yourself. "Don't tell him Pike!' is a classic example.

The likes of Ben Elton and Alexi Sayle started a movement away from that sort of comedy. While many laud "The Young Ones" as edgy comedy, it was mostly based around Rik Mayall going off on a rant about Thatcher and Ade Edmonson hitting something. We lost the art of subtlety in comedy around 1984.

And apparently the latest old guard to be shuffled off are allegedly Merton and Hyslop from HIGNFY. I saw something yesterday that reported they were to follow Sue Barker into the "we don't do that sort of thing at the BBC anymore" pile. Hopefully we can see a spin off series (such as Top Gear did) on a different channel

 

[AlienFTM]

Looking back on British Sitcom humour, we seem to have moved away from the clever, witty, well timed sitcoms of the 70's into a situation where someone will rant on for a couple of minutes, add a couple of expletives and pause for the laugh track.

As someone pointed out earlier, the "straight man" was most often a very talented actor and the timing of the response was crucial. Compare Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby and Anything Ronnie Barker did, all three could lead you down the path into a situation where a single line delivered at just the right point would leave you corpsing yourself. "Don't tell him Pike!' is a classic example.

The likes of Ben Elton and Alexi Sayle started a movement away from that sort of comedy. While many laud "The Young Ones" as edgy comedy, it was mostly based around Rik Mayall going off on a rant about Thatcher and Ade Edmonson hitting something. We lost the art of subtlety in comedy around 1984.

And apparently the latest old guard to be shuffled off are allegedly Merton and Hyslop from HIGNFY. I saw something yesterday that reported they were to follow Sue Barker into the "we don't do that sort of thing at the BBC anymore" pile. Hopefully we can see a spin off series (such as Top Gear did) on a different channel

HIGNFY was mortally wounded by the loss (however justified) of the straight guy (also with impeccable comic timing) Deayton.

I've given up and struggled to give it another go countless times since Deayton was hoofed. It's a shadow of its former self and this will be its death knell.

 

[jrwlynch]

The likes of Ben Elton and Alexi Sayle started a movement away from that sort of comedy. While many laud "The Young Ones" as edgy comedy, it was mostly based around Rik Mayall going off on a rant about Thatcher and Ade Edmonson hitting something. We lost the art of subtlety in comedy around 1984.

To be fair to the Young Ones (rewatching a few at the moment...) Mayall was an early example of the achingly woke, and his endless bleating that everything was the fault of the fascist Tories and pathetic attempts to inveigle himself with women as being ultra-feminist was meant to be mocked, not agreed with...

"Guys! Guys! Come quick! One of Vyvian's socks has escaped!"

 

[Dredd]

Some of The Young Ones stuff is a bit . . . well, naff nowadays, but the University Challenge episode was very funny. And still is. But most Young Ones now simply won't get it - especially the way the teams are shown one on top of the other.

A classic.

 

[historicus]

Not sure if it's already been mentioned in the thread but there is still good British Humour about. IMHO the best British comedy in the last 20 years is Still Game. Genuinely funny but also with some real emotion and pathos. Well worth a watch if you can find it online

 

[Goatman]

Hmm the last time Lenny Henry said something funny de condensed milk sandwich was on the menu and Sally James was strutting her stuff in FMB’s!

Ahh FMB's......

 

[Gardner6LXB]

Bottom.

Close the thread.

 

[dombo63]

Couple of good American shows. Have to say, I find them funnier than the woke, achingly PC Brit stuff of recent years.

People of Earth is good, as is What We Do in the Shadows. Both feature protagonists who are massive *********.

Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia about as unwoke as possible. Im only on the 2nd series, from around 2008 so the more recent series may be tamer.

 

[Kinch]

Not sure if it's already been mentioned in the thread but there is still good British Humour about. IMHO the best British comedy in the last 20 years is Still Game. Genuinely funny but also with some real emotion and pathos. Well worth a watch if you can find it online

Funniest and friendliest place in the world. I went out with a Glesga girl when I was on leave visiting my granny. The 'lass' had long blond hair, slightly 'buck teeth' and glasses - she was actually a 'stoater' (stunner in essexspeak), with legs up to her armpits and a skirt that just about covered her backside. While walking on our first date towards the 'China Palace' in Renfield Street she said "R ye fur hoddin ra paws" I had no feckin idea what she was talking about.

 

[Richard Headicus]

Not sure if it's already been mentioned in the thread but there is still good British Humour about. IMHO the best British comedy in the last 20 years is Still Game. Genuinely funny but also with some real emotion and pathos. Well worth a watch if you can find it online

Before Still Game, the same crew did Chewin' the Fat. Different sketches, and just as funny. You had to wait until the credits rolled, as they put another punch line to one of them.

 

[Unremarkable]

Funniest and friendliest place in the world. I went out with a Glesga girl when I was on leave visiting my granny. The 'lass' had long blond hair, slightly 'buck teeth' and glasses - she was actually a 'stoater' (stunner in essexspeak), with legs up to her armpits and a skirt that just about covered her backside. While walking on our first date towards the 'China Palace' in Renfield Street she said "R ye fur hoddin ra paws" I had no feckin idea what she was talking about.

"Do you wish to hold hands?", I would suggest.

 

[lastwalt]

Yes.

It's not British.

ETA - I see your point - it appears to be popular IN the UK even if it did not originate here.

So no, no I can't. I agree with your assessment on it. I managed one half of an episode - the "joke" was so obvious it could be seen long before it was delivered, because it was actually so old the probability was that it had been commissioned for the Tutankhamen Review Show featuring the Anubis Trio.

Tired, boring, over-acted and just plain uninteresting.

Well, at least someone read my post properly.

However, from wiki:
"Mrs. Brown's Boys is a television sitcom, created by and starring Brendan O'Carroll, and produced in the United Kingdom by BBC Scotland"

"the show has become a ratings success in both Ireland, where it is set, and Britain, where it is recorded"

But most depressingly:

In 2011, Mrs. Brown's Boys was nominated for an award at the British Academy Television Awards.[37] In February 2012, it won an IFTA for Best Entertainment Programme. At the 2012 BAFTA Television Awards, Mrs. Brown's Boys won the award for Best Situation Comedy, and Brendan O'Carroll was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme but lost to Darren Boyd for his role in the Sky1 comedy series, Spy.[38] In September 2012, the show won best comedy at the TV Choice Awards.[39] At the 2012 British Academy Scotland Awards, Mrs Brown's Boys won the award for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme.[40] For three consecutive years, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Mrs. Brown's Boys won the award for Best Comedy at the National Television Awards.[41][42] In Spring 2014 the series was nominated for Best Comedy at the Scottish RTS awards[43][44] but lost out to Limmy's Show Christmas Special. In 2015, Mrs Brown's Boys was nominated for the BAFTA, best male performance in a comedy performance

British humour - unassailable.

 

[woopert]

Ironically the fat kid joke was what holds Bad Santa together as a movie

And a lot of American "comedy" centres around the "fat person" and the bully as well as the slut, from Pitch Perfect 2 character list:

Rebel Wilson as Patricia "Fat Amy" Hobart, a senior Bella from Australia who is confident and describes herself as the best singer in Tasmania

Alexis Knapp as Stacie Conrad, a senior Bella known for being overly sexual

Brittany Snow as Chloe Beale, the three-time super senior with a Type A personality who is the co-leader of the Bellas.

No wonder they don't get Monty Python, this formula is about as subtle as a house brick.

That said, I saw snippets of the new spitting image, Dominic Cummings is fukcing hilarious:


"I see no problem, the Larvae flourish when confined to their hexagonal pods".

 

[woopert]

The likes of Ben Elton and Alexi Sayle started a movement away from that sort of comedy. While many laud "The Young Ones" as edgy comedy, it was mostly based around Rik Mayall going off on a rant about Thatcher and Ade Edmonson hitting something. We lost the art of subtlety in comedy around 1984.

I said it in an earlier post, I don't know who told Alexi Sayle he was funny? I was listening to something he was doing on Radio 4 a few months ago and he was having one of his rants and the punchline consisted of shouting "Maegggggggiiiieeee Thatcheeeeeeeeeer". It's like as if no one has the heart to go to the lunatic asylum and tell the resident window licker that she died a good few years ago in case he thraps himself into an onanistic injury while howling at the moon. No surprise that Radio 4 gives him too much air time.

He should be locked up with that Jack Black moron who seems to think the louder you shout the funnier it is. On that basis, I should find shitting out my hemorrhoids truly hysterical given the volume of my plaintiff cries.

Radio comedy used to be worth a listen because you can't rely on visiaul gagas. When the Mary Whitehouse Experience used to be on midnight Friday on R1 it was absolutely hilarious, as was If I ruled the World with Jeremy Hardy and Graham Garden which made the transition to TV for only (sadly) 1 season poking fun at the political landscapre of Tony Bliar and New Lairbour.

Which brings me to another comedy legend the Yanks didn't get: The Goodies.

 

[Dredd]

And a lot of American "comedy" centres around the "fat person" and the bully as well as the slut, from Pitch Perfect 2 character list:

Rebel Wilson as Patricia "Fat Amy" Hobart, a senior Bella from Australia who is confident and describes herself as the best singer in Tasmania

Alexis Knapp as Stacie Conrad, a senior Bella known for being overly sexual

Brittany Snow as Chloe Beale, the three-time super senior with a Type A personality who is the co-leader of the Bellas.

No wonder they don't get Monty Python, this formula is about as subtle as a house brick.

That said, I saw snippets of the new spitting image, Dominic Cummings is fukcing hilarious:


"I see no problem, the Larvae flourish when confined to their hexagonal pods".

Seriously - that clip did not even raise a smile.

As the (current) heir to the throne would say, it is simply . . . . appalling.

 

[lokiuk]

Which brings me to another comedy legend the Yanks didn't get: The Goodies.

Hitting people with black pudding whilst shouting ecky thump, why the yanks never got it as humour is a mystery

 

[Kinch]

"Do you wish to hold hands?", I would suggest.

Indeed...........the first of many steps...........I'd tell you her name, but I really liked her......................and the bitch married someone else

 

[Wightsparker]

Indeed...........the first of many steps...........I'd tell you her name, but I really liked her......................and the bitch married someone else

Hey - you might have an idea for a song there!