British Humour

[The Weekenders]

I don't really know if you can characterize American humor though, for the sake of comparison. We have Southern culture, with tall tales and rural references, we have the whole Borscht Belt Jewish thing, regional state vs. state etc., literary humor. It's pretty diverse.

[amar]

Bsuker Sean's thread reminded me of a Joke Beth told me as an example of British Humour:

1st Man: A friend of mine goes down to the ocean every day and plays his cello to the seals.

2nd Man: Really?

1st Man: Of course, they don't take a blind bit of notice...


I very nearly busted a gut at this one, do you guys find it funny? Is it a good example of British Humour? Do you have a good British joke? What makes British Humour different to American Humour (apart for the u, say).

i can find the humor, here it is, or, how i see it:

there is this guy, a smart man with many talents, he finds peace in the world, he is beyond needing to play his instrument of joy to minor people who have no understanding for his art, he wants to share his natural gift with nature itself, with the wild roaming kelpies, the creatures of the sea that live to love...

now take that impression with you....

got it?

now, try to apply that impression to THIS:

the damn seals couldn't care for a f*rt what that douche-bag's doin' on the beach!

[Cynth]

Elegantly put, amar.

[amar]

Elegantly put, amar.

i live to serve.

[Tyler]

To me, the main difference has always been that the British humor assumes that you have some wit with which to figure it out and so don't have to be slapped in the face with the crudity... although that certainly doesn't discount the value of the occaisional slap with something crude.

edited for clarity (I hope)

Hey!!!
Very well put!

[Jack]

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I agree!

[anniemcu]

...I think the folks have got it right who say that the British use humour in almost all their conversations. In the office here we hear people laughing all the time, and jokes abound. I wouldn't agree one has to laugh like a drain though.

Another difference, that I think one poster touched on, is that in British humo(u)r, there is not necessarily a "butt" of the joke, ... often, the focus is on a situation rather than a person or particular group. ...i.e.: your joke starting this thread... it does not leave us assuming that all cello players, or all seals, are imbeciles, lazy, or whatever. The urge *here* (the US) is quite often to demean an individual or a group of people, which doesn't require as much wit or thought as being able to laugh at yourself. Here, much more entertainment is found in making someone else look or feel bad than in actually seeing the humo(u) in our own everyday actions and events. That is probably the main reason I have always preferred the British. (nothing to do with ancestry or birthplace, of course)(cough)

[Claus von Weiss]

I just stumbled over this, and what a hell of a lovely surreal thread it is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's that perfect, couldn't even find the fitting smilie for it.

Say (no) more!
Claus

... them good ol' seals ...

[Cayden]

Here, much more entertainment is found in making someone else look or feel bad than in actually seeing the humo(u) in our own everyday actions and events. That is probably the main reason I have always preferred the British. (nothing to do with ancestry or birthplace, of course)(cough)

I think at this point it's maybe good t oacknowledge there are a lot of different strands of British humour, there are those we prefer, those of (to pick some tellie humour) The Office, Monty Python, The league of Gentlemen and Little Britain but the other side of the coin is the crude sexist romp of Bennie Hill and the old Carry on and Confessions of.. comedies, the xenofobic comedies that can only look upon French as frogs and Germans as sausagegrinders (and don't get even started on the Jews, Black and Asians) and the seaside postcards of fat ladies and men looking for their little Willie. It's a multifaceted thing that has hilarious sides but also some not so great ones and it's stll all British humour.

[djm]

Hmmmm, maybe this British humour thing is a bit more complicated than I thought. I took it that the cellist is an arrogant prat with conceited delussions of grandeur, off to the beach to "gift" nature with his talent. The fact that the seals don't give a damn just underscores the fact that nature didn't ask to hear his playing in the first place, and could well live without it.

djm

[gonzo914]

1st Man: Of course, they don't take a blind bit of notice...

Excellent joke, Martin, and I cannot wait to steal it. I have long loved your Saki and Wodehouse and Wilde, and the nice thing about their being relatively unknown over here is that one can crib from them with impunity, secure in the knowledge that one's co-workers are very unlikely to recognize the font from which one's plagiarized wit has sprung.

[Nanohedron]

Hmmmm, maybe this British humour thing is a bit more complicated than I thought. I took it that the cellist is an arrogant prat with conceited delussions of grandeur, off to the beach to "gift" nature with his talent. The fact that the seals don't give a damn just underscores the fact that nature didn't ask to hear his playing in the first place, and could well live without it.

djm

That, I fear, is the curse of the Western Hemisphereans. *sigh*

[patsky]

Perhaps this will help explain the difference between American and English wit and humor.

An Englishman get into a taxi cab and says to the driver “ Could you tell me a good
American joke to take back home?” The driver says sure….”There was a girl sitting on a park bench; three fellows came by one was walking, one was on a bicycle and the other was riding a horse; which one knew the girl? The Englishm says :”by God I don’t know”. The cabbies says “well…the horseman knew her” (horse manure----get it).
The Englishman laughs until he cries.

Once home the Englishman is in his Club he decides to try and repeat the joke so he asks his friends “ Would you chaps like to hear some American humor?” Yes! Yes! they all exclaim. “Well there was this damsel sitting on a park bench when who comes by but an equestrian, a pedestrian and a cyclist; which one of them was familiar with the young lady?” “we don’t know they all cry” the Englishman looks around and says “ ‘orse sh*t!”.

I believ that irony and wit are the keys to Emglish humor.

All the best,
Pat Sky

[Random notes]

To me, the main difference has always been that the British humor assumes that you have some wit with which to figure it out and so don't have to be slapped in the face with the crudity... although that certainly doesn't discount the value of the occaisional slap with something crude.

The Brits don't have a lock on that:

I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway instead. You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd hear this rumbling noise go by.

There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman,
"Where's the self-help section?"
She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

Of course you can't have everything. Where would you put it?

I have an existential map. It has "You are here" written all over it.

Was it somebody's cruel idea to put an "S" in the word "LISP" ?

-Steven Wright.

Of course, he has none of the subtlety and intellectual challenge of, say, Benny Hll or "Are You Being Served?", but he does all right for a Yank.

All seriousness aside, British humour is great. I can think of no funnier movies than the works of Monty Python. The fact that I get some of the jokes because I know some history makes me wonder how many I have missed because those guys are (were) so much smarter than I.

Roger

[Tyler]

What do you think of Last of the Summer Wine?
I see a lot of posts about several excellent British programs, but I have not yet seen one on one of my favorites.