I hate British Comedy (1 Viewer)

[Keith Mickunas]

Perhaps if he just saw the episodes with the Germans in it he might see the light.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Yeah but the accents would stil grate!

(kidding Matt - don't have a cow!)

 

[Khoa Tran]

I LOVE dry british humor

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Pity there's no dry British weather.

 

[Michael Reuben]

That depends. If you've watched them with the same level of attentiveness that caused you to wonder (presumably after watching some episodes) whether Upstairs, Downstairs is a comedy, then no, ten episodes is not enough.

M.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

2 pages of replies and no one mentions Red Dwarf ? How could that be ?????? Especially in some nerdy forum such as HTF...

 

[Ted Lee]

i was waiting for someone to mention black adder (sp?)....

 

[John Watson]

For that matter, has anyone mentioned Hitchikers Guide?

Matt, you've definitely opened the proverbial can of spam

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Which Second City troupe, Chicago or that Canadian one?

As for "Canadian comedy" - well all the good Candian comics come down here and lie about their origins. (Actually I think this is some kind of NAFTA-mandated compensation for Canada's sending us Celine Dion and William Shatner. )

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

So did we, assuming any of us ever did find him funny. And the comparison to France and Jerry Lewis is asburd. The French are preoccupied with Mr. Lewis because they love him. We are not preoccupied with Mr. Hill. We mention him when the subject of "British Humor" comes up because we're wondering what the hell you ever saw in him.

Besides, there are "families" within British Humor, and Hill belongs to one of them - the Music Hall tradition, lots of cheap sexual innuendo and toilet humor, similar to American vaudeville and burlesque, which derived from the Music Hall tradition. Then there is the University tradition embodied by Python, a combination of self-concious erudition and slap-stick. The literary and stage traditons of more verbal comedy give us the Ealing Films, and so on. So Hill definitely represents a "type" of "British Humor" (along with things like the Carry On films) and it happens to be one of the few that were imported and distributed widely over here, and is therefore recognizable. This is hardly Froggy Lewis-loving.

Regards,

Joe

 

[John Nelson]

Keith Mickunas wrote: Well, I've told this story before but I'll tell it again. While I was in med school in Boston the rest of my family thought it a good time to go visit the relatives in Germany for the first time(leaving me behind). The running joke between my father and brother before they left was "Don't mention the war!" from the classic Fawlty Towers episode, with an occasional "I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it!" thrown in for good measure. My last conversation with my family before they left ended with me saying, "And remember, don't mention the war!" (and it turns out our German relatives' town was utterly destroyed in a bombing raid in 1945). Of course, when my family is actually sitting there in our relatives' house in Germany trying to be polite guests, my brother can't resist sneaking a "Remember, don't mention the war!" to my father, at which point they both start laughing. And of course the more they try NOT to laugh, the harder they do until they are suddenly, and for no obvious reason to our befuddled German relatives, crying with laughter. Of course they absolutely could NOT explain why they were laughing so hard, and our German relatives still think/know that there is something wrong the American branch of the family to this day.

And for that, I blame the British!

 

[Grant B]

Is coupling supose to be funny? At least friends has a laugh track to tell you where to laugh
Where is my frickin hankie
NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

An American who doesn't understand subtle humor
(In my best Upper class Twit of the year Voice)

 

[Chris]

Black Adder is a must mention, and "Black Adder Goes Forth" ended with one of the most touching moments in any comedy I have ever seen; Black Adder's Christmas (in which he learns that mean spirited buggers inherit the earth and acts accordingly) still leaves me in stitches every year.

And then there are so many more we are not mentioning yet; Faulty Towers; Bean and so on. And then there are light british comedies.. think movies like "The Englishman who went up a hill and came down a mountain"; along with SciFi comedy classics like Red Dwarf, books like Hitchhikers Guide and so on.

British comedy is hard to define by one group (though, I have to admit, anyone who utterly detests all of Monty Python needs to be examined, IMHO) but with so much of it, there is probably some you'd like.. I think this guy called Shakespeare also had a few comedies. I could be wrong on that one

 

[Edwin-S]

Can't say I'm a huge fan of British comedy, but if it's a choice between watching an American "sit-com" and a British comedy......then give me the British comedy every time.

Hard to imagine that someone could hate every bit of "Fawlty Towers". I thought the episode with the Germans was hilarious. I just about killed myself laughing at that one. Cleese goosestepping and holding his finger under his nose in an imitation of Adolph Hitler?! What's not to like?

I also thought the early seasons of "Are You Being Served" were funny as well.

The first four or five seasons of "RED DWARF" was some of the best Sci-Fi comedy ever made. The show declined in writing quality as the production values increased.

For example the episode where the crew discovers mutated photo fluid which allows them to entry into photographs. Lister jumps into a photo of Hitler addressing a crowd at the Nuremberg Rallies and stands beside Hitler. He then yells out to the crowd as Hitler is ranting away....."Don't listen to him. He's a nutter.....and he only has one ball!!!"

"HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY" was another good one.

I also think that the British make better Police Procedurals too. LAW and ORDER was one of the few American police shows that comes anywhere close to the quality of British Police procedurals such as PRIME SUSPECT and INSPECTOR MORSE. And then there is a particular favorite of mine.....POIROT.

 

[CharlesD]

"Here are your hors d'oeuvres.. VICH MUST BE OBEYED AT ALL TIMES!"

What's not funny about that???

 

[MartinTeller]

Love:
Monty Python
HHGTTG (books, not the show)
The Young Ones

Like:
Terry Pratchett
Ab Fab
Fawlty Towers (severely overrated, but still good)

Hate:
Mr. Bean
Father Ted
Benny Hill









I also kinda like Jerry Lewis

 

[Edwin-S]

Do you mean the Discworld series of books? There were two animated series based on his books. I thought the one where death walks out on his job was actually not bad from a writing perspective. The animation was pretty basic.

Have to admit I don't really like MR. BEAN, but there has been a couple of episodes that were quite humorous.

 

[MartinTeller]

Yes, that's what I mean. I haven't seen the animated stuff. "Reaper Man" (where Death takes a holiday) is one of the better ones.

He's good, but he's worn himself thin. He puts out like 2 Discworld novels every year.

 

[Edwin-S]

I have owned one of his books for quite awhile, but I have yet to actually read it. I have watched the animated series which actually are quite well written. The animation is typical TV style.

In "Reaper Man" does death have a daughter? Does she end up taking over the "business" while he is gone? The reason I'm asking is because one of the animated series uses the plot of death taking a holiday.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

About a year and a half ago I was in the midst of building my house when I had a particularly strange conversation with the sales rep for my builder. It got ugly, and in it she pretty much called me a liar, almost raised her voice while speaking to me, and finally just blew me off. I got in my car and was driving home just completely stunned that a salesperson had treated me that way. It was just completely incomprehensible. It took me a while to get my thoughts together and decide how I wanted to precede.

Now to tie this story to this thread: later that day I was relating the events to a good friend of mine that happened to have introduced me to a lot of the British comedy I love today, and I said that the only way I could describe how I was feeling was that I felt just like Bishop Brennan did after Father Ted had "kicked him up the arse".