America Vs Britain
There have been a few requests for a comparison of British and American humour. I've resisted plunging into this one, because I think humour is such a difficult thing to categorise, but the requests keep coming, so this month I'm going to try and draw a comparison for you.
"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." - Steven Wright (USA)
Being British, I obviously have a disadvantage when it comes to knowing everything there is to know about American humour, but I know the general consensus here is that British humour is more subtle and dry than American humour.
"By the time you swear you're his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying -
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying."
- Dorothy Parker(USA)
The old cry is that Americans don't understand irony. I need to define irony at this point. The dictionary says, "Irony: a means of expression which suggests a different, usually humorous or angry, meaning for the words used," compared with sarcasm, which is defined thus: "The use of remarks which clearly mean the opposite of what they say, and which are made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticise something in an amusing way." So that's as clear as page 39 in Jean-Paul Satre's Existentialism - note my sarcasm/irony.
I think it's dramatic irony which causes a problem for some. Now that's when the reader, or audience, knows something the characters don't, and this may be used to comic affect. Dramatic irony was used a great deal in the British tradition of farce. I don't particularly like farce, but not because I find it difficult to understand, rather the opposite really. It is often puerile and all too easy to understand. Unfortunately for me, many of the American comedies are still deeply rooted in farce. Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace are all examples of farce. The jokes are obvious and the situations rely heavily on dramatic irony. For this reason, I don't think the suggestion that Americans don't understand irony is true.
"And what is more, being a miner, as soon as you are too old and tired and sick and stupid to do the job properly, you have to go. Well, the very opposite applies with the judges. So all in all I’d rather have been a judge than a miner." - Peter Cook (UK)
British TV shows like Fawlty Towers, Black Books, Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder, Green Wing, Coupling and The Office are rather more eccentric than any American TV comedy I've seen. There is a high level of silliness, and cruelty in many of these shows.
The Office and Fawlty Towers relied heavily on what I call the cringe-factor. The characters of Basil Fawlty and David Brent are funny because they are completely at odds with the classic British character of modest, restrained civility. Their taboo-breaking behaviour makes one want to curl-up with embarrassment. This creates nervous laughter. As the cringe increases, the laughter becomes more maniacal. Many of the most successful British comedy characters are absolutely awful people. One would not want to actually know them, but it's great fun spying on them.
American comedy characters are generally more lovable. There is a strong sense of identification with the girls and boys of Friends or Cheers. One can imagine finding oneself in their awkward predicaments, through no fault of your own. Even the bad guys, like Karen in Will & Grace, have a soft centre, and one can have a sneaking admiration for them.
"...how America is perceived in Europe, and how we both have stereotype images of both sides of the Atlantic. I said that there is a lot of ignorance in Europe about Americans, who are widely caricatured as loud, intolerant, rude, demanding etc. and I joked that here Brits are portrayed as plummy-voiced aristocratic, batty eccentric, uptight - 'I say, Mama are the crumpets ready? I'll be in the orchard tormenting the servants' kind of trip. I find the opposite to be true, almost without exception, the Americans I have met are extremely polite, unassuming with impeccable manners and a desire to understand other points of view." - Bill Bailey (UK) from his New York Diary
I found a poll which asked people to vote on whether they preferred American or British humour, and more than 95% voted for British. Then I checked the address of the website, and unsurprisingly found it was based in England. I noticed that such British TV greats ( NB: irony/sarcasm again) as Benny Hill, Jim Davidson and the Carry-on team were conveniently forgotten when the sophistication of British humour was discussed.
Written humour provides us with an even more blurred border. Famous American humorists like; Mark Twain, Ogden Nash and James Thurber do specialise in rather gentle wit. But Dorothy Parker and Joan Rivers give us examples of much more acid American comedy. British humorists, such as P. G. Woodhouse, Tom Sharpe, Peter Cook, and Terry Pratchett are loved for their satire and razor wit. Whereas the banality of Ben Elton could be difficult to defend. I do think British humour is less about the one-liner and more slow-burning, but that is a generalisation, which I can find almost as many exceptions to as examples to support it.
"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel." - Homer Simpson (USA).
I suppose, I've managed to talk myself into a corner on this one. Basically, I think there are good and bad comedians and humorists of both side of the Atlantic. Here's my top three of each nationality, for you to consider. Can you find common characteristics, which make some them quintessentially American or British?
American Greats
Dorothy Parker
Steven Wright
Emo Phillips
British Greats
Peter Cook
Eddy Izzard
Bill Bailey
"The NRA says, 'Guns don't kill people, people do.' But I think the gun helps. You know? I think it helps. I think that if you just walked around going, 'Bang!' you wouldn't kill too many people would you? You'd have to be really dodgy on the heart for that to work. I think people should just try that. Walk around going, 'BANG BANG BOOM RAT A TAT BOOM RAT A TAT BOOM.' Just try it." - Eddy Izzard (UK)
Just thank goodness you're not from anywhere else in the world. Their comedians are absolutely dreadful. (Mavis runs from room, ducking and covering her head, as the combined forces of the rest of the world throw custard pies and water-bombs at her.) |
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Comedy: May 31, 2006 Issue [#1064]
