Comments on: Is British Humor Highly Overrated?

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:28:09 +0000

Little Britain USA is godawful. I literally don’t think I laughed even once, and I gave it a shot with 3 episodes thinking maybe they’d find their way. Now I think I will watch them all because it’s like a gory car wreck and I can’t look away. But the overriding question I have is, who is this show written for? americans? british? do they really think saying all americans are fat and stupid over and over is funny? to who? I don’t know… I would be shocked if they renew this abortion.

By: lindeman

lindeman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:20:21 +0000

To me Chris Morris trumps all British comedians- the day today, brass eye and jam are my desert island discs. Plus most of the things that any of the cast has been involved with since- Julia Davis, Kevin Eldon, Steve Coogan, Stewart Lee, Armando Iannucci…

All of that plus the league of gentlemen and Mark Wootton make up the best of British comedy today.

Agreed Little Britain is appallingly written (but i still quite like them both as performers)

By: PsYcHo BiTcH

PsYcHo BiTcH — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:28:36 +0000

ANYTHING BRITISH REALLY TICKLES MY STRAP-ON PICKLE.

WHAT CAN I SAY?

I’M A SUCKER FOR MR.BEAN.

BUT THEN AGAIN, I’M EASILY AMUSED AND EASY TO PLEASE.

I WATCHED THE MOVIE “THE LOVE GURU” AND ALTHOUGH THE PEOPLE AROUND DID NOT LAUGH, I WONDER…IS IT THEM THAT JUST DONT GET HUMOR OR DO I LACK TRUE COMEDIC INSIGHT?

I ARRIVED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT IT IS THEM.

I LIKE JEFF DUNHAM AND CARLOS MENCIA.

By: Singinho

Singinho — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:48:57 +0000

I’m surprised Friday Night with Jonathan Ross hasn’t caught on over there, I know you Yanks love talk shows and this is a great one - plus loads of American guests appear on it, and it’s hilarious.

Also Alan Carr is really quite a funny stand-up, Jimmy Carr and Peter Kay aren’t bad either. Over here, the funniest shit on TV tends to be played out in a quiz show format these days, for some strange reason. Mock the Week, Have I Got News for You, 8 out of 10 Cats and QI probably best portray British humour, so they’re worth a watch - I’m sure you can find them on YouTube - don’t know if you guys can access BBC iPlayer or 4onDemand from Channel 4.

Also, check out Peep Show, Fonejacker and Harry and Paul.

Little Britain is ok for the first episode, maybe the second too, but it gets very repetitive and you can almost see the 2 guys running out of ideas as each series progresses.

Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious - yes, the Ali G film was shit, but everything else he’s done so far has been comedy gold. And to help you make up your mind about Ricky Gervais, check out his podcast - the guy’s too funny.

By: Bobby Finstock

Bobby Finstock — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:11:42 +0000

I have never watched it. I did find it on tv and am going to start tivo’ing some episodes.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:37:35 +0000

While I have to agree about Mr. Bean, I’m a bit dismayed that Rowan Atkinson’s masterworkd, The Blackadder, isn’t even on this list.

Blackadder, especially the fourth season (though you could probably skip season one altogether), is some of the most intelligent, enlightened, urbane and deftly delivered comedy in the last half century.

By: Tiggy

Tiggy — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:49:48 +0000

To make up for the pain and misery of Mr Bean, watch the League Of Gentlemen! Brilliant storylines, gruesome characters and horribly funny.

And the 1950s radio show The Goon Show (Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers) is possibly the funniset thing you’ll ever hear. Without it, there would have been no Monty Python!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:51:00 +0000

I like some British comedies: Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Are You Being Served?, The Young Ones, and Red Dwarf. Red Dwarf is a long love of mine.

By: Gaz

Gaz — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:51:43 +0000

No, it’s nothing to do with British humo(u)r - Little Britain USA is also terrible and unfunny, imho, even by British standards. Blame the quality control of the US network that produced the rubbish.

I’m watching it in the UK and I have to say that it is an embarrassing attempt to be funny at best. It makes me cringe and so far I haven’t even managed to smile.

It’s a question of who you know and not what you know unfortunately: the “comedians” involved produced some terrible television in the UK as well but as a result, it seems, of personal connections with a friend from university (who was in a powerful position in terms of commissioning programmes in the UK) were given another chance to demonstrate their “talent”. I wonder if the same thing will happen again.

It’s just a flop plain and simple.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:36:21 +0000

Monty Python is awesome. Benny Hill = horribly overrated. NOT FUNNY AT ALL.

Tyler Perry, however, is pure comic genius.