"British Humour"

[Nobody Soup]

the british think everything in the known universe looks like willies, or a load of willies selotaped together to make different shapes.

[Dark Sky]

Except, oddly, for willies themselves, which always look a bit...well...wrong, to me.

[biggytitbo]

The British think sausages are funny because they look like willies.

Exactly, that's why we're better.

[confettiinmyhair]

I remember a thread on this forum that introduced me to Næturvaktin, that was shown on BBC4. I'm also been reading various Scandanavian crime writers this year. But prior to this year, culturally a whole section of Europe was unknown to me. It's amazing what you can experience when you broaden your horizons, even slightly. I think a lot of people write off American Humour, or anything other than British humour for those reasons, they simply aren't immersing themselves in a world outside their comfort zone.

[Jobey]

Hey original poster, I think you are in the wrong forum.

[phes]

The US started handing up pieces of our ass on a plate over five years ago now and they're still going.

[Zetetic]

"Youse"
Classic.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Was it Lithuania where Norman Wisdom is/was/forever will be worshipped as a Pagan Fertility God?

Wrong ania- Alb was the ania you were looking for.

Ania.

[Bumhat]

British people have the sum total of one other English speaking country to compare their TV comedy to, taking out trailer park boys and kath and kim.  The fact that this somehow equates to a global battle of the senses of humour is the maddest thing of all.

Lets face it unless you are a rare non monoglot Brit you are not going to devouring the rest of the worlds comedy output to give you a broader comparison.

There is an element of truth in every cliche though and you dont get a reputation for having a good sense of humour without it having some basis in fact.  Same as any less desirable reputations like arrogance and parochialism.

[BritishHobo]

As far as I can see, the only things which remain distinctively "British" in (some) British comedies are:

1) lower classes / underdogs [US comedies do seem to favour those with good jobs, at the top of their profession.  Even in Arrested Development where the family has lost nearly everything, they still have a lot of the luxuries of wealth and high society living].

2) a sense of underlying bleakness/nastiness [whereas US comedies tend to be 'feel good'...that's probably one of the biggest differences between the UK and US versions of The Office, for example]

Any examples of those things in US comedies which destroy my theory welcome!

Not enough to prove your theory wrong (it seems generally right-on), but I rarely get a chance to mention these shows: The Middle (a show which fucking astounded me in its Christmas episode this year by doing a plotline where one of the children lost their faith in Christianity to the disappointment of the other, without being preachy or even taking sides), and My Name is Earl and its spiritual successor in Raising Hope. All pretty great shows dealing with Americans struggling to survive in the working class. Actually, probably less so with My Name Is Earl, and perhaps Raising Hope, but The Middle especially is a pretty interesting/entertaining look at a family struggling with money.

But, as with your second point, they always end hopefully. They all have their friends and family, everybody comes together at the end, everything's happy and cheerful and they can all pull through their problems with the power of love.

Back to the topic at hand.