What is the most British comedy ever made?

[BeardFaceMan]

Snoop loves a bit of Benny Hill too, its actually suprising how many rappers are into Benny Hill. I mean, any number bigger than 0 is suprising,  but still.

[up_the_hampipe]

Snoop loves a bit of Benny Hill too, its actually suprising how many rappers are into Benny Hill. I mean, any number bigger than 0 is suprising,  but still.

Benny Hill is inexplicably popular in America generally.

[Blumf]

15 Storey's High

IIRC Sean Lock took inspiration from some Scandinavian film for that (still one of the best sitcoms ever)



Has anyone mentioned 'Allo 'Allo! yet? Seems a very British form of farce there, and I don't think anywhere else would do the subject (something set in a foreign country, involving mostly foreign characters, in a rather dark period of history)

[poodlefaker]

Are You Being Served?

It has class-based stuff, innuendo rammed down your throat, ageism, sexism, homophobia, noone can be fucked with doing their job. Microcosm.

Pretty sure AYBS was fairly big in the US

[Ornlu]

Harry Hill.

[Jittlebags]

Yus, My Dear.

[Twed]

Pretty sure AYBS was fairly big in the US

Another thing that Americans seem to get somehow is Keeping Up Appearances. I guess the contrast of Onslow and co versus Hyacinth made the class-based pretentiousness stark enough.

(Onslow as a name really needs to come back into fashion)

[thenoise]

To the Manor Born

[DrGreggles]

Harry Hill.

I saw Harry on Letterman (or similar) about 15 years ago - went down a storm.
Genuinely surprised me on both counts.

[Small Man Big Horse]

If we go by atrocious remakes, maybe Red Dwarf or Peep Show with their sensibilities.

Oddly enough I watched the US remake of Peep Show yesterday and it is indeed horrendous. At one point there version of Mark (played by Johnny Galecki) thinks "I am the strongest and most handsome man in the world" which just goes to show how badly they misjudged it.

Oh, and so I can beat SMBH to the punch, 15 Storey's High. Perfect representation of yer modern British narcissist, extremely relateable and full of bleakness and whimsy in equal measure.

I was going to go for Detectorists first, but 15 Storey's High would come a close second.

[rectorofstiffkey]

An American visitor once told us that he had seen the most shocking programme he had ever seen on the BBC the previous night, and still seemed quite shaken by it.  On gentle questioning, it turned out to be the Vicar of Dibley.

(it was the episode with Jim's strip and the farting duck, and it wasn't clear which one of those had been considered so disturbing).

So on a sample of 1, that doesn't seem to translate well.

[NurseNugent]

Another thing that Americans seem to get somehow is Keeping Up Appearances. I guess the contrast of Onslow and co versus Hyacinth made the class-based pretentiousness stark enough.

(Onslow as a name really needs to come back into fashion)

Isn't Keeping Up Appearances massive in Belgium and The Netherlands or is that some sort of myth?

[Chriddof]

Harry Hill was indeed on Letterman, and in fact I think he was on it more than once. I recall one bit in one of Letterman's opening monologues where out of nowhere he made a reference to Harry - just pulled out one side of his jacket and said, "D'ya like the lining?", at which the audience cheered in recognition.

And yeah, Are You Being Served is very well-known in America. It seems to be considered as more an old people's show there, though. I've seen a number of Americans on Youtube praise Peep Show, and David Mitchell in general. And following up the rappers liking Benny Hill thing, Frank Black / Black Francis of the Pixies is a fan of One Foot In The Grave.

[The Culture Bunker]

When I visited LA back in 2005, there had a channel that seemed to show nothing but Keeping Up Appearances and Last of the Summer Wine, with the odd Fawlty Tower thrown in. So I guess there is an audience for it.

On a vaguely related tangent (as it's not a comedy), but eternal 60s-timewarp-paradox drama Heartbeat was/is hugely popular in Estonia.

[Old Nehamkin]

Harry Hill was indeed on Letterman, and in fact I think he was on it more than once. I recall one bit in one of Letterman's opening monologues where out of nowhere he made a reference to Harry - just pulled out one side of his jacket and said, "D'ya like the lining?", at which the audience cheered in recognition.

Not only that, I'm pretty sure he made a direct (non-verbal) reference to that bit just prior to the monologue on his final ever show in 2015:

https://youtu.be/7fakUXT0dvE (around 2:10)

[Norton Canes]

'Allo 'Allo!

[jobotic]

Derek.

[non capisco]

Benny Hill is inexplicably popular in America generally.

He really is, still. My mate's mum was one of the Hill's Angels and this blew the minds of some guys I was drinking with when I was in New Orleans the other year. "Tell her I used to beat off to her!" shouted an excitable J.K Simmons lookalike who called himself 'Prophet'. I didn't, in the end.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

If we go by atrocious remakes, maybe Red Dwarf or Peep Show with their sensibilities.

The remakes may well have been terrible, but neither seems inherently British to me. If you boil them down, they're both classic odd couple sitcoms (two couples in the case of Red Dwarf).

I often see it said that Americans don't think of class like we do, but I don't know about that. For example, you wouldn't expect to see a redneck character mixing with the old money types at an ivy league university, unless that was the joke. "Different League. Coming this fall to ABCBS."

[Nowhere Man]

It's probably more likely that at least one of those stereotypes would be a more one sided character in the Yank version though, Brits are/were typically better at showing pathos towards characters that would otherwise be a villain or the weirdo in the US version. It's unlikelier for us to relate to a character that's constantly winning at life. We often root for the underdogs, not winners. That's why the likes of yer Tony Hancock's, Harold Steptoe, Eddie Hitler, Victor Meldrew or Del Boy's don't translate to America in quite the same way. I'm a big fan of the US Office, but they purposely never make Michael Scott too much of a sad sack loser, because much of the audience would get turned off if he was pathetic as David Brent.

All things considered I think The League of Gentleman would have to toughest time finding an audience in America.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I can imagine an American would find the Pheonix Nights absolutely baffling.

[Dannyhood91]

I'd say Vic & Bob but Tim & Eric are sort of their American counterparts.

I'll have to say either Dads Army or The Good Life

[McChesney Duntz]

Almost everything that's been mentioned in this thread has a pretty healthy following in the States. Some more than others, for sure, but there's a wide Anglophilic strain in these parts that appreciates all flavo(u)rs of British humo(u)r.

I'll tell you what never caught on over here - imported onto PBS during one of Python's absentee periods and gone within a couple of months, never to be seen again on domestic US screens these last four decades:

The Goodies.

[Rolf Lundgren]

Phoenix Nights is a great shout.

I love the fact that Only Fools and Horses, a show which you'd think would have it's success confined to the UK, is hugely popular in Serbia.

[Nowhere Man]

Almost everything that's been mentioned in this thread has a pretty healthy following in the States. Some more than others, for sure, but there's a wide Anglophilic strain in these parts that appreciates all flavo(u)rs of British humo(u)r.

I'll tell you what never caught on over here - imported onto PBS during one of Python's absentee periods and gone within a couple of months, never to be seen again on domestic US screens these last four decades:

The Goodies.

It's all perspective though isn't it? Besides Benny Hill or Monty Python I guarantee pretty much everything mentioned in this thread hasn't reached US mainstream audience in the way the likes of Friends, Big Bang Theory, Simpsons, Modern Family ect has in the UK. Even Doctor Who was still effectively a little cult show in America up until the David Tennant era.

(Although The UK has created a lot of big actors/actresses and stuff i.e as featured in many a Hollywood blockbuster)

[Swift]

Limmy's show is on Netflix here in Canada and I can't imagine anyone over here really getting it, even if they could understand the accents.

[MuteBanana]

The remakes may well have been terrible, but neither seems inherently British to me. If you boil them down, they're both classic odd couple sitcoms (two couples in the case of Red Dwarf).

I often see it said that Americans don't think of class like we do, but I don't know about that. For example, you wouldn't expect to see a redneck character mixing with the old money types at an ivy league university, unless that was the joke. "Different League. Coming this fall to ABCBS."

Marty vs Frasier and Niles. Lorelai Gilmore vs her parents in Gilmore Girls. Ray and Robert vs Frank Barone in Everybody Love Raymond.  I think would be considered subtle comparisons to something like Keeping Up Appearances.

[Twed]

I think that most American class dynamics in sitcoms just boil down to snootiness/education versus white collar (which is often the case in UK comedies too, but there is rarely any upstairs/downstairs class dynamic in US stuff).

[easytarget]

Keeping Up Appearances and Are you Being Served were both shown on PBS - I think Americans get the class thing (and hardly subtle in those shows is it? - see also Downton Abbey)

My suggestion for most untranslatable British comedy is I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.

Laser display board
Uxbridge English Dictionary
Mornington Crescent.

What the fuck is going on there, brosephs?

[thenoise]

I think that most American class dynamics in sitcoms just boil down to snootiness/education versus white collar (which is often the case in UK comedies too, but there is rarely any upstairs/downstairs class dynamic in US stuff).

I can't think of an American equivalent to the Mainwaring/Wilson dynamic in Dad's Army.  Mainwaring is Wilson's boss in civilian life and senior officer in the Home Guard, and yet retains a chip on his shoulder for his privileged upbringing and effortless upper class charm etc.  An American Mainwaring would be proud of their humble roots.  Wilson would be the pompous one.  I think.

However I don't think that most British comedy = Americans don't find it funny, any more than British people would only like American shows that could be made here.  Prime era Simpsons could only have come from America, and is popular everywhere.