Something that the Brits are supposedly
famous for. But what IS so special about our sense of
humour?
Something i have never understood - is it that our humour is funnier than everybody else's or is it just so offbeat that we are the only ones who find it funny?
Of course, in the past the British have released such comic marvels as Monty Python ("i fart in your general direction!") and Fawlty Towers which both did very well abroad, suggesting that we produce funny comedy (although both examples are down to the genious of John Cleese so it may well be a fluke).
But then you can take other British comedies and compare them to the imported American comedies that we receive, e.g:
against:
(b.t.w. this may be a bit of a biased view point as we really don't get many American comedies in Britain!!)
and it is possible to see a difference between the two styles - British humour is more ....
offensive.
Red Dwarf often relied on Lister insulting Rimmer while Kryton stirred food and drinks with his groin attachment; Allo Allo simply took the piss out of the French, Germans, English and anybody else they could get their hands on; Blackadder was always taking the piss out of Baldrick and i remember one episode where he served a parsnip shaped like a dick to his Puritan aunt; and finally the Fast Show - a sketch series where the most popular characters are udoubtedly the tailors with dirty minds "Suits you sir, ooh!" and the 3rd Duke of Wimbourne "Me? the 3rd Duke of Wimbourne in a French maids finishing school at 3 a.m.? with MY reputation?? Bingo!"
maybe that's it!! maybe it is the British tradition of taking the piss that is the key to our humour - we are just down right offensive bastards who whinge and complain about everything including the shitty British weather and how all British athletes are shit and we insult everybody from the French to the Irish to the Americans to ourselves! We insult our enemies and our friends alike, a sport that many nationalities do not understand (also see irony and dry sense of humour)
In fact - on the outside we are not very nice people at all, until you realise that to take the piss out of someone is one of the highest compliments a Brit can pay - it is like saying 'you're cool', 'you have a sense of humour' and 'i like you' all in one foul sentence.