You can’t beat British humour! One thing we are still best at in the world

[JennyTals]

I know it a time of terrible doom and gloom
trump, putin, shit weather, people struggling

but thank FUCK
for our good old sense of humor that keeps us strong !

Frasier is very funny but it isn’t typically American humour you are more often laughing at him and Niles is extremely socially awkward this is more like British humour writing than typically american

Larry David is brilliant at this Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm is more about the awkwardness of interactions and everyday life and laughing at characters than with them again more like British self deprecating humour (or Jewish humour)

Yes, not sure there are enough lemons to go round, some are sucking on far too many.

I can hear the scowling and lip pursing from my front room.

OrganicPlane yes Rumour has it that they (Reeves and Mortimer) fell out .No big row just didnt get on I guess .Everyone who is British will like different brands of humour I think . Mum was no early Feminist but wasnt keen on the dolly birds being chased routine with BH. Incidentally he had a sad life (as so many comedians seem to)and died alone in his late mothers house .He was a milkman when young and I guess that was the basis for "Ernie the fastest milkman in the west"

The thing with British humour is that a lot of it is based around shared culture and "in jokes" in a way that other countries don't do. I lived in Germany for a while, and though I speak German fluently, I often found myself accidently using British humour in German, and being met with blank stares and chirping crickets. I wanted to fall through the floor so many times!

It was funny if you watched it stoned (misspent younger days). Not particularly funny watching it straight.

Holy Grail was a bit 'out there', but Life of Brian was brilliant.

it's not
Foreigners are still puzzled by Benny Hill, Little Britain, Mr Bean 😂

It does make sense that each country finds things funnier when they're related to their own culture, and not everything translates well.

The only ones who think British humour is the elite are.. British. 😄

just pointing out that other nationalities find their own cultural humour funnier is hardly offensive. Cheer up.

Little Britain was classic, but very close to the line. DSis and I used to love it, but DM had an absolute raging hatred for it.

At that time, if you accidentally sent a SMS to a landline, what sounded like Tom Baker’s voice would “read it out” when you picked up messages. So we’d write down his best narrator line from LB every week, text it to DM’s landline and stand well back. 😂 We finally broke her with “British justice is the best in the world. Anyone who disagrees is either gay, a woman or a mental.”

World class humour, I'm sure.

As someone once said (I don’t know who) in Britain all compliments are insults and all insults are compliments. I guess that can be baffling to more direct cultures.

I think we are a culture where you have to be able to read between the lines because what we say is probably the opposite of what we mean.

Rather than being sour about our humour I think it’s one thing we can mostly be proud of. Of course there is unfunny stuff, or dated stuff, but that’s the same for every culture’s humour.

You probably had to be there (and aged about 17) tbf.

I wasn’t aiming it at you. In fact I’m sure I’ve responded to some of your posts with a thumbs up or funny emoji (and you me 😁) on the react option.

Again, I'm confused about what you're proud of and why?

And this isn't me being ashamed or snarky about British humour or comedy, much of which makes me - a Briton - laugh.

But I don't see how a nation liking its own sense of humour makes us exceptional, "best in the world" or something to be proud of. Please explain.

Nah. I think I’m done with you. Here, have a grinning emoji as a keepsake 😁

As another poster said you're being deliberately obtuse.

I am sorry I quoted the wrong post!

It's not even a funny mistake 😂

It’s getting beyond tedious. I used up my last precious grinning emoji on them though as I know how much they appreciate them. I wouldn’t give them my last Rolo though, that would be taking the piss!

Hilarious as your flippant comedy responses are, I'd be interested in your honest answer.

Found a spare one in my pocket. It’s a bit fluffy and sticky but hopefully I’ve wiped most of it off. Now this is the last one mind so please look after it (at least better than I did) 😁 No need to thank me, I feel we are nearly friends now.

Proud of you, hon.

Ok, I posted upthread about how many foreigners don't get our humour. However many do, and it's appreciated by other nationalities. I do think comedy is something we're good at and our humour is unique, so why not be proud of it? I have lived abroad in three other European countries and they don't place the same value on comedy. Their comedy shows were few and far between, and to be honest, they were bad!
Also, what I appreciate about British humour goes beyond the fact we've produced so many high quality comedy shows. It's the fact that we are humorous nation who incorporate comedy into to every day situations, even the most dire situations. When I've been abroad for extended periods (as I often have) and I come back to the UK, I notice how prevalent humour is here. A brief exchange with a ticket collector or shop assistant or a bus driver will often involve a joke or a laugh. I know people cringe at the term "office banter" but I still do enjoy the laughs we have at work.
I have in-laws in India who assume all British people are very serious but I actually think we're not serious at all. We don't take ourselves too seriously and we get a lot of pleasure from "having a laugh".

Nowt wrong with being proud of being British. 🇬🇧
Doesn’t matter how shit it gets we still have the ability to see positives. Bit like English football 🤣

We were in Havana two years ago, and spent a lot of time walking around the city in places tourists don't normally venture to. A lot of curious locals would stop and chat to us. When they asked us where we were from and we replied England, almost every one of them exclaimed "Ali G" some got really excited. We couldn't quite understand why the Ali G character was so popular to Cubans and even how his comedy would translate to them. Most odd.

They're going to be so disappointed by Staines.