Poll: American or British Comedy?

[Gary Harper]

I'd say American comedies are better with a gun to my head, but only because it would be an American doing the gun-pointing.

oh of course mate, despite the fact that the british sas train the ameican army.

 

[PureChaos]

generally British but American can be good, too

 

[Beat14]

I like more American comedy, but the British stuff I do like has me laughing more, so I voted Brit.

 

[Srdjan]

I am not British and I don't like Brits very much but they have great comedy.

 

[TheTim]

American Comedy blows British Comedy away imo

 

[manaman]

British I guess. I may be biased but the Brits get sarcasm! Also, we get Blackadder, Monty Python, Red Dwarf. I will admit that the Brits have had their fair share of utterly crap "comedy" too, nodody's perfect.

I have nothing against American comedies, I just think British is better.

The person right above you named two wildly popular US shows based entierly around sarcasm.

I do believe people in the US get sarcasm just as much as the Brits do.

 

[anthony87]

I'm surprised that so many people have mentioned that they prefer British comedy yet hardly anyone has mentioned Father Ted.





It was produced by Channel 4, just in case anyone is wondering why all the actors are Irish.

 

[Ramin 123]

I can't stand American comedy. It feels so forced. Here in the UK we have by far the funniest people in the world, including but not restricted to; Bill Bailey, Frankie Boyle, Stephen Fry, Hugh Dennis, Hugh Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Dylan Moran, etc etc.

I'm too tired to think of more, and if I remembered all the great comedians we have, this post would resemble the Berlin Wall for the massive block of text.

So yeah, American comedy is crude and unwieldy, and British comedy is just that: comedy.

Stephen Fry isn't really funny...he's more charming and lovable than anything else. Frankie Boyle used to be funny for me but he's...too much of a **** now, like he's just a dickhead on stage, if he was English and said half the things he said he'd be nothing. Bill Bailey completely agree with you.

On another note, as someone who is from the British Isles I vote British with no shred of bias. There's very few "comedies" or "comedians" in the US of AAAA that I find hilarious or even remotely funny. You either have Chris Rock making racially motivated jokes or...in fact I can't even think of any decent one's. Like there's Bill Hicks who I find personally quite good, not brilliant but good but if someone can point me towards an American comedian that's actually funny by all means.

Edit: the guy above me is on the right track with comedy; funny story, I showed an American this show and they just stood there and barely laughed, yet had the cheek to look up a McDonalds advert and pissed themselves at it...yeah the difference between the two nations tastes in comedy are vast.

 

[imnot]

These American vs. British ANYTHING always end up in favor of the British, Escapist is more based in GB than the USA.

Also, this is a vs. thread.

Is it?

British, Thats my main reason for buying Fable 3.
(which is a fantastic game)

 

[BreakfastMan]

Britain has the IT Crowd and Monty Python, but America has Psych and MST3K. Hmm... Seems about even to me.

 

[Moriarty70]

Canadian comedy!
basically same thing as british comedy but more canadian.

I like to think we're British comedy, just a touch colder on the outside.

 

[manaman]

I'd say American comedies are better with a gun to my head, but only because it would be an American doing the gun-pointing.

oh of course mate, despite the fact that the british sas train the ameican army.

Since when? That would be like saying I trained the British military because two men sat in on classes on NATO standard communications equipment I taught in Georgia. Those men where there to brush up on the equipment so that they could, in turn, train others. British and US troops both run counter terrorism exercises and train together today, but the US does the same with Canada and all other NATO countries. We quite often train British troops (along with all other NATO countries) in the use of NATO standard equipment, and they in turn train US members in tactics. It's part of the long standing military alliances between the US and British, also between the US and Canada, and numerous other countries.

British special forces, and US troops have served with together or in officer exchange programs that have been running for decades, the programs help all allied militaries exchange information and tactics.

But this thread is about comedy. I wouldn't even have bothered to correct your misstatement if it wasn't so glaringly wrong and hate filled, and I wasn't in the mood.

 

[C117]

British. 'Cause this was the country that made Benny Hill, Monty Python and, most of all, Blackadder.

Oh, and Mr. Bean.

And the Dave Allen Show...

 

[emeraldrafael]

I just have one thing to say:

Monthy Python.

I dont agree with this, but it helps me lead into my point.

For me, the debate comes down to Monty Python Vs. Whitest Kids U' Know.

MP
<youtube=IqhlQfXUk7w>

WKUK
<spoiler=Warning, Mature (sexual, swearing, etc) Content mentioned><youtube=SIHHi790ldE>

Take what you will from it, but do not judge on the material used by the WKUK. Its both Sketch comedy at its best and most free.

So... as to my opinion, I dont know, I never saw much difference between the British Office and the American Office other then that the British one was longer. Other then that, theres not more difference to me between which is better.

So my answer is really neither.