UK, USA & Aussie comedy? AND

[Gomendosi]

This is a crosshatch of all humour, not any specific show, although I do use a few names for general examples I am speaking in broader terms here.



I have found that a lot of Australian humour links closely with the British because we here are UK cast-offs after all LOL. The thing I have noticed lately is that while Australia has been seeing a lot of American humour in the last 25+ years it doesn?t really mesh as well with our own humour, it tends to be more brash, outspoken and slightly darker while British and Aussie humour is more buoyant, fanciful, it takes the piss but isn?t demeaning, instead it?s more self deprecating.
Aussie humour I think comes from a more character or personality driven base, English humour is derived mostly from scenarios and settings while Americans tend to lean toward slapstick or physical humour.

Now, this is where I bring in the Canucks, Canadian humour is on the rise for me lately, largely in part due to the brilliant internet (specifically for getting shows not shown here), the only thing I remember being from Canada as a child was the brilliant ?Beachcombers? (probably there are more but memory isn?t up to it just now). I know they have been behind the scenes, shaping American humour and the US is making a lot of its shows in Canada as well so maybe the humour rubs off, but only in the last say, ten years have I been able to delight in things like ?Trailer Park Boys? and ?Corner Gas? and ?InSecurity? which seem to be true Canadian humour and fits well with Australian sentiment.

Now, if only somebody would provide English subtitles on a DVD release of the show: ?Les Bougons, C'est Aussi ?a La Vie?? This translates to ?The Bogan?s, This Is Also Life?.

New Zealand I am noticing as well, has a lot to offer, anybody seen? The Almighty Johnsons? or ?The Insiders Guide to Love? or ?The Insiders Guide to Happiness? or how about, ?Outrageous Fortune?.
There seems to be a wealth of hilarious French films too that I have seen and I cannot get enough of them, the Hollywood remakes rarely do the original any justice though but at least they draw attention to the comedy of another culture. Of late I have acquired a couple of South African films that promise to be a hoot if I can just immerse into the accent, I often find that the accent is the killer with comedy not the translation to a different geography, obviously geographic humour can be specific like when mentioning people, places, products or events specific to your part of the world but as we are more accepting of foreign cinema and television more and more, we see each country is trying to generalise the humour more for an international audience.

Well that?s enough for today kids, next we go to more Asian countries to find out about the funny shows I?ve watched of theirs such as;
?Takeshi's Castle? and My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho [Nine Tailed Fox]? And don?t get me started on Japanese animation for comedy!



What are your thoughts on laughs delivered from abroad?

 

[Bay]

Well, "Flight of the Conchords" would probably be a hybrid, as it was an American show starring New Zealanders Brett McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, but it was hilarious and my favorite show when it was on cable, on HBO. I can't say that I have seen any Aussie comedies here on American TV, though I suppose I could find something on YouTube.

I thought the British "In-Betweeners" was also quite funny, as was "Father Ted," and "Keeping Up Appearances", and I will love Monty Python until the day I die.

Hollywood remakes are invariably abysmal, even when it's a remake of a Hollywood product.

 

[Flinty]

Now, this is where I bring in the Canucks, Canadian humour is on the rise for me lately, largely in part due to the brilliant internet (specifically for getting shows not shown here), the only thing I remember being from Canada as a child was the brilliant ‘Beachcombers’ (probably there are more but memory isn’t up to it just now). I know they have been behind the scenes, shaping American humour and the US is making a lot of its shows in Canada as well so maybe the humour rubs off, but only in the last say, ten years have I been able to delight in things like ‘Trailer Park Boys’ and ‘Corner Gas’ and ‘InSecurity’ which seem to be true Canadian humour and fits well with Australian sentiment.

It's time to be honest: you've watched most of the good Canadian sitcoms ever made. We used to be horrendous at the format; we didn't even try in the 1980s and most of the 1990s. You could try to find our show called The Newsroom from the mid-90s, but that's about it. Made In Canada, which is called The Industry in other countries, is hilarious for Canadians but is too much inside baseball elsewhere. After that, it's just King of Kensington, which is just a conventional 1970s sitcom set in Toronto.

Our actual specialty is sketch comedy. Some of it is just for us: 22 Minutes and Royal Canadian Air Farce. But we've given the world the gifts of SCTV, Kids In The Hall, Red Green, and even You Can't Do That On Television.

Growing up at the corner of Nowhere and Oblivion, we only got American comedy. It can get rather caustic, and since the early 1990s, there seems to be a race among sitcoms to create the dumbest possible character. Actually, earlier than that now that I think of Woody Boyd and Bull Shannon. My sole experience with Australian comedy was Funky Squad, but is that one typical?

Oh, and about The Beachcombers: we made tons of jokes about it at the time, mostly because the show ran forever. But we were also disappointed when the CBC cancelled it, if only because many of us hated the cuts to CBC of the time.

 

[LikeyouToMe]

It depends I think.

I'm not too fused as long as the bugger is funny.

I adore Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Rik Mayall, Bill Bailey, Greg Davies, Steve Hughes, Rufus Hound but love Reginald D Hunter, Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, Sarah Millican, Chris Addison, Dara O'Briain, Joe Rogan and such.

there are too many funny TV shows too, Mrs. Brown's Boys is just so so wrong (in the good way), along with Bottom, The Young Ones, Red Dwarf, Men Beahaving Badly, Absolutely Fabulous, Black Adder and such are all absolutely genius along with Misfits.