How does humour vary in different countries?

In pretty much every review I saw of Death at A Funeral, it had the phrase 'British humour' in (if I hear that phrase one more time I think I will scream but for the sake of this thread you are allowed to mention it). So what is British humour? What is American humour? Is humour universal or are there things that one country will find hilarious and another will look confused?

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Well, you may hate it, but I do think it's a "thing." Though I'll be darned if I can actually define it.

If I had to pick a few things, I'd say I expect British comedies to slant a little more to the absurd or the situational than the scathing or the witty. Of course, as soon as I type that I start thinking of exceptions, like In the Loop, but that doesn't mean there isn't a tendency. The cliche about Brits is, of course, that they're very refined and proper, at least compared to my own folks, Americans. This probably isn't nearly as true as it once was, or as it seems to some, but I do feel like a British comedy is more likely to make use of that perceived contrast, and derive humor from issues of decorum or societal practice. But, again, exceptions abound.

I do think the two might be merging a bit, anyway, since we probably share more media than ever.

This is a cool question. From what I can tell about French humour, it seems to stem from being literal at all through being wry and exaggerated. It can be cruel but doesn't really border near offensive, as if their more intense humour was even based around black comedy and everything else targets others sex lives. At least that's what I gather from the movies I've seen

American humor overall seems to be simple and low brow and that's why British humour is fairly unpopular to the general public. I mean the two best examples of American humor are Crank and Grandma's Boy, and outside of that there's rarely anything profoundly funny

Are you suggesting that Crank and Grandma's Boy are what you find to be the "best" of American comedy, or that you think they best exemplify whatever it is?

Great Britain likes sexual innuendo puns more than Americans, or at least the writers do. When Benny Hill wasn't doing visual gags, verbally it was practically all sex puns. Certain old sitcoms depended on it a lot like Are You Being Served? There was this British comic, whose name escapes me at the moment, but I saw two sitcoms of his and all the gags were like that. One of his shows I think was called Up Pompeii and the whole show was that. My father thought it was hilarious.

The latter because they symbolize the general consensus of what the average American will find funny: raunchy humor and random craziness both of which are highly digestible

Ah. Well, I can't say I agree. Crank isn't even a comedy, and Grandma's Boy made a grand total of $6 million domestically, so it can't have struck too close to the heart of American comedic sensibilities.

I think any attempt to boil American humor down to a film or two (though I'm dubious of any such attempt to begin with) would have to pick something that's at least quite popular/successful. Perhaps The Hangover, though that's just among very recent films. If you go with things like adjusted box office, you're looking at stuff like Beverly Hills Cop, the Austin Powers series, Home Alone, etc. Pretty varied stuff; only Austin Powers is raunchy, and just as often it's more cheeky innuendo or Bond-skewering than anything else.

But really, it depends on who you ask, and what you're asking. In terms of modern box office, it might be Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell (usually). In terms of people who fancy themselves movie lovers, it's Dr. Strangelove and maybe Groundhog Day. If we're comparing the best comedy in one country to another, I don't think Americans have a thing to be ashamed of. If we're just going by the degree of public consumption, then I can buy that there's a bit more acceptance of raunchiness, but I think it's mostly relegated to rentals and small pockets of people. The one big, raunchy, runaway hit that comes to mind is There's Something About Mary.

It's a tough question to answer in part because, in America, we still see the stupid comedies like Grandma's Boy even if we're not interested in them, whereas if there's some poorly-received low-brow European comedy, we probably won't ever hear about it. Unless we dig quite deep into foreign comedies, we're generally only going to see the really popular stuff from across the pond, which is bound to exclude the really bad stuff.

I wouldn't judge something like that from box office. Unless Grandma's Boy is just extremely popular in Michigan alone, it did very well after word-of-mouth set in. Crank I view as a comedy because it can easily be perceived as a parody of action through being ten times as ridiculous, which gives it an overall humorous tinge.Digging deep into a scene is when you find gems, same goes for music, but technically that discussion doesn't pertain to topic

Ouch. I would say British humour can be very witty, although it's not as scathing as I'd like. It's normally an observation of social norms/manners, and culture clashes.

Now to define American humour, hee hee...I think there are two types. There's the 'gross-out' slapstick style of humour that I don't think the British will ever wholeheartedly take to and then you have attacks on the American Dream/America.

French humour...I keep thinking of Monsieur Hulot.

Ooh, and another thing- why are the British pretty much always villains in American films? Are we that scary?

American movies comedies are far these days from the sophisticated humor of 1930s screwball comedies and the clever wordplay in Marx Brothers movies. But the British have done plenty of crude comedies as well. It's not all Monty Python. The Carry On movies aren't sophisticated romps. Some of them are pretty funny and some like the later ones are pretty crude and pretty bad. And some British comics are capable of both. Dudley Moore and Peter Cook are clever comics in Bedazzled and crudely unfunny in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

fear of things we don't understand, the usual

It's an urban legend. It isn't true. The British just think it is true. For every movie you mention a British actor plays a villain, I can name one where he isn't.

Of course you can. We don't think we're the bad guys in every movie. We're just amused (and possibly a bit taken aback) when we first realise we've been a staple at certain times.

I think as much as anything it can be a convenience thing - you get an actor that's intelligible (mostly ), but also slightly 'alien'. (I wouldn't say it's all residual tea-bagging or anything )

I'd still love someone to redub the Star Wars Empire with US accents, just for the odd disconnect it'd provide

*EDIT* ****, actually, now I think of it, having Luke with a wheedly little UK accent would be fun too. All the 'Allies' Brit-ed up. (Except Sir Alec, who would be voiced by Javier Bardem )

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Oh, definitely. There was one particular British gem called Sex Lives of The Potato Men, funded by our National Lottery of all things.

We like verbal innuendo, I think. I love verbal innuendo.

If you want a classy, civilized villain, you get a British actor because American actors who could do it like Vincent Price and Clifton Webb don't exist anymore. if you want a crude violent slob you get an American. I don't understand why the British should be offended by that.

Perhaps, but there does seem to be loads. If they're not villains, they're insufferable toffs or cockney lads.

Will, that was Frankie Howerd . one of the old comedians who started in Music Hall.
I agree about the sexual innuendo. The use of double entendres was endemic in Music Hall and in the radio comedies of the 1940s and 50s. I think it was a game between the comics and the BBC as to who could say something without being censored . Have a listen to from the 1960s featuring overtly camp Julian and Sandy.

One of the major differences between US humour and UK humour is our UK humour based on the class system. There's endless shows either taking the piss out of the working class or the upper class or the working class emulating the upper class..an endless source of humour that's still going strong.

Certainly it can be very witty; I'm just talking about what I think it tends to gravitate to. I don't think any country is particularly more witty than another; it's a matter of choice and taste, not capability.

I don't grant the premise. If there seems to be a lot, I'd say it's just that a) the unfamiliar makes for a better villain in general and b) everybody is more likely to notice when their own people are portrayed this way, and thus the frequency of it happening is often exaggerated.

That said, if a German or a Russian made the same complaint, I doubt I'd argue.

In all seriousness, though, I think I see positive connotations far more often; British accents are often used to denote sophistication and worldliness in general. Plenty of positive stereotypes out there, too.

I'd say it's nothing more or less than fear of "the other." Which is far from a uniquely American trait.

Plus, we did sort of fight them for independence, so they're a convenient foil; take that, King George/Ricky Gervais!

I wonder how the Brits portray Americans in their comedies? Actually, I can't think of many, unless it happens to be a mixed nationality thing. Now I'm annoyed because I'm sure there must be some...There's probably been some used for 'culture clash' style humour.

I agree with the class thing too. Yep, for me British humour is about culture clash, whether it's race, class...anything really. How much does that resonate with other countries, I wonder?

There was an interesting radio programme I missed about a British comedian who travelled to different countries to sample and contrast their humour with ours and other countries.

"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it."--E.B. White

Types of humor:

1) Exaggeration
2) The Pun
3) The Put-Down
4) Silliness
5) Surprise

Im not really that familiar with British humor. But I do know that American humor will often use all types of humor. We get bored easily. We need variety.