Humour! British VS American

so I just flew in from Rio and boy are my arms tired because I was holding a camera the whole time loving is difficult I really thought that well hello there and welcome back to my channel today I'm here with my good friends amazed Luke hails from England I hail from the US you know what time it is it's the British first American today talking about humour comedy funny stuff and today's video is also brought to bear sponsor sky comedy which we'll be hearing more about at the end of today's video basically they have brought all the American humor American comedy over to Britain and now we're gonna spend 10 minutes were I don't say too many bad things about American humor Wow I enjoy American comedy quite a lot yeah the main thing you see on the Internet is the American comedy is easier or like slap shot but I've disagree a lot I think that's the surface level yeah that's very stereotypical people say yeah but I think about mr. bean she's very British and very slapstick okay mr. bean is like the most yes so good British comedy is I think personally more subtle British comedy I think it's like a mirror things like The Office for example or like black hat like taking stereotypes that are in British culture like for example the office you've got like the boss who's like a bit of an idiot a little bit mean but also deep down secretly really insecure and it's showing a mirror of going you're one of these and all the other people who you think are the way they are actually have a whole other side to them as well and I think that's really lovely because I know a lot of American shows that I very much appreciate the comedy for are very similar to that but the one thing that does unites a lot of them which does come in a stereotype but I do think is true is we really enjoy that character that is downtrodden and wins ah we have the opposite we very much like that American Dream character and job in Parks and Recreation specifically you have one character who's working in a very boring environment similar to like the UK office yet bureaucracy she works in a small town Parks and Recreation Department of the government yeah she really loves her job everyone else hates the job yeah her job is to power through and be the best yes and you're like you can do Leslie yeah you you guys very much like to be sold the idea that like if you work really hard you definitely will get the thing that you want even though that might not actually hold out with the statistics I don't know where as Britain absolutely love like things failing and like yeah everything going wrong and like complete comedy of errors and everything's awful and like the idiot stays an idiot and never learns and then we're like yeah that's what life's like and it's so much fun when Hot Fuzz came out I was very American at the time and I don't think that really affects this much except that I remember not being able to get much my read watch the whole thing was kind of like oh I get it but it wasn't really that funny is that because it's like is that a subtlety they think it might have been a cultural divide I don't know and it's very subtle there's so many really funny subtle jokes of like with the Swan or with the like there's that I didn't pick up until the second or the third time I feel like maybe that's because you are when we're watching something about how FAR's by the way a very British comedy Simon Pegg yeah at one of my favorite films of all time we are seeing stereotypes we're seeing like things that are in British culture people you would account encounter in the British world so we see them and we see through the kind of masks they're trying to put up whereas because you haven't grown up here I think you're seeing them and taking them at face value and being like yeah absolutely and we're like no not at all so like for example how fast starts out with like the best police officer being sent away to a different part of the country because he's making everybody else look bad yeah he's made so good that everyone else looks like a rubbish cop they got one to get rid of him and we're like yeah that kinda have that would happen in like a British workplace in the US he would just be fired so they could hire someone that doesn't get pay as much it was that a joke that works or no I think personally that in British comedy we have a bit more of like leeway no no I think we we very much make comedy about what life is actually like whereas I think American comedy from my experience of seeing it is like escapist I would disagree that a lot of our stuff is about escapism only because I do feel like even though we do have a huge category like that there's also loads of just situational comedy shows Seinfeld specifically was situational comedy yes this could happen to anyone that everyone has a roommate like this and also Kirby enthusiasm is another channel that is just about a guy being annoyed at those little things that we all get annoyed with but he's the only one that's a big enough butthole sure to do it yeah I mean I think I think in any category is always gonna be like massive outliers like for example we in Britain have the Mighty Boosh which does know I don't get it still it doesn't follow any rule of any kind of TV show or comedy or anything it's just literally utter surrealism when you list a bunch of like the best American comedies like Seinfeld all these kind of things past and read those to me from my experience and I'm like growing up on British TV those are actually closer to what British TV is like I think so you're saying our good stuff is similar to your stuff that's a bit conceited I find that like British people are more easily able to make fun of each other without saying it's a joke so if I was like if it wasn't a stick yes it was a really bad day out and I went oh beautiful weather isn't it sure that would be very British of being like oh no it's not no no no I think I mean I definitely like they'll be American people watching this who uh who they think I've got is a very sarcastic person as in America as well yeah that's very true I mean I think there'll be American people who were listening to me who think I've got it completely wrong I'm very much basing my understanding of American what I would call American comedy mm-hmm on when we've had a hit show in Britain and the American version of it has come out and it's nothing like the British version and so the difference to me when the America's to remake issue is it a remake issue I just yeah because I know that the I personally do prefer the u.s. office now that's probably one that people expect me to talk about a lot sure what's interesting about the u.s. office is the first season wasn't that great because they tried so hard to make it like the UK and so Michael Scott has had him like an unfitting suit so it was a bit tight and uncomfortable his hair was slicked back to be like that gross to his friend is like yeah skin sweaty and yeah and because he was so gross as a character and he was like racist and misogynistic nobody could really enjoy him as a character and so it's interesting is for season two they completely stopped doing it like that they made him look nice they made him a nice character they stopped making him this evil person and made it more like a just a bit of an idiot and so that works more but you know that to me is exactly the point when you said no one really could understand or like him as a character well if that's a person little visit TV shows that has to last you don't want to no one likes this but so that's what I mean is that the office I think was like an absolute breakthrough of going you know people this is before the internet wouldn't understand each other's lives as much people didn't like talk outside of their social groups like that kind of thing and and so the office came along and people were working in offices and it picked like a bunch of people as like stereotypes of the office person yeah and it goes like even you're like horrible like rude racist boss has like they actually really soft baby core inside it as well is it okay right I think I've seen bits of it the saddest moments of the US Office are when Michael like will give it aside I remember there's just one scene that really made me sad involving him just saying I'm hoping one day to have like seven kids yeah I want a lot of kids so that way I can always have a friend yeah and you're like oh this man like you feel so bad for you like you've just wanted him to succeed in that American Dream that way to be fair US office has such a wonderful ending is oh you've seen the ending yeah I cried yeah you so haven't seen the ending of the UK I can't remember the ending the UK women I've seen the first three episodes it was totes so dry yeah dry humor where do your established longtime most famous comedians where do they come from because a lot of ours come from like Oxford University Haley yeah Stephen Fry like some of the guys from Monty Python like a low like high earning these days less so but like the really established rule imagined that's right cause agree don't agree boys a class thing like there's a lot and like we also have like less honestly art can meet stand-up comedians come from all classes Oh times they do poke fun at everything from all classes of John mulaney's with my favorite he's from Chicago I wanted to specifically talk about Seinfeld because one it is one of my favorite all-time shows it is you it is so American that yeah a lot of other countries don't get I find it's good because it's situational but one thing it does have a laugh track which yeah are there any UK shows with laugh tracks not off the top of my head I'm sure they exist but like it's very much and I think an American oh by the way when I say laugh track I'm fairly certain Seinfeld isn't really a laugh track as much as it's filmed in front of a live studio so it's not like ha ha ha ha ha a laugh track yeah yeah it's a recording of laughter which triggers your brain to go that was funny why are you finding it funny you weirdo but I never found the laugh rafters you to be as often and it's always it's not just like hey guys ha ha ha it's at the the well-written and times comedy part yeah yeah specifically I wanted to talk about the show because the one character George Costanza is in my opinion that British comedy embodiment where he's just a guy that's down on his luck everything goes wrong for him he's the straight guy not the straight guys in the non gay guy in comedy you have a person called the straight guy he's a Michael in an Arrested Development is the straight guy you know that Seinfeld George Costanza has this thing where just he can't get women he lives with his parents you know his job stops everything sucks for him yeah and then Elaine is usually the opposite and you kind of and Jerry middle a lot of the comedy that comes with Jerry is him dating these beautiful women yes and then finding a small thing to be like she has man hands man hands it's you that's my voice I mean I'm sure it exists but the idea of a writers room is not part of British comedy what can I say that very what British TV is generally written by like one or two people maybe three like it's not a thing where you like buy in the best writers in Hollywood to like make your thing great it's very much comes from like one or two people I watch shows like community or shows like parks recreation where you can tell there's so many well time jokes even new girl I remember like there's so many episodes with so many jokes inside I like that yes but that's because in my opinion interpreting opinions like the the show the person who creates the show basically sets a bunch of rules about how the universe they work in react work so that pretty much any great writer can write for ya anyone can write for Homer Simpson anyone can write for loretta development for Michael Bluth or for whoever as long as they know that dynamic as long as they know the dynamics and the confines of the world Iranian you can just bring it and that's why your shows last much longer is because you can just keep bringing in new town and new ideas and new ideas whereas we have like a few people right like James Corden and oh did you like devastates girl what's her name Ruth Cho Ruth Jones of course wonderful wonderful writer and TA they come out of a few people and they tell the story of how that person sees the world rather than like serving whatever the creator of the show is made I guess that's weird to me because I was thought that it was multiple people contributing to their ideas it's probably a mixture of like there's less money in the because you guys have 300 million people whereas we have 70 million people there's less money there's less TV channels we have a slightly less commercial TV world than the Americas do ya false okay to remakes of Gavin and Stacey were attempted Ruth Jones specifically for The Ballad she'll have made some money off about the first one which there's some about the rights for they wrote some things that went now anyone they then you know went into production yeah like mmm no the third one the company got it they produced the episodes they were like there was supposed to be 12 and then they were like okay we've got it down to six now were you like and then they went these are not going to be released but I think that might be maybe because you just doesn't translate yeah so instead of a person from warehousing a personal message yeah to make it American they made it a person from New Jersey by you and the person from South Carolina so still East Coast both but I don't know if that makes sense I don't know what that means Jersey ethics and South Carolina six then Wow that's right going down to prospects do Americans deal with cringe I love cringy all I know we've talked about the office billion times but specifically there are many episodes of the office US version that are so cringy people that there's a subreddit dedicated to it I love that a lot of people don't awful but you guys New York I have a lot more of cringe comedy I'd say yeah I experienced an American TV anyway it's much more serialize so you have much more like a you start at a point and the characters go on a journey but they always end up where they started so like this that way you can keep going you don't have it like this have like some series arcs like things do change but it's a lot less it's because you want to stretch things out to like 10 seasons if you can because it's really good for you know yeah and so maybe that's that's a difference I guess we have a lot more I think we have a lot more series our South Park is like that as a u.s. comedy and recent seasons have had series arcs were things that happen in the first couple up so right affect the end episode yeah which I I love it like I love they also make the problem with a series arc the reason why it's avoided in some situations is because you need to be able to have it re running on channels and people can just pick it up yeah which is why we're like friends yeah and they don't need to know what series they're in they know whose characters are it kind of just stays constant most of the time hmm do you like friends oh yeah I love fresh sounds like I'm learning how to speak a language I love friends love going to beach yeah I do I've really like friends I like it in a different way to how I'd like the office though like I definitely don't feel like I'm exercising my mind when I watch friend it's just easy very but that's what I mean by escapism it's very much like like medicine and my body Towers is just ridiculous it's just absolutely farcical it's just the most ridiculous things that can happen everything goes wrong and she say that similar to a us thing then in terms of it's so ridiculous yes okay yes I've heard it said and I saw this is someone say that the reason they like to rest development so much was because it's the only show they liked in America because it was so similar to the UK style yes I think that's right because Arrested Development very much British comics Stephen Fry is it has this quite famous talk about this where he talks about British comedy being like we love watching the main character like life just poops on him at a time from like up in heaven the people in having there's good and like that's absolutely Michael Bluth in Arrested Development it's just everything going wrong his family's an absolute desert but he's rich as well yeah yeah he's rich so doesn't like steaks yeah it's not like he's gonna end up in poverty it's like he'll be fine it's all good you know maybe your characters are more interchangeable like they can be whatever they need to be like even in the Simpsons like bio can be the strain I mean Easter but most the time he's the idiot that's a good point our characters have written to be both times yeah probably yeah all the most enjoy us ng there's no there's no better or worse in this situation it's just it's just your style it's just different like both of wonderful but how that plays one good example of that ridiculous American comedy that's just silly and slapstick but yet perfect Brooklyn nine-nine yeah like you just can't deny it it's just so well-written and funny yeah i but nothing really changes yeah but it is it's very show us like there's no Brooklyn nine-nine in the UK I don't think it would really work that style it would be very different yeah Peckham 69 you also have a massive monopoly on like comedy cartoons we also have cartoons and we die do we have like kids cartoons but you don't have yeah we have like gravity falls Rick and Morty sometimes the family everything yeah we just a lot we don't know yeah yeah I just I never you know is the pop wallace and gromit that's played oh I know the plasticine it's makes it better does it does it make it better what was in that cheese bathroom love island does that have suffix I don't know just music okay like one of the girls like gets one of the guys excited it's like boy I know cuz in the US we would have them for Rio I'm night this is yeah for reality TV things like Jersey Shore and stuff like that it's going to have those like you go in the back room talk to the camera it's like I don't know what he was doing and then they sure like a black and white clip of what was happening with it yeah maybe not your comedy maybe you just have editors who are just like they need to know what's going on we have lots of good talk-show hosts a lot of good talk to us but you guys have like 80 different panel shows none of them make sense because competition doesn't really matter which doesn't make sense in America so we have like one or two of their like nightly shows that you're talking about my hear like the mash report that thing yeah which is like the monologuing to camera about politics and stuff at that but yeah panel shows out absolutely in the way that you have like all the best comedians together yeah and then it's just like of course it's gonna be funny sure it's not fair and it's very much like not having to think yeah it's kind of churned out it's like absolutely mass produced so that's like our equivalent of like you guys is like friends I know that we have one show that is similar to that British style which I don't wanna say is British I just wanna say it's a panel show just you guys are doing it really well which is whose line is it anyway have you ever seen that I love it's one of my favorite shows as a kid and it is for comedians doing improv yeah and it's hilarious yeah but that's what you guys have as panel shows basically yeah we have like that all the time yeah basically I mean there's a lot of different types of comedy but I think that is based on us as a people when what we think is funny what we appreciate so and I think the message you're trying to give to your population like you guys have the unlived injury and you're trying to say that things get better just wait for it and we're trying to go everything kind of stays the same level of rubbish all the time and that's funny you can't laugh you'll cry British humor if you can't laugh you'll cry yeah we're on the topic of comedy a big shout out to to sky comedy which is sponsoring this video and is launching today as long as today is January 27th which is tomorrow for me it launches tomorrow basically sky comedy have all of the US shows that you guys need Kate is having neighborhood watch so now you can watch Parks Recreation you got urban dudes I'm one of my favorite shows freaking love Kirby does I've seen the show what's it about Larry David it's baldy baldy yes yes they've got that Kurt they've got last week tonight John Oliver watch say yes along with those they also have a massive library of us comedy box sets perfect for binge watching so I know what I'm gonna be doing for the next week what you gonna be doing I'm just gonna be watching anyway thank you very much - Skyy comedy for sponsors video and thank you - Oh Luke tell us what you think do you think US or UK comedy which one do you prefer there's a pole other than that I guess I will see you guys on the next video thanks for watching good bye bye [Music]

Channel: Evan Edinger

Views: 423,108

Keywords: british vs american humour, humour, comedy, british vs american, british, vs, american, evan edinger, american vs british, british comedy, american comedy, british humour, humor, american humor, luke cutforth, 2020, funny, stephen fry, british vs american comedy, american vs british humour, even edinger, sky comedy

Id: VGl01tigEZM

Length: 20min 34sec (1234 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 26 2020