This has been getting on my nerves for years, why do a lot of you British people think the rest of the world won't "get" your humor? It's not sophisticated or nothing the rest of us haven't seen before. I tried watching a Russell Brand stand-up routine once and it was the most painful thing I've seen in awhile, but I like him in movies. We GET you.
I've Come Here To Chew Bubblegum & Kick Azz, And I'm All Out Of Bubblegum
I think it only really implies with shows that get remade for other countries, some of them do well, but others just dont translate as well as the original. Red Dwarf comes to mind for this. A show spanning over 2 decades and twice tried to get made for the US and for some reason or another it just never succeeded as well as it could. The original UK run of Red Dwarf was just the right place at the right time sort of thing. The US version just didnt live up to what the UK version was.
Since the US version failed the term not getting the humour was dubbed. Some US shows rely heavily on US based cultural reference, that many casual UK viewer wont get.
"My name is Lt. Aldo Raine"
I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. The reason many of these shows fail as remakes is because the remakes are atrocious whereas those of us in the US really enjoyed the original.
As to Russell Brand - someone should just shoot him and put the rest of this out of our misery. But for some reason that buffoon keeps getting roles in Hollywood films.
Censorship is advertising paid by the government.
hi noone in britain hinks he's a good standup
"...I'm a contradiction"
We don't think it's too sophisticated. On the whole it's just very different to American humour, so not necessarily that they won't get it but just won't find it funny.
And FYI, no one on this side of the pond finds Russell Brand funny either. "Painful" is exactly the word I'd use to describe his schtick.
Babies kill TV shows!
It's not so much that it's sophisticated but that it's different and based on cultural references that aren't necessarily shared trans atlantic. If you're not aware of certain preconceptions, certain stereotypes, some of the institutions in Britain, or you're not used to the way the jokes are delivered, then you're not going to get the jokes.
For a long time, not a lot of British material made it to the US, for whatever reasons, which is where this idea that Americans don't 'get' British humour comes from. This is beginning to change, thanks to the internet, but it takes time for perceptions to change.
And you can't take one comedian and hold him up to be an example for an entire nation. Especially not someone like Russell Brand.
In order to watch good British Humor one still (at least most of the time) has to download it illegally.
I had to buy the Inbetweeners movie on blu ray/DVD (british version) which means, my DVD player wouldn't use it, Luckily my Mac had something where I could switch it to British dvds.
So technically the blu ray hasn't even been played, just the Dvd..
I personally like learning about other cultures and make the effort to understand some of your references, some of it I get, some of it I don't get and some I think is hilarious.
I've Come Here To Chew Bubblegum & Kick Azz, And I'm All Out Of Bubblegum
Have you tried watching Australian tv series? I find that to be quite a bit different. I really should expand beyond English tv series to gain more culture, but It's just hard paying attention when you can't understand the words.
One can learn so much about a culture/economy though just from watching a tv show from a different country. it's very interesting.
Yeah, it's not so much that we american's don't get their humor, it's more so the fact that Hollywood doesn't seem to get their humor.
There is a television show though called: Episodes on Showtime and 1 of the main things it discusses is why American television has to be different than British television.
In the end, it probably gives the best answer as to why our copied television series tend to SUCK! and are simply not as funny as the British originals.
The other part to the argument is, we are not familiar w/ the Politics, the regions over there either. For example, we may watch a television series like Gavin and Stacey and have no clue what the big deal is about dating a chick from X when you are from Y location.
I'm american and love most british shows (have seen quite a few), and I prefer the original office...although I don't think I could ever get into liking "the young ones"
"the day I tried to live, I learned that I was alive"
What you apparently don't 'get' is that this word, when used by anyone with half a brain, really means 'appreciate', not 'understand'.
A lot of British humour is different to a lot of American humour. A lot of Americans don't appreciate it, and vice versa.
And an awful lot of British people, myself included, do not get Russell Brand because he's a terribly unfunny and annoying comedian.
You may get our humour, but you haven't quite twigged our spelling yet ...
Interestingly polite thread that rather wonderfully hasn't descended into tit-for-tat slagging of.
The last couple of posts summed it up rather nicely, Pretty sure I understand why something should be funny, but I just don't find it so. Doesn't mean I am stupid, doesn't mean it isn't funny, my teen girls roll around at stuff that is banal and stupidly angsty teen-crap but they also love Friends with a passion.
Rather like Driving Skills and Sexual performance no-one likes to be told they don't have a decent sense of humour.
The other thing is that the US execs feel they have to try and re-make a show whereas just about every other country just takes the original and ignores it or loves it. So "We" get to slag off your pathetic attempts to remake a show without actually having the balls or the money to either a) Remake your shows or b) make more than 4 episodes a year or our own.
Great isn't it.
get busy livin' or get busy dyin'