How is the humor different American vs British?
Posted by Ok-Author-5805@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 13 comments
I’ve been thinking about this for some time: American humor versus British humor. I’ve looked it up before, but a lot of times it comes from TV shows and not from real life. I’ve seen many people say that British humor is at the expense of others and they use more irony and more sarcasm. Americans, they don’t use a lot of it, and it has to be loud in order for Americans to understand the humor. Also Americans tend to make fun of their self’s. For people that have been in America, was the humor how you expected it to be? Was it exactly what you thought it was gonna be, or was there no difference?
Craft_on_draft@reddit
Generalisation of course but:
British humour is making yourself the butt of the joke, American humour is making someone else the butt of the joke
Ok-Author-5805@reddit (OP)
That’s funny cause I hear that but the other way around
Level-Cranberry-8331@reddit
Jimmy Carr is the complete opposite. But yeah generally, I guess that's true.
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arenicolamarina@reddit
Some good comments on this vid:
https://youtu.be/fNixAcZ8ZKI
oudcedar@reddit
American TV humour is a bunch of gags told one after another with the hero being the person telling the gags. British humour is a person trying incredibly hard but continuously failing whilst trying to keep their dignity and they are the hero.
wildOldcheesecake@reddit
American tv humour and the clapping can do one.
oudcedar@reddit
I like some American humour too - Mash, Friends, Frasier and Big Bang Theory and many others translated very well to the UK, even if they did keep them all going after squeezing the jokes out for far too long.
SurpriseGlad9719@reddit
Watch one season of UK The Office, then watch one season of US The Office. It answers all questions.
Accurate_Prompt_8800@reddit
British *humour: more irony, subtlety, and understatement, leaving things unsaid. Sarcasm is used more frequently and can be so dry that it’s hard to detect for those unfamiliar with it. Lots of self-deprecation.
American humour: exaggerated and overt sarcasm, not an emphasis on subtlety with more directness.
Goatsfallingfucks@reddit
Well... For a start, the British have humour. That's the biggest difference
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