Compare a famous Brit to a famous American (?)

Posted by TMCorn@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 55 comments

I have a dream to teach Americans about British culture, and I think a good way to teach it is to find the similarities behind an American thing and a British thing.

All you have to do, is say a famous Brit and a famous American, and state why the two are similar.

I'll start:

Phillip Schofield = Ellen DeGeneres

Both their main shows (This Morning/Ellen) focused on an overly positive attitude.
Both their respective shows had a majorly Facebook mum audience.
Both are gay.
Both ended up to be horrible people behind the scenes.

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Routine-Cicada-4949@reddit

Muhammad Ali & Naseem Hamed

Both boxers. And also very fast

Both Muslim

Both outspoken & flashy

Both brought a new audience to the sport

Both ended up weighing close to 300 pounds (20+ Stone)

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New-Strategy-1673@reddit

Do Americans have 'national treasures' in the same way we supposedly do? Attenborough etc

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MayDuppname@reddit

True fact: Dolly's heels don't touch the ground when she stands barefoot, after decades wearing high heels. Even her slippers have to have heels built in.

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ambergresian@reddit

I can believe it. I used to wear heels all the time that it became painful to walk with flat feet. I don't do that now lol.

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auntie_eggma@reddit

This is true for pretty much every woman who wears heels exclusively. My mother is one. She only wears heeled slippers as well.

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MJLDat@reddit

International. But yeah, the US have first dibs.

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BeccasBump@reddit

They're very keen on Mr Rogers. Who, to be fair, seems to have been a very nice person.

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Big_Translator7475@reddit

They had Mr Rogers and we had Jimmy Saville 😔

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I think we had plenty of lovely TV personalities who weren't literal monsters. Tony Hart, for example, or Floella Benjamin, or Geoffrey off Rainbow. More recently, I personally think Justin Fletcher is a bit of a national treasure. Or George Webster is amazing as well.

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Big_Translator7475@reddit

True but if we going like for like versions, Savile was our British equivalent of Mr Rogers.

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BeccasBump@reddit

I don't have a great sense of how influential Mr Rogers was.

I feel like Saville was incredibly well connected, but Jim'll Fix It wasn't substantially more important to the zeitgeist than... idk. Hart Beat, or Challenge Anneka. It was what was happening out of the public view that made him different.

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ignatiusjreillyXM@reddit

Agree that Jim'll Fix It wasn't quite the full deal. But Top of the Pops definitely was, and then so was Radio 1, and Savile was one of the leading public faces and voices at both. Then there was all the very public charity stuff, later on doing all the promotion for British Rail too, and voice overs on government safety adverts ("clunk click every trip"). The guy was everywhere and presented as a respected and respectable authority despite hiding in plain sight what he was up to

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ignatiusjreillyXM@reddit

I was thinking Bill Cosby as the US Savile counterpart. Maybe a bit less obviously a weirdo but...

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GeneralOrgana1@reddit

I recently listened to a Behind the Bastards series on him and holy shit what a horror show.

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chinchillazilla54@reddit

Bob Ross, in a similar vein.

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Content-Activity-874@reddit

Keanu Reeves maybe?

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CBWeather@reddit

He's Canadian.

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CosetElement-Ape71@reddit

🤣 typical yank!

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Peskycat42@reddit

Betty White?

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Hungry-Combination29@reddit

Sam Reich

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sock_cooker@reddit

Cilla Black = Oprah

Both massively popular, like giving people surprises

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WinkyNurdo@reddit

And both total cunts, presumably. At least Cilla infamously was.

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FinneyontheWing@reddit

Muhammad Ali - Barry Chuckle

Ali recited what's recognised as the shortest poem in the English language, beautifully encapsulating his ethos of unity.

"Me. WE."

Together with his brother and fellow trailblazer Paul, Barry Chuckle (PBUH) - as he so often did - expanded on Ali's words to add an even more profound message to humanity. Unconditional love, trust, reciprocity, and a boundless optimism in the face of chaos.

"To You. To Me."

The Greatests.

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spinneywoman@reddit

They had true vision... one could almost say chuckle-vision....

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FinneyontheWing@reddit

My mate made a website called 'Chucklemission' with a donation link to fund the building of the time machine from Back to the Future in order to send the Chuckle Brothers back in time to the world's worst incidents to make them a bit jollier.

It was the funniest thing I've ever read, but it was on Geocities so it's gone forever.

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Sxn747Strangers@reddit

Frank Hornby and Alfred Carlton Gilbert

British Frank Hornby invented a metal construction toy in 1898 and patented Mechanics Made Easy in 1901, but was rebranded as Meccano by 1908.

US American Alfred Carlton Gilbert invented a metal construction toy in 1911 and patented Erector in 1913.

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Professional-Test239@reddit

Elvis = Cliff Richard

Great question. There’s loads more of these. I’ll remember loads tomorrow when I’m sober.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Controversial maybe?

Cliff has better songs than Elvis. If you are to line up pairs and compare, I'm sure Cliff would win (if people voted honestly) *

*old (not old) person

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MJLDat@reddit

Bruno is a murderer?

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ignatiusjreillyXM@reddit

It's a ludicrous comparison. OJ is the biggest piece of shit imaginable (although maybe the jurors on his trial were worse). Bruno genuinely is a national treasure, a thoroughly decent guy and we all know about the troubles he's had and sympathise with him

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Aisha-Was-Nine@reddit

George Washington- Tommy Robinson

-both rose up during times of oppression to lead their people
-both strong believers in national identity
-both transformative leaders
-both hated by the established until the revolution was complete

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auntie_eggma@reddit

Fucking. Lol.

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FinneyontheWing@reddit

both were abhorrent racists

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BeaumarchaisApu@reddit

Andy Warhol = Neil Buchanan

both produced artistic masterpieces, some on a grand scale
neither are Banksy

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olleyjp@reddit

😂😂😂😂☝🏻 op wondering who Neil Buchanan is and going to get an amazing awakening

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FinneyontheWing@reddit

They'll have a heart attack.

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Disastrous_Cloud_558@reddit

Or, you could just teach Americans about British culture? Unless Americans only understand something if it’s in relation to themselves?

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sophisticated_alpaca@reddit

We are in fact capable of understanding what a daytime talk show host is without needing a comparison to Ellen Degeneres.

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MolassesInevitable53@reddit

Why?

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MayDuppname@reddit

Not British, but Diago Maradona and Tom Brady. Both immensely talented cheating bastards.

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mrbullettuk@reddit

Bradley Wiggins and Lance Armstrong?

One is an Olympic and tour du France winner, the other is a cheat.

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Willsagain2@reddit

Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson has a criminal conviction for rape, while Frank Bruno is a gentleman. He played in pantomimes many times, a popular family entertainment in the UK

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Jmslad66@reddit

William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe

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Purple-Om@reddit

Donald Trump and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Both fuck kids.

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tragic_princess-79@reddit

Rowan Atkinson:Nathan Fielder

Comedy genuis

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Jigglypuffs_quiff@reddit

I don't see the Ellen /Philip thing..

Schofield was in a possibly inappropriate relationship with a very young person....but he was always as kind as possible to his guests...Ellen is apparently a real witch to.her guests but I dont know of any suspicion on her private life

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Sapiopath@reddit

Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Edison.

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Flat-Delivery6987@reddit

I'd say more Alexander Graham Bell instead of IKB personally.

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Sapiopath@reddit

Fair.

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Flat-Delivery6987@reddit

Only because AGB was more inventor similar to Edison.

Brunel makes me think more of railroad magnates like Cornelius Vanderbilt maybe.

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MJLDat@reddit

Isn’t Edison known for stealing a lot of his ‘inventions’?

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olleyjp@reddit

Marco Pierre white/gordon Ramsay - Anthony bourdain

Both were pioneers to the culinary industry/how the world saw food and chefs.

I’d say more marco over Gordon, they both changed how we as chefs see the world and food.

They were both high drive, fast paced, drink, drugs, rock and roll of the culinary world.

They both changed how we as consumers of food, saw food, they sat down with the “lowest” and the most powerful in society and treated them equally.

Bourdain showed us farmers and presidents eating the best quality ingredients cooked well and talked to them as they were equals.

Marco would throw you out of his restaurant for any form of disrespect. Regardless of who you were.
Marco handed his Michelin stars back and said “why should I take food advice from people who know less than me” and he was right.

They both saw the restaurant as an extension of the chefs house and as if you were in their living room.

And they are both absolute hero’s

RIP Tony! 💜

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Greners@reddit

I mean you could compare the UK vs US office. I know this will be slightly controversial but discussing the differences between the shows and why it would appeal to the different audiences.