>You've pretty much summed up there an example of the use of irony in
> the audience may be laughing, but I certainly don't find it funny for
> someone that always claims to be fair, kind and generous to have them
> yell at you and being told to 'shut up', especially someone that makes
> the frequent claim that the audience are the final arbiters.
> "one, two, three...:" on the subject roulette, and after a wrangle overOh god, I loved that! Peter is so great. Do you remember which episode
> a challenge, Peter Jones says "can we get on, I'm very anxious to get
> into the 30s!" That is an excellent example of ironic humour.
>
> My favourite line when Aimi Macdonald is counting uphttp://deanbedford.tripod.com/jam7.html 2 March 1976
> > "one, two, three...:" on the subject roulette, and after a wrangle
> over
> > a challenge, Peter Jones says "can we get on, I'm very anxious to get
> > into the 30s!" That is an excellent example of ironic humour.
> >
>
> Oh god, I loved that! Peter is so great. Do you remember which episode
> that was, by any chance?
> I'm currently re-reading a very interesting book called "Watching thethanks, that's interesting. I'll have to have a think about her point.
> English" by anthropologist Kate Fox. It's basically an anthropological
> study of the unspoken rules and traditions that make you English. One
> of her observations concerns humour: she asserts that it's not that the
> English are funnier than the Americans, or even that their types of
> humour are different - the most crucial thing is that humour pervades
> all areas of English life, and there is a huge taboo about being too
> serious or earnest. The reason many English comedies don't translate
> well into American is that there are very few respites from the humour,
> whereas most American comedies often have long emotional sequences with
> no real jokes for some time.
--- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:
> You've pretty much summed up there an example of the use of irony in
> humour. So perhaps broadening the discussion a little into what I hope
> will be a potentially more interesting area...
>
> It's often said that the difference between British and American sense
> of humour (humor for our American friends!) is that the British love
> ironic humour. And that's why a lot of British comedy doesn't translate
> to American markets. A lot of the humour in JAM is definitely ironic,
> almost all of the material around Nicholas certainly but a lot of other
> stuff as well. My favourite line when Aimi Macdonald is counting up
> "one, two, three...:" on the subject roulette, and after a wrangle over
> a challenge, Peter Jones says "can we get on, I'm very anxious to get
> into the 30s!" That is an excellent example of ironic humour.
>
> Much of the humour of Kenneth Williams is highly ironic. The shouting
> about his gold-spun hair, the way he will praise Nicholas one minute
and
> call him a "great nit" the next, etc etc.
>
> I've never been sure that irony isn't a part of American humor though.
> For example, I'm just watching this week a DVD of The Cosby Show and a
> lot of the humour there is through the characters teasing each other
> ironically.
>
> I hear people say who they think is funny - the reality is we all
have a
> different sense of humour and to say someone "simply isn't funny"
always
> seems to me to be a dangerous comment to make. The British TV comic,
> Benny Hill was hugely successful for a very long time. For those who
> haven't seen him, his humour was based around him chasing after, or
> being chased by buxom young women, and on double entendre. To me the
> humour is stale and repetitive - but millions if not billions found him
> absolutely hillarious.
>
> Perhaps any Americans on the list might like to comment on the
> differences as they see them between American and British senses of
> humour, and perhaps why they feel themselves they like this very
British
> comedy show JAM. I rather doubt the average American would find Kenneth
> Williams funny - or Paul Merton or Clement Freud for that matter. Or do
> you think they could have made it big in the US if opportunity had
> struck.
>
> And what else makes you laugh - especially American comedians/comedy
> shows...
>
On 3/23/07, Sarah Falk <minerva.moon@...> wrote:One of my English LiveJournal friends once made a beautiful post on
her observations on what British humor really is. I can't find it at
the moment, but one thing I remember her saying is that it "reduces a
situation to its lowest common denominator". You're given a situation,
an occasion, and are told, "Well, there it is." The humor is not
thrown at you; instead your mind comes to it and rejoices in the fact
that it knows that everyone else appreciating the humor has come to
the same conclusion.
--- In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:
> You've pretty much summed up there an example of the use of irony in
> humour. So perhaps broadening the discussion a little into what I hope
> will be a potentially more interesting area...
>
> It's often said that the difference between British and American sense
> of humour (humor for our American friends!) is that the British love
> ironic humour. And that's why a lot of British comedy doesn't translate
> to American markets. A lot of the humour in JAM is definitely ironic,
> almost all of the material around Nicholas certainly but a lot of other
> stuff as well. My favourite line when Aimi Macdonald is counting up
> "one, two, three...:" on the subject roulette, and after a wrangle over
> a challenge, Peter Jones says "can we get on, I'm very anxious to get
> into the 30s!" That is an excellent example of ironic humour.
>
> Much of the humour of Kenneth Williams is highly ironic. The shouting
> about his gold-spun hair, the way he will praise Nicholas one minute
and
> call him a "great nit" the next, etc etc.
>
> I've never been sure that irony isn't a part of American humor though.
> For example, I'm just watching this week a DVD of The Cosby Show and a
> lot of the humour there is through the characters teasing each other
> ironically.
>
> I hear people say who they think is funny - the reality is we all
have a
> different sense of humour and to say someone "simply isn't funny"
always
> seems to me to be a dangerous comment to make. The British TV comic,
> Benny Hill was hugely successful for a very long time. For those who
> haven't seen him, his humour was based around him chasing after, or
> being chased by buxom young women, and on double entendre. To me the
> humour is stale and repetitive - but millions if not billions found him
> absolutely hillarious.
>
> Perhaps any Americans on the list might like to comment on the
> differences as they see them between American and British senses of
> humour, and perhaps why they feel themselves they like this very
British
> comedy show JAM. I rather doubt the average American would find Kenneth
> Williams funny - or Paul Merton or Clement Freud for that matter. Or do
> you think they could have made it big in the US if opportunity had
> struck.
>
> And what else makes you laugh - especially American comedians/comedy
> shows...
>
One of my English LiveJournal friends once made a beautiful post on
her observations on what British humor really is. I can't find it at
the moment, but one thing I remember her saying is that it "reduces a
situation to its lowest common denominator" . You're given a situation,
an occasion, and are told, "Well, there it is." The humor is not
thrown at you; instead your mind comes to it and rejoices in the fact
that it knows that everyone else appreciating the humor has come to
the same conclusion.
--- In just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com, Dean Bedford <dbedford@.. .> wrote:
> You've pretty much summed up there an example of the use of irony in
> humour. So perhaps broadening the discussion a little into what I hope
> will be a potentially more interesting area...
>
> It's often said that the difference between British and American sense
> of humour (humor for our American friends!) is that the British love
> ironic humour. And that's why a lot of British comedy doesn't translate
> to American markets. A lot of the humour in JAM is definitely ironic,
> almost all of the material around Nicholas certainly but a lot of other
> stuff as well. My favourite line when Aimi Macdonald is counting up
> "one, two, three...:" on the subject roulette, and after a wrangle over
> a challenge, Peter Jones says "can we get on, I'm very anxious to get
> into the 30s!" That is an excellent example of ironic humour.
>
> Much of the humour of Kenneth Williams is highly ironic. The shouting
> about his gold-spun hair, the way he will praise Nicholas one minute
and
> call him a "great nit" the next, etc etc.
>
> I've never been sure that irony isn't a part of American humor though.
> For example, I'm just watching this week a DVD of The Cosby Show and a
> lot of the humour there is through the characters teasing each other
> ironically.
>
> I hear people say who they think is funny - the reality is we all
have a
> different sense of humour and to say someone "simply isn't funny"
always
> seems to me to be a dangerous comment to make. The British TV comic,
> Benny Hill was hugely successful for a very long time. For those who
> haven't seen him, his humour was based around him chasing after, or
> being chased by buxom young women, and on double entendre. To me the
> humour is stale and repetitive - but millions if not billions found him
> absolutely hillarious.
>
> Perhaps any Americans on the list might like to comment on the
> differences as they see them between American and British senses of
> humour, and perhaps why they feel themselves they like this very
British
> comedy show JAM. I rather doubt the average American would find Kenneth
> Williams funny - or Paul Merton or Clement Freud for that matter. Or do
> you think they could have made it big in the US if opportunity had
> struck.
>
> And what else makes you laugh - especially American comedians/comedy
> shows...
>
TV dinner still cooling?
Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.
I decided to transcribe the relevent paragraph:
There is an awful lot of guff talked about the English Sense of Humour, including many patriotic attempts to prove that our sense of humour is somehow unique and superior to everyone esle's. Many English people seem to believe that we have some sort of global monopoly, if not on humour itself, then at least on certain 'brands' of humour - the high-class ones such as wit and especially irony. My findings indicate that while there may indeed be something distinctive about English humour, the real 'defining characteristic' is the value we put on humour, the central importance of humour in English culture and social interactions.
In other cultures, there is 'a time and a place' for humour; it is a special, separate kind of talk. In English conversation, there is always an undercurrent of humour. We can barely manage to say 'hello' or comment on the weather without somehow contriving to make a bit of a joke out of it, and most English conversations will involve at least a degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humorous self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. Humour is our 'default mode', if you like: we do not have to switch it on deliberately, and we cannot switch it off. For the English, the rules of humour are the cultural equivalent of natural laws - we obey them automatically, rather in the way that we obey the law of gravity.On 3/23/07, Sarah Falk <minerva.moon@ yahoo.com> wrote:One of my English LiveJournal friends once made a beautiful post on
her observations on what British humor really is. I can't find it at
the moment, but one thing I remember her saying is that it "reduces a
situation to its lowest common denominator". You're given a situation,
an occasion, and are told, "Well, there it is." The humor is not
thrown at you; instead your mind comes to it and rejoices in the fact
that it knows that everyone else appreciating the humor has come to
the same conclusion.
--- In just-a-minute@ yahoogroups. com, Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:
> You've pretty much summed up there an example of the use of irony in
> humour. So perhaps broadening the discussion a little into what I hope
> will be a potentially more interesting area...
>
> It's often said that the difference between British and American sense
> of humour (humor for our American friends!) is that the British love
> ironic humour. And that's why a lot of British comedy doesn't translate
> to American markets. A lot of the humour in JAM is definitely ironic,
> almost all of the material around Nicholas certainly but a lot of other
> stuff as well. My favourite line when Aimi Macdonald is counting up
> "one, two, three...:" on the subject roulette, and after a wrangle over
> a challenge, Peter Jones says "can we get on, I'm very anxious to get
> into the 30s!" That is an excellent example of ironic humour.
>
> Much of the humour of Kenneth Williams is highly ironic. The shouting
> about his gold-spun hair, the way he will praise Nicholas one minute
and
> call him a "great nit" the next, etc etc.
>
> I've never been sure that irony isn't a part of American humor though.
> For example, I'm just watching this week a DVD of The Cosby Show and a
> lot of the humour there is through the characters teasing each other
> ironically.
>
> I hear people say who they think is funny - the reality is we all
have a
> different sense of humour and to say someone "simply isn't funny"
always
> seems to me to be a dangerous comment to make. The British TV comic,
> Benny Hill was hugely successful for a very long time. For those who
> haven't seen him, his humour was based around him chasing after, or
> being chased by buxom young women, and on double entendre. To me the
> humour is stale and repetitive - but millions if not billions found him
> absolutely hillarious.
>
> Perhaps any Americans on the list might like to comment on the
> differences as they see them between American and British senses of
> humour, and perhaps why they feel themselves they like this very
British
> comedy show JAM. I rather doubt the average American would find Kenneth
> Williams funny - or Paul Merton or Clement Freud for that matter. Or do
> you think they could have made it big in the US if opportunity had
> struck.
>
> And what else makes you laugh - especially American comedians/comedy
> shows...
>
Be a PS3 game guru.
Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games.
> I decided to transcribe the relevent paragraph:It's interesting that the writer starts out by saying it's "guff" to say
>
> There is an awful lot of guff talked about the English Sense of
> Humour, including many patriotic attempts to prove that our sense of
> humour is somehow unique and superior to everyone esle's. Many English
> people seem to believe that we have some sort of global monopoly, if
> not on humour itself, then at least on certain 'brands' of humour - the
> high-class ones such as wit and especially irony. My findings indicate
> that while there may indeed be something distinctive about English
> humour, the real 'defining characteristic' is the value we put on
> humour, the central importance of humour in English culture and social
> interactions.
> In other cultures, there is 'a time and a place' for humour; it is
> a special, separate kind of talk. In English conversation, there is
> always an undercurrent of humour. We can barely manage to say 'hello'
> or comment on the weather without somehow contriving to make a bit of a
> joke out of it, and most English conversations will involve at least a
> degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humorous
> self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. Humour is our 'default
> mode', if you like: we do not have to switch it on deliberately, and we
> cannot switch it off. For the English, the rules of humour are the
> cultural equivalent of natural laws - we obey them automatically,
> rather in the way that we obey the law of gravity.
> Dean:Yeah I understood what was being said. I was just making this small
> It's interesting that the writer starts out by saying it's "guff" to say
> the English sense of humour is superior to everyone else's - but then
> argues it's at least more prevalent than everyone else's.
>
> Her point was that the English aren't necessarily funnier than any
> other culture, but everything that we do has at least an undercurrent
> of humour, even if it's something subtle like irony or understatement.
> Yeah I understood what was being said. I was just making this smallWell I would say you can't say until you've heard the jokes. But I
> point. If person X makes 20 jokes an hour, and person Y makes three
> jokes an hour - who would you say is funnier?
> If she is right it's something Britain should be promoting to tourists,Like I say, it's not about laughter. Nobody laughs at these things,
> don't you think... "Britain - place of laughter", "You get more jokes
> per hour in the UK", "U-K, you laugh". A better tourist attraction than
> the Royals, I reckon! :-)
> Yeah I understood what was being said. I was just making this small
> point. If person X makes 20 jokes an hour, and person Y makes three
> jokes an hour - who would you say is funnier?
Well I would say you can't say until you've heard the jokes. But I
think you have missed the point a little. She's not saying anything
about who's funnier, or about who tells more jokes. She's not passing
judgement, she's just observing the phenomenon. It's nothing to do
with jokes, it's about those little ironic quirks of language that we
don't even notice any more, the ones that are almost ritualistic in
the way they're said.
> If she is right it's something Britain should be promoting to tourists,
> don't you think... "Britain - place of laughter", "You get more jokes
> per hour in the UK", "U-K, you laugh". A better tourist attraction than
> the Royals, I reckon! :-)
Like I say, it's not about laughter. Nobody laughs at these things,
because if they did then everybody would be laughing most of the day.
They're not intended to be amusing, they're just the most acceptable
way to put across certain opinions in general conversation.
We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love
(and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list.
> > For the English, the rules of humour are theDeviation! He's supposed to be talking about the laws of LEVITY!
> > cultural equivalent of natural laws - we obey them
> > automatically, rather in the way that we obey the
> > law of gravity.
On 3/31/07, Dan Howland <ridetheory@...> wrote:> > For the English, the rules of humour are the
> > cultural equivalent of natural laws - we obey them
> > automatically, rather in the way that we obey the
> > law of gravity.
Deviation! He's supposed to be talking about the laws of LEVITY!
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