Why are the Yanks funnier than us Brits?

Hi everybody,
I pose the question ' Why are the Yanks funnier than us Brits' No matter which comedy programme I watch in the Uk, I dont seem to get the same laughter per minute ratio as I do watching..say. King of Queens, Two and a half men, Frazier, Everybody loves Raymond/Chris to name but a few. I grew up in the seveties/eighties watching classics such as Porridge, The Good Life, Only Fools etc, and feel we have lost our way a bit. My guess is, we may over cook our comedies in general, relying on intellect instead of crafted wit.

Any thoughts?

Err, theyre not. Just depends on your taste, whether you think two and a half men is the height of hilarity, or something like the Mighty Boosh. Just to say that theyre funnier is far too sweeping a statement, plus of course the 'Yanks' produce just as large a percentage of shit comedy as we do.

Thank Christ for your fighting spirit Matthew, Beautiful funny Brittish people

I disagree Nick. British comedy is fabulous & although some American sitcoms are indeed funny i would not say funnier. I love our British sense of humour. Infact we are renound for it. We just need more of it.

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but have to say that I like Brit and US comedy equally... funny is just...funny! I will say, however, that a major difference between GB and US comedy is the number of writers working on a project... the British tend to work in ones and two's, whereas the Americans have a room heaving with writers who all write down one funny word then pass their notes to another heaving room where it's strung together (or so I've heard).

The exception to this is Green Wing which adopted the US approach, to great effect, I must say!

Us Brits have Only Fools and the yanks have Frasier. They're both the height of comedy for me. At least, Frasier was for the first six seasons.

I like both equally. Although in the words of Harry Hill, there's only one way to find out.

"FIGHT!"

Part of the problem in this country is that since competitive tendering for contracts was brought into this country in the mainstream during the 1980's, everything goes to the lower bids and companies seem to have that mindset now and want to do everything on the cheap. So why should the entertainment business be any different?

You only have to look at the writing credits for programmes over here to note that it's usally written by one person or maybe a partnership, whereas as in the US they have a whole team of writers.

Of course not everything that gets commissioned can be a hit and they might lose money on numerous programmes but it only takes a few big hits, both here and going global (whether in its original form or a remake) for those to balance out the ones that don't quite make it.

I'm sure if Fools and Horses were being made today and it wasn't a hit from the first series (as the actual one wasn't from the start) then that would be it and there wouldn't have been a second series.

I also think that they then tend to go with the safe option and the established names and while there is obvious logic to this, would The Green Green Grass, (the Boycie spin off from Fools and Horse) have been made if it was by a new writer?

I'm not saying that it shouldn't have been made but I didn't think it was particularly strong but it could get better, but will it be given the chance to?

This is a hobby-horse of mine; I've said it before and I'll say it again - on US shows you don't go home until it's funny. Oh, and the money. As long as you're paying fees that make it necessary for writers to have another job you'll never get the cream to write.

How can you say Yank comedy is better than British? Stuff like Friends really makes me angry. Good British stuff will ALWAYS stand head and shoulders over US stuff. (and they join wars late as well when they're nearly finished)

Quote: David Chapman @ April 18, 2007, 9:23 PM

How can you say Yank comedy is better than British? Stuff like Friends really makes me angry. Good British stuff will ALWAYS stand head and shoulders over US stuff. (and they join wars late as well when they're nearly finished)

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Hear, hear.

Hi Imamazed,

A good point made well, we need to get back to grass roots and nurture original and funny talent rather than relying on safe bets like for instance, Ricky Gervais, who in my eyes is a talented man, and The Office to his credit, was ok and some-what an original format - Extras on the other hand is not funny and is a lazy approach to comedy when you have your foot in the door... in my opinion of course.

Hi David,

I admire your loyalty, but we have to concede that our mainstream comedy does not command the respect it once rightly had, we have far too much student oriented comedy that lacks broader appeal.

Maybe there's not that much nowadays but the classic stuff - Likely Lads, Steptoe, Til Death etc - were untouchable. There's something about 50 people writing a line that gets to me. It's much more amusing having a laugh you're not expecting than the artificialness of Friends with a gag every couple of words. After a while it's just not funny.

I think British comedy now has an air of arrogance about it now. I don't really know how to back that statement up, but that is how i feel. And in the case of Ricky Gervais, who is a very talented man, he can write, act and do stand-up, but i sometimes get the feeling he cares more about making himself a star than making a lasting sitcom. I mean, look at some of the stuff put out now, it is all passable at best (with the only exceptions being Peep Show and N Going Out - both of which have people who i know who just don't like them) and the British sitcom has failed to really unite all comedy fans as it once did.

However, taking American sitcoms, Friends was good, Everybody Loves Raymond was good (both examples, the earlier stuff was best) and Scrubs (which is constantly great). Other than those three, i really don't like any other US sitcoms, i know some have fans in Britain but not me personally. So it is not like the American sitcom is doing any better, especially considering alot fot he stuff they are putting out now is remakes of British stuff.

I do find British comedy alot better than American comedy, but Britain is in limbo at the moment, sitcom is not dead, but no one can say it isn't in the decline.

Quote: David Chapman @ April 18, 2007, 9:23 PM

How can you say Yank comedy is better than British? Stuff like Friends really makes me angry. Good British stuff will ALWAYS stand head and shoulders over US stuff. (and they join wars late as well when they're nearly finished)

View original

What really gets me is that they could be caught by surprise more than 2 years into a major world-war. Idiots.