British humor (2)
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Mar 19, 2008
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It's official: British humor isn't funny. I always wondered why I didn't find it amusing. I figured it was because of my age. But I'm 25 now, and I'm likely as mature and/or wise as I'll ever be (I've heard everything drops off after age 30). Watching the original British Office series did me in. Not only was it not funny, it crossed several lines morally. I realize the entire continent of Europe thinks Americans are a bunch of prudes, and I'm probably not the best spokesperson for the opposition. Jokes about sex and poop are one thing, but this show took it several steps further, to the point where it made me uncomfortable. I've seen some pretty morally awful movies, so that's saying a lot. And this was a TV show, not a movie. It was quite eye-opening.
But besides the moral stuff, the show was just bad because it was filled with culturally-specific jokes. If I lived in their culture, I would actually understand these jokes, and then I could fairly judge whether these jokes are good or not. But since the context and the meaning is completely lost in translation, I'm left trying to figure out what they're actually talking about, and when I finally figure it out, it still isn't funny.
I've heard that Europeans think American humor isn't funny. Well, I don't think their humor is funny. At least we can all agree that culturally-specific humor isn't funny. #sociology
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Comments:
2008-03-19 16:45:38
All of this off of one show, Dave? Now, give some others a try. :-)
2008-03-19 16:53:14
No thanks. I like to base my opinions on observation. I observed a bad British show, now I don't like them. Until I observe a good British show, I won't watch any more. But since I won't watch any more until I observe a good one, I'll never see another one at all. A real catch-22 indeed.
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