American Humour is Terrible

[AkaDad]

I'm a big fan of British tv. I love watching Luther, Skins, Shameless, Hotel Babylon, Misfits, Dr. Who, Torchwood, The Shadow Line, and Spooks, but I can't watch shows like The IT Club, The Inbetweeners, Ideal, Monty Python and other comedies I'm forgetting. I wanted to like them, but British humor just isn't funny to me.

I guess Shameless is the exception, that show can be funny, because that family is so dysfunctional.

 

[Woodsey]

Other people like American humor. It's called an opinion. You're not right, and neither are they.

My point is that the jokes involved are less intelligent than those in British shows. Go watch Peep Show. That is genius. Compare it to any widely viewed American comedy show. I'm not arguing which is subjectively better, I'm arguing that British comedy is more intelligent. Please read my post and understand it before replying.

Peep Show isn't widely viewed. At least, it wasn't for a very long time - not sure about now. And South Park's an American show.

it has what now? six series? It must be viewed a fair bit to get that many series.

Nope, they've always been low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peep_Show_(TV_series)#Ratings

Mostly been kept going because DVD sales were decent and because it remained high quality.

 

[THE_NAMSU]

I also find it hilarious that you like South Park when that 'witty commentary' often devolves into poop and fart jokes. THAT is funny...

Yeah true sometimes, like the last episode of that new season (season 15 I think?), which was when stan got infected with "pessimism" and sees everything as a load of shit (literally).
But many episodes are just plain funny, like "Medicinal fried chicken" and "Make love, not warcraft." As to whether they are clever or not, I haven't thought about it.
Futurama is pretty good though.
Though there is that stereotype that Americans have a crap sense of humour, as they don't know how to "take the mick" so well. Idk.

 

[weker]

snip

Nope, they've always been low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peep_Show_(TV_series)#Ratings

Mostly been kept going because DVD sales were decent and because it remained high quality.

It's still watch loads just on DVD XD

 

[Blow_Pop]

I would like to point out that the Big Bang Theory started out with more intelligent humour but due to most of America being absolute dumb arses they had to dumb the show down. I watch the Big Bang Theory as well as a few other shows. But mostly tend to stick to British humour. But then I am a more odd American anyways and tend to have a lot of views that differ from the rest of the population.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I now present to you exhibit A:
Your argument is invalid.

(hey, the OP never specified if the humor in question was recent)

 

[Chris646]

What are you talking about? American humor is hilarious! Chickens crossing roads, doesn't get any better than that.

 

[CrashBang]

South Park is not Canadian and you can't brand all of American comedy under one label
I'm British and I love our old shows like Blackadder, Porridge, Open All Hours etc but The Big Bang Theory is my favourite sitcom ever. I also adore Scrubs, Frasier and How I Met Your Mother. Also South Park is, in my opinion, the best and most intelligent comedy show of all time. American Dad is also fantastic

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Way to generalize American humor based off of two shows. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to go watch Seinfeld and King of the Hill and laugh the morning away.

 

[crepesack]

If it makes you laugh it's good humor. If you think it's unintelligent that's your opinion but that doesn't mean it isn't a good joke. I don't think you would know humor if it bit you on your ass let alone your bum.

*ba dum tish

 

[KingofallCosmos]

I think it's more in the presentation. America has just as many funny and unfunny people/shows. American humor can be a bit loud and over the top, so if you don't like it it'll probably irritate you more than humor from other countries.

Edit: makes me think of french movies. When they're trying to be funny, they're not. When they make violent action movies it's hilarious (Dobermann, Taxi)

 

[weker]

But they haven't just removed the laughter track, they've removed what happens during the laughter track. As in, removed all comic timing.

I don't fully follow.
Normally
Guys says joke pauses for laughter
Video
Guys says joke pauses but no laughter

That is my Understanding of how point of the video, and in both situations the jokes occurs before the laughter, so nothing is effecting the actual joke or the timing.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...a compromise?

US humour is inherently bad, but modern UK humour is indistinguisable, as a rule.

"Humour" seems to equate to "that stuff from the British Isles, from before I was born".

[small]Yes, I know the UK isn't the same as the British Isles[/small]

 

[Tharwen]

I'm not arguing which is subjectively better.

That's exactly what you did in the title though.

'Terrible' is a completely subjective word relating to how good something is.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

There is plenty of unintelligent American comedy, but there is also a lot of unintelligent British comedy. There are also good examples of intelligent comedy on either end. I reckon that overall, the two are probably about even in terms of how intelligent the average is.

At the end of the day, no-one's forcing anyone to watch anything. You don't like a particular brand of comedy, don't watch it. Some people do like, and enjoy watching it. Leave them to it. One person's opinion on a TV show is equal to another's.

Sing in, brutha.

OT: I like American humor... when it's not potty humor at least.
You should watch How I Met Your Mother. One of the only shows to make me consistently laugh.

 

[xitel]

You know what's worse? Generalizations based on two widely hated shows (of the same shitty genre). Try harder.

In the mean time, I'll be watching Arrested Development, Monty Python, and the Chasers War on Everything, not giving a single fuck what country any of them came from. Because that's silly.

Yeah, pretty much. Different people find different things funny. Guess what? It's fine. Other people like different shows than you. It's astonishing how that works, huh? I for one find a vast majority of British humor to be boring and dry. And I find a lot of American humor to be stupid. But I don't mind, because there's plenty of funny things from all over the place that ARE funny, and ARE enjoyable. And I deal with it. Welcome to the Internet, where people have opinions.

 

[Yeager942]

I like South Park (I know it's Canadian) for it's witty commentary of current affairs. It actually takes issues of the day and makes some good jokes at them. Family Guy is just ok - I wouldn't watch it often, but it can be funny. The kind of American humour I really don't like is shows like the Big Bang Theory. Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLQaTcViOA

It just isn't funny. Not because it isn't my sense of humour, but there is no intelligence to the jokes involved. America has scrounged genuinely good British TV series such as Shameless and The Office, and ruined them in an effort to bring them to the American market.

My point is American humour is unintelligent and boring to watch. It is juvenile, and I find it actually almost painful to see shows like Two and a Half Men doing well when they are so full of utter crap.

South Park was created by two Americans...

 

[Nimcha]

Other people like American humor. It's called an opinion. You're not right, and neither are they.

My point is that the jokes involved are less intelligent than those in British shows. Go watch Peep Show. That is genius. Compare it to any widely viewed American comedy show. I'm not arguing which is subjectively better, I'm arguing that British comedy is more intelligent. Please read my post and understand it before replying.

You're not seriously arguing anything about the likes of Monty Python is intelligent? Hilarious, yes. Intelligent, not so much.

If you want intelligent humor, maybe you should try Frasier. A very American show.

 

[RoBi3.0]

generalized opinion is generally opinionated.

-Filler is I don't get a low content post warning.-

American humor is the same as humor anywhere else. Humor is linked to shared experiences. If you don't find something funny it is more then like not for you find something else to watch. As others have mentioned there are plenty of American shows that are funny some personal favorites of mine are.

Kitchen Confidential
Friends
The Guild
Saturday Night Live
How I Met Your Mother


Edit:

Can't believe I forgot to mention 30 rock.

 

[Kachiporra]

Dude, wach Community