# American acts that made it first in the UK - and Vice Versa **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915 "2019-10-17T18:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915/41 "2019-10-21T11:54:19Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Has an HBO show that’s won multiple prime time Emmy awards for the past four years. So pretty successful over here. > > His show (_Last Week Tonight_) is apparently available in the UK, because whenever he shows video of the House of Commons he makes the point that in the UK using such video for comedic purposes is illegal so he substitutes random video such as old British sex-ed films instead. It shows on Sky One and Sky Atlantic, which are always niche channels over here. So those who know, now him. But I doubt he could fill a small theatre with a stand up routine over here… ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915/42 "2019-10-21T12:03:29Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > [John Oliver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oliver#Career) frequently jokes about how he is unknown in the UK… A number of US comedians tend to find their audience in the UK. Bill Hicks (though he was on Letterman until he got kicked off), Doug Stanhope doe well here too. Most panel shows in the last 20 years had at least one American unknown over there. I’m less sure of bands though, because, you know, we’ve not heard of them. I knew of Bush being big in the US too. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915/43 "2019-10-21T12:14:38Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Have you ever heard of a band from Delaware, or maybe a band from England? [George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Thorogood) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915/44 "2019-10-21T13:30:15Z")
Jesus Christ Superstar went nowhere when it was released in the United Kingdom A friend of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mother actually said “It’s too bad your boy couldn’t make any money off of it.” The distributors went crazy trying to find a company to release it in America, finally Decca agreed, and the rest is history. Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had no idea how hot the record was in the USA until the record company flew them over to New York City and took them to a record store. The album was displayed by the register and most customers looked at it, and a lot bought it. Of course, this was at the height of the Jesus movement of the early 1970’s, an America phenomenon ALW and Rice claim they had never heard of until they came to America. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915/45 "2019-10-25T23:03:16Z")
Bruce Boa (actually Canadian, but we can’t tell the difference) and Ed Bishop were two all-purpose American actors here. If you wanted a genuinely convincing American, but you couldn’t afford a Hollywood name, you hired one of these two, and they turned up in EVERYTHING. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915/46 "2019-10-25T23:37:44Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > Yeah, right. :rolleyes: > > Delaware has a population of about 1M, the U.K. has 66M. I exaggerated a wee bit for comic effect. Didn’t think yuh’d go all World Gazetteer on me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-acts-that-made-it-first-in-the-uk-and-vice-versa/841915.md?page=2)