Or maybe it’s just stupid. 
[If a moron is a person of low intelligence, can an i-ron be a person who misses obvious irony?] In addition to making the woman look like an idiot, that funny story supports the idea that ‘British people are more ironic’ has been blown way out of proportion with reality. I’d suggest it’s a meme, but I’m not sure I know what a meme is.
I agree that Jon Stewart isn’t particularly funny himself. That’s the genius of the show–the material speaks for itself. It’s ironic that people act like he’s so funny–he isn’t. But his show sure as hell is.
But, really, no. Americans are never ironic. We’re too uptight and puritanical and simple-minded and straight-shooting. No irony whatsoever.
:rolleyes:
Sarcasm, though. We got lots of that.
May I interject a sigh of complaint here . . . directed not at Britain but at my local PBS stations, who for the past few years have been stuck like meth addicts on Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served?, Last of the Summer Wine, To the Manor Born, and Waiting for God, as if they think we can’t get enough of it all. Or, maybe PBS got a great price for these shows — from off the back of a BBC truck parked by a Denny’s or something. That’s all I can figure.
That is a good point. Many of America’s most popular shows use every type of complex humor available to man and people seem to get them quite well. Look at the Daily Show, the Simpsons, Futurama, and even South Park. Even when they seem like they are using simplistic, juvenile humor, they usually aren’t. I always believed the opposite of the OP - the U.S. leads in almost all kinds of humor. THat isn’t to take anything away from the British, Canada, or Australia however. They can be cutting edge too. If you want somebody to pick on, just look at virtually every other country in the world.
But, but . . . they’re British!
But are there cultural differences in humor, even if irony aint it? My take was always that no one does silly as well as the Brits. I think that humor partly reflects what our sociey is uncomfortable with … the Brits are so … proper, and so silly emerges as a reaction to that. We Americans are more nervous about sex and so no one does vulgarity like we do.
Hey, I used to like* Are you being served?*!
Of course, I was about 10 years old, but still.
This is something that I don’t think enough people quite get. We understand the irony just fine. It’s just that, sometimes, we don’t find it funny.
In these post-9.11 times here in America, so many things require going through metal detectors that it’s just best not to deal with anything even as tangentially ferrous as a heightened sense of irony.
Is that a pun? Are you punning me? 'Cuz you better not be punning me …
Speaking as a Canadian, where our cultural tradition of comedy lies somewhere in the middle, I wholeheartedly agree. I honestly never though of British humour as being particularly ironic, or American humor as being particularly lacking in irony. Silly, though, is a distinctly British trait. Much of “Monty Python” is just plain silly; look at the physical humour in “The Ministry of Silly Walks.” The skit also pokes fun at government, but it’s mainly just about acting silly.
There’s definitely cultural differences in humour; French humour (which, as a Canadian, I also see) is often bizarre and, to me, impenetrable; it seems often based in more of a classical tradition of clowning, rather than being heavily based on setup-to-punchline humour the way anglophone humour is.
Knorf makes an interesting point about Jon Stewart; the guy himself is really not the best comedian, delivery-wise, but his material (which he does write a lot of) is golden. And it’s all irony. Most of the best American sitcoms use irony very heavily. Many American comedians are highly skilled at ironic humour. Even Dave Barry uses irony quite a lot.
And then there’s the “Fish Slapping Dance”, which is ten pounds of silly in a five pound bag.
(This is a dance. Why is it taking place next to a canal? Dangerously close to the edge I’d point out. Does the canal tie in with the fish somehow? Why would the dancers be wearing 19th Century “colonial administrator” costumes? And why are they both male? Why does this sketch work so well? It doesn’t bear analyzing. Just laugh.)
Interesting.
A lot of British sitcom humor seems to revolve around social embarrassment: trying to smooth over an awkward situation gracefully, and failing; puffing yourself up, and then being deflated by your loved ones, or by circumstances; and then on the other hand, just going nuts and breaking all social norms, oblivious to the consequences, with everyone around too stunned or too timid to stop you. Much of that humor works in North America as well. There just seems to be a lot more source material for it in Britain.
One of my favorite Barry columns isn’t all that funny, but it’s one where he talks about the humor impaired correspondents he hears from. These are not the people who find him offensive, or juvenile, or simply unfunny. These are the people who fail to recognize a humor column when they see one, and who try to argue with his obvious falsehoods and exaggerations as if they were serious claims of fact.
So maybe those who are deaf to irony are just deaf to humor in general.
[QUOTE=RickJay]
There’s definitely cultural differences in humour; French humour (which, as a Canadian, I also see) is often bizarre and, to me, impenetrable; it seems often based in more of a classical tradition of clowning, rather than being heavily based on setup-to-punchline humour the way anglophone humour is.
[QUOTE]
Maybe that’s why they liked Jerry Lewis so much!
Also, where is the line drawn between irony and satire?
And **Bytegeist[/d] how about Larry David for an American take on that British tradition?
(Most stupid coding errors in a single post: yes the winner IS …)
We might have been when that stereotype was written, sometime back in the 19th century, but man, you have no idea how crude we actually are as a nation.
PBS has suffered over the last 20 years with the growth of competitors like Arts & Entertainment and B.B.C. America snatching up the best imported programming. The crap they keep showing is all that’s left. That and Antiques Roadshow (ugh!).
Curb Your Enthusiasm is a comedy of manners if there ever was one.