Jerry Lewis is more respected in France David Hasselhoff is more popular in Germany
Some others that come to mind:
The late comedian Bill Hicks was apparently more highly esteemed in the UK
The writer Paul Auster is more popular via translation and better-reviewed in Continental Europe, though I don’t know where he’s most popular - maybe France or Spain
Ex-film actress Mimsy Farmer is more popular in Italy where she made a lot of movies
Singer Madeline Bell is semi-obscure in the US but well-known in the UK, Spain, and France
Singer Scott Walker is more popular in the UK where he once had his own TV show
Musician/songwriter Tony Joe White (“Polk Salad Annie”) scored his first hit in France and probably remains more popular there and elsewhere in Europe although he did finally appear on David Letterman’s show last year Orson Welles often had problems trying to make movies in America but was always enthusiastically embraced in places like Spain, France, and Italy. He could also speak their languages, so that helped
It seems to me some of the more avant-garde jazz musicians are more popular in Scandinavia (or at least more people come to their shows) though I can’t be sure which ones
I presume that writer James Baldwin has a higher profile in France where he wrote for so many years
I don’t know if Scott is exactly popular in the UK these days, but he has been a UK citizen since 1970. A lot of his non-Walker Brothers output has been pretty avant-garde, and there’s been a small but influential band of supporters over the years, including the likes of David Bowie and Nick Cave.
Comedians Reginald D Hunter and Rich Hall have had significant success in the UK. Hall has hosted lots of shows and both appear on panel shows all over the place. They also have had lots of tours.
Rich Hall’s a good one. I’d guess that most Americans know him as a guy who was briefly on Saturday Night Live in the '80s and wrote a few books on “sniglets.”
Sydne Rome is an Ohio girl who’s known as a singer and actress in Italy, but her main claim to fame in the US is probably as the female lead in that MST3K classic, The Pumaman.
I can’t remember the name but wasn’t there an American rock singer who hit it big in France, while being unknown in the US? And another one who was really popular in the USSR?
Maybe she’s not as popular in France as I thought. However, her website says she’s become especially popular in “Holland, Spain, and Germany.” She does tours in Europe and lives there. She never does tours in the US.
I believe Richard Wright, author of Native Son, was lauded in France and Europe, living there for a period. Many, many jazz musicians spent quality time in Europe. Sidney Bechet got kicked out of France, I believe, but loved it there.
He was touring summer festivals across Europe some twenty years ago, but not as a headliner.
That’s probably who Dewey Finn was thinking of.
Another English (sorry, not American) singer who hit it big in France while being ignored in the rest of the world: Murray Head.
That’s funny, because I think of Joe Dassin as a French person, not as an American, and as a singer of variétés (light pop), not as a rock star.
Vince Taylor was in the sixties, Joe Dassin in the seventies, Murray Head in the eighties. I wish I could come up with better examples, but no, still drawing a blank.
I remember one time watching a Top Gear rerun and their Star in a Reasonably Priced Car was a country singer from the US called “Seasick Steve” - I had never heard of him.