Proof that americans do have a sense of humour.

[Inigo_Montoya]

Wow, Scribble, that was a pretty pointed and detailed essay on American humo(u)r, a cite or two would have been nice, however. Frankly some of your assertions seemed a little vague and distorted. Almost as if you yourself didn’t believe a word of it. But I liked the bit about Br’er Rabbit, he is so cute and I just love sweet little animal stories.

I think you have to be reasonably intelligent and socially confident/competent to “get” irony and deadpan delivery. Did I mention that the US elected Bush to a second term?

[antechinus]

@Wee Bairn

I love almost all of the Coen’s, but never got Raising Arizona, either. Hudsucker Proxy, now that’s good humor.

As for the Tom Green comparison, which was inevitable, there are superficial similarities but vast differences to the discerning viewer. Tom Green, in a nuthsell, is going up to an old lady on the bus and shouting weird things in their face until they get mad. Borat is light years ahead of that. He is about engaging the same old lady in humorous conversation while getting them to say funny things as well, as well as revealing things about themselves. Tom Green also will back off, turn tail and run if caught in a situation he can’t handle- in other words, his comedy has no guts- ala Chelsea Handler. Borat will get the shit beat of him and not break character- that’s a true craftsman. Borat also has the uncanny ability to come up with spontaneous witty responses to his marks comments- I know of know other comedian who can consistently come up with hysterical unscripted reponses to even the most bizarre statements. If you don’t find Borat funny fine, but to compare him to Tom Green shows a compelte lack of understanding of humor in general.

How about:
Norman Gunston
Dame Edna Everidge

The Tom Green vs Yakov Smirnoff comparison eludes me.
One zany, whacky guy who is not afraid of embarrasing himself + a US immigrant comedian putting down his country of origin and making naive statements about US culture. No irony there.

[Scribble]

@antechinus

How about:
Norman Gunston
Dame Edna Everidge

Dame Edna can be hilarious. I remember the bristlingly funny comments she had in response to a question about whether or not Spanish was worth studying.

I’ve never seen anything Norman Gunston ever did. I’ll have to google him up.

[interface2x]

@BwanaBob

I’m American and I never found anything humorous in Raising Arizona.

“Do these balloons blow up into any funny shapes at all?”
“Well, no … not unless round is funny.”
I can’t even type that out without laughing.

Personally, I found isolated moments in Borat to be funny, but much of it was so over-the-top that I just found it ridiculous.