# What Americans do Brits find funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708 "2006-09-30T05:08:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/1 "2006-09-30T05:08:58Z")
We all know the Brits we find funny here, but how about vice versa? Greg Proops? ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/2 "2006-09-30T06:49:29Z")
I’ve been curious about all the exposure Proops gets on BBC radio and “Whose Line Is It Anyway.” Do Brits really think he’s funny, or is the Beeb trying to punish the license payers? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/3 "2006-09-30T07:03:43Z")
Greg Proops does nothing for me. Bill Hicks was a genius. Jon Stewart and the Comedy Central team are the current ones that came to mind first. Some sitcoms have successfully made the transition across the Atlantic, such as Friends, Willl & Grace, and My Name is Earl. The latter is the only one of the three which I like. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/4 "2006-09-30T08:49:55Z")
Dan Ackroyd, John Candy, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, but not Tom Green or Martin Short. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dumbest\_Guy\_in\_the\_Room](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@The\_Dumbest\_Guy\_in\_the\_Room](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dumbest_Guy_in_the_Room)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/5 "2006-09-30T09:34:06Z")
Dave Chapelle, Chris Rock, Rich Hall, Sarah Silverman, Ryan Stiles, Jerry Seinfeld. The writers of _Seinfeld, Frasier, Friends, Cheers, The Office, Arrested Development, and Becker_ This is off the top of my head. I’d probably be able to think of a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/6 "2006-09-30T09:46:46Z")
Judge Judy ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/7 "2006-09-30T10:44:16Z")
Both _Seinfeld_ and _The Larry Sanders Show_ occupied the graveyard slot when broadcast on BBC2 several years ago. Why, I don’t know. Both very funny in my opinion. In the latter programme Jeffrey Tambor as Hank was excellent. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/8 "2006-09-30T11:10:30Z")
Steve Carell is top of my list at the moment. And Seinfeld is the best sitcom ever written IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/9 "2006-09-30T11:12:58Z")
If you’re talking about stand-up comedians, there’s Steven Wright, Rich Hall (almost an honorary Brit judging by the amount of time he seems to spend over here), Bill Hicks. I haven’t seen Greg Proops for years. Liked him on Whose Line…, not so much as a stand-up. Apart from stand-ups, it seems to me that the 90s were a golden age for American sitcoms, so there’s all the people responsible for The Simpsons, Futurama, Frasier, Larry Sanders, and I think you have to include Seinfeld and Friends although those last two are not particular favourites of mine. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/10 "2006-09-30T11:19:09Z")
Oh yeah, forgot him: Rich Hall is one of the funniest stand-up comedians I’ve ever seen. I saw him once in Dublin and did 15 minutes on Irish politics gleaned from the newspapers that day. An absolute genius. And of course as Otis Lee Crenshaw he floored me with laughter. God he’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/11 "2006-09-30T12:10:27Z")
FWIW, Seinfeld always left me cold. Cheers reruns on satellite, however, are always welcome. And I too forgot Rich Hall! ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/12 "2006-09-30T16:13:58Z")
Wow…I think Americans barely know who Rich Hall is. I couldn’t tell you his brand of stand-up if I tried. He’s the guy responsible for Sniglets, right? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/13 "2006-09-30T16:31:45Z")
[QUOTE=Gadarene] Wow…I think Americans barely know who Rich Hall is. I couldn’t tell you his brand of stand-up if I tried. He’s the guy responsible for Sniglets, right? [/QUOTE] He’s hardly a superstar here, either. He turns up on comedy panel games like QI from time to time, and he has made a couple of series for BBC satellite/cable channels. I loved _Rich Hall’s Fishing Show_. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/14 "2006-09-30T17:20:45Z")
One of my favorite Internet Wastes Of Time recently has been to go over to [www.amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk) and read the reviews the Brits give of American TV shows (on DVD), movies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/15 "2006-09-30T17:21:15Z")
Rich Hall was moderately big in the U.S. back in the 1980’s. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/16 "2006-09-30T17:52:22Z")
The US version of The Office airs in Britain? What happened to the Ricky Gervais one? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dumbest\_Guy\_in\_the\_Room](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@The\_Dumbest\_Guy\_in\_the\_Room](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dumbest_Guy_in_the_Room)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/17 "2006-09-30T17:56:03Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] The US version of The Office airs in Britain? What happened to the Ricky Gervais one? [/QUOTE] It only had 14 episodes. The last one was years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/18 "2006-10-01T16:12:25Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] We all know the Brits we find funny here, but how about vice versa? Greg Proops? [/QUOTE] A quick note from a Yank: My wife and I saw Proops’ stand-up act a few years ago. The guy is funny as hell on _Whose Line_, but dear God, that was the most unfunny stand-up act I’ve ever seen. He came very close to being booed off stage. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/19 "2006-10-01T18:31:51Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] Mike Myers [/QUOTE] Canadian, isn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708/20 "2006-10-01T20:16:43Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] A quick note from a Yank: My wife and I saw Proops’ stand-up act a few years ago. The guy is funny as hell on _Whose Line_, but dear God, that was the most unfunny stand-up act I’ve ever seen. He came very close to being booed off stage. [/QUOTE] A quick note from a different Yank. I disagree 100%. I’ve seen his stand-up 3 times, and it’s been brililant and hilarious every time. So there 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-americans-do-brits-find-funny/374708.md?page=2)