Just had this convo with my GF (who is British). American entertainment lacks self-examination. We’re totally immune to it.

Don’t forget about the Catherine Tate show!

All of you should try “The thick of it”. Worth watching for the spectacular swearing alone.

In British Comedy I find pure joy in the use of language alone. The exquisite sarcasm in “Black Adder” with its vast and colorful vocabulary. The hilariously extrapolated future-slang in “Red Dwarf”. The perfect parodies of Catherine Tate, to the sibling banter in “Friday Night Dinner”, beautifully written scripts have been the standard since I started watching “Monty Python” and “Rising Damp” in the 70’s. While I love American Stand-up Comedians, the scripted series rarely have any memorable prose.
“Big Bang Theory” while entertaining, will never stand the test of time. However, I could watch “One Foot in the Grave”or “Father Ted” until I have “joined the choir invisible”!

Why no mention of Harry and Paul? My American girlfriend loves those shows as indeed she does everything that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have made over the years. We don’t rely on BBC America to provide the programs, preferring to download from The Box.

No French & Saunders? :-(

The funny thing about this list is the lack of women - where is Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Catherine Tate, Ruth Jones, Patricia Routledge, or Penelope Keith? And those are just the ones familiar in the US - there are probably many more… just not here. Pity

This is a promotional post for BBC America and is of no value to anybody. Apart from people who want to list their favourite British comedy shows (possibly worthwhile) or grind nationalistic axes (futile). I think the recently concluded second series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle was better than the first. Lead Balloon is a tolerable knock-off of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Peep Show and The IT Crowd are worth watching. Can’t think of any other Britcoms that are at the moment though (yes, I have seen The Inbetweeners) The best sitcom still being produced anywhere in the world is Curb Your Enthusiasm as far as I know. (I am English)

One of the main reasons I find British Comedy better is the number of episodes. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant only wrote 12 episodes (plus two specials) of the office, and I think the show works much better for that. Likewise, there were only two six week series of Fawlty Towers and Phoenix Nights. It is much easier to be funny over a short period of time.

I hate American’s that have espoused themselves in British culture. Don’t lie to me. Or at least yourselves: you did it during the Bush era because you’re a reactionary and you wish you have an edge.  British comedy is sometimes funny. A common side effect of something to be humorous is often funny. Sometimes it’s retarded. That’s a common side effect of British.  We wonderful, free, Americans enjoy the best comedy that’s ever been. First, we’re the melting pot, so our comedy isn’t so white. Because British comedy is so white I honestly think Hitler probably tried to align himself with it (oh hey, while on Hitler remember when the British tried to make fun of American sitcoms with this gem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_Honey_I%27m_Home! Man, they got us good!) Second, the only thing the Brits have ever been good at were boats and unfair warfare. Third, America has just always been funnier. That’s why we’re the cultural overlords of world. Brits colonized us, then they were born-again into Americans, we won an (unfair) war, became free, and then through Godmagic completely shaped British culture through our inventions and general creativity in all areas of everything. For every horrible, embarrassing American laughtrack sitcom are five inventions that made the modern world. Three and a Half Men? Television, air conditioning, headphones, birth control pill, artificial hearts. Ha ha ha!

what the hell is the point in posting this? it should just be established that the general American public prefers American comedy, the general British public prefers British comedy. As always there are exceptions, but there is no point in comparing the two when your whole stance is how different they are.

Where’s League of Gentlemen, dammit? And,what, no IT Crowd? No Monty-fucking-Python?!

Growing weary of the the anti-U.S. superiority. It’s always, “British (or any place that isn’t U.S.A.) comedy is superior,” “British (ditto) film is superior,” “British (ditto) music is superior,” “British (you see where I’m going with this) people are superior,” and it’s like shut the fuck up, no one is impressed. The bottom line is, every nation has its own share of crap art, but each also has fabulous examples of what its people can achieve. Besides, the best sitcom ever, ‘Arrested Development,’ trumps anything anyone has ever suggested ever.

PEEP SHOW!

people who never shut up about Britih comedy are the hipsters of television. show me a British show currently ariing that can measure up to Community or Modern Family, or if you want to talk cancelled shows how about Arrested Development or All In The Family (if you want to go way back)?

Those clips where ‘aight for me. I only liked the numbers one. It reminded me a little of Tim and Eric. And one is not better than the other one. It’s just different.

In my opinion the people who like British comedy over American are the hipsters of the humor scene. It all makes you laugh. Yes, when you compare the Big Bang theory to Simon Pegg it will seem like shit. Watch better U.S. comedy then.

Nobody does black comedy like the brits, and that’s why I love them.