It's the only american sitcom I can watch, no matter what's was on the mind of its creators, show turned up to be the most funny and poisonously satirical. No other cheesy, TV sitcom (I never watch) can beat it. Subtracting american cultural content, this shows have quite a Europian kind of humor/satire. It's universal knowledge that american comedies suck arse cause they are so stupid.Even more than that, many people think that Americans are stupid because of the stupid comedies they laugh at. But this one, I can't even believe it could be created in the USA.

Is this another of many thinly veiled, nasty slams to Americans?

Baron Max

I know it could be unpleasant to hear but most foreigners (28 +) I know DO think that american comedies (and comedy actors, especially the most higly paid in 2005 one) stink unbelievably. It has nothing to do with slams, just an observation. You didn't like yugo car even without driving one, did you? That's why MWC looks so different. It totally different kind of humor&satire, almost unamerican (if one would think of "Friends" as an american standard of "funny" sitcoms).

I like Malcolm in the middle.

Haven't seen Married with children, though.

I know it could be unpleasant to hear but most foreigners ....

Fuck foreigners! ...with telephone poles!

Baron Max

married with children is toilet humor.


simple minded, but funny.

As for me, there is more satire in MWC than humor per se, it could be unintentional, but that prevalence of satire set MWC aside of other bland, no meaning (toilet or otherwise) sitcoms.

I'm foreign and I agree with dixonmassey, sort of. Most American sitcoms are all sit and no com, but there are notable exceptions - Married with Children being one. Scrubs is also original and funny - it doesn't set out to shatter any preconceptions like M.W.C. does, but it's still pretty off-the-wall and enjoyable.

But yeah, most US sitcoms suck. For evidence of a sense of humour you have to look outside the genre, to The Simpsons, the South Park team and Bill Hicks. All Un-American; all hilarious.

British sitcoms are so unfunny. It just hurts to watch them. I feel embarassed for the actors. I even feel embarassed for the canned laughter.

Like what? Examples.

I dunno.
It was one of those things I tried once to see if I liked it.
I didn't like it.

British sitcoms are so unfunny. It just hurts to watch them. I feel embarassed for the actors. I even feel embarassed for the canned laughter.Absolutely Fabulous was absolutely fabulous!!

MWC sucks. Really poor acting, bad writing and it was never funny. Even the male star, a trained actor, stated in interviews in the past that his role on MWC stereotyped him into a box. He hated it. He played a major role in a Broadway play a few years ago and the audience chuckled every time he spoke. He had a serious role.
He even hated MWC!!! But not as much as I do/did.

Absolutely Fabulous was absolutely fabulous!!
yes!!!


"wheel's on fire....."

yes!!!


"wheel's on fire....."I'm Patsy!!! :cool:

haha!

in more ways than one, im sure.... :p

haha!

in more ways than one, im sure.... :pYou got that right Eddie....*sloshes back champagne*

lol spot on.

MWC sucks. Really poor acting, bad writing and it was never funny. Even the male star, a trained actor, stated in interviews in the past that his role on MWC stereotyped him into a box. He hated it. He played a major role in a Broadway play a few years ago and the audience chuckled every time he spoke. He had a serious role.
He even hated MWC!!! But not as much as I do/did.
still he'll be remembered fro MWC, isn't that better than broadway obscurity? And that guy, whatever his name, was the best. Stereotyping into a box is a common thing in this biz, no matter the show.

Writing was grotesquelly unreallistic and sometimes crude&"exhausted", but overall it's an excellent satire, lots of laughter and "looking into the mirror" moments (add there many beautiful girls too), if not take it too seriously as that humorless michigan woman, who sued Fox for this show, did.

still he'll be remembered fro MWC, isn't that better than broadway obscurity? And that guy, whatever his name, was the best. Stereotyping into a box is a common thing in this biz, no matter the show.

Writing was grotesquelly unreallistic and sometimes crude&"exhausted", but overall it's an excellent satire, lots of laughter and "looking into the mirror" moments (add there many beautiful girls too), if not take it too seriously as that humorless michigan woman, who sued Fox for this show, did.Christina Applegate was hot but that was it. I had a room mate that watched twice a day. Just the opening music made me nauseous!

Christina Applegate was hot but that was it. I had a room mate that watched twice a day. Just the opening music made me nauseous!

She was hot but then something happened, she's got much uglier. At some point I've thought they've substituted her for somebody else. Not all women age graciously (even if it's from 15 y.o. to 25). What I've meant under "beautiful girls" - dozens of prettiest guest stars and simply guest girls.

I see why foreigners would like it. It does resemble a lot of foreign comedies. A series of disconnected jokes, usually mean ones at someone else's expense. No plot, no story. This is the way American sitcoms were sixty years ago in the days of radio. My parents liked this kind of humor. The Jack Benny Program, Henry Aldritch, the Great Guildersleeve, Fibber McGee and Molly.

When TV was launched some of the radio shows made the migration but for the most part they created new shows. I Love Lucy was the model for everything that followed. It was more than a series of one liners, every episode had a story, and the situation had a little bit of drama and pathos. Lucille Ball demanded creative control over her show and she was so popular that the network had to give it to her. If they didn't, another network would have wooed her and given her anything she wanted. She had a lot to do with the course of American sitcoms. We should give her credit for the blessing that we're not still watching stuff like MWC, the way these poor hapless foreigners are.

I watched it for a couple of seasons because it was kind of nostalgic, reminded me of the mindless crap I grew up with. Then I got bored. Fortunately good shows like Roseanne and The Simpsons were on. Now we have Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives.

I should have figured that people who can even stand stuff like Benny Hill and Mister Bean would love MWC. They are very similar. I guess there is such a thing as Western Hemisphere Culture. We have happily picked up Betty La Fea from Colombia and turned it into the U.S. hit Ugly Betty. I doubt that anyone in Europe watches it. America has distanced itself from Europe over the decades. Our tastes are not the same. Sometimes to our detriment, I can't figure out why our radio stations don't play Robbie Williams.

The American version of The Office is waaaaay better than the British version.

The American version of The Office is waaaaay better than the British version.

Ugh!-->American version of The Office

Couldn't even get past one episode.

The American version of The Office is waaaaay better than the British version.
Absolutely not!

At one point MWC was the longest running sitcom with 11 years or so...

So you might not like it, but people and advertisers did....It still runs on sindication...Just a fact, not a judgement...

The American version of The Office is waaaaay better than the British version.
Now you're just being deliberately fucking provocative - successfully too. The original Office is the funniest TV comedy ever made - full stop. The American version was actually quite good, but pales in comparison with the original.

Just say that you didn't really get the British version (understandable - you're not British) and leave it at that.

Christ, I'm fucking fuming. I mean, how dare you, Roman. How dare you. I mean, the fucking nerve..

Another fact of MWC: At least one European country made its own version of it...They had to by the rights to do so, and the original producers helped them to choose the apartment and actors...

You islanders are so easy to wind up.

We're barbarians. Short tempers, quick to whip out the double-handed battle-axe. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I still plan to have children with you someday though - as soon as it becomes legal. And biologically possible, etc.

We're barbarians. Short tempers, quick to whip out the double-handed battle-axe.

I still plan to have children with you someday though - as soon as it becomes legal. And biologically possible, etc.

Will you be Danny DeVito to my Arnold Schwarzenegger?

http://www.anaitgames.com/wp-content/imatges/1078657688junior2.jpg

He likes one of the most predictable, boring sitcoms in American history. Long live the American sitcom. go scratch your ass.

Will you be Danny DeVito to my Arnold Schwarzenegger?
I dunno - how tall are you? Are you over 8 feet (in the old money)?

Dumb and dumber was a good comedy, a real life portrayal of advanced stupidity. It takes motivation to be that stupid. I think it was released in 1997

Married with children was based on a British comedy series of the same name. I've never seen the American version, but the british one sucked just as bad, if anything, it was inspired by Roseanne.

Britain has some great comedies: Ab Fab, Little Britain, Comedy Store presents, Fast show, 4 non-blondes and a host of others that I've forgotten or haven't seen yet because my cracked BBC Prime has been un-cracked.

Since the 1960s, the comedy in American sitcoms has been balanced with bits of melodrama, adventure, and even true drama. Edith Bunker died on "All in the Family," as did Dan Conner on "Roseanne." "Desperate Housewives" has murders and kidnapping. "Boston Legal" deals with two or three Big Issues every week.

British sitcoms as a rule stick to pure humor, and their humor tends more toward the mean kind and outright slapstick than ours. Monty Python was the Three Stooges with university degrees and comedy in the U.K. has been stuck in a time warp ever since then. At least that's true of the ones that make it over here. I don't mean to knock 'Ab Fab" because the writing was top notch, but a little of that relentless belly laughing goes a long way. I'll take a hundred doses of "Dinosaurs!" with its poignant examinations of war and global warming and its cameo of Copernicus to one dose of "Mister Bean" any day.

"Married with Children" was a throwback to the days of unmitigated silliness, with a large dose of bile tossed in. More like "The Honeymooners" than "Ally McBeal." It resembled American TV of fifty years ago and British TV of today.

Here's a few British comedy clips for the unbelievers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_3-yIfw4k&search=Comic%20Strip%20Mr.%20Jolly%20Live%20Next%2 0Door%20Young%20Ones%20Bottom%20Adrian%20Edmondson %20Rik%20Mayall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLycZV491W4&search=Comic%20Strip%20Mr.%20Jolly%20Live%20Next%2 0Door%20Young%20Ones%20Bottom%20Adrian%20Edmondson %20Rik%20Mayall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bemvtSKjes&search=Comic%20Strip%20Mr.%20Jolly%20Live%20Next%2 0Door%20Young%20Ones%20Bottom%20Adrian%20Edmondson %20Rik%20Mayall


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0pkYSTkEuI&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1EGgQRZNcs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHJP6Y0iZ8Y&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXxzVuE_D1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqMympwMh0A&NR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBXSn7R091Y&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2SMlIQ36k&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uouDt_LQTy0&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjxY9rZwNGU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l7Zl6Uyuq4&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scX1R4yKDSU&mode=related&search

Here's a whole classic Comic Strip presents: Mr. Jolly lives next door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSkl3mhEMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Mb-...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arsbF...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBLb1...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-9mh...elated&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uFRd...elated&search

Here's a few British comedy clips for the unbelievers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_3-yIfw4k&search=Comic%20Strip%20Mr.%20Jolly%20Live%20Next%2 0Door%20Young%20Ones%20Bottom%20Adrian%20Edmondson %20Rik%20MayallI watched this one. . .
Here's a whole classic Comic Strip presents: Mr. Jolly lives next door.. . . and the first one of these (a couple minutes of it).

Sorry, I'm still an unbeliever. The same sight gag is repeated over and over until you beg them to stop. The punch line is telegraphed. The jokes are from children's playgrounds. It's the Three Stooges from 1948. This is stuff I might have laughed at then, when I was five.

Monty Python was at least original and aimed at an adult audience, even a well-educated one. Ab Fab was fairly clever with both the situation and the comedy, and added a bit of melodrama to make it a story instead of an endless series of one-line jokes."Keen Eddie"--the American protagonist was a little out of place, but at least he provided a "situation" that could be milked for a lot of jokes. It had some melodrama too.

"Bob and Margaret"--that was a pretty good show. It only ran for a year or two in the U.S., was it more successful in its native land? You guys do better with animated comedy. Your stuff is as almost in a class with "South Park" and "Daria." Send us more Wallace and Gromit!

It's the only american sitcom I can watch, no matter what's was on the mind of its creators, show turned up to be the most funny and poisonously satirical. No other cheesy, TV sitcom (I never watch) can beat it. Subtracting american cultural content, this shows have quite a Europian kind of humor/satire. It's universal knowledge that american comedies suck arse cause they are so stupid.Even more than that, many people think that Americans are stupid because of the stupid comedies they laugh at. But this one, I can't even believe it could be created in the USA.
Married with Children was part of Fox's original Sunday line up. MWC was probably their biggest hit, followed by The Simpsons and 21 Jump Street.

These shows pretty much built the Fox network. So all you Fox news haters, you have Al Bundy to thank!

If Desperate Housewives is considered comedy in the States then I'm afraid you've lost the plot. DH is great but I consider it as a soap of light drama with a touch of humour, romance, mystery, suspense and a sprinkling of social commentary. I would certainly never watch it to have a good laugh.

The alternative British humour I posted is more anarchic, more fuck you, more yes it is stupid but funny and more a cynical reaction to the dire shit that posed as mainstream comedy for too many years on British tv and is at the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to classic American shows with all their glossy sophistication and clever packaging. Ab Fab is certainly from the same stable as the stuff I posted, but watching 1 and a half sketches just to confirm your prejudices is not doing it justice.

I used to love MASH, Cheers, Taxi and even Roseanne and the Brits never really had anything to compare with those but they had some classics of their own that were very funny though very quirkily British such as Some Mother's Do Have Them, Yes Minister, Steptoe and Son and Dad's Army.

The alternative British humour I posted is more anarchic, more fuck you, more yes it is stupid but funny and more a cynical reaction to the dire shit that posed as mainstream comedy for too many years on British tv and is at the opposite end of the spectrum when compared to classic American shows with all their glossy sophistication and clever packaging.
It's dated now though isn't it. British comedy has moved on. The Young Ones et al were great in the beginning, emerging not only as a reaction to the cheap laughs of The Benny Hill Show and the xenophobia of right-wing comedians like Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning, but also as a reaction to Thatcher and her neo-Victorian cronies. University-educated, angry and opinionated, they came to bury Britain's reactionary comedy past.

And for a while it was truly great - a comforting voice for the dissenting and the disenfranchised. Ben Elton - the socialist you could take home to meet your mother. Alexei Sayle - the one you couldn't. Harry Enfield parodying the greed of Thatcher's Children - the new generation of yobbish 'young urban professionals' ('yuppies') - in the guise of the wad-waving 'Loadsmoney (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gXuRvthgn4U)' on Friday Night Live. And who can forget his arch-nemesis, the southerner-hating unemployed Geordie Buggerallmoney (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRYCqrbKUYo)!! Fantastic stuff.

But then the 80s became the 90s; Thatcherism settled in for a 3rd (and 4th) term but, crucially, without the wicked witch herself at the helm. The hatred that she generated slowly dissipated. People started to sigh with resignation and to seek escape from what Britain had become: a one-party state presided over by a benign, bespectacled wimp that no-one could work up any venom for. In comedy, righteous anger gave way to surrealism - led by Reeves and Mortimer (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xoj2Rc7BjJs) (and their 'Uncle Peter', played by Charlie Chuck (http://youtube.com/watch?v=G3kW5J7PDi8) - a 'comedian' who relied more for effect on his remarkable ugliness and bizarre rants than on anything resembling a joke).

By their own admission Reeves and Mortimer were more of a throwback to Morecambe & Wise and the classic double-acts of the late 60s/early 70s than anything new.

The true inheritors of the alternative comedy baton started to appear in the mid-90s, leading us out of the old and into the new millennium. For me this was our richest comedy era. Classic after classic appeared on our screens:

Father Ted. Fraggle Rocker, if he's around, will love this first clip (http://youtube.com/watch?v=3F5PA6BVPX4) as Ted gets a little bit cross with his clueless colleague Father Dougal during the intense writing sessions for their 'Eurosong' entry, 'My Lovely Horse'. I think he'll also agree that the final product (http://youtube.com/watch?v=53a-331JHSc) was worth all that musicianly angst.

Alan Partridge. Everyone's favourite uptight, conservative, ultra-pedantic, downwardly mobile ex-TV host. Formerly the frontman of the prime-time hit TV show Knowing Me, Knowing You (http://youtube.com/watch?v=robcZ_5q37g), Alan (played by Steve Coogan) is now living in a motel room and working for local radio. Here (http://youtube.com/watch?v=UdC5Hb9Pk1A) are the best bits from the first episode of the 'motel' series. Alan begins by putting Joni Mitchell right about parking lots and their effect on urban congestion..

Big Train. Classic sketch show from the writers of Father Ted: Son isn't too sure about his meeting his long-lost mum (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s70anwYaAxA&NR); Costume Fight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6nxLjlLPRU&NR); Over-enthusiatic dad helps child on a bike (http://youtube.com/watch?v=8aZ83kJz2uc); Novice Athlete (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ4pKGahmBs) (the lag on YouTube detracts from this one - but the ends worth waiting for).

Bo Selecta: Foul-mouthed costume foolery: Jacko at the Osbournes (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sr9CHNqqqW); The Bear meets... Jenny McCarthy (http://youtube.com/watch?v=4jBjXvtGE_0)

Trigger Happy TV. This brand of urban guerilla comedy (http://youtube.com/watch?v=CCCSPZKp77c) looks pretty tame now in comparison to the likes of Annoying Devil (http://youtube.com/watch?v=PQbVqIxINUE) and his fellow mischief-makers on Balls of Steel (http://youtube.com/results?search_query=Balls+of+Steel).

Smack the Pony. What, a female-led sketch show that's actually funny (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9d8AvVPZAA)? Whatever next (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRGZ_hNroSU)?

Brass Eye: Near-the-knuckle spoof current affairs programme, fronted by reknowned TV trouble-maker Chris Morris. Here's (http://youtube.com/watch?v=pRz7UWsBl54) a clip from the notorious 'Paedophile Special', sending up paedophile hysteria. I seem to remeber that Phil Collins was made a laughing-stock of when asked to record a video message for the same show. Which can only be a good thing.

See? And I didn't even mention The Office once. By the way, all the links point to YouTube clips. Enjoy. :)

Oh. I forgot the grotesque and sinister pantomime that is The League of Gentlemen (http://youtube.com/watch?v=3XLqUBYJP2c). There you go, my transatlantic friends - wrap your brains round that one. PS Are you local?

I agree that it's dated, the stuff I posted is the stuff I remember from when I was still living in London up to '93. I've seen Alan Partridge, Little Britain, The Office and 4 non-Blondes and another one with some Asians that conduct celebrity 'interviews' in their home, but none of the others you've posted; I'll check them out.

I think shows like the ones I mentioned and Monty Python before them really set the stage for all the new humour that is currently playing in UK. Thing is, I've never seen any American shows with that type of humour, all they seem to have done is to develop and hone the 'sit-com' genre to a fine yet bland art and I've yet to see anything approaching the genius of old classic shows like Taxi and Cheers though they all seem to be in a similar groove.

Thanks red, I haven't seen a lot of British stand-up so I really enjoyed it.:)

Wish I could put up some of the Indian stand-up, but as yet, its not available with subtitles.

PS You also missed Monty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8&search=monty%20python). Spitting image (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F52LI3UGxI) had a few good moments too. As did Yes Minister (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxdMFRwztl4).

Seinfeld, Southpark and the Simpsons are my favorites. Not an episode of any of them that takes itself seriously (as far as I can remember).

Your Jacko meets the Osbournes link is malformed.
Idiot!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sr9CHNqqqW8

That's just... I don't know... it was funny but extremely... the masks are... hmmm... wrong.
And what's the deal with Ozzy's eight-foot arms?

I think the last bit was the best: "They got me that time!"

PS You also missed Monty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8&search=monty%20python).
Pure class, obviously - but the wrong era. I was focusing on the new age of 'Britcom', from the 80s onwards.
Spitting image (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F52LI3UGxI) had a few good moments too.
It's portrayal of John 'The Grey' Major as a pea-loving dullard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DACkfFtOm-k) was unforgettable. He never managed to shake that image. A definite omission.
As did Yes Minister (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxdMFRwztl4).
Another classic, I agree - but, like Monty Python, well-known to comedy-lovers the world over, and therefore also outside my scope. My self-appointed mission was to introduce the classics you've never heard of. :)

PS If I had to pick one: you must all buy, watch, love and cherish... Father Ted. A total one-off. Never, never, never will we see it's like again.

Oh, and by the way, League of Gentlemen played for a brief while on Comedy Central.

I didn't much care for it. It had its moments certainly.

One scene involved a turtle and a vet and an air hose.
I forget the exact line...
But, the end result was the turtle being shot out of its shell and splattering against the wall.
It was the line that was funny though... Damn it.

I think shows like the ones I mentioned and Monty Python before them really set the stage for all the new humour that is currently playing in UK. Thing is, I've never seen any American shows with that type of humour, all they seem to have done is to develop and hone the 'sit-com' genre to a fine yet bland art and I've yet to see anything approaching the genius of old classic shows like Taxi and Cheers though they all seem to be in a similar groove.
Most US TV seems to consist of ever more expensively-produced police/crime dramas and, as noted above, formulaic sitcoms. Every time I laugh at a Friends joke I'm simultaneously disgusted at the knowledge that 27 monkeys have spent 27 hours sweating over 27 typewriters to produce it. I mean, don't get me wrong, Friends is probably one of the better ones. But it's hardly Shakespeare. Given the ludicrous amounts of money spent on it I expect more.

Give me a shoestring budget, a genuine comedian and a faded old rock star with bizarre, 8-foot prosthetic arms any day.

Interestingly though, I do love the cartoons - The Simpsons, Futurama, the South Park team, Family Guy - just as Fraggle Rocker reveres ours. I suppose it's the fact that we all grow up on them (ah, memories of Hong Kong Phooey and Wacky Races..) that lends them their universal appeal. I mean, does anyone not like cartoons? Step forward.

If Desperate Housewives is considered comedy in the States then I'm afraid you've lost the plot. DH is great but I consider it as a soap of light drama with a touch of humour, romance, mystery, suspense and a sprinkling of social commentary. I would certainly never watch it to have a good laugh.I understand your argument but over here we draw the line between soap opera and sitcom at a different point. It's where the drama in the melodrama vanishes due to the milieu becoming too exaggerated, to create more bases for the humor. It's impossible to care about characters when they are complete cartoons and have no discernable traits to connect with.

Even "General Hospital" has genuine drama sandwiched between the mobster wars, jungle adventures, foreign intrigue and space aliens. The warriors, adventurers, assassins, and even aliens go home to family dinners where everyone is three-dimensional and not just a collection of psychoses--except the one requisite buffoon who keeps the comedy going but in a low key like your stupid Uncle Ernie might do at Christmas dinner.

None of the principal characters on "Desperate Housewives" is three-dimensional. They are all caricatures. With personalities that toggle from sensitive kinfolk to monomaniacs several times in a day, they are practically textbook psychotics. They all have more skeletons in their closet than clothing. They're all capable of performing the most bizarre, antisocial, self-destructive feats after suffering the kinds of emotional blows you and I put up with two or three times a year. You can't possibly care about these people because their personalities change too often to get a good fix on them. A community with one of these people makes a soap opera. A community in which everyone is like that makes a sitcom.

"Ally McBeal" could be called a soap opera. Even Ally was more a real person than a comic strip character. Even "The Simpsons" is a soap compared to "Desperate Housewives."Father Ted. Fraggle Rocker, if he's around, will love this first clip as Ted gets a little bit cross with his clueless colleague Father Dougal during the intense writing sessions for their 'Eurosong' entry, 'My Lovely Horse'. I think he'll also agree that the final product was worth all that musicianly angst.That was nice. I always like a good production number, one of the things that Monty Python does very well. But this is just one scene on a program. How do the scenes flow together? We Americans seem to want our comedies to have a story. You're happy to have a variety show with no continuity from one sketch to the next. We get that on "Saturday Night Live" and "Mad TV," but most of the time we want a plot.Every time I laugh at a Friends joke I'm simultaneously disgusted at the knowledge that 27 monkeys have spent 27 hours sweating over 27 typewriters to produce it.I never cared for "Friends" so I can't comment on it. But you seem to be citing it as a typical example. I have two things to say about that. One is that you're missing the point that the other five thousand monkeys were working on the plot, something you don't seem to need to enjoy a feature-length comedy. I'll bet you Brits can watch those old plotless Marx Brothers movies over and over again.

But second, none of your examples of British humor--at any rate not those that I was patient enough to sit through--appeared to need more than, say, 14 monkeys. The old man who gets tossed out the exact same window by the exact same mobsters for saying the exact same thing and then walks back inside yet another time... Is this endless repetition of the same scene--it could probably be done faster and more easily with software--this hiccup in time, considered high art in the U.K.? Is it not really your equivalent of professional "wrestling"? Do people take this seriously and insist that one example of it is better than another because even the window glass was reassembled so there were literally no changes at all from one iteration to the next? Are you people so infinitely patient that you can even stand to watch such slow-moving art? Is this the fundamental difference between the British and the Americans? Patience?

You can criticize us for mixing melodrama with comedy. But I don't think you can criticize us for not noticing the subtle art in this endless repetition.

No. The point you're missing frags, is that the Brits like comedy that is absurd. It doesn't have to be really clever or polished or appear to be like a soap with a story, plot, sub-plot whatever...it just has to be absurd. The reason why? Because it's all been done before. Sit-coms are blase, boring...something your grandparents enjoyed. It's the equivalent of the Sex Pistols compared to Foreigner. The most popular magazine in the UK is an adult comic called Viz and it's full of absurdly shitty cartoons with absurdly shitty humour, no social commentary, no political insight...nothing that can be construed as art in any form, yet its popularity speaks volumes for the British mindset where humour is concerned.

the sketch you cited is admittedly over 20 years old and not really indicative of contemporary Britcom, but it's not far off. What makes it funny is the absurdity of the situation...the serious gangsters being leaned on by some old tosser, you know, it's, as if. The old tosser repeatedly getting chucked out of the window because he just won't get the message, as if. The window glass breaking and then being unbroken again, as if. These things are funny and they're designed for a cynical generation chilled out in front of the box, with a bag of weed and a packet of Rizlas on the coffee table that can't take anything trying to be remotely serious or realistic (in a comedic sense), seriously.

My fav comedy shows:

Monty Python (He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!)
Blackadder (I have a cunning plan...)
Fawlty Towers (Well, of course it's a rat. You have rats in Spain, don't you - or did Franco have them all shot?)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.)
Yes Minister (If people don't know what you're doing, they don't know what you're doing wrong.)
Have I Got New for You (Archer has issued a strenuious denial - as good as a signed confession, really!)

Give me a shoestring budget, a genuine comedian and a faded old rock star with bizarre, 8-foot prosthetic arms any day.

this is my new life motto.

What about Red Dwarf? Especially the earlier ones.

this is my new life motto.

You should get some 8 foot prosthetic arms surgically grafted onto your body and have this motto tattooed prominently on the bulging forearms...

You should get some 8 foot prosthetic arms surgically grafted onto your body and have this motto tattooed prominently on the bulging forearms...

my lady wouldnt like it too much...perhaps ill get her drunk and THEN ask her..