Well, that clearly isnt true. SOME of American comedy is. Then again a lot of British comedy uses canned laughter too.

I don't personally see how american shows like scrubs and the fresh prince of belair can really be called in as examples of great American comedy when really all they are are sort of low brow teenage sitcom comedy thingys....o.o
I mean if those are the shows you see pioneering American comedy then America has failed purely on that basis.
Surely there are better American shows that could be brought forward to compete with the British shows.

Well considering the Might Boosch has been brought up most frequently when you start talking about British Comedy programs I doubt you're doing much better.

I'm going to be an enormous fucking elitist here and say the Boosh suffered the same fate Little Britain did in that it was ruined by absolutely everyone quoting and banging on about it the entire time.

Didn't bother reading past the last page.

And Yes, The quoting all the time was a bit much but there really was a decline in the writing as well, The second series was alright and then....It just got ****ing awful.

True, like Little Britain it didn't have new jokes.

Aye, exactly the same problem with that show aswell. Ran out of Ideas fast, It's the same with all these recent pun-based shows. They're good for a while and then that's it. They never seem to last long.

damn...and you brits say americans have no sense of sarcastic humour...

He clearly does understands sarcasm. He called Scrubs a low brow teenage sitcom.

Its true most British humor has a big leg up on American but I will say that the funniest show I've seen in a while is from our neighbors up north in Canada and that's Trailer Park Boys. It's pretty amazing.

Hehe I like Trailer Park Boys. A few years ago, I likened someone I know to Ricky in jest, and since then he has never escaped the comparison and has never forgiven me. :D

I like Pure Pwnage too.

I really want to know what the hell they were thinking when they began making Red Dwarf USA



WHAT THE HELL!!!!!


It's awful.... not only did they steal half of the UK versions jokes, they also turned the entire main cast white
Neither Cat, nor Lister, look right white..... and none of them sound right as Americans..... the only positive thing is that Robert Llewellyn returned to play Kryten


^^^ WHYYYYYYYY


^^^ Ahhhh That's much better

On the bright side...... the british Red Dwarf is going to be back on our screens in April

CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

I never bothered even checking out the American Red Dwarf which means I can't criticise it but I dont even want to play that video. I'm scared at what I will find.

American!

They made an American Red Dwarf???? Boo...

Richard Ayoade sometimes script-edits and plays a shaman in The Mighty Boosh.

Richard Ayoade's best hour is still Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

I beg your pudding?

For all those who haven't got a clue what us brits are talking about:

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace - Channel 4

I'm still convinced there isn't a better character on television in all the english speaking world than Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock.

I know we're not supposed to like our own comedy because british accents are just so darn cool!

but Tina Fey is one of the better comedic writers out there and she and Conan should really do some joint efforts.

Never seen it as I'm not into American comedy at all. Except My Name Is Earl. Jason Lee is so damn likeable!

Tina Fey did a great job with 30 Rock. There are not many women in TV comedy that I tend to particularly impressed with but she is certainly one of them on that show. I wouldnt say Alec Baldwins character was THAT good mind you but I agree he is very good. Better in regular TV sitcom than I thought he would be.

Heh. I never knew there was such a show.

Yeah, 30 Rock is great. Like a lot of shows, I had to see it a couple time before it clicked with me but now I think it's hilarious.

Yeah there might just be more American remakes of British shows than you realise. Probably because most of them were **** and just disappeared in a puff of smoke.

You really should check out 30 Rock.

I know there have been a lot and basically all of them except The Office have sucked. In fact, having seen and enjoyed the entire run of the original The Office I initially dismissed the American version as crap right off the bat. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was actually pretty funny. It's rare, I don't know what our TV executives obsession is with doing awful remakes of British shows but I'd sure like them to stop.

Personally I would recommend Curb Your Enthusiasm.



I never watched it but I have heard a lot of people say that about the remake. Personally I was just happy that the remake of Spaced never took off.

That's pretty good, but I have to admit overall I think Curb Your Enthusiasm is kind of overrated. It has its moments but they seem few and far between to me.

I cant get enough of it. I really the love the way the show is written and produced (with no scripts and more or less fully improvised) and maybe because its because im a Brit but I love Larry Davids dry, blunt sense of humour. A lot of Brits will tell you that ALL American humour is the same and CYE (among with others of course) is proof that those people are way off the mark.

I just have to say that I have absolutely no memory of making this thread...I'm reading the opening post and it doesn't ring any bells at all....God bless my memory...http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...wer/dreamy.gif

The American Office is definitely worth checking out. At the beginning of season one there were several episodes that were basically remakes of episodes from the British version which were fairly forgettable, but after a while the show found it's own voice and got really funny for a while. Some of the newest seasons aren't as good though, IMHO.

I think it was the first episode, or the pilot and the first episode that were a straight remake of the British one. I think Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant also wrote the scripts for the first few episodes or possibly the first season? Ill probably give it a watch sometime, ive been meaning to for a while once I started to hear good things about it.

I think I tend to like a dry sense of humor too, but my problem with CYE is that after a while I find Larry David more irritating than funny.

Heh, well looking down on all things American seems to be a favorite pastime of some Brits. But of course thinking that everything produced by a given culture is entirely homogenous is a silly and simplistic way of looking at things to say the least.

If you do watch it, make sure you check out more than one episode. I had to watch a few before I stopped comparing all the characters to their British counterparts and just enjoyed them as their own characters.

Speaking of The Office, this really must be posted in this thread:

Heh massively overhyped scene, I got sick of it being mentioned by everyone who started to talk about The Office, like it was the only scene ever made. HOWEVER it does, in a way sum up the show and David Brent perfectly. You can just see in Brents eyes that he has absolutely no concerns that what he is doing ISNT anything but the most awesome dance ever and it gets really hard to watch because on one hand I want to laugh and on the other hand I just feel sorry for him.

I may be sick of it but it is still hilarious.

It's still a classic. Rarely have I been so embarrassed for a character on TV as I have during that dance. Although the scene where he tells everyone he was just fired while wearing that bird costume rates pretty high on the embarrassment scale as well.

Oh its still a great scene. And yes, so is the one in his bird costume. Especially when they go outside to take the picture and the photographer is telling him to "make it peck at his friend."

Ive always thought that if you feel embarrassed while watching it then Gervais and Merchant were doing their job. Brent was always a character that you were never meant to like but maybe still feel sorry for throughout. He was irritating and completely clueless when it came to getting the approval of everyone around him. I dont think you were ever meant to hate him Theres a lot of people ive spoken to who have told me they dont like The Office because Ricky Gervais is just too annoying in it and I wonder whether they really get it or not.

Yeah, that definitely sound like someone who doesn't get it. One of the things I thought Ricky Gervais did a great job with was making David Brent a very real person. In the first few episodes he comes off as a completely dick but as the show goes on he becomes this three dimensional character who you begin to see for the desperately lonely, validation-seeking, sad little man that he is.

i dont know theres alot of american humor such as old greg that people in other countries such as england dont get but i guess to be fair that works vice versa

but then theres stuff like borat that both countries find hilarious

What is "old greg"?

^^^ the only thing I can think of is the Old Gregg from The Mighty BooshL




Funny the first few times you see it.... but it gets old quickly