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-   -   Canadians' Sense of Humour? (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/canadians-sense-humour-630513/)

JonboyE Sep 14th 2009 11:24 pm

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by Oink (Post 7931406)
Family Guy is pretty good. Its interesting that Americans seem to only be able to laugh at themselves when its in cartoon form.

I should watch a bit more of that. The trouble is I get enough "when are you going to grow up?" looks watching the Simpsons. Adding another cartoon might be pushing my luck.

cdntiger Sep 14th 2009 11:54 pm

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by Oink (Post 7931406)
Family Guy is pretty good. Its interesting that Americans seem to only be able to laugh at themselves when its in cartoon form.

This DOES seem to be true. Although The Daily Show and The Colbert Report do a pretty good job too....but you need a pretty good sense of irony to enjoy the latter. :lol:

Deva Sep 15th 2009 12:02 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by triumphguy (Post 7931094)
Do Canadians find British humour funny?

I do. It's one of the main things I miss about the UK. As for my compatriots, I fear most Canadians would go for Mr Bean over Blackadder.

Alan2005 Sep 15th 2009 12:50 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 7931403)
You are not really being fair, taking the best of forty years of TV comedy in the UK and comparing it to a year or so viewing in Canada.

Was Monty Python a 70s show? I think it started in the 60s. Yes, this was innovative and sometimes very funny, but not always so. Other than that there is nothing of the 70s that stands out in my memory apart from Faulty Towers. In the 80s and 90s mainstream TV comedy was various successors to the Morecome and Wise show, and the awful twee "family" sitcoms that make it to the low budget channels over here: May to September, There's no place like home, Waiting for God and so on.

Sure, there was some very funny and innovative stuff going on in BBC2 land as well. The Young Ones still makes me laugh, as does Absolutely Fabulous. The first series of 'allo 'allo (it started on BBC2 after the watershed) was also good. They bastardized it for prime time BBC1. I enjoyed some of the sketch based shows but Harry Enfield is the only one that comes to mind now. Despite myself, I laughed a lot at the first three series of Only Fools and Horses.

I liked Have I got News for You (I still think Paul Merton is one of the funniest comedians I have seen) and They Think it's All Over.

In 30 years, that is about it, and there was an awful lot of dross to get through for these gems.


Comedy is derived from culture. I don't think the "let's all laugh at the lower classes" (which is 90% of British comedy) works very well in North America. We get all the references and the North Americans don't. Similarly, we don't "get" a lot of North American comedy. The Simpsons aside, I've not found any TV shows that make me laugh much.

However, there is a lot of good stand up comedy.

I never said all UK comedy was good. And I agree it's probably not fair comparing the rich heritage of british comedy with what canada has to offer - which is kind of my point. Canadian TV comedy is always going to be lacking when you compare it to british TV comedy over whatever period you wish. A lot of this is going to be down to the simple fact that the BBC is by far the best broadcaster in the world and to a certain extent drags up the quality of the output from the commercial channels in the UK.

Anyway some examples of the periods you consider to be lacking (and this is off the top of my head rather than googled).

70's comedies - rising damp, porridge, some mothers do ave em, reggie perin
80's comedies - young ones (tho that is v dated), only fools and horses, black adder

American comedy that I would think of as classic would be frasier, or married with children. I don't know of any canadian classic comedy, but I am happy to be educated.

As for animation, southpark is the best of the cartoon american comedies - (that, the simpsons and jon stewert are the only things I bother to PVR - everything else I watch is on iplayer or channel 4 on demand).

(Family guy would be good if they got rid of peter griffin - I found that his voice just got really grating after about 10 episodes and I can't bear to listen to it anymore).

Edit to add: I should also say that the rest of the world loves crap british comedy. Mr Bean is v popular, as is benny hill. My philipino barber always wants to talk to me about how funny on the buses is:huh:

Lord Vader Sep 15th 2009 1:09 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by triumphguy (Post 7931094)
Do Canadians find British humour funny?

Well, are we talking about the sense of humor of the average citizen or of "famous comedians"?

As for comedy shows, Monty Python is probably the best. Mr bean and Benny Hill were funny for one scene and after that it gets old. Could someone could direct me to some good recent Brit comedy on youtube or another site.

Some "Canadian" comedy shows I like that are a bit older are The kids in the hall and 4 on the floor. More recent examples are Puppets who kill, just for laughs, Jon Lajoie on youtube. Red Green, Trailer park boys, Rick Mercer and Tom Green all have their moments. I would also recommend looking outside of the gubmint owned cbc for comedy.

Alan2005 Sep 15th 2009 1:12 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by Lord Vader (Post 7931613)
Well, are we talking about the sense of humor of the average citizen or of "famous comedians"?

As for comedy shows, Monty Python is probably the best. Mr bean and Benny Hill were funny for one scene and after that it gets old. Could someone could direct me to some good recent Brit comedy on youtube or another site.

Some "Canadian" comedy shows I like that are a bit older are The kids in the hall and 4 on the floor. More recent examples are Puppets who kill, just for laughs, Jon Lajoie on youtube. Red Green, Trailer park boys, Rick Mercer and Tom Green all have their moments. I would also recommend looking outside of the gubmint owned cbc for comedy.

Have to admit that I did quite like puppets who kill when i've watched it.

Alan2005 Sep 15th 2009 1:14 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by Lord Vader (Post 7931613)
Well, are we talking about the sense of humor of the average citizen or of "famous comedians"?

As for comedy shows, Monty Python is probably the best. Mr bean and Benny Hill were funny for one scene and after that it gets old. Could someone could direct me to some good recent Brit comedy on youtube or another site.

Some "Canadian" comedy shows I like that are a bit older are The kids in the hall and 4 on the floor. More recent examples are Puppets who kill, just for laughs, Jon Lajoie on youtube. Red Green, Trailer park boys, Rick Mercer and Tom Green all have their moments. I would also recommend looking outside of the gubmint owned cbc for comedy.

Recent? Sitcom wise there is The IT Crowd, Black Books, Peep Show (Mitchell and Web are v funny).

dboy Sep 15th 2009 1:32 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 
Best British comedian - Peter Kay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaiW-DEy7y8

I wonder if a lot of his very northern stuff goes over some brits' heads:

Partially discharged Sep 15th 2009 1:39 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by dboy (Post 7931655)
Best British comedian - Peter Kay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaiW-DEy7y8

I wonder if a lot of his very northern stuff goes over some brits' heads:

The family weddings clip is quite funny.

jillany Sep 15th 2009 2:14 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by Alan2005 (Post 7931586)
I never said all UK comedy was good. And I agree it's probably not fair comparing the rich heritage of british comedy with what canada has to offer - which is kind of my point. Canadian TV comedy is always going to be lacking when you compare it to british TV comedy over whatever period you wish. A lot of this is going to be down to the simple fact that the BBC is by far the best broadcaster in the world and to a certain extent drags up the quality of the output from the commercial channels in the UK.

Anyway some examples of the periods you consider to be lacking (and this is off the top of my head rather than googled).

70's comedies - rising damp, porridge, some mothers do ave em, reggie perin
80's comedies - young ones (tho that is v dated), only fools and horses, black adder

American comedy that I would think of as classic would be frasier, or married with children. I don't know of any canadian classic comedy, but I am happy to be educated.

As for animation, southpark is the best of the cartoon american comedies - (that, the simpsons and jon stewert are the only things I bother to PVR - everything else I watch is on iplayer or channel 4 on demand).

(Family guy would be good if they got rid of peter griffin - I found that his voice just got really grating after about 10 episodes and I can't bear to listen to it anymore).

Edit to add: I should also say that the rest of the world loves crap british comedy. Mr Bean is v popular, as is benny hill. My philipino barber always wants to talk to me about how funny on the buses is:huh:

I was at a fair the other day and had a Young Ones Book for sale. Never expecting for one minute to sell it. A Canadadian, about 60, came up to me, raved about the young ones and then introduced me to his son who also raved about them. Said it was the funniest British show they had seen.
No I didn't disagree or agree, just found it odd that they liked it. Must have had some english blood in them somewhere. They are the only people I have ever met who even knew the show.

4d32ftw Sep 15th 2009 2:18 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 
went into the local today, and after we'd looked at the menu the lovely waitress asked if we had any questions.

so i asked her what the capital of peru was ? :lol:

she thought i was serious.... so she pipped up with, oh i'm no good at tv quizes i'm much better at family feud, so i then asked her in family feud style to name the top 5 cities in peru.

Lord Vader Sep 15th 2009 2:37 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by dboy (Post 7931655)
Best British comedian - Peter Kay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaiW-DEy7y8

I wonder if a lot of his very northern stuff goes over some brits' heads:

I'm sure he is funny, but I honestly had a hard time understanding his accent. I would catch most words and then miss a couple. So if he was talking directly to me I would probably nod and smile.

dboy Sep 15th 2009 2:50 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by jillany (Post 7931720)
I was at a fair the other day and had a Young Ones Book for sale. Never expecting for one minute to sell it. A Canadadian, about 60, came up to me, raved about the young ones and then introduced me to his son who also raved about them. Said it was the funniest British show they had seen.
No I didn't disagree or agree, just found it odd that they liked it. Must have had some english blood in them somewhere. They are the only people I have ever met who even knew the show.

I used to love the young ones and used had them on VHS and watched them endlessly when I was younger. Watched one recently on you tube and wondered what the fuss was about - found it silly.

dboy Sep 15th 2009 2:57 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 

Originally Posted by Lord Vader (Post 7931757)
I'm sure he is funny, but I honestly had a hard time understanding his accent. I would catch most words and then miss a couple. So if he was talking directly to me I would probably nod and smile.

See we are entering another realm - northerns have a way better sense of humour than southerns, not surprising since they 'don't do peas'

Here's more - let me know when you have had enough:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJr9ekTf0xc

dboy Sep 15th 2009 3:07 am

Re: Canadians' Sense of Humour?
 
Ok - one more then:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6liAimpfH3k

:thumbsup:


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