British "humour"?

[Golddollar]

The humor I've come to love far more than anything else over the years has been generated not by professional writers, humorists, comedians, etc. but by the most ordinary folks during the course of everyday life; never planned, just spur of the moment stuff featuring brilliant, hilarious use of the language in just the right circumstances. I've had a number of such moments with friends, family, acquaintances -even with total strangers at Walmart or other public establishments. The British I'm sure do this quite well, but I tend to think to some degree it's a universal phenomenon, part of just being human beings.

Regards,
Andy

You're talking about the "snap-bang" humor that took place in fishing camp with my dad and his brothers. Pop was never one to stand up and tell jokes like I could, but he was always good for little zingers that usually had a message attached. And now I find some of his zingers coming out of my mouth. One of his best was "If the older generation didn't pass along its knowledge to the younger generation, we'd still be living in caves."

 

[UncleEd]

Quite amusing was Dench and Palmer appearing
together in the Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies."
As soon as they appear together, the memory of
"As Time Goes By" is happily resurrected.

 

[snowman]

You're talking about the "snap-bang" humor that took place in fishing camp with my dad and his brothers. Pop was never one to stand up and tell jokes like I could, but he was always good for little zingers that usually had a message attached.

Yes, but oftentimes so off-the-cuff one marvels at how swiftly the person came up with it. A memorable example: At a former job in my hometown I had a couple co-workers who went by nicknames, Hoppy and Skip(seriously -but sheer coincidence; they went by these long before they ever worked together). There is an old diner in the town at which the working people there commonly spent their lunch hour, Hoppy being one of them.

There is a railroad there which runs past the rear of the diner, I'd say not more than 30-40 feet away(maybe further; but it's very close to the building at any rate). One day at everyone's lunch hour a train was passing through and something happened to the train(can't for the life of me remember what)causing it to make a loud bang and forcing it to stop. Caused quite a stir in town; people were talking about for a few days afterward.

When Hoppy returned to work, he was telling Skip what happened, and the exchange went something like this:

Hoppy: Everybody was eatin' and there was a loud bang. Somebody yelled, "Derailment!!", and we all rushed for the door and jumped ship.

Skip: You mean you didn't go down with the restaurant?


Regards,
Andy

 

[jtcarm]

The wife was watching "Three Weddings and a Funeral" (I think that's the name) and thought it was amusing
Me-not so much as a chuckle.
Aside from Monty Python, I can't think of any
British Comedy that I've ever liked.
Am I missing something?

You’re missing one wedding.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I met Ruth Buzzi at Chiller Theatre a few years ago, she told me "Laugh-In" was pretty tightly scripted. She emphasized that there is a big difference between a comedian and a comic actor, told me she got lots of offers to be an MC , she turned them down, she didn't have that quick spontaneous wit.
"Back In The Day" when there was "censorship" writers, performers had to be "funny" funny, today.....? Whatever one may think of Bill Cosby today, his humor holds up because he spoke of the human condition.
IIRC "All in the Family" was inspired by a British series "Till Death Do Us Part"

 

[oldbrownhat]

Not sure but I think All in the Family was inspired by a British series....

Yes, "Till Death Do Us Part" as I read this morning in the obituary for Norman Lear.

All in the Family, based on the British sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, was the No. 1-rated series for an unprecedented five years in a row and earned four Emmy Awards as best comedy series, finally eclipsed by five-time winner Frasier in 1998.

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Oops... I see BlackhawkNJ just posted that.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I don't think anybody has mentioned one of my old favorites - The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

A man stressed out by his successful career fakes his own death and starts over - several times.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Around the same time MP debuted "The Goodies" were introduced and gave us Kung Fu Kapers and Ecky Thump. Hilarity ensued.

My early downfall came with Bill and Ben.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Ecky Thump…was that another Jack White project? MP & The Holy
Grail almost made me wet myself from laughing so much. We had to watch it several times at the movies in order to get most of the humor. Ma Nature made the show slow down somewhat.
My first dose of Brit humor came from a Fab Four movie. The long running joke with my band of merry men was “ There’s an old man in the cupboard.” Or something similar.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I used to see one where in a black guy Master Chef had to deal with bungling idiotic kitchen help. I loved his signature line: " I hate DOPE Heads."

Yesss...! That was probably "Chef!" with Lenny Henry!

...Henry starred as Gareth Blackstock, a talented, arrogant, tyrannical and obsessed chef who has endlessly inventive insults for his staff, unknowing customers, and almost anyone else he encounters..
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