You should totally try Russian humor. It’s so horrible.
Here’s where America being a nation of immigrants really pays off. Various ethnicities, but particularly Jews and African-Americans have developed distinctive and influential styles based out of their communities, but absolutely American in every sense. Regardless of origin, American humor is far to broad to pigeonhole, but probably so are most countries. Yeah, we got Monty Python from the Brits, but they also seemed to like Benny Hill.
Generally speaking, I do not understand France’s sense of humor. Jerry Lewis? Eugh.
Brad S. – Yeah, it’s hard to imagine people like Richard Pryor or Woody Allen coming from any other country but America.
The French do have that whole Jacques Tati thing going for them, but I also find the cult of Jerry Lewis befuddling.
@Brad
Various ethnicities, but particularly Jews and African-Americans have developed distinctive and influential styles based out of their communities, but absolutely American in every sense.
Hmm, is Jewish-American humor really distinctive—I mean would Jews from other countries have trouble “getting” the humor from American Jews (and let’s assume they understand English)? Do Jews from other countries have a really different sense of humor from American Jews?
Regardless of origin, American humor is far to broad to pigeonhole, but probably so are most countries.
Yeah, but when someone says “British humor,” I have an idea of what they mean. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the British sense of humor is restricted to whatever we mean by British humor, but there doesn’t seem to be a style that we associate with the Brits.
And where are the Aussies? I hope they contribute to this thread.
Oh, and maybe with Americans we can talk about a regional humor.
at the minute i’m liking portuguese humour at tops (manoel de oliveira, joao cesar monteiro and miguel gomes) then…..filipino (good call jazz…i’ve seen a few wry films from them lately that made me chuckle) czechoslovak, polish, romanian, hungarian, chinese…
i have a loose working theory that certain nations crushed by oppressive regimes develop a very sardonic sense of humour to cope with it.
i think that’s true ^ i have noticed many native americans have a quite deadpan sense of humor. what about native hawaiians, jazz?
>>Do Jews from other countries have a really different sense of humor from American Jews?<<
As in any immigrant humor, there is certainly a lot brought over from the “old country,” but over time, it becomes merged with Americana to evolve into a different thing. So that old style brand of vaudeville Yiddish humor (think The Marx Brothers) could be more universal to Jews around the world than what it eventually became in it’s modern form – think Seinfeld.
Some wonderful Russian political jokes.
Does the U.S. have a distinctive brand of humor? Crass bathroom humor a la the Farrelly brothers or slapstick (read: unsophisticated) came to mind immediately.
Ugh… I resent that, Jazz!! :P I feel really annoyed when people talk about British humor as the end-all, be-all of sophistication. To be honest, I don’t think British humor is all that great, or necessarily even more sophisticated than Arrested Development, 30 Rock, or the Simpsons (some seasons).
Anyway, I really hate the fetishization of Europe (and particularly England) by many Americans as the epitome of culture and refinement. This has even become a meme! Yeah, there are some great things in Europe, but let’s not kid ourselves that every European is a fit, forward-thinking, artistic intellectual.
I also work at a German company and I frequently overhear the German faction saying things like “oh Americans just love instant gratification” and “oh the food here is just so bad!” So I can get kind of steamed about this…
Anyway, back to the topic….
^ As the saying goes, Germans are the Americans of Europe.
LOL! Is that a real saying? It makes me happy and mad at the same time!
Where do you live, Ari?
“Does the U.S. have a distinctive brand of humor? Crass bathroom humor a la the Farrelly brothers or slapstick (read: unsophisticated) came to mind immediately”
No nation has the monopoly on crass bathroom humor or unsophisticated slapstick. Let’s not forget that the nation that gave us Oscar Wilde, Ealing Studios and Monty Python comedies also gave us Benny Hill and way too many years of ARE YOU BEING SERVED.
What a shame that crass bathroom humor and unsophisticated slapstick came to mind when you thought of American humor. Think a little harder, or even at all, and you’ll think of the work of Chuck Jones, Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, Buster Keaton, Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers, to say nothing of Mark Twain, S.J. Perelman, Joseph Heller, David Foster Wallace, Bill Watterson and Gary Larson.
^ :D
Aussie pride! Australians definitely have our own sense of humour, Brits seem to get it but people from the US are always a bit confused by it.
Another dominating form of American humor today is political sarcasm. This isn’t just the people who talk directly about politics like Stewart and Colbert, it’s also almost animated show made for adults: Simpsons, South Park, even King of the Hill. Also the NBC comedy block of Community/30 Rock/Parks and Rec/The Office.
It’s pretty much a blend of British humor and Jewish humor.
do people in australia find david thorne funny?
The Castle is a probably a good example of Australian humour ( http://mubi.com/films/the-castle—3 ) sorry I don’t know how to link pages.
@Twodead
at the minute i’m liking portuguese humour at tops (manoel de oliveira, joao cesar monteiro and miguel gomes) then…..filipino (good call jazz…i’ve seen a few wry films from them lately that made me chuckle)…
Just for clarification, I haven’t seen many Filipino films, and when I mentioned Filipino humor, I did so in the hopes of encouraging Filipino regulars to participate. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked so far. :(
@Ruby
i think that’s true ^ i have noticed many native americans have a quite deadpan sense of humor. what about native hawaiians, jazz?
I’m not a Native Hawaiian, and making generalizations can be hazardous, but with those caveats, my sense is that Native Hawaiians—in terms of humor and otherwise—are not very sardonic at all. I think many feel a sense of resentment and pain, at least to some degree, but I don’t think that translates to sardonic sense of humor. Generally speaking, I think Native Hawaiians are fun-loving, and they really seem to like physical humor. Again, these are just some of my impressions. Hopefully, Nohea (who is part-Native Hawaiian) and Blue can weigh in.
Jazzaloha
I heard the phrase, “British humor,” the other day, and that made me wonder if every country had a unique take or sensibility on humor. Then I thought: Does the U.S. have a distinctive brand of humor? Crass bathroom humor a la the Farrelly brothers or slapstick (read: unsophisticated) came to mind immediately. I don’t know if that’s true, but what do others think?
Also, I’d love to hear people try to describe the humor from their country/culture. Is there such a thing as Indonesian humor, Persian humor, Filipino humor, to mention a few? And would they really be distinct from other countries/cultures?