British humour

British humour is a somewhat general term applied to certain comedic motifs that are often prevalent in comedic acts originating in the United Kingdom and its current or former colonies.[1] Comedy acts and television programmes typical of British humour include Monty Python, Benny Hill, and Keeping Up Appearances to name a few that have become quite popular outside the United Kingdom. At times, however, such humour can seem puzzling to non-British speakers of English (for example, references to British slang terms or people who are not internationally known), while certain Commonwealth nations (such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) tend to find it more familiar.

Many UK comedy TV shows typical of British humour have been internationally popular, and have been a strong avenue for the export and representation of British culture to an international audience.

A strong theme of sarcasm and self-deprecation runs throughout British Humour.[2] Emotion is often buried under humour in a way that seems insensitive to other cultures.[3] Jokes are told about everything and no subject is taboo,[4] a noticeable exception being the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, which may have been a watershed in British humour according to at least one academic study.[5]

Contents

Themes

Some themes (with examples) that underpinned late twentieth-century British humour were:[5]

Smut and innuendo

Innuendo in British humour can be followed through history, it features in Beowulf, and Chaucer, and folk songs are often littered with it. Shakespeare wrote much comedy and was not above a little smut to get a laugh, as in Hamlet act 4 scene v:

Young men will do't if they come to't / By Cock, they are to blame.

As shown by the capitalisation, Cock is here a contemporary euphemism for God, neatly combining blasphemy with innuendo.

During the Interregnum, theatre was banned, and the end of the Puritan regime, and this ban, led to a renaissance of English drama. Restoration comedy is notorious for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court.

In the Victorian era, Burlesque theatre rose in this time, and combines sexuality and humour in its acts. Literature began to become a more important medium with the printing press but remained highbrow due to the price of books and low literacy rates. In the nineteenth century magazines such as Punch began to be widely sold, and innuendo featured in its cartoons and articles.

Coming into the twentieth century, the saucy postcard, as of Donald McGill and Bamforths, were ubiquitous and nearly always based on a sexual innuendo. This sort of humour was common in music halls and the comedy music of George Fornby is rooted in this style. Many of the comedians from music hall and wartime gang shows worked on the post-war radio, and characters such as Julian and Sandy on Round the Horn, heavily used innuendo in their acts.

As film and then television began to dominate entertainment, this theme followed into the new media. The Carry On series was based largely on this, and many of the sketches of The Two Ronnies are in this vein, this sort of open smut was epitomised by Benny Hill. The Nudge Nudge sketch by Monty Python even mocks this sort of sexual humour.

As time progressed, more subtlety in sexual humour became fashionable again, as in Not the Nine O'Clock News and Blackadder, while Bottom and Viz continued the smuttier trend. In modern British comedy Frankie Boyle and Julian Clary are prolific users of innuendo still.

Satire

Disrespect to members of the establishment and authority, typified by:

Absurd

The absurd and the surreal, typified by:

Macabre

Black humour, in which topics and events that are usually treated seriously are treated in a humorous or satirical manner, typified by:

Surreal and chaotic

Humour inherent in everyday life

The humour, not necessarily apparent to the participants, inherent in everyday life, as seen in:

Adults and children

The 'war' between parents/teachers and their children, typified by:

British class system

The British class system, especially pompous or dim-witted members of the upper/middle classes or embarrassingly blatant social climbers, typified by:

Lovable rogue

The lovable rogue, often from the impoverished working class, trying to 'beat the system' and better himself, typified by:

Embarrassment of social ineptitude

The embarrassment of social ineptitude, typified by:

Race and regional stereotypes

The An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman joke format is one common to many cultures, and is often used in English, including having the nationalities switched around to take advantage of other stereotypes. These stereotypes are somewhat fond, and these jokes would not be taken as xenophobic, this sort of affectionate stereotype is also exemplified by ‘Allo ‘Allo!, this programme, although set in France in the second World War, and deliberately performed in over the top accents, mocked British stereotypes as well as foreigners. This also applies to a lot of the regional stereotypes in the UK. Regional accent and dialect are used in such programmes as Hancock's Half Hour, Auf Weidersehen, Pet and Red Dwarf, as such accents provide quick characterisation and social cues.

Although racism was a part of British humour, it is now frowned upon, and acts such as Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson are pilloried for this. Most racist themes in popular comedy since the 1970’s are targeted against the racist rather than in sympathy. Love Thy Neighbour and Till Death Us Do Part were both series that dealt with these issues when The United Kingdom was coming to terms with an influx of immigrants. Fawlty Towers featured mistreatment of Spanish waiter, Manuel, but the target was the bigotry of the lead character. More recently, The Fast Show has mocked people of other races, notably the Chanel 9 sketches, and Banzai has mimicked Japanese games shows, with an exaggerated sense of violence, sex and public absurdity. Goodness Gracious Me turned stereotypes on their heads in sketches such as Going for an English and when bargaining over the price of a newspaper.

Bullying and harsh sarcasm

Harsh sarcasm and bullying, though with the bully usually coming off worse than the victim - typified by:

Parodies of stereotypes

Making fun of British stereotypes, typified by:

Tolerance of, and affection for, the eccentric

Tolerance of, and affection for, the eccentric, especially when allied to inventiveness

Pranks and Practical Jokes

Usually, for television, the performance of a practical joke on an unsuspecting person whilst being covertly filmed.

See also

References

  1. ^ British Culture, British Customs and British Traditions- British Humour Learnenglish.de, LEO Network. Accessed August 2011
  2. ^ British humour 'dictated by genetics' By Andy Bloxham , Daily Telegraph, 10 Mar 2008. Accessed August 2011
  3. ^ What are you laughing at? Simon Pegg The Guardian, 10 February 2007. Accessed August 2011
  4. ^ The Funny Side of the United Kingdom: Analysing British Humour with Special Regard to John Cleese and His Work Page 5 Theo Tebbe, Publisher GRIN Verlag, 2008 ISBN 3640172175 . Accessed August 2011
  5. ^ a b Black Humour in British Advertisement By Claudia Felsch, Publisher GRIN Verlag, 2007 ISBN 3638796752. Accessed August 2011

External links