British versus American comedy

British versus American comedy British comedy

Sarcasm OverdramatizedStating the obviousMocking other countries, cultures and themselvesSlapstick in older showsQuite a few caricaturesMacabre ( black comedy) making fun of serious situationsProtagonistCanned laughterClever on dialogues and the words that they useUsually are predictableOriginal similes that are not common but funnystereotypical

Examples:Mock the Week, uses sarcasm, macabre and mocking foreigners in almost every episode.Fawlty Towers, uses slapstick, stating the obvious and caricatures to explain the stupid situations.Blackadder uses more sarcasm, original but funny similes, canned laughter and has black comedy (macabre).

American comedy

It has more slapstick and physical comedy Not sarcasticOpen comedy (easy to understand)Considered to be over the top by the Englishmock political viewsNo caricatures Got stereotypesObvious comedy

examplesExamples:Mock the Week, uses sarcasm, macabre and mocking foreigners in almost every episode.Fawlty Towers, uses slapstick, stating the obvious and caricatures to explain the stupid situations.Blackadder uses more sarcasm, original but funny similes, canned laughter and has black comedy (macabre).

How I Met your Mother, uses some sarcasm, obvious comedy and general humor.Friends, uses obvious comedy, over the top.The West Wing, uses sarcasm, obvious comedy and mocks political views.

BRITISH COMEDY SHOWSFawlty towers is about a failing hotel run by Basil Fawlty who uses tough love to make his staff work. His staff includes Manuel from Barcelona, Sybil Fawlty, his wife and Polly Sherman the only sensible one there. Why is it funny?

it is funny because Fawlty mocks the Spanish speaking bell boy, Manuel, and gets frustrated very easily at the simplest of things. The situations, whilst unrealistic create ridicules scenarios that send the characters into a spin and gives the audience knowledge of what happens next. It is quite predictable and it does not have many props.