The idea of British comedy in America is definitely one that many people approach with a great deal of skepticism. There is no question that it has the stigma of being too dry and therefore un-relatable for most American audiences. In a lot of ways, I think that it is comedy that Americans are actually the most familiar with in regards to British film and television because more people have been exposed to such productions than probably most other genres. So, every time we have watched a different comedy this year, I have been thinking about how people I know would react to the different jokes and comedic strategies. Obviously we have debated numerous times whether certain British shows of any genre would or would not be well-received here in the states. In this case I’m not really as interested in this debate, which really is focused more on whether shows could consistently attract large audiences. Instead, I am more simply inquiring as to whether people I know would find the shows to be entertaining or not.
I think that comedy is in many ways one of the easiest genres to judge as far as audience reception. It’s really a simple question: did you laugh when you watched it or not? Obviously, there are more redeeming qualities to the better comedies that can make them higher quality, but overall I think it’s safe to say that the intention of most comedies is to incite laughter.
Thus, I have to say that I really do have my doubts about the British comedies we have watched, as a collective whole. What I have observed is a noticeable absence of laughter in our class during the screenings. How would I define a lack of laughter? I really don’t have a specific way of doing so other than through a comparison to my own viewing experiences with my friends. During those times, the room is filled with laughter consistently throughout the episodes. Of course, some are worse and some are better, but there are usually at least a few large laughing periods for each episode. In regards to our class, I have noticed that many shows spark only a few small laughs, while others really none at all. Furthermore, I have to say I have never noticed a time when the entire room lights up with laughs.
Now there are some serious variables involved that could account for the differences. One possible variable is simply the setting. I’m sure that we are all slightly less comfortable in the classroom than we are at home with our friends, and so I am sure that somewhat affects how much we laugh. Another example is that my friends are going to have more similar traits and interests as a group than our class, which means that we will probably be more likely to watch certain shows and to find them amusing. However, I think this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that we are the same age and are all FTT majors (so we clearly have a heightened interest, informed perspective and broad experience with TV).
Also, despite my observations, it does seem that there usually (definitely not always) is a significantly positive reception in our class when we discuss these shows. My explanation for this is actually due to the fact that we are FTT majors, and that we do have informed perspectives and generally hold higher standards for television. I believe that we get a large amount of enjoyment out of watching British comedies because they are very different and a nice break from the redundancy and simplicity that often times plagues American television. However, this does not necessarily make them good comedies, since we are not laughing as much as we otherwise would.
I guess my point in writing this rather lengthy post is that I think it’s very difficult for us to accurately evaluate British comedies—maybe even more so than other genres we have watched. I think this is first due to the fact that comedy as a genre constantly serves two masters (making people laugh, yet being different and unique), and I think problems in analyzing these separate parts is exacerbated by the British style, which makes it harder for us as Americans to connect with the humor.
At the start of your post you say British comedy is un-relatable to American audiences. In my posts and class I often say this too, but it just hit me, is it just American audiences that cannot relate to this genre of British television? Do those tuning into the Middle East or Russia laugh? If they do, do Americans need to have jokes hit them in the face to laugh? Are we more of a jokester nation, whereas everyone else on this earth takes themselves a bit more seriously? These are not questions with clear answers because there would be exceptions in any country watching any comedy. I do think, however, British dramas are a bigger hit than comedies, or at least in our class we tend to enjoy them more. Again, why is this? This “comment” does not deliver any answers to life, just questions I wanted to share with the class.
I love your use of different variables like “audience laughter” to gauge the success of the show. Although it seems like such a relative concept, I do truly believe that all comedies have an inherent goal of making the audience laugh. Obviously there are some comedies with more subtle humor, however, I still think that even those comedies are trying to get a rise out of people. Yet, I think it is hard for us to judge if these comedies are good simply by how much we laugh (as you allude to in your argument). The point being that the cultural receptors in our brain have been tuned to an American wavelength all of our lives and it is very hard to reverse that in order to appreciate and laugh at the jokes during the programs. But, I do not think that takes away from my perception of the show as a “good comedy” as I recognize that it is a well-made, quality program….just something that I am not necessarily used to or generally enjoy.
I definitely agree with your laughter gauge assumption in that we as a class seem pretty subdued when watching these “comedies”. With that, there is a certain distance or atmosphere within the classroom while we watch: we watch for observation and critique, not solely to be entertained. We go in with expectations and a wide knowledge of what television can offer, complete with our own preferences.
We’ve seen a variety of niche shows or ones supporting our certain curriculum, and as Becker stresses, we only see a snippet of British television’s offerings…I’m curious as to what else is out there and whether those would cause a more gut or physical reaction to the “comedy”.
Your blog post brings me back to something we touched on in class, but didn’t really get to expand on. I’ve had trouble pinpointing why I like American sitcoms much more than British sitcoms (or rather, the ones that we’ve seen), and I think one of the biggest differences is the overall tone and the way the shows approach their characters. The moment it hit me was when Professor Becker cited Parks and Rec as being such an American sitcom because of the positivity the shows manages to convey. Every time we’ve watched a British sitcom I’ve felt such a massive amount of awkwardness and secondhand embarrassment for the characters that I haven’t really been able to laugh (which might explain the lack of laughter during the shows). The thing is, I recognize that this feeling of uncomfortableness is exactly what the show creators are trying to instill, but I do believe it takes away from the comedy. So I guess I would be interested to see how a room full of British students would react to these types of shows. Would there be constant laughter? Or would a room full of squirming British students be a sign that the show is doing its job as a comedy?
I think that one of the inherent things about comedies, at least for me, is that it takes a couple of episodes to really understand the characters, their jokes, and what to expect from them. It’s rare that I’ll love a show after one episode, no matter how funny it is. I love “Parks and Rec,” but it took me the better part of the first season to really get into it. On the other hand, “Community” and “30 Rock” were instant hits with me because I was predisposed to loving the subject matter. So, if we’re not invested coming in, like Erin said, I think the show has a harder time making us laugh. It needs to win us over. I watch a decent amount of British comedy, and I’m not going to lie, it took me a couple of episodes to get into each of them. We can appreciate the dramas we watch right off the bat because we can all agree that death or terrorism is tragic, but we might not all think that peanuts down the shirt is funny at all.