Which country produces the best comedy?

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Papa G said:
American Network television held back American comedies/sitcoms..
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The Simpsons was network television. Can't think of a British show like it.

The Colbert Report, The Opposition with Jordan Klepper weren't for stupid people.

This gets to an important point: People compare the best British comedies to the worst American comedies, but rarely the way around. "lol My Family is a piece of s**t compared to Californication! British comedy suuuuucks" doesn't happen.
 
Comedy is suffering from political correctness. I was watching the Montreux Comedy Festival the other day. They went for diversity over the ability to make people laugh.

Of course they had to have equal representation of male and female comics. There was an Malawian man who wasn't funny. A fat black American woman who wasn't funny. There was a dwarf who wasn't funny. A Korean woman who wasn't funny. A massively obese guy, who apparently had since died, who wasn't funny. Amy Schumer wasn't funny. Jimmy Carr was ok but only got a few minutes. Tim Minchin as usual had a smart arse song without being funny. There was canned laughter after every attempted gag.
 

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I can't watch stand up comedy. When I know that someone is trying desperately to make me laugh it just comes off as forced and I can't get into it. Bill Burr, Louis CK, Eddie Murphy are really the only stand ups that I've enjoyed watching. I feel like most comics are incredibly hit-and-miss, and mostly miss.
 
R Chee Manning said:
I grew up on Hancock.

He still makes me laugh even to this day.

Fawlty Towers still makes me LOL too.

But I'll freely admit that quality UK comedy has been sadly lacking in recent years.

Alan Partridge has been good.

But overall, in the battle as to who produces the best comedy...

It's probably the USA.
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You r kidding yourself, most USA comedy is not even funny.
Least the POMS are actually genuinely funny and take the piss out of themselves well.
POMS easily produce best comedies over the years.

It is rare I find American comedies funny but a few exceptions were Curb Your Enthusiasm and Richard Pryor movies from 70's or 80's used to make me laugh.
But the amount of other stuff Yanks called comedy that is mass produced and barely raises a giggle is heaps.

As a kid growing up things like Not the Nine O'clock News, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Mr Bean would have me in stitches.
Plenty of others too but they were so much better than USA comedy it not even a race.

I did not mind things like Cheers from USA but only mildly funny compared to British comedies.

The Irish Dave Allen as a kid was gold too.
 
footyfan78 said:
You r kidding yourself, most USA comedy is not even funny.
Least the POMS are actually genuinely funny and take the piss out of themselves well.
POMS easily produce best comedies over the years.

It is rare I find American comedies funny but a few exceptions were Curb Your Enthusiasm and Richard Pryor movies from 70's or 80's used to make me laugh.
But the amount of other stuff Yanks called comedy that is mass produced and barely raises a giggle is heaps.

As a kid growing up things like Not the Nine O'clock News, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Mr Bean would have me in stitches.
Plenty of others too but they were so much better than USA comedy it not even a race.

I did not mind things like Cheers from USA but only mildly funny compared to British comedies.

The Irish Dave Allen as a kid was gold too.
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The Poms are masters at self deprecating humor.

 
The US probably wins through weight of numbers; for all the dross, they produced sharp satirical sitcoms like the Simpsons, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Veep etc as well as classic family ones like Family Ties, Cheers etc. But over the lifetime, the UK may pip them with Monty Python, Young Ones, the Office, Thick of It, Peep Show. Australia doesn't produce a lot, but when they get it right, it's up there with the best (Frontline, the Games).
 
JackOutback said:
The US probably wins through weight of numbers; for all the dross, they produced sharp satirical sitcoms like the Simpsons, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Veep etc as well as classic family ones like Family Ties, Cheers etc. But over the lifetime, the UK may pip them with Monty Python, Young Ones, the Office, Thick of It, Peep Show. Australia doesn't produce a lot, but when they get it right, it's up there with the best (Frontline, the Games).
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Arrested Development (sans S4 & 5) - definitely. As good as anything the Poms ever produced. Sharp, witty and intelligent. Layered with in-jokes that you didn't even pick up the first time... there's something incredibly wonderful about comedic writing that can create a laugh on more than one level...

The Poms also do this well...

This clip is a good example... It's funny that he considers the Bee Gees 'namby pamby'... it's also funny to see him doing CPR on a sex doll.. it's also funny (ironic?) to try and save someone's life when the words are literally 'another one bites the dust'...

Not everyone is going to laugh at all three things at the same time... there's a laugh for each joke...

 
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JackOutback said:
Don't think it was quite that conservative; it flipped traditional sitcom conventions on its head, with Michael J Fox the 'responsible' voice and the parents the easy going hippies.
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Yes... but it was certainly not a liberal show... it preached conservative values... and there was always some schmultzy moral 'lesson' at the end of every episode as with all American sitcoms at the time...
 

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R Chee Manning said:
Yes... but it was certainly not a liberal show... it preached conservative values... and there was always some schmultzy moral 'lesson' at the end of every episode as with all American sitcoms at the time...
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No question it was a family values sitcom, that was definitely the primary type of sitcom at the time, until the likes of Roseanne and Married...with Children came along.
 
Never heard anyone say they binge watched Family Ties. Kind of show that tells the same story over and over, and isn't remarkably funny at it.
 
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