Re: Bill Bryson
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sat, 24 Oct 1998 22:56:49 +1000
I'm sorry ... but I was really commenting on brands of humour, and true,
generalising a little. But heck, I'm from Australia and we have to put up
with every goanna-koala-kangaroo type Dundee cliche in the world (: so I
feel privileged to take a very rare foray into generalisation. But
generally speaking, American humour tends not to be hugely subtle. I'm
talking about your Seinfelds and your Phyllis Diller type dealies. I know
there's your Andy Kauffmans and Lenny Bruces of course, but I'm talking
mainstream here. Whereas the British tend towards a more absurd type humour
(I'm discounting the whole Carry On business here) - and most importantly,
they find it a lot easier to laugh at themselves (which is a national
pastime here in Australia)
For example - an Australian comedy duo did a show in LA where they joked
`have you seen the Australian flag? Yeah, we're sponsored by Reebok!' Which
got a huge laugh from the American audience. They continued `Yeah, we
noticed your country's been sponsored 52 times by Converse!' Which was met
with stony silence.
This is why I think Bill Bryson's writing works: he combines that British
sense of restraint and irony with the American sense of enormity and fun
(his books also demostrate very eloquently the difference between the
general American and British persona, particularly `Notes from a Small
Island'.
Gee this post will stir up some controversy.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest
>> I've
>> found 90% of
>> Americans don't understand irony too well (except Matt
>> Kuzusko maybe (: )
>> so it doesn't surprise me hugely that he is more popular in
>> England and
>> Australia.
> Oh puh-leeeease. Can you really make a statement like that
> with a straight face? Oh wait... maybe you were being
> ironic and I didn't catch it....