RE: hoomor
Sean Draine (seandr@microsoft.com)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 14:34:18 -0800
I think most Americans wonder at some point how the English get to be so
damn funny. You've mentioned all the big comedians, but I notice this also
in everyday life with friends, people I work with, etc.
My theory is that, well, as any comedian knows, it's all in the delivery.
There's just something about the English accent - arched, formal, deadpan -
that makes it a hilarious vehicle for absurdity. Try running through the
Python sketches with an American dialect, and what's the result? Not funny.
For that matter, try running through a Woody Allen sketch with a Georgian
accent. Well, maybe that is funny, but not in the same way as if Woody Allen
or one of his clones in his movies delivered it. The point is that certain
phonologies seem well suited to certain kinds of humor.
Great American comedians? How about Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby,
Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield?
-Sean
> -----Original Message-----
> From: craig king [mailto:craig.king@cwcom.net]
> Sent: Monday, October 26, 1998 12:12 PM
> To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
> Subject: hoomor
>
>
> i think english comedians have a more refined sense of the absurd
> than most american comics. eddie izzard, python, the day today,
> brass eye, i think there's just this tradition from maybe the old
> music hall days of sheer absurdity that clicked with surrealism and
> produced the goons (milligan one of biggest influences in british
> comedy easily) and that slowly merged with the peter cook
> satirical bent to create this very elaborate intricate satire
> and wit.
> seinfeld is more in line with english comedy than american, it
> seems to me. i'm a bit strapped to think of great american stand
> ups, other than bill hicks and woody allen. the great strand in
> american comedy for me is that jewish/sid caesar line, with brooks
> and simon and reiner and then the great woody.
>
> if any of you in america ever get the chance to see alan partridge,
> the day today or brass eye: do watch. they are the three best
> comedy programmes of the past twenty years and will explain a lot
> about this satire/absurdity thing i love and that's so crucial over
> here.
>
> aye aye,
>
> craig
>
> p.s: i'm trying to find a t-shirt that says I WENT DOWN ON
> KENNETH STARR. anyone seen one?
>