Ali G
 

Have any of you seen the Ali G in the USAiiiiiiii series?
He is adored over here in the UK, but the Americans don't seem to get him. Is that true? Do you find him funny?
I personally find him hilarious, but that certainly doesn't go for all Brits.

As another Brit, I find some of his stuff funny, other stuff is just dumb.

OUt of interest, do you guys get irony?

Of course we get irony. I've never heard of Ali G, though.

What I don't get, is the British getting such a laugh out of men in dresses.:confused:

Which particular men in dresses are you referring to?

That seems to be a standard routine with Brit comics.

/me doesn't know what British comics you have been watching.

Most comics will probably have ended up in a skirt at one time or another, but that is generally not their main joke which they use regularly. Why? Because it is crap. Check out some Monty Python or Morecambe & Wise. Or any British sitcoms. Rarely will you find men wearing skirts.

You mean like Kids in the Hall?

Never heard of it. :confused:

Monty Python didn't have men in skirts? You had better review those tapes sir. They practically invented it!

Relatively few of their sketches had it. And none of the ones that come to my mind immediately. Also note, men in skirts are acceptable when they are playing a character.

I've seen him a couple of times, though he is on HBO here...and I don't subscribe to it. I think it's great.

British humor is hit and miss with Americans. Some get it, some don't. Some people think AbFab is great, some can't understand a word of it.

Never heard of Kids in the Hall? It was a Canadian sketch comedy show that ran in the late '80s and early '90s. Funny stuff. Like Monty Python, but Canadian.

My favorite sketch show of all time is still The State.

Men in dresses has rarely been used in british comedy as a stand alone gag, but mostly to reinforce the existing joke.
Wherever MP used a man dressed as a woman to play a woman, it reinforced the ludicrousy of a situation, reinforcing the comedy. Go back and watch some of those sketches again, and imagine how different they'd be if the women were actually played by women.

The Women's Auxilliary re-enacting the battle of Trafalgar? Re-enacting Pearl Harbor? Mrs. Premise, and Mrs. Conclusion? "I don't like Spam!"? Mr. Pither's rendition of "Old Fashion Girl"?

"I object to all this sex on the Television, I mean, I keep falling off!"

Hell's Grannies.

"Ooh, Mrs. Knickerbaiter's exploded!"

Anne Elk's theory. "Ahem. My theory, which is mine, and which I have had, that is to say, a theory,..." A rare bit of Cleese in drag.

Not to mention the ever-popular Lumberjack Song.

I don't note that Brit comedians enjoy dressing in drag in any greater proportion than do American comics.

Milton Berle comes to mind...Tom Hanks' first TV series...Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis...Flip Wilson...Jerry Lewis at one time or another.

If I wasn't fighting off despondency and actually retained a sense of humor, I'm sure I could think of more.

Maybe the average American doesn't get him, but it really depends on your preference. My friends generally think he's hilarious. I'll watch anything with humor (with some limits).

Curious, have anyone been exposed to Hong Kong comedies (Stephen Chow, Wong Jing)? If I showed any of you our style of humor, you might think it's extremely tasteless. I love it though :)

I find it hard to understand the popularity of Mr Bean.:confused:

I didn't get Benny Hill or Monty Python much as a kid, but now, I think it's great.

We recently ditched cable for satelite and now get BBC America-- Yeah! And I really like the show "Coupling", its very funny. I'm also horrified and amused by "The Office" it is hillarious with a smarmy mockumentary style.

A&E was running "Cold Feet" a year or so ago, that was a good show as well.

I remember "The Young Ones"- that show made me laugh. Vivian and the lads- they were so gross! Who was the long hair guy always making disgusting looking lentils? and someone always had a runny bottom.

Warch:

The long-haired guy in The Young Ones was Niel. I can't remember the name of the other one you mentioned though.

Too bad that all of the Canadian networks that used to show The Young Ones took it off, that was a great show. Bottom was a good show as well, they always used to show it after The Young Ones on the weekends.