Here is an interesting question. I don’t get British humour at all. Once I read an entire book by a British author and felt completely befuddled. Then I read the back flap and found out that the book was supposed to be humourous.
“Ah!” I said. “In that case, ha ha.”
Making me watch Monty Python is one of the best ways to torture me. It’s just not my sense of humour at all.
There is an exception, however. I find my British readers to be hilarious. When readers Jones and Benoni make jokes on this blog, I always get them and envy their robust sense of humour which is a quality I lack.
Is there a reason for this? My guess is that since these are my readers and I like them, I make an effort to get them.
Clarissa's Blog 
Now I’m waiting for both of them to inform you that they’ve never tried to be funny (and are slightly offended that you perceive their posts as humorous).
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That’s exactly what I’m fearing. 🙂
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Mostly I just write whatever caustic bullshit pops into my head and people seem to laugh at it. 😛 Suits me just fine.
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I knew you wouldn’t share the know-how. 🙂
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British humour relies a lot on saying absurd stuff in a very blank-faced manner, where any acknowledgement from the joker’s part that he or she is in on the joke ruins it. It tends not to register as humour for a lot of people. either more literal-minded ones or those from cultures who tend to actually tag their jokes as jokes.
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I’m from a generation of English kids who grew up with mostly American television and books, so I can’t say to what degree my sense of humour is really “British”. A lot of British comedy forgoes actual jokes and instead just explores an amusing concept for a bit and then discards it without any fanfare. That approach was popularised by Python, and I love it, but I have no idea what makes it successful. It tends to leave people from other cultures out in the cold.
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The “theatre of the absurd” is even more hilarious when you know that the participants aren’t in a position to do anything to rectify the absurdity …
That’s why the Sergeant Major marching up and down the square is wonderfully silly — he’s able to give everyone else a pass on doing something utterly pointless and absurd, but he can’t give himself one.
Why, what would the sense be in that? 🙂
I leave you with some Morecambe and Wise making breakfast, along with a parody of that by the Propellerheads, just for fun …
Morecambe and Wise’s breakfast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXv8WW3Wjvw
The Propellerheads parody (“Crash!”):
🙂
(BTW, my absence has been the result of massive jet lag associated with removing myself from my “holiday hellhole” in favour of another with better food, nicer people, and most importantly, extremely forgiving exchange rates. 🙂 )
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One major theme of the British humor I like is related to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, especially when the wrong thing is the truth.
This can be fear of saying the wrong thing, someone saying the wrong thing or (most hilariously for me) people constrained in their behavior because the only thing they could say would be the wrong thing.
Another theme is the oblivious person who is determined to live in their own world come what may and who coerces others to go along.
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“Serves you right …”
This is a major theme as well, not just in humour, but also in daily life.
“Oh, you dropped a seven thousand tonne cooling tower on your crap vehicle that can’t get MOTs anymore, and it didn’t bury it, Mr Clarkson? Serves you right.”
🙂
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The penis beaker comment thread on UK site mumsnet must be the prime example of British humour, surely?
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/a1875847-Do-you-dunk-your-penis
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Watch “Death at a Funeral”. 2007, I think. The British movie — not the one with Chris Rock. I think you’ll laugh.
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Which book were you reading, Clarissa?
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