In her blog, K. talked about her irriational prejudice towards people who don't get 70s R&B. After much thought and discussion. I've found that I too, have an irrational prejudice towards people.
I don't think that I can be friends with people who don't get British humor. And I don't mean Hugh Grant or Austin Powers. I'm talking about that evil, snarky, bizzaro humor found in Monty Python, Absolutely Fabulous, The Young Ones and yes, Benny Hill. There's just something about people who get that type of humor and enjoy it. If your favorite show is Friends, we can get along, we may enjoy superficial conversations, but I don't think that we'd enjoy being together as close friends. Acquaintences yes, but friends? Highly doubtful.
I also should add that it's more than a cursory knowledge of British humor. Most people know Monty Python and think they're OK. But there's a difference between being familiar with something and really loving something. I'm familiar with Friends. I dont love Friends. I don't even like Friends.
Admittedly, British humor is much meaner and doesn't translate well to America. Perhaps its the American ideal of having gentle humor as opposed to just being mean and funny. American humor is all "nudge, nudge, wink, wink, this is a joke you know," while British humor is very deadpan. There's no hint that this is a joke. I mean, the phrase "taking a piss out of someone" is a way of knocking them down a peg or two while being funny. The ultimate compliment is to have someone take the piss out of you.
But there's good American humor such as The Onion, Mel Brooks and the Marx Brothers. But both the Onion and the Marx Brothers havea very deadpan, nasty style to them. There's no "this is a joke" feeling -- you better know they're joking or else you're the butt of the joke.
Hence my final conclusion: British humor is like dark chocolate, while American humor is like milk chocolate.
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