OK, I'm a total 'Britophile' when it comes to humour. (even spell it that way) More than a few Canadians listened to "The Goons", Tony Hancock etc, on the radio when growing up, and it's HARD to find Bob Hope and Milton Berle funny after that kind of early indoctrination. A little later on I discovered "Yes Minister", and if there has ever been a more sharply written TV series, I ain't seen it.

However, I often see (on Mudcat) references to a lack of irony (or appreciation of it) from Americans in general. I suspect this has more to do with the make-up of an internet chat group than a reflection of an "American sense of humour". A casual look at American TV programs (which should be representative of SOMETHING) reveals a huge amount of dreck and obvious silliness....BUT some of the most popular programs are fairly dripping with irony and hard-edged satire. An awful lot of people are watching these shows, and I can't believe those filks would hang in there year after year, if they weren't getting the jokes.

Three comedy shows come to mind: 'King of the Hill', "The Simpsons", and 'Seinfeld'. All have millions of regular viewers and all have taken vicious shots at our individual and collective frailties....often with side-splitting results.

An interesting (to me) phenomenon is that NONE of the Seinfeld principals (including Jerry) have been able to do bupkis after the termination of the show. The combination of perfect casting, perfect writing, and four of the most flawed (but honest, in a 'know thyself' way) characters produced 8 or 9 years of top rated TV, but has left the actors high and dry and (from the results of their subsequent spin-offs) trying futiley to use 'bits' of their 'Seinfeld' personae to get back on TV. Hope they all made a bundle...'cause it may have to last a long time.

The thing about 'King of the Hill", and "The Simpsons" is that although one slants more to a liberal point of view and the other to a conservative one, very few institutions (and individuals for that matter) escape the barbs. The writing on both shows IMO is superb.

So...my guess (and I don't know about this) is that British TV ALSO has it's share of comedy crap (maybe a lot more lately?) but in general, it strikes me as the ability to appreciate (and use) irony is pretty universal.

Cheers

Rick