Somehow, saying one thing while meaning the opposite doesn't quite sum up irony for me. Saying "Didn't you just LOVE the....whatever", meaning "Wasn't it awful" seems more like sarcasm. For me, irony needs sardonic wit and a subtle sense of incongruity. It is ironic, when a person spends half their life running from something, only to end up with it in the end. Not necessarily "funny", but definitely ironic.

On a comedic level I think "wit" (which is different than humor, and demands more intelligence, IMHO) has to be part of the mix to push my buttons. Some of the American comedies I've seen that have that are Seinfeld, Larry Sanders, Cheers...characters that don't just spout funny lines, but who have inherently witty personas (personae?). While in British comedies The early Blackadder shows had it, Mr. Bean lost it. As Time Goes By has it in spades. Just watching John Cleese run upstairs, in Faulty Towers, was enough to have me rolling on the floor.

On blind choice, I would always choose British humor--or drama-- over American, because it is more often intelligent, skilled and professional in the true sense of the word.