I have mentioned before, and do not recall where I first learned it, that British humor tends to the ridiculous situation that produces line after line of amusement, but often just stumbles to the end, while American humor points to the final punchline from the earliest opening of the scene. Early SNL was more British in that way, perhaps influenced by Monty Python as much as by the improv they were trained on, which also relies on milking a situation until either A) Agreat impromptu punchline occurs, at which point everyone understands that it is best to move on quickly, or B) we have the British method of limping to a polite point and then exiting. As here.
It is worth noting that the gay people I did theater with and worked at the hospital with would likely have found this funny, but it might be considered objectionable to some at this point.
My friends are all raving about a UK humor mock-interview-show "Cunk on Earth", and from what I've seen from the lead actor's previous forays as this character it seems about as funny to me as being a root-canal patient.
ReplyDeleteTo use British English, almost from the first question it is cringe¹, and then each successive question gets more cringe than the previous.
¹ Cringe -- adjective
INFORMAL•BRITISH
causing feelings of acute embarrassment or awkwardness.