My name is Nancy. I live in Tennessee. You are probably thinking of hillbillys or Elvis, but the hillbillies live at the other end of the state and Elvis IS dead although some people think they still see him around. My son is takeing a Theater class and his teacher is from Britian (although I don't know exactly where from in Britian). Taylor, my son, is doing a paper on European comedy vs American comedy. He is trying to tell the difference between the two and give examples of both. He is trying to put a "kicker" at the end of his presentation where he will show that there are Americans who have written British or European comedies and well as American comedy that was written by British or European writers. Does any one know of any British (or European) comedies that were written by Americans and American Comedy that was written by British (or Europeans)? He used Fawlty Towers and The Monty Python as examples of British or European comedies, but he is trying to show (if there are some) that are some British (or European) comedies written by Americans and that there are some American comedies written by British or European writers. I know that we (Americans) are always starting sitcoms in America that are hits in Britian and Europe (The Office, Couples to name a few) but are they written by Americans or Britians for American tv. I would really appreciate any help you could give us! Thanks,Nancy

Would laso like to know of any more shows that we have started because they were hits in Britian and have ya'll started any that were hits in America and were they successful (like Friends, maybe)?

Welcome Nancy,

This is from a programme called screenwipe which is designed to be abrasive and a bit rude but it might get you going ....will post more when I've had a think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXaaqNnncKs

Of course Chris Langham wrote for the The Muppets show...but we don't really want to go there at moment for reasons you will discover if you google his name

that said lots of the Muppets stuff was written by Brits becoz the American wouldn't fund it.

And also .. and this is a either the big problemor the big solution for your son

Connie Booth who co-wrote Fawlty Towers is American!!!

another idea is perhapsdo a bit on Charles Chaplin - British guy who centered a lot of his films centre around the idea of the American Dream.

Terry Gilliam is American and a Python.

My Family is created by American Fred Barron and is in its eighth series over here (somehow).

Friends, Frasier and The Simpsons are all huge here on the mainstream channels. Cheers too. I'm sure there are many more. My Name is Earl and 30 Rock are on Channel 4.

BBC2 show American Dad, Family Guy. Elsewhere Curb Your Enthusiasm, Scrubs, Will & Grace, Seinfeld are all hits on cable. We get a lot of your stuff here. A lot of is liked.

Hi Nancy, welcome to the BSG

I put some stuff up about My Family in your other thread

Adam

Thank you! All of this is very helpful.

Oh yes, The Muppet Show. Good point. Same issue there as with My Family; the show was devised by an American, but no US channels/networks would buy it. Eventually, the respective creators came to the UK and managed to sell the shows here. So one could argue that the Muppets are actually British, and many of the original programmes at least, were written by British writers.

I'm sure that more shows will come to me...

(Oh, and welcome to the board.)

hey nancy

Please see https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/3910 for any talk of US/UK shows.

Hi Nancy and welcome.

Welcome Nancy.

How are your boots?

I'm sure they're fine. After all, they were made for walking.

Quote: Aaron @ November 26, 2007, 9:08 PM

I'm sure they're fine. After all, they were made for walking.

View original

That wasn't a typo was it?

Don't ... think so.

Hi Nancy, welcome, and your wee lad has chosen (been chosen?) a great topic for his paper.

I support all that's been said on this and other threads, with the obvious caveats that with generalities there are exceptions to all of them. If I tried to sum up the difference in a sentence it is that US comedy tends more to snappy wise-cracking dialogue where the people saying stuff are being smart, whereas UK (and other European, risking the wrath of moderator Aaron) tend towards less smart comments, but more physical (often in silent pathos). Our comedy heroes are more silent, more stupid, more failing, and more "universal". The biggest worldwide comedy hits of the US are probably from the silent era. Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Howard Hawks (although the dialogue could be smart-alecky), Woody Allen (ditto) have all been respected more in Europe, historically, than in the US. And in Albania, Norman Wisdom is revered.

Maybe we in the UK are ok with a bit of silence and a pause without a gag, whereas the US machine is nervous without a few gags a minute? The best US comedies (like The Simpsons) aren't afraid to pause, and perhaps that's why they work over here too.