What makes the British laugh?

Modern British humour derives from the music-hall tradition which had its most popular period at the begining of the 20th century. Singers, dancers, comedians and acrobats performed in "turns" to provide light theatrical entertainment. Bristish humour today is mainly urban in character, though only specific urban areas produce comediants. People from nothern cities like Liverpool and Manchester are funny because the alternative is suicidal dispair. Rural areas do not really generate humour because the British take the countryside seriously. Just click at the following link to discover what really makes the British laugh!

To be funny in Britain, you have to:

• be a loser or an idiot. The British comedian often plays the nerd or the loony, both in sit-coms and as a stand-up comedian. A classic example is John Cleese as Basil Fawlty Towers, where he is in a hopeless fight against a basically sane wold. Cleese and the other members of the Monty Python team are famous for sketches where the world and the people in it are mad:

"We buried the cat last week"
"Was it dead?"
"No, we just didn´t like it much"

• be brave about death. Nothing raises a bigger laugh than a good death or funeral joke, and most stand-up comedians have at least a couple of jokes set in a doctor´s surgery:

Doctor: You´re  in great shape. You´ll live to be 90.
Patient: I am 90.
Doctor: Oh, well. That´s it, then.

• neutralise female sexuality. The British reject jokes which see women as sex objects or as inferior to men. However, this does not mean that humour about women is necessarily politically correct. Traditional stand-up comedians have an endless fund of mother-in-law jokes:

"The wife´s mother is outside in the car. I would have brought her in, but I´ve lost the key to the boot."

         The most popular comediennes poke fun at themselves and at woman hood in general:

"I studied the symptoms for pregnancy. Moody, irritable, big bosoms. I have obviously been pregnant for 20 years."

         Here is an example that ilustrates very well this kind of humour, enjoy it: