Garth Marenghi's Darkplace

[Chris L]

Oh, I can easily understand someone disliking Boosh.  I just happen to love it, warts and all.

I usually can enjoy the surrealism of Boosh even when I don't find it particularly funny.  The "Charlie" clip is great. 

British comedy disappointments:  I didn't find Big Train funny at all, except for the music-related jokes.  Black Books is ok but the idea of it is kind of funnier than the actual show. 

[Spoony]

Does anyone else have trouble watching British comedy?

I understand where you're coming from. I grew up with it, so I know how to switch into that gear. There are alot of cultural similarities that Americans are missing out on. Alot of our comedy isn't that relatable to them either.

Watching Red Dwarf as a kid was pretty confusing at first. Their version of "dammit" was to say "Gordon Bennett," and without google, I had no idea what that could possible be. I thought it was a genital or something.

[yesno]

I sat down recently to watch the English version of The Office, but it feels like half the jokes are going over my head. I have to rewind a lot to understand what they're talking about.

Half of the Kid's references go over my head.  

As for British Office, it's very verbal humor to me.  It takes a while to get a feel for it.

[samir]

Can I confess something here?

I sat down recently to watch the English version of The Office, but it feels like half the jokes are going over my head. I have to rewind a lot to understand what they're talking about. It sucks because I really like the tone and sensibility of the shows.

Does anyone else have trouble watching British comedy?

I have a similar problem with 'Two and a Half Men' -usually have to ask an American friend "Where are the jokes?" and he says "There aren't any"

[Martin]

I must confess I have a problem with Boosh's songs. Most of the time I appreciate the effort, I just don't like them very much. And I think it would've been a better show without them. 

[ericluxury]

Does anyone else have trouble watching British comedy?

Yeah, that could be why I don't like Darkplace. Part of it is straining to understand through the accents. It supresses laughter. I went to the UCB and saw Scheer/McBrayer and Jack McBrayer wasn't miked so well and it really affected the show.

I love Extras, Brass Eye and Monty Python. That and Stewart Lee. The rest of British comedies, though, I find hard to enjoy.

[Bryan]

I watch a lot of British TV, so I think I'm pretty acclimated to it. Also, Canada is more British than the USA (and I lived in the UK for a couple of years).

All that being said, I found The Office to go down pretty easily. It's the Northern accents that are really tough. I got used to them while I was living there. There's a show called Shameless that I got into there, but after being back in Canada for a year or so, I watched it again, and could barely understand it.

I like the silliness of UK comedies. I love Black Books and Boosh for that.

[yesno]

My fiancée can't really understand any accents that are too far apart from newscaster American.  Southern accents give her a lot of trouble, and she lived for 2 years in the deep south.  Also, the more extreme Northeastern accents give her pause, as well of course as nearly any British accent outside of RP.

[Martin]

Jeez, guys - imagine how it is for me!

[Sarah]

We talked about this very recently, didn't we?  Oh well, no matter; I will merely say again that broad Scottish accents give me the most trouble  (the broad Irish ones in The Wind that Shakes the Barley did as well).  Accents from the North of England usually don't bother me--except in Ken Loach movies, where the language feels more like a different dialect than merely an accented version of the Queen's English.

[Bryan]

We talked about this very recently, didn't we? 

Yep.

Martin, I'm amazed at your command of English. You write as though it's your native language. I guess an appreciation of comedy must be one of the highest levels of foreign language acquisition.

[Martin]

What a nice thing to say, thanks!

[Satchmo Mask]

I like Screenwipe and Nathan Barley a lot.

ALSO - Look Around You, what little I've seen of Boosh, Darkplace and even some Nevermind the Buzzcocks.

[daveB from Oakland]

Martin, I'm amazed at your command of English. You write as though it's your native language. I guess an appreciation of comedy must be one of the highest levels of foreign language acquisition.

That's a really interesting idea ... yeah, I could see how comedy is sort of a direct line to a particular culture's idiosyncrasies, slang words, etc.

Nevertheless, I still say the Brits need to ease up on the Hoovers and Spanners and all their other fake words 

[Trembling Eagle]

That's the fine Richard Ayoade that Samir mentioned.  I love him.

I liked Dark Place just fine, but I've got to say I vastly prefer Boosh.

(P.S.  T.E., I got hold of a back issue of the mag in which "The First Editions" appears [I bought it online; the Lubec library doesn't extend to such arcana] and will read it soon.)

lol

You must give me a review when you finish.