How to order fish and chips when in England

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56M4ehXDUO0[/youtube]

English humor is so daffy.

I am absolutely baffled. There is some UK TV humour I get and some that just doesn't cross the Atlantic to reach me. They say that UK and US are two cultures divided by a common language. This just proves it.

No Spam?

The idea is that these two are utterly taking the piss out of the chip shop owner. That's the real joke. Watch it again.

And as for your above comment: don't ever try to watch The Royle Family, please. Your head will spin.

Case in point - the first episode:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-DM3xdgplQ[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP1yMUGvlNQ[/youtube]

WrongPlanet my arse!

I didn't find it very funny either. Sorry!

I do like Mr. Bean and Keeping Up Appearances, though!--Those are both British!

I can barely make out what they're saying half the time.

Basically, it's very, very similar to what a family in a city in a Manchester housing estate would have been like here in the late 1990s. It's basically a family interacting with one another whilst watching TV. There aren't any jokes - all the humour comes from the banter they have and the stupid things they say, and the utter irrelevancies that people say to other in conversation, like "what did you have for dinner?" "Corned beef hash." "Oooh, we should have that."

It's the observation humour of very simple, working class people in Britain. Even a lot of people in southern England didn't 'get it', because they've never lived this lifestyle or know the kinds of people that are being referred to. Everyone up here knows a Jim Royle, or a Twiggy, or a Dave, or a Mum. It's very Northern English and urban in tone. People in Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are more likely to understand it than say, people from a posh family from the Home Counties because of the specific North-South divide which exists here. Similarly, there are some very Scottish comedies that have been made here over the past 20 years - some of them have a UK-wide cult audience whereas others are simply too thickly characterised for English people to understand.

The real problem with The Royle Family was that the first two series were great but as the scriptwriters became more and more detached from their working-class roots and were living different lives, the more I felt that they were poking fun at these character's lives and essentially laughing at them rather than with them. It stopped being an observational comedy done in one take and became really just a standard sitcom instead.

Some good choices there Tequila. I used to love Hale and Pace.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm6VC5gdaFA[/youtube]

I love Fish & Chips. I had it the other night.

It is a must, if anyone comes here. Although I know there is a Fish & Chips shop in New York.

'Ey up!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DqvXRd64Mo[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKJzHhamufs[/youtube]

Some local humor.

It's easy to interpret what they are saying.

That really cracked me up.

British humour is the best type of humour.

I don't get it. Is "oh my! They speak with an unusual manner!!!1!!!11!" still funny in the UK?(sorry if this seems odd, the kinds of stuff I find funny is hardly appropriate for the BBC.)

I'm not sure what you mean. Keeping Up Appearances and the like habe been repeated so often on the BBC that it's lost a lot of its edge, plus there aren't that many people like that in the UK any more, and if they are they're a good deal more subtle about it.

I tend not to watch much modern British comedy in any case. It's lost its interest for me.

More and more people tend not to bother with TV at all these days, preferring to spend their time on the Internet instead.

"Excuse me sir, where can I purchase an elephant? I need one to help me apply this suntan lotion."

"Over there miss..." (points)

(she walks away)

"Oops, I think I've directed her to the giraffe emporium instead."