Recently, we've been watching stand-up comedies (off the net, of course, because we are cheapskates), something I've never really watched before. Mike's a fan of such shows and he was quite eager to force them down my throat.
The first comedian was Russell Peters, an Indian-Canadian who hails from Toronto; Indian as in Asian Indian and not the North American Native Indians, and a central theme through his jokes is that of race. Pretty funny and he does accents very well, but after the fourth or fifth show, some of his jokes were getting old.
Then we started watching Eddie Izzard, a British comedian who dryly refers to himself as a male lesbian. He's a bit too stocky to look good in drag, but after a while, his quirky style really grows on me. I was hooked. His jokes were more rambly, very Monty Pythonish in its randomness and brilliance, full of non sequiturs, and covers a gamut of topics from history and Europe to household appliances and miner cats and the Star Wars canteen. The British monarchy wasn't spared either.
(I really like his term, male lesbian, because I can fully empathize. I always wanted to be a guy, but then my sexual preferences also run towards those of the male persuasion; I guess this makes me a female gay!)
After that, I watched a couple more, like Lewis Black and George Carlin, both Americans, but I never managed to really get into their jokes. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I noticed an interesting trend in the very small sample size I watched. The Canadian comedian talked a lot about racial and immigrant issues, something near and dear to Canada, and the American comedians ranted on and on about the Bush and religion, hot topics for Americans, I'm sure. I can see why -- you would want to talk about issues that would resonate and connect with your audience, which would likely lead to jokes that are country or geographically dependent. And if so, what does that say about British humor and the topics that are near and dear to them?
The first comedian was Russell Peters, an Indian-Canadian who hails from Toronto; Indian as in Asian Indian and not the North American Native Indians, and a central theme through his jokes is that of race. Pretty funny and he does accents very well, but after the fourth or fifth show, some of his jokes were getting old.
Then we started watching Eddie Izzard, a British comedian who dryly refers to himself as a male lesbian. He's a bit too stocky to look good in drag, but after a while, his quirky style really grows on me. I was hooked. His jokes were more rambly, very Monty Pythonish in its randomness and brilliance, full of non sequiturs, and covers a gamut of topics from history and Europe to household appliances and miner cats and the Star Wars canteen. The British monarchy wasn't spared either.
(I really like his term, male lesbian, because I can fully empathize. I always wanted to be a guy, but then my sexual preferences also run towards those of the male persuasion; I guess this makes me a female gay!)
After that, I watched a couple more, like Lewis Black and George Carlin, both Americans, but I never managed to really get into their jokes. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I noticed an interesting trend in the very small sample size I watched. The Canadian comedian talked a lot about racial and immigrant issues, something near and dear to Canada, and the American comedians ranted on and on about the Bush and religion, hot topics for Americans, I'm sure. I can see why -- you would want to talk about issues that would resonate and connect with your audience, which would likely lead to jokes that are country or geographically dependent. And if so, what does that say about British humor and the topics that are near and dear to them?
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