Re: "Danny Boy" on Shamrock Day?

In article <fr6eti$qp5$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, tmcd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Tim
McDaniel) wrote:

> you have the advantage of being British
> and therefore recognizing irony.

Incidentally, there was a bit in the paper this weekend about research
showing that a British sense of humour is hereditary:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/joking-aside-british-r
eally-do-have-unique-sense-of-humour-793491.html

I'm not convinced.  They did twin studies to show that a sense of
humour is hereditary, and because the sarcastic put down type of humour
is more prevalent this side of the Atlantic, claim that this is
hereditary too.

But there were a couple quotes I found interesting:

'He highlighted the difference between Ricky Gervais's dreadful
character David Brent and his much less embarrassing US counterpart
played by Steve Carell. "The British may have a greater tolerance for a
wide range of expressions of humour, including what many Americans
might consider aggressively sarcastic or denigrating: like Fawlty
Towers and Blackadder. In the North American version of The Office the
lead character is much less insensitive and intolerant than in the
original UK version," he added.'

I remember that there was an American version of the British sitcom
Till Death us do Part called All in the Family.  A few episodes were
shown on the BBC and I recall that Archie Bunker was a pale shadow of
Alf Garnett.

Another quote:

'The comedian Charlie Higson, who helped to create the hit TV series
The Fast Show, said yesterday: "What they [Americans] don't understand
is the British desire to keep putting themselves down, but they fully
understand irony. Their humour is considerably more sophisticated than
British humour. Look at their sitcoms – the level of wit and
sophistication in Friends – we don't have anything to match that. Ours
tend to be about silly people doing silly things, whereas in America,
it's clever people doing clever things."'