Americans React To The Most Iconic British Comedy

[@SamanthaStewart-is4hh]

British humour is brilliant. It's line walking, often crossing, intelligent, observational and there is no subject off limits. We laugh at everything and everyone but usually ourselves.

[@michaelgillman2505]

I have no idea what universe this is the 'Most iconic' british comedy.

[@dorianleakey]

Some fo tyher clips are great in context, but this is not just without context but the editing is wild

[@swanchamp5136]

I do think that watching compilations like this can be hit or miss as you can end up losing a lot of the context of the jokes.

[@irreverend_]

Yeah, this was a terrible compilation frankly

[@rachelwalsh3575]

Definitely better if you watch a full episode/series

[@ltsecomedy2985]

The group of men with the urn were the Monty Python team. Graham Chapman was the only member of their comedy group who had died at that point. They are mostly known for their Tv show in the late `60`s, called Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Which then led to their films & stage shows popular worldwide. The part featuring the bandaged man was from the Fawlty Towers Tv show, he was portrayed by John Cleese. He was one of the previously mentioned group of men. The guillotine part, was from the 1967 comedy film Don`t Lose Your Head, by the group of comedy actors & actresses of the Carry On Team.

[@edford1693]

John Cleese was married IRL to the lady playing the part of the maid at the time of The Fawlty Towers TV show. They cowrote the scripts.

[@Stuart_Cox1969]

The film used was one of the "Carry On" movies, a collection of pure British comedy movies, worth a watch, there are lots of them.

[@darrylglynn1557]

I think there was about 26 in total. I had 23 of them on VHS. Pure class.

[@WideCuriosity]

But some seem a little dated, while others stand the test of time.

[@jamescockings6852]

Carry OnDon’t Lose Your Head

[@bobbobertbobberton1073]

The best Margery line in little Britain was when she was giving non-fat options to eat and she listed dust.

[@randolphcarter4560]

Second best Margery line is when she suggests cutting a cake in half so it's half the calories. And because it's half the calories you can have twice as much!

[@Aliciae411]

Is that when she goes dust? Dust? Anybody? Dust?

[@fr0ginaa]

anybody? no? dust 😀

[@ryanolsen294]

same😂😂

[@bigbad123321]

Definitely needed context for some of them. That show was called Faulty Towers. It's from the late 70's/early 80's. They only made 12 episodes but they're all very funny

[@randallbourne2717]

The Graham Norton show is really quite funny and the censorship is placed at a much lower bar than US talk shows. Many American actors love being on that show. You need to check it out.

[@johngillespie3409]

The Monty Python, the guys who spilled the urn, movies are hilarious. The holy hand grenade from the Holy Grail and Biggus Dickus from Life of Brian are worth checking out.

[@aqueduct_sector]

“WHAT IS YOUR NAME???” “Sir Robin of Camelot!” “WHAT IS YOUR QUEST?!!” “To seek the Holy Grail!” “WHAT IS THE CAPITAL OF SYRIA??” “Err, I don’t know that one.” *fucking dies*

[@malcolmross8427]

The movie was “Carry on, Don’t loose your head”. There were lots of “Carry on” films!

[@eaglei28]

"Everyone in England's from Harry potter" ! lol ty for that.

[@roywallis5915]

The last scene was from Fawlty Towers. It had only 12 episodes because John Cleese (playing the guy talking to the Germans) didn't want it to get stale. A poll in England chose this as the best comedy of all time, and I agree. I have seen them so often I remember nearly every line. The walk comes from a skit in Monty Python's Flying Circus about the Ministry of Silly Walks. This was probably the first English show to become popular here, and is also worth sampling. (The people gathered together when they spilled the ashes were all from that show, as was the dead man, Graham Chapman).

[@MichaelSheffield-ox8yd]

Have you even given "Allo, Allo" a gander? Took me a while to get into it, now it is right up there with Fawlty in my book.

[@roywallis5915]

@@MichaelSheffield-ox8yd Yes, I have watched it through a number of times, beginning in the 90s and as recently as last year. My 2nd favorite British comedy.

[@matty101yttam]

As an Australian(outside looking in), Fawlty Towers is 100% quality, there's no bad episodes. The Two Ronnies is sketch comedy so it's hit and miss, but the hit's are home runs(generally the stuff that's easy to find on youtube) Blackadder i wouldn't rate up to fawlty towers standards, but it's close with the same consistency. Everything else feels sort of niche where some people will fall over themselves laughing or just won't find it funny at all. As for more modern(ish) stuff i find quite a few of the Man/Woman skits quite funny.

[@debbiemassey7711]

Father Ted…watch if you haven’t, love your cous🇨🇦

[@kevinduff3584]

And every one of the 12 episodes had a title The Builders, The Anniversary Party, the Wedding Party, The Germans, Basil The Rat, the Hotel Inspectors, The Psychiatrist, Gourmet Night, Communication Problems, The Kipper & The Corpse, A Touch of Class and The Waldorf Salad!

[@alvinburrell]

Greetings from the UK; love your reactions. Can I suggest looking at Father Ted...either the Chinese sketch or when they get stuck in a lingerie shore.

[@74lisaevans]

Small......Far away.

[@cheifareno4924]

also when the other father sobers up

[@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391]

DRINK! DRINK! DRRRRRRRRINK!

[@daveofyorkshire301]

The guillotine one is from a Carry On film (Carry on Don't Lose Your Head) - there about 30 of them from 1958-1978. The old black-and-whites ones are a very different humour, the colour ones are very bawdy...

[@davidian7787]

We can all see who wears the trousers here but you make me smile. I hope you make each other happy for many years to come.

[@lloydnorval1989]

I love watching you guys in America reacting to British humour, especially couples, because we can see separate American views on it too :) Little Britain REALLY knew how to push boundaries and it's unsurprising that there are no series of it anymore 😅

[@markhinton1641]

The show with the Germans & John Cleese is Fawlty Towers. If you want iconic british comedy Fawlty Towers is by far the best there is.

[@geekehUK]

It's always hard to decide which is my favourite episode of Fawlty Towers between The Germans and Communication Problems, but then they're all so good, A Kipper and the Corpse, The Builders, Gourmet Night with the car "right that's it, I warned you, I'm gonna give you a damn good thrashing".

[@markhinton1641]

@@geekehUK don't forget Basil the "hamster"

[@geekehUK]

@@markhinton1641 HE PUT BASIL IN RATATOUILLE?!

[@annicecooper8105]

The Pythons discussing Graham Chapman being dead is a rerun of the classic Dead Parrot Sketch form the Monty Python Show. 😄 ..... This is an ex parrot, it has ceased to exist etc....

[@paulqueripel3493]

At least they never nailed his feet to his perch.

[@Schmeepschenstein]

British humour is the funniest in the world and Scottish/Irish banter is the best of the islands . Hands down best patter on earth. We make fun of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. shout out to australian humour, it's closely related to ours

[@tomwalter-m2t]

All humour around the world is hit and miss, you can't judge one entire nation on a few clips. But, the BEST of British comedy just cannot be beaten under any circumstances. We've mastered self deprecation, timing, absurdity and my favourite - abstract or surrealism. I'm glad you found some great stuff, but keep on going.. I guarantee your mind will be changed. SO much good stuff. I gotta say though, this selection of clips was very strangely put together and chosen. I wouldn't rate any of them as truly classic really..

[@willrichardson1809]

The show was Fawlty Towers, they did 12 episodes and the one showen was The Germans, it was an hilarious series back in the 70's. One to check out a sketch voted greatest of all time is 4 Candles by the Two Ronnies, it is pure genius.

[@jazzminb]

Some of the clips you asked where they were from were likely from the iconic Monty Python show which i think aired in the 70s

[@roofio2594]

the germans with funny walk is called faulty towers. its considered one of the British comedy greats

[@bensteel3944]

The last one was Faulty Towers with John Cleese.

[@ApiaryManager]

She played professor sprout. The botanics teacher.

[@thomasdearment3214]

looks like a part of the carry-on series, the British when it comes to humor have no filter most of the time

[@MorlokKurak]

That show with the Germans is called Fawlty Towers with John Cleese. I have the entire series on DVD. It is hilarious beyond belief. Basil Fawlty suffered a head injury which is why he was acting that way.

[@paulqueripel3493]

The monty python bit about the dead friend was them going into the dead parrot sketch.

[@crissid6122]

British humour is dark, funny and the best..😊😊😂

[@bis3cuit]

You should watch Faulty Towers it is so, so funny

[@katemcbride8715]

This sort of thing is best when you grew up with the programs. It only makes sense that way because it pulls on past responses and familiarity

[@PTruth-md6xx]

FAWLTY TOWERS is that show about the war. Hilarious, I can watch all the shows over and over.

[@francislaverty9262]

The Fawlty Towers German Sketch featured John Cleese and Connie Booth (she was the one who suggested Jimmy Cagney as an impression rather than Hitler. Connie was married to John Cleese, they were the co-writers of the program

[@andrewdeebo335]

Jimmy Carr is different gravy!!! 😂😂😂

[@anitaherbert1037]

We get away with things like that because though we are usually extemely polite to strangers we can be brutally offensive to friends as a form of affection. So as comedy has to push boundaries it has to go beyond the norm.I have often explained it by saying we are equal opportunity insulters. The ability to take and dish creative insults is treated as a form of bonding experience. I once saw an extremely well dressed woman say to another immaculately dressed woman as she gave her a hug "come on you dirty old slapper( woman of loose morals) let me give you a hug and you can tell me all about it". From that as a British person I could deduce they were extremely good friends of long duration.

[@stephenkerensky710]

Sorry if I missed them earlier but there`s Dad`s Army, Steptoe & Son, Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, Keeping Up Appearances, Rising Damp & One Foot in the Grave. Among others.

[@radiofreeearth]

I am American, but primarily watch British & other foreign TV shows. It takes a bit to get used to them & it helps to know British current affairs & history. If you're on social media, just start following some folks in other countries that seem interesting & watch some BBC News. Miriam Margolyes was in Harry Potter as Professor Pomona Sprout. The show she was on is "Graham Norton" - fun show. She is extremely honest & funny. Jimmy Carr the stand up who called the girl a hussy also hosts "The Big Fat Quiz" series. He has put his foot in it a few times. The series with John Cleese is "Fawlty Towers". There are lots of great British panel shows & comedies (some are not running any more but are on KZbin) Mock the Week, QI, Would I Lie to You, Blackadder, IT Crowd, Peep Show, Have I Got News for You, and Miranda. The Live at the Apollo, Jokes on Us, and Universal Comedy channels have a lot of British stand up. That should keep you laughing for a while. ☮

[@GraemeThomas-z2q]

Some British Shows worth checking out are Black Adder especially Black Adder Goes Forth Flight Training, Two Ronnies - Four Candles, Racing Pigeon, Mastermind, Mispronunciation, Drunken Wedding Speech, Only Fools and horses - Batman and Robin, Chandelier, Harry Enfield - American Tourist, South African Chemist amongst many more. A lot of these shows were on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) channels in the UK.

[@AnglOsAxOn2]

"Everybody from England is from harry potter" Ha ha great comment.

[@kevinduff3584]

U saw excerpts from Little Britain, The Carry On films, The Office, Monty Python interviews and the superb Fawlty Towers!

[@da90sReAlvloc]

The piece of show you saw there about the war was called. Fawlty towers

[@Blade-420]

the one about" Don't mention the war" was an Ep. of the 1970's comedy "Faulty Towers." called the Germans although now it is totally un-PC ,I laugh so hard at that clip 🤣

[@Reviresco2]

Fawlty Towers was the last one.

[@andrewdeebo335]

The movie was part of a national institution of ours called "Carry On" movies. That particular one was.... "Carry On... Don't Lose Your Head".

[@daveofyorkshire301]

Try the 1985 "An Audience with Billy Connolly" if you can handle his Glaswegian accent?

[@_H_2023]

One year later back again, try 'Steptoe and son,' see if you can find the one about the snooker table.

[@j9lorna]

He's right. Every recognisable British actor was in Harry Potter

[@RyanandSaz-TravelLife]

Watch fawlty towers and you’ll understand the head bandage. Comedy gold

[@NiceWindow]

Everyone from england is from harry potter was the greatest joke of the whole video .... clap clap clap ! - from an english man

[@Rose_8882]

Egg mayonnaise is legit one of the best sandwiches ever!!

[@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391]

Cress on no cress?

[@Rose_8882]

@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391 love it with cress!! Will eat without though x

[@pozzyuk7504]

Micky Flanagan the shits abroad . Or any Micky Flanagan . Try some Lee evans aswell

[@jinx2100]

9:58 I think that was a “carry on” movie. And the thing around half way was called “little Britain”. It was taken off most streaming services and Tv for being too inappropriate, racist, sexist and homophobic. But boy was it hysterical.

[@kermitTheFrog466]

"everyday from England is in Harry Potter" . brilliant! i am from london , enjoying your vids. happy easter. note: whoever edited the compilation missed half of the jokes. you guys would have really enjoyed with a good edit

[@nikkihayes5411]

Try a "Carry On" compilation. The production company made them as a sort of promo trailer.😸👍

[@TheDobbins39]

Carry on dont lose your head is the name of the film u asked about. All of the carry on films are really funny.

[@PeterLogan-m5h]

The Harry Potter lady is Miriam Margulies. They days she does mostly voiceovers.

[@viewfromthehighchair9391]

The woman at the beginning without the slightest filter between her brain and mouth was (and is) Miriam Margolyes and she was on the Graham Norton Show (a chat show). Find her best of video and you may not survive it you'll be laughing so hard. Others below rightly outlined the other bits.

[@andymac2276]

You should react to- Fawlty Towers Blackadder Red dwarf 👍👍

[@taidilla]

The Brits are absolutely hilarious.

[@markalexander3659]

So glad you're enjoying British humour! But like others have said with compilations like this, it can be very hit or miss because sometimes it's not funny or much LESS funny without the context.

[@bencrane1136]

The woman from Harry Potter in question is Miriam Margoyles

[@flugsven]

This was edited in a very weird way. But there are too many hilarious shows to mention here. "Fawlty Towers" "Black Adder" "Allo 'allo! " "The Young Ones" "The Office", "Goodness Gracious Me" and "Extras" are a few of my favourites.

[@dolfin98]

The most significant thing about British comedy is that the British enjoy laughing at themselves which is a very rare attribute. Most other countries including USA take themselves so seriously

[@LunarJetwoman]

I don’t think that’s very fair on te USA. They don’t take themselves setiousy all the time. Look at the last couple of presidents they voted in

[@Thumperdevine]

No Porridge, No Steptoe, No Hancock, No Red Dwarf, No Royale Family, No Black Adder, No Bottom, No People Just Do Nothing, No This Country, No League of Gentlemen, No Toast, No The Thick of It. I think 'Iconic' may have a different meaning over here.

[@rigomrtz]

Faulty towers, only 2 seasons but some of the best comedy of all time 😊

[@SteveStevens-sp7ly]

all of the pythons team,,, love them all

[@andrewdeebo335]

Very good eyes... Her name is Miriam Margoyles; and She don't hold back! 😂😂😂

[@rubytangelo5284]

Faulty Towers (John Cleese is the owner of a seaside inn)

[@123brizy]

This is like old British people humour from the 1900s 😂 modern British humour is actually funny

[@helenagreenwood2305]

British drivers swearing 😆

[@chrisshelley3027]

Ricky Gervais wrote The Office which was made in the UK before being bought an remade in the US, so the US version is a copy of the original and not the other way around.

[@andywyatt5323]

Best of British for me personally is , bottom , only fools and horses , porridge , the royal family , the young ones , mr bean and if you want a black and white oldie Norman wisdom.

[@martindaubert1636]

You should watch "the two ronnies" four candles skit for real clever humour

[@Ninzumecha]

You watched the Carry On films, as featured in this video? Also, Faulty Towers? Also, you should watch The Good Life, Only Fools And Horses and Red Dwarf maybe

[@alanhogg9939]

Fawlty Towers was voted best British sitcom of all time.

[@brockmiles6597]

British humour is The Two Ronnies

[@Kerppu68]

Oh yes, good old humour without abusing anyone. I've become so sick & tired of being "savage" and foul

[@InterdimensionalWiz]

try eddy izzard 'death star canteen', also harry enfield 'women,know your limits'

[@nowhere982]

Our humour is always close to the bone!

[@mkAYY825]

please do a reaction to Father Ted (irish comedy)

[@franksfiddle9031]

The woman from Harry Potter is Miriam Margolyes

[@KingBiddy]

Fawlty Towers was the show, it had a total of 12 episodes in total.

[@oxouk]

Do a reaction to "The Young Ones". If you grew up in the 80's, it was a comedy must.

[@kimbirch1202]

IMO the best present British comedians are Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Al Murray, and the funniest shows are Fawlty Towers, Would I lie to you , and The Inbetweeners. But there's lots of other good stuff as well.

[@andrewdeebo335]

I miss "Little Britain" SO MUCH! 😂😂😂

[@nulabs.production680]

you should watch mark gatland he only does shorts, not many but its gold uk humour

[@player--zero]

The thing about British humour is very specific and easy to not understand when you're not from the uk. It doesnt translate well for people who havent been to the uk or dont know alot about the uk.

[@mikesherman8590]

64 in Buckeye love it that thanks guys.

[@perryedwards4746]

Try out "Harry Enfield Women Keep Your Virtue"

[@gregphillips24]

As a brit I wouldn't say that was a very good compilation.

[@Sunshine_2394]

Watch Would I Lie to You. The most hilarious comedy show ever.

[@philipc2025]

The video jumps around too much, it's not giving you the full sketches. Check out a compilation of Miriam Margolyes on the Graham Norton Show. She is the lady from Harry Potter. From your reaction to him it would be great to see you react to Jimmy Carr. Because of his type of humour lots of people want to have him cancelled. However he always plays to packed houses. He reckons that the joke that will his career is already out there.

[@MarkMcLT]

Great British comedy really is fantastic and comes in many flavours from sketch comedy to stand up to sitcoms (and I'm not a Brit). But to be honest this was a bit disappointing. I think out of this lot only Fawlty Towers could genuinely claim to be iconic. In sketch comedy, The Two Ronnies are probably the masters though A Bit of Fry and Laurie had some great stuff. Way too many sitcoms to mention and my age probably biases me, but some classics that come to mind... Blackadder, The Good Life, Dad's Army, Some Mothers Do Hav'em, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Are You Being Served, Open All Hours, Only Fools and Horses. Stand up is not as much of a strength imo but Al Murray is outstanding and Michael McIntyre is a great showman. Plenty more others can fill you in on.

[@simonpoole2635]

If you haven't seen Gary Delaney yet he's my favourite!

[@MetalMonkey]

Without context or prior knowledge most of this makes no sense. I feel that video was made for British people who recognise the people/shows/clips. 0:45 Miriam Margolyes on The Graham Norton Show (He's Irish), she is hilarious, you don't see many old women as open and carefree as her. 4:40 Clips from Little Britain. Because the people talking aren't white "she" can't understand them (even though they speak perfect English). 6:25 "He is dead, he is no more...." is a reference to the Monty Python Parrot sketch 8:33 Fawlty Towers - Don't Mention the War.........is one of the greatest comedy moments of all time (watch it from start to finish, preferable watch the full episode) 8:56 That a "Carry On" film, don't know which one. "Carry On" is a franchise of British films since 1958, every film starts with Carry On...... Carry On Teacher, Carry on Doctor, Carry On Up the Khyber, etc etc and most of the cast are in every film.

[@dragonseye00]

Little Britain and Fawlty Towers are great.

[@paulhorgan6152]

Cockney rhyming slang sermon the two ronnies along with four candles and the phantom raspberry blower of old London town ❤😂😂 and the sweet shop

[@4kitties]

29Feb24 Te mustced man marching about is "Fawlty Towers." The actor was also in the groundbreaking "Monty Python" They have a number of movies as well. Note, they have a ton of historical birs due to once dominance of England The woman going on about fat is from the show "Little Britain." A mor modern show you may like is "The Cleaner" or ""After Life.

[@patriciajpb7308]

Little britain is old show ... its hillarious

[@terencecarroll1812]

Miriam Margolyes - was the woman from Harry Potter