talkmagic.co.uk

So...I ring up my good friend Kondini the other day and after about a 1/2 hour of wasting good money on the phone system I tell Ken a joke about a Snail. He pauses and say's "You find that funny do you?Do Yanks laff at that?"

And I says...it is the funniest joke I ever heard and yes it gets a big laff...so he allows as to how I'm not all there and proceeds to rattle off a joke that UK folks would find funny...and of course it fell with a thud....Ken: "Don't you get it?"...Me: "Well yeah...I got it...but...it was a bit dry..."

So the question is...aside from falling on your bottom off a wayward bananna peel into a can of red paint...or a 3 minute routine with John Cleese and Michael Palin...where did we seperate so much when it comes to jokes? I don't mean routines...I mean jokes.
-------
There is a knock at the door...the guy opens the door and a snail says..."Excuse me..."
The guy bends over and picks up the snail and throws him as far as he can.
Three years later there is a knock at the door. The guy opens the door and the snail says, "What the hell was that all about?"

-------


Higley

well i thought it was funny and im a Scot if that means anything?

Moderately humourous...

I'm sure I've heard it before somewhere though...

Code: Select all

There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't.

Kati

Well...yes...in PRINT...but said with proper NY accent...it's a killer.

But really was just an example to chew on.

Regarding Humor & Other:
If you were going to perform in the States would you feel compelled to change your material any?

When American's (Live, not the TV junk) perform in the UK do they connect as well as local acts do you think?

I know when I saw Billy Connolly, I was on the floor...

There's an Irish comic called Frank Carson who has a catch phrase of, 'It’s the way I tell 'em' and it certainly applies to UK/US humour. Even the most basic joke can be hilarious if told/presented right. A few US comedians miss the target by being too brash and slick but many seem to go over well in the UK so it's not a serious problem. By contrast there are several good UK comedians who have fallen flat on their faces in the US because they couldn’t tailor their material and presentation to a new audience – serious mistake; you should always check the market before setting out your stall! I recall one guy who took his standard UK act which included some slightly ‘racist’ material and just changed the nationality for US audiences. The jokes were actually quite funny but he walked off stage to the sound of his own footsteps every night for a week before giving up. Incidentally, that snail joke has been around for a while and I laughed when I first heard it - not a big belly laugh but a nice warm ‘daft but likeable’ type of reaction. I’d guess that the same joke would get different reactions in different parts of the UK and the long established comedians here will all have a fund of stories about how their act went over very successfully in the South of the country but not in the North – or vice versa.

The snail joke is brilliant I laughed my *rse off at it when Scott Glenn told it in Training Day. I would ahve thought it was more british humour than American though.

If you were going to perform in the States would you feel compelled to change your material any?

We are just talking about the jokes/one-liners right? and not the magic effects?

Assuming this is so, I suspect that the issue isn't just an international one, it is also a regional one. I daresay there are jokes that are told to audiences in the north of England that have more chance of going down well than in the south (and vice versa).

As Mandrake said, much of how the joke goes down is in the skill of the telling, but I do not think you wish to be taken into account. I believe you are referring to the concept of the the same comedian telling the same joke in two places and getting a totally different reaction in both places.

If this different reaction is not just a one off occurance (and let's face it all audiences react differently) then it has to be a cultural thing, and yet how could the "snail joke" possibly be catagorised in that way? I mean you would go to America and start telling jokes about Scousers/Geordies/Cockneys etc, but you might try to find if there is an equivelent area of America. I suspect that a Cockney joke may relate quite nicely to the bronx? but I don't think this is what Mr. Higley is asking.

I mean why didn't the snail joke go down well?
Well one answer is that it has nothing to do with the culture of the US and the UK, it is simply that your friend has no sense of humour.

I would say that as magicians, for the most part our comedy is limited to one-liners, or at least short quick fire jokes and as such we use lines that make us, the performer laugh. If you didn't think it was funny, you wouldnt use the line. (actually, if you didn't think it was funny, you probably couldn't deliver the line anyway). So, no. I don't think we should change our act.

Having said that, if you are English and you start a tour in the US and your funny lines were consistently getting blank unsmiling faces, then you would adapt. You would either leave the lines out, or hopefully by then you would have been in enough Stateside social situations to work out a few lines that do work.

I'm rambling. Does this one work in the US and UK?

Q: What is the quickest way to kill everyone in the circus?
A: Go straight for the juggler.

I think I'm as slow as the snail, it's taken me a day to get it

bananafish wrote:Q: What is the quickest way to kill everyone in the circus?
A: Go straight for the juggler.

Lol

Ah, NOW I get it!

:D

Kati

A tortoise was being interviewed by Police after he'd been mugged by two snails. 'Just tell us in your own words what happened' said the kindly Policeman. 'Dunno really' said the tortoise, 'it all happened so quickly'.

Does anyone find Ellen Degenerous...or degenrate or whatever the hell her name is in the least humorous? (I don't)
How about Gilbert Godfried? (I do)
Chris Rock? (I can)
David Letterman? (I don't)
The Simpsons? (I do)
Family Guy? (I don't)

Racial Comedy (I do..but then I grew up in New York where it was a passtime and EVERYBODY was into it)

Sex Comedy (Tiresome and overused)...I mean come on, it's afterall just Tab A in Slot B...but hey...remember the John and Betty Box' "Carry On.." stuff? Loved it. More Risque than sex humor as used today. Benny Hill bridged the gap.

Slapstick (Old Time) (I do)

Music Hall/Vaudville/Burlesque Gags? (I do)

Clown Humor (I don't as a rule)

Snail Jokes: (I do hahaha)

Doug

Ellen Degenerous - no. I didn't realise that she was supposed to be funny, sorry!
David Letterman? Not much but there are worse - several UK Letterman wannabe/clones come to mind!
The Simpsons? Yup.
Racial Comedy Yup - as long as its comedy first and involves race second - i.e. it has to be funny.
Sex Comedy - as above, same reasoning. After all the whole process is totally ridiculous anyway. For some reason I can't help but think of those awful 1970's 'imported' soft porn movies, all grunts, gasps, bad haircuts, even worse acting, and truly awful dubbing - hilarious in the extreme!
Slapstick - some.
Music Hall - if live then yes, absolutely.
Clown Humor - some but very few.
Snail Jokes: I think we're starting a whole new trend here - a bit like the elephant jokes of many years ago!

Ellen Degeneres - Not Too terrible
Gilbert Godfried - Say who now?
Chris Rock - when he's not being overly topical on US matters
David Letterman - the least funny man alive, i don't get it talk about a humour divide, he flips a pencil every american whoops like he's oscar wilde

The Simpsons - oh hell yeah
Family Guy - funnier than simpsons - just
Racial Comedy - these days its anti white black humour, thats not equality thats reversal

Sex Comedy - yawn
Slapstick - nope
Music Hall/Vaudville/Burlesque Gags - id rather spend an afternoon trying to chew off my own eybrows ( thats a no)

Clown Humor - not a chance

Snail Jokes - yes but only cos when i heard that joke it was from a disgustingly attractive irish actress, that found it so funny it took her 10 minutes of hyterical laughter, heaving glistening chest and perfect toothed smile to tell it

I'm not prejudiced, i mock everyone so here's my explanation to your question.

american humor is less subtle, more brash loud and annoying and yes slightly dumber, a reflection of its young powerful nation of origin. Also you must appeal to a vast number of rednecks.

british humour is subtle intelligent and dry so we can giggle smugly at our innate superiority, this is a reflection of our terrible bitterness at being a fallen empire, powerless compared to the states, with only a shabby cloak of dignity and history to comfort us. Also we had a class system so don't feel the need to appeal to our redneck equivalents, as they can watch the american stuff that makes up 90% of our air time anyway.

An example to clarify, if you have taken the above deadly seriously, gotten all offended and riled up...thats an american sense of humor you have there:)

A Snail goes to the Doctor and says....

I don't get the snail joke. Is it just to do with that the snail is slow?