british vs german humour

The British like to think of themselves as having a very special sense of humour:
Jay Doubleyou: british humour

And at its heart, this sense of humour is all about 'irony':
Jay Doubleyou: a history of irony

This is from a recent piece looking at the English/British:

The particular joys of living in England lie in various particular characteristics of the people. Perhaps it is these that make up the concept of "Englishness". The first is irony. Few English-speaking peoples (notably Americans) understand it, which demonstrates its unique place in Englishness. The English love of understatement can be partly attributed to a love of irony. Humour and diplomatic talk with heavy use of irony means that the English can converse with one another before a group of foreigners, who, despite their perfect command of the language, would not understand what is really being said. All part of word play, which is a national sport.

Irony can be what Freudians call a defence mechanism, in that we can talk about important issues using language that seems to express exactly the opposite intention. The love of irony is classless - even Cockney rhyming slang could be seen as a form of irony. But it is dramatic irony, that attitude of delicious, detached awareness of incongruity, from face to tragedy, that exploits the potential of irony to the limit. Is it perhaps the love of word magic and doublespeak that makes our detractors call us perfidious Albion. Nonsense! It is simply a full-blooded understanding and joy of the concept of irony. 

The second quality is scepticism. Some countries seem soaked in a naive enthusiasm, embracing the new as if it must be better than the old, while others are cynical in the face of change. I like the observation contrasting English and Americans, which suggested that the good feature of the Americans is enthusiasm, and the bad naivety; while the good feature of the British is scepticism and the bad, cynicism. Perhaps too many transatlantic mergers lead to naive cynicism rather than enthusiastic scepticism.

It is all about doubt and agnosticism; perhaps a dislike and distrust of the new, the emotional and the spiritual. Expressing great uncritical enthusiasm for anything, particularly ideologies, is considered poor form.

The disinterested, sceptic, agnosticism of the English seems to apply toreligion, political theorising and high art, as much as it does to scientific enterprise. This is why entrepreneurial preachers, modern gadgets and miracle cures do not do as well here as elsewhere. Disinterested doubt seems to me a mature reaction, which can occasionally tip over into cynicism. It is perhaps this scepticism which prevents the great "isms" like communism and Catholicism taking root in England.

What Is It Like to Be English? | Psychology Today

How does this compare to the German sense of humour:

What's so funny about German?

Stand-up comedian, Henning Wehn, takes a humorous look at the German language in ten short videos.

The Alphabet

In his first mission, Henning takes over a German beginners' class to teach them the basics: the alphabet. German just wouldn't be the same without the ß and the umlauts: ä, ö and ü.

Telling the Time

Henning has a word of warning for those who don't arrive on time in Germany.

Gender Bender

In German, it's not the size that matters - it's the grammatical gender of a word.

Long and Winding Words

German is full of them and, according to Henning, understanding them is child's play.

How to be Polite

Germans can be very polite. They just have different ways of expressing it.

False Friends

In this clip, Henning reveals the deeper meaning of the German word Rathaus amongst others.

Loan Words

Henning helps the suffering British economy with a German loan word.

Waiting for the Verb

The German sentence structure is brought to life with a bit of footie.

Pseudo-anglicisms

Henning explains English words in German to unsuspecting members of the public.

Jokes

Vorsprung durch Slapstick. Germans will always laugh at the old cake trick.

BBC - Languages - German - What's so funny about German?
HENNING WEHN: German Comedy Ambassador to Great Britain

Here's a discussion on Radio 4:



Heresy - Radio 4 discussion of the German sense of humour - YouTube

And a very lively discussion comparing British and German humour:

BBC News - Henning Wehn on British and German stereotypes and comedy
Video: Henning Wehn on British and German stereotypes and comedy ~ Frequency

But possibly the most un-funny piece of humour is 'Dinner for One'.
This film is shown across the German-speaking world (and beyond) every New Year's Eve:

Although the sketch is most popular in non-English speaking countries, it is typically shown in the original English without dubbing or subtitles. It is easy to understand with even a basic knowledge of English due to the general physical nature of the comedy. The performance remains practically unknown to the English speaking world, and British people are surprised when encountering fans' ability to quote dialogue.

Dinner for One - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
h2g2 - 'Dinner for One' - A Sketch Well-known to all but the British - Edited Entry

British TV executives see it as fit only for foreigners, or they would rush to broadcast it themselves. Why Germany finds it so funny and the British don't is, according to Der Spiegel's Sebastian Knauer, "one of the last unsolved questions of European integration."

A New Year's tradition only the Germans could dream up.
BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Germany feasts on Dinner for One



Dinner for one - YouTube
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