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My brief for this unit is to produce two productions that demonstrate the conventions of two different types of satire (i.e. British vs American satire).
Research |
The Oxford dictionary defines satire as:
"The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues."
Differences between US/UK comedy
Stephen Fry uses the example of John Belushi in Animal House as the perfect example of an American comedy protagonist, a wisecracker who always has the perfect one-liner. He says this character type isn't usually seen in British comedy, we instead prefer failures.
This isn't a perfect fit with all of American and British comedy though. For example, Fry's portrayal of Jeeves in Jeeves and Wooster arguably fits this archetype. "American humour vs British humour: What's the difference?" by Paul Goodman
Paul Goodman writes that irony and the idea "taking the piss" are a less common in American culture than it is in Britain and that it is not as appropriate in America where "there is an ever present danger of you being perceived as being mean-spirited". However, he also writes that "America is a big and varied place and no matter what your style of humour, there will always be *someone* somewhere who finds it funny." Vox journalist Carlos Maza makes the point in his video “Comedians have figured out the trick to covering Trump” that because the late night talk show hosts that are popular in America are not bound as much by obligations to be impartial (in the “both sides” definition used by media organisations). For example if Donald Trump makes something up in order to deflect attention from any number of controversies he’s at the centre of, news shows, despite knowing Trump’s claims to be false, will then cover his allegations and invite pundits to debate them, whereas comedians can dismiss these stories and analyse the response from the media because it’s not politically biased to call Donald Trump a liar, it’s true.
The video ends with this quote from Sophia McClennen: “We think that the journalist’s job is to show all sides of the story but the journalist’s job is to show the truth.” |
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The essayist in this video says it’s wrong to say either is better English comedy isn’t always better. Shows like Arrested development and Veep use irony in a way similar to British comedies.
The US series of The Office is an example of American comedy being brighter (both figuratively and literally) and more optimistic. In the clips from an interview with Ricky Gervais, he says that the traditionally American approach to comedy comes from Americans being raised to be more optimistic. US comedy doesn’t do cringe humour as much. American audiences don’t like to be made uncomfortable, they’d like a resolved, happy ending as in The Office. It’s Always Sunny satirises the optimism of American comedies, taking the characters' selfishness to its logical extremes, with them often resorting to comically horrible acts to get what they want. "What are you laughing at?" by Simon Pegg
In this opinion piece written for the Guardian, the British actor Simon Pegg writes that there is a "cultural myth" that Americans don't understand irony. He believes that whilst British humourists may use irony more, critics are mistaken in saying that Americans just don't "get" irony when shows such as Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show exist. It could be said that the reverse is also true. It's hard to argue that Mrs. Brown's Boys or Three Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps are the pinnacle of British subtlety and the impressions show Dead Ringers is much more aligned with the mode of address of American political satire such as Saturday Night Live. |
Analysis
Last Week Tonight is a late-night talk show which airs on the American network HBO. It is written and hosted by John Oliver, an English comic who moved to the US in 2006 to audition for The Daily Show and was given a role as a writer and correspondent.
Last Week Tonight takes a lot of inspiration from The Daily Show and is similar to other shows such as Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. John Oliver looks at news stories from the previous week and explains them to the audience with a satirical spin. Because the show is made for an American audience the focus is often on US politics. In a Guardian column from 2014, Peter Preston argues that the BBC is sorely missing this kind of satire. He says programs like Dead Ringers and The News Quiz are bound by the BBC's obligation to be impartial meaning that the satire cannot be as pointed as it is on an independent network like HBO. As Preston puts it: "Bash Gove, now have a go at Tristram Hunt; clobber Dave, but take pokes at Nick and Ed. Images are required to spit in a balanced, proportionate fashion." Kamp, D. (2015). John Oliver Is Horrified by Massages and Is a “Committed Coward”: What You Should Know About the Host of Last Week Tonight. Available: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/01/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-facts. Last accessed 13th Nov 2017. Preston, P. (2014). There's no British satire on the BBC. Try John Oliver, the expat on HBO. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/aug/17/john-oliver-british-satire-bbc-hbo. Last accessed 12th Nov 2017. |
The Day Today was a rolling-news spoof that aired on BBC2 in 1994. It was created and hosted by Chris Morris and is the successor to his radio series On The Hour and the predecessor to the current affairs satire Brass Eye.
The program parodied the format of rolling news shows by dramatically reporting on fictitious news stories and incorporating surreal humour. The writing of the reports is deliberately over-complicated and ostentatious to parody the parlance of news reporters. For example, a fight between the Queen and John Major is described by Morris’ newsreader persona as “some kind of drubbing incident”. This clip from Saturday Night Live is a good example of how the show mixes the talk show format with sketches and characters.
It imitates the mode of address of a news report. Jean Hannah Edelstein. (2017). Saturday Night Live: Larry David's concentration camp gags set sorry tone. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/nov/05/saturday-night-live-larry-david-concentration-camp-gags-trump-russia-new-york. Last accessed 13th Nov 2017. Itzkoff, D. (2017). Trump and ‘S.N.L.’: A Look Back at a Complicated Relationship. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/arts/television/donald-trump-saturday-night-live-alec-baldwin.html. Last accessed 13th Nov 2017. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B61ELqNzS78
Suebsaeng, A. (2013). “Arrested Development” Was the Best TV Satire of the Bush Era. Available: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/arrested-development-politics-bush-iraq-war-wmd/. Last accessed 25th Sep 2017.
Comparison
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These two clips are from different versions of the sitcom The Office. The two scenes have similar settings (a presentation) and are both written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (although Gervais and Merchant only wrote one episode for the American series), however they are made for different audiences and show obvious differences in writing, direction and performance.
In the first clip, David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is giving a motivational speech. It's a situation that will be familiar to
The second clip is much more absurd. Someone has complained that the office is worse than prison, so their boss, Michael Scott (Steve Carell), gives a presentation as "Prison Mike"
The UK series focuses more heavily on cringe humour, the clip is very uncomfortable to watch.
In the first clip, David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is giving a motivational speech. It's a situation that will be familiar to
The second clip is much more absurd. Someone has complained that the office is worse than prison, so their boss, Michael Scott (Steve Carell), gives a presentation as "Prison Mike"
The UK series focuses more heavily on cringe humour, the clip is very uncomfortable to watch.
Proposing a brief
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