Masaryk University Brno Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature Contemporary British Humour Bachelor thesis Brno 2007 Supervisor: Written by: Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, PhD. Kateřina Matrasová Declaration: I declare that I have written this bachelor thesis myself and used only the sources listed in the enclosed bibliography. I agree with this bachelor thesis being deposited in the Library of the Faculty of Education at the Masaryk University and with its being made available for academic purposes. ...... Kateřina Matrasová
2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank to Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, PhD. I am grateful for her guidance and professional advice on writing the thesis.
3 Contensts Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………... 5 Part One ………………………………………………………………………………………. 7 1. Humour ……………………………………………………………………………………. 7 2. Laughter ………………………………………………………………………………….. 11 3. Comedy, Verbal Humour and Genres ……………………………………………………. 14 4. Verbal Humour on Television and Radio ……………………...... 15 5. Britishness ……………………………………………………...... 17 Part Two …………………………………………………………………………………….. 22 6. Contemporary British Comedians ……………………………...... 22 7.1. Sacha Cohen and his alter egos ………………………………………………………… 22 7.2. Ali G ……………………………………………………………………………………. 23 7.3. Bruno …………………………………………………………………………………… 25 7.4. Borat ……………………………………………………………………………………. 27 8. Christopher Morris and his comedy works ………………………………………………. 30 8.1. Brass Eye ……………………………………………………………………………….. 31 8.2. The IT Crowds: “Have you tried turning it on and off again?”…… …………………... 33 8.3. Jam – visual comedy art ………………………………………………………………... 34 8.4. Radio work ……………………………………………………………………………... 34 Part Three …………………………………………………………………………………… 36 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………….. 41 Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………….. 42 Appendix 1 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 43 Appendix 2 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 47 Appendix 3 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 50 Appendix 4 ………………………………………………………………………………….. 56 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………… 58 Resume ……………………………………………………………………………………… 61
4 Introduction: The secret to humour is surprise. ~Aristotle~ Humour and comedy has a huge variety in form and has always been popular genre among different cultures. Historically, there were many forms such as short stories and novels, forms also included narrative poems and plays. Comedia erudita and comedia dell’arte , comedy of manners, pantomime are just a narrow examples of huge diversity in form. From variety shows to sketches, from cartoons to sitcoms and from double acts to stand up routines, the range of forms it can embrace is perhaps greater than any other genre (Neal, 10). In accordance to the previous statement comedy is, has been and will be a popular genre in Britain due to its tradition. This thesis is dedicated to the contemporary British humour and contemporary British comedians who are said to be controversial. The aim is to introduce two British comedians and their work. Further, I will attempt to analyze British society from various perspectives and try to state some thoughts on definitions of humour from different angles. Finally, in my thesis I explain a personal attitude towards British humour and society with respect to personal experience and I will state a point of view of English language student. My thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part I try to state definitions on humour form psychological, philosophical, social and linguistic point of view. In the first part the term ‘Britishness’ will be explained as well as description of British society will be examined. In the second part of my thesis I will try to analyze the comic works of contemporary British comedians, namely Sacha Baron Cohen and Chris Morris. I will look on the techniques and point out the episodes that are interesting for their content. The third and the last part of this thesis is dedicated to personal view on how British humour can be seen by the Czechs. This will be represented by my personal opinion based on personal experience with British society. I will study its impact on characters, how do we differ and
5 what we have in common. The third part is conceived as a personal opinion in relation to an English language student. The thesis is complemented with a CD that shows episodes of the IT Crowd series, Borat, Bruno and Ali G characters and the Brass Eye episodes.
6 Part One: A sense of humour signifies emotional maturity. ~Grotjahn~ Examples and various attempts of definitions of humour and laughter from different points of view will be given in this part of the thesis. Assuming that humour can be divided into several sections according to the point of view we can think of humour in respect of language and linguistic disciplines, physiognomy and its description and also we can conceive humour from social, psychological and philosophical aspects and their definitions. In this chapter I shall deal with each aspect. Humour is said to be a complex phenomenon. There is no general theory of humour or even an agreed definition. According to Alexander’s book of Aspects of Verbal Humour in English humour is widely attested and intuitively grasped aspect of social communication (Alexander 3). Humour is a form of sensus communis , common sense, declares Simon Crichley in his book On Humour . Crichley continues that jokes are the expression of sociality that implicit from reasonableness. The essential point in his statement is that humour is shared (Critchley 79). There are occasions where the ‘shared knowledge’ is not present. Part of the issue may be socio cultural, historical and regional details. Nonetheless, sometimes the impossibility of translating humorous sketches, puns or anecdotes can build a barrier between appreciating the verbal humour of the other culture. The reason for this can be put down to different value system (Alexander 176). 1. Humour The influence of humour in social interactions is pivotal. Humour easies difficult situations. Humour also expresses our desire to be playful no matter in what social status we find ourselves. Also by humour we can express our admiration or critique. Humour is analyzed as an emotion which is based on the language. Humour is basically a verbal activity, especially because it is fundamentally what we mean by “thought.” The language is the most important agent when passing on humorous messages. Words, wordplay
7 and odd word combinations evoke the obvious result of humour – the laughter. Laughter is not the only resulting effect as we will discover. Many jokes are based on the fact that there are two possible interpretations of the same group of sounds. To be more specific according to linguistics we must bear in mind the terms such as homophones. This term refers to words that are pronounced the same but are spelt differently. This fact leads us to ambiguity and confusion in the spoken language which is often considered as a joke or as something which makes us laugh. For example there are three variations of a word that sound the same – for , meaning the preposition, four , meaning the numeral or fore , adverbial or adjective, meaning the front part of something. Mail is pronounced the same as the word male . More example pairs can be introduced, such as gays – gaze , pair – pare – pear or gorilla – guerrilla (www.bifroest.demon.co.uk). Also in spoken English the ambiguity is caused by the way the words are stressed or by their intonation. I will demonstrate this on an example Voltaire’s sentence: ‘It’s not my hand you should kiss.’ Stressing the words ‘ my hand’ or ‘my hand ’ dramatically changes the meaning (Ross 9f). If we concentrate on the first variation the result is that somebody else’s hand should be kissed not the hand of the speaker. The second variation refers to other part of the body then hand that should be kissed. Graphology refers to the way in which the language is represented visually and some humorous messages are better to understand when seen rather than heard. These actions can happen randomly when words are not spelt correctly or purposely when re arranging words. Also acronyms, the words formed from initial letters of other words provides, humorous moments. E.g. ‘What we need to use is courtesy, respect and patience – CRAP’ ( Brittas Empire ). The word ‘crap’ is an informal expression that can be also pejorative and it has a wide range of meanings: from nonsense to excrement. Therefore as we can see the primary sense carries positive message but the resulting word does carry deliberately the opposite information. Orthography as a written medium of verbal humour can provide humorous changes. Letters may be omitted, added, transported or substituted from the original. Arguably, since the print began, these kinds of mistakes or misprints must have been the source of unintended humour. It may seem that verbal humour and orthography are hugely from two different worlds but the opposite is the truth. (Alexander 21). Morphology refers to the way that individual words are formed and also refers to its smallest units and deals with prefixes and suffixes. ‘What’s a baby pig called? A piglet. So what’s a baby toy called? Toilet’ (Ross 14f). The suffix –let forms diminutive expressions but it is used
8 here to create funny word association. This example serves the deliberate confusion of the linguistic rules. Syntax refers to the way that meaning is created by the structure of words in a sentence. Therefore the awareness of language structure and close understanding of language rules is important. We can apply various linguistic rules to deliberately create a funny situation or a joke. In other words it is a conscious confusion that creates humorous messages. On the contrary, we need to consider, that foreigners due to the lack of language rules knowledge can create unintended jokes. For illustration two example sentences will be given: “How long will my spaghetti be?” asked a foreign customer in restaurant. The waiter replied: “How should I know. I never measure it.” The question suggests that the customer is interested in the length of spaghetti not the preparation time. The syntactic ambiguity has caused a humorous message. For this particular example it is a constructional ambiguity. Despite identical surface structure two different underlying structures were brought into play (Alexander 42). ‘Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating’ (Ross 20). This example sentence evokes more possible meanings. It can be seen as the cook finds pleasure in being beaten or that the new kitchen equipment was designed. English language offers many linguistics features that can cause ambiguity, double meanings, metaphors or idioms, all of which can be a playful base for good, intellectual humour. The kind of humour we use shows the kind of people we are. Humour tells much about one’s personality. In psychology, humour tests are used as tests for personality, (e.g. Cattell & Tollefson 1963/6). There are many reasons why people may favour one type of humour over another. They may wish to express their own frustrations, their points of view, or dysfunctions. They may merely have been exposed to certain types of humour more than other types (www.facstaff.uww.edu). Of special interest is the expansion of the recent literature on the use of humour as a distinct technique to be utilized in nursing, medicine, and therapy. Humour is employed to ameliorate physical pain, e.g. in dental work. Humour provides a method in provocative therapy and paradox therapy. It is actively drawn on to create cognitive reframing and in therapeutic intervention humour is brought into play as a technique for moving the client to insightful reactions. It is also used as an effective tool to cope with death. Recent literature in the area of social work has also appeared. Humour has also been discussed in the area of law (www.facstaff.uww.edu).
9
According to Koller we can distinguish several functions of humour that will be listed below. For example the relationship between the employer and employee or the superior position and inferior position leads to awareness of social status and therefore creates various situations concerning humour. Koller (18) provides the following functions of humour:
accept our mistakes
attack existing standards and values
avoid conflict
balance power
defence against attack
demonstrate familiarity
expression of hostility
get attention
keep the conversation going
move deep emotions
power tool of critical thinking
provoking thought
reduce anxieties
reduce hostility
reinforce or undermine stereotypes
relief from stress and strain
replace anger
secure group membership
self effacement
show one's abilities
10 social bonding
social control
social correctness
sooth people
survival
symbolize close ties
therapy or catharsis
turn negative emotions to positive ones.
uphold honesty over shame
According to Koller’s functions of humour the comedy works will be analyzed in part two. Analyzing humour is like dissecting a frog: nobody enjoys it, says Ulrike Erichsen. Undoubtedly, humour is an uneasy task to analyze. Each person and their relationship towards humour differ. Every human being is an original and therefore each person finds different instigation or different stimulation individually. Sense of humour is also completely individualistic feature. We may share humorous and funny situations, jokes or stories and therefore relate to a group. A sense of humour is the ability to experience humour, a quality which all people share, although the extent to which an individual will personally find something humorous depends on a host of absolute and relative variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, and context (en.wikipedia.org) 2. Laughter Laughter is the most common but nevertheless not the only reaction to humour as we will examine later. Laughter is a form of outward expression of amusement, mirth and at times, other emotions. It may ensue as a physiological reaction from jokes, tickling and others. There are also other reasons for example based on chemical reactions in our physique that can produce laughter. There are also other aspects then the intellectual ones that can cause laughter. Inhaling various chemical gasses, such as nitrous oxide can also induce laughter. Strong laughter can sometimes bring an immediate impact of tears or even moderate muscular pain as a physical response to the act itself. Laughter, the acquired human reaction to jokes, is
11 healthful in moderation, uses the stomach muscles, and releases endorphins, natural happiness inducing chemicals, into the bloodstream. The study of humour and laughter, and its psychological and physiological effects on the human body is called gelotology (en.wikipedia.org). Laughter is a part of human behaviour regulated by the brain. It helps humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and provides an emotional context. According to Freud’s operational description, we laugh when the unconscious energy emerges to reach the conscious mind and it reaches it unexpectedly, due to the techniques used by the comedian. This exceeding energy is rapidly discharged in the form of laughter. Freud distinguishes three basic fields: comic, wit, and humour. The ‘economy of ideative expenditure’ in other words excessive energy is wasted or action essential energy is saved plays a role in the comic field. The deep meaning of a comic sketch or a comic joke is: “I'm a child.” The comedians deal with the clumsy body of the child. All of the adult population can relate to this due to its own previous experience. Freud also works with the ‘economy of censorship expenditure.’ Freud literally calls it ‘the economy of psychic expenditure.’ Usually censorship prevents some ‘dangerous ideas’ from reaching the conscious mind, or helps us avoid saying everything that comes to mind. Adversely, wit circumvents the censorship. Various wit techniques are used for expressing ideas in a funny way. The profound meaning behind a wit joke is: “I have dangerous ideas”. According to Freud humour induces an ‘economized expenditure of emotion.’ Freud literally calls it ‘economy of affect’ or ‘economy of sympathy’. In other words, joke erases emotion that should be felt about an event, making us insensitive to it. The profound meaning is: “I'm a cynic” (Freud, 349 355). Laughter is used as a signal of inclusion — it signals acceptance and positive interactions. Laughter is sometimes contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others. The social concept of humour is very important. The fact, that we share the same idea of the message, that we laugh, determine us human beings (en.wikipedia.org). The philosopher Thomas Hobbes stated interesting definition on laughter. His perspective is a rather cruel definition of human qualities. Hobbes characterized laughter as a ‘sudden glory’ at our own triumph or at an indignity suffered by someone else. Hobbes also claimed that those who laugh are momentarily released from awareness of their own lack of ability: “Those that are conscious of the fewest abilities in themselves; who are forced to keep
12 themselves in their own favour, by observing the imperfections of other man” (en.wikipedia.org). There are several requirements that are needed concerning laughter. The important one is to understand the joke or the funny situation and therefore we can appreciate the joke. Evaluation of the joke is equally important. The feedback that can be seen for example in the resulting form of laughter must be also present. Relationship between the addresser and the addressee plays a fundamental role, too. To state an example we can consider relationship between close friends. If our friend’s attempt to say something funny fails and has not fulfilled the above criteria, we may laugh just because it is our close friend. According to Shibles, humour is based on acceptance and therefore we laugh because we accept the person and what he or she says. We may laugh with a lover, not because there is much humour, but because there is much acceptance. Defences are eliminated and we let the other person in. Humour is therefore a type of intimacy in the sense that it requires one’s acceptance, also professor Shibles states. His theory is that the more the humour is tolerated, the more the intimacy there is. Arguably, we may not laugh if the funny message comes from a person we dislike. Simply, we do not accept the joke neither the person. On the other hand, a humorous person with lively character is often found attractive. We must know someone well in order to tease the person, that is, in order to insult, yet not be taken to mean it seriously. The person must know that the insults are pretended and similarly we can accept them from a friend (Shibles 92). However, sometimes a joke fails to entertain us because we find ourselves in a serious situation. At other times we do laugh because of the situation. For example nervous laugh encountered in social situations may serve as a method of overcoming social awkwardness. Therefore, we do the natural hypocritical thing. We pretend to laugh. We fake laughter to look as if we are at ease and having a good time. This kind of laughter is not considered as humour. Humour need not involve laughter and laughter need not involve humour, claims Warren Shibles. Accordingly, Shibles describes that laugh is a matter of adjusting one’s mouth in a certain way. He continues that pilots laugh when cities are being bombed or that hebephrenic smile all the time. Laughter and smiling are not necessary criteria for the presence of humour, says professor Shibles (www.facstaff.uww.edu).
13 3. Comedy, verbal humour and genres Comedy has a classical meaning and a popular meaning. The first one is the comic theatre and the second generally means the use of humour with an intent to provoke laughter. In the theatre, its origins are in ancient Greece. Comedy portrays a conflict between a young hero and an older authority (en.wikipedia.org). If we turn to the dictionary for a definition, for instance The Conciese Oxford Dictionary , its entry on comedy begins as follows: Comedy, n. Stage play of light amusing and often satirical character, chiefly representing everyday life, with happy ending (Neale 11). If we concentrate on this entry that usefully highlights a number of points, not only about the multiplicity of criteria comedy can involve, but also about the contexts in which those criteria have often been formulated and comedy traditionally defined. Interestingly, laughter as such is not an explicitly mentioned – thought ‘amusing’ is perhaps an obvious syndrome for it. A comedy is not just ‘light’ and ‘amusing,’ it is marked also by ‘happy ending’ and by its concern with the representation of ‘everyday life’. According to Neal, this has always, in the west at least, been considered as an important aspect of comedy. From Aristotle on, comedy was for centuries the most appropriate genre for representing the lives, not of the ruling classes only, but also the ‘middle’ and ‘lower’ orders of society. Similarly, the manners of inferior classes were considered by the superior classes to be either trivial, vulgar or both (Neale 11 13). Black humour is also called black comedy. Black humor is a sub genre of comedy and satire. Topics and events that are usually treated seriously such as death, suicide, sickness, rape or war, etc. — are treated in a humorous or satirical manner. Sarcasm comes from Greek sarkasmos, mockery, sarcasm is sneering, jesting, or mocking a person, situation or thing. Sarcasm is strongly associated with irony, a type of verbal irony intended to insult or wound — stating the opposite of the intended meaning, e.g. using “that’s fantastic” to mean “that’s awful”. Sarcasm can also be used situationally for e.g. “You’re so smart” really means you are just the opposite (en.wikipedia.org).
14 Satire comes from Latin satira, “medley, dish of colourful fruits.” Although satire is often very funny and usually witty, the purpose of satire is not primarily humour but criticism of an event, an individual or a group in a clever manner. Satire usually has a definite target, which may be a person or group of people, an idea or attitude, an institution or a social practice. Satire is often confused with parody. But the two are quite different. Where parody draws on and highlights aesthetic conventions, satire draws on and highlights social ones (Neale 19.) Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap between what a speaker says, and what is generally understood. Discordance between acts and results, may lead to an irony. A type of humour which relies on a witty put down is called caustic humour. The name literally means humour that is designed to burn or to corrode. This kind of verbal humour involves the clever use of language to convey biting, insulting, or sometimes even cruel remarks. Parody is described as a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself (enwikipedia.org). The generation of laughter depends upon certain principles and certain devices; it does not require any particular type of structural context. The forms designed to give rise to laughter are local, specific, and often, momentary. The local forms exist on their own. It can be funny line, the gag or the wisecrack. Many of the earliest comic films, and many sketch like interludes TV variety shows, are simply gags. They can also function as the culminating point in narrative forms like the sketch. They can exist within the context of a stand up act or a cross talk routine, as self contained units, or as units linked loosely into sequential strings. And they can also be introduced into full length narrative forms like the sitcom and the feature film (Neale 17). 4. Verbal humour on television and radio According to Alison Ross and her book on The Language of Humour television and radio to lesser extent have replaced books as the main source of verbal entertainment. This means that lot of contemporary humour is based on the spoken word. The audience is more likely to listen and watch humour rather then read it. However, some programmes may be popular in a given year but also the programmes may as well disappear from culture within a matter of
15 years. Of course there are some exceptions: some may be preserved, or repeated. On radio the spoken word is not supported by visual humour. In one sense, the television has the advantage, but there are types of humour which can only work in a purely spoken medium. The absence of visual supportive material leaves space for audiences’ imagination (Ross, 89 90). As an example may serve the abstract form the comedy The Glums : “Push her head between her knees!” Pause follows and then starts another sentence: “Not that way!” We can imagine various movements that could support the action and therefore find it funny. The humour in this shows have often strong topical element and often there are ‘in jokes’ and running gags that make the humour strongly context bound and less easy to appreciate in a different time and culture (Ross, 90). A situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television. Sitcoms usually consist of recurring characters in a common environment such as a home or workplace. A British sitcom is a situation comedy produced in the United Kingdom. British comedies are typically produced in series of six episodes each. More recently, the term Britcom has been used by American commentators to distinguish the British idiom of situation comedy from its other counterparts (Berman, xvii).
16 5. ‘Britishness’ British society and humour are closely related terms. There is a general phenomenon of cultural shock that people encounter when they enter what are for them ‘alien’ cultural setting. There is also a thin dividing line between types of humour distinguished by benevolent and malevolent intention and on the other hand, humour aimed to amuse and aimed to make fun. Peculiarly, the claim that ‘black humour’ is purely British has to be considered in further socio cultural aspects (Alexander 116). Humour is the last frontier to be crossed in the complete understanding of a culture. ~Robert Solomon~ “Being British is about driving in a German car, wearing Italian clothes, heading to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer and some Greek olives, then going for an Indian curry washed down with some Australian beer before going home to collapse on your Swedish furniture to watch American shows on a Japanese TV. And the most British thing of all? Being suspicious of anything foreign.” www.screenonline.org.uk Generally, from the British Council/MORI poll in November 1999, Britain is seen by foreigners as tradition ridden, backward looking, conventional with images of monarchy, Celts, kilts, castles and aristocracy (www.ipsos mori.com). British society is a complicated affair, full of loose ends and bits they don’t fit. This may be a good thing for people who live in, but it is a source of frustration for those who study it and try to understand it. Every attempt to sum it up in a simple formula – as a ‘class society’ or whatever – has proved to have so many expectations and qualifications that it was more trouble than it was worth. (Obelkevich&Catternall, 2 3). It is very difficult to define a nation and generalize the national mentality. However, the question what is British lingers and is important. In this chapter some of the most stereotypical images of the British character shall be introduced. Britain itself is made up of four countries with quite distinct cultures: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the whole island of Ireland was also part of Britain until the early 1920s
17 (www.moving2uk.com). Geographical identity is likewise determining. Most British people identify themselves with political and geographical areas in which they live (Oakland 10). To explain the regional distinction in the United Kingdom I will use a comparison to the Czech regional distinction. Even though that the Czech Republic is relatively a small country, it has its own specific local humour. As for the main parts can be stated three areas, i.e. central, southern and northern. This can be represented by further focused distinction to Moravia and Bohemia. The main representatives are the towns, i.e. the capital Prague for central area, Brno, the second largest town in the Czech Republic for the southern area and Ostrava for the northern area. All three parts have specific features. These are for example various intonation in the language, different history of the class system and the proportion of industrlization through out the time. As stated above these are the indicators that play an important part in cultural references. Prague’s dialect and tone in spoken language is said to have a ‘singing’ character, Brno’s dialect is said to be overly correct and Ostrava’s dialect has very short rhythm. Brno’s dialect and vocabulary is also influenced by the Germanisation whereas Ostrava’s spoken language is stigmatized by the Polish influence. Another focus that creates the cultural references are the proportions of industrialization. Prague as the capital has always had more investments and opportunities, Brno, the southern area, due to its geographical position has always been considered as a rural part. Ostrava, known for its mineral resources, mining and rough conditions creates a certain picture, too. These specific images based on the background knowledge enable us to share the jokes. This sense of community, the shared common knowledge of environment and so called cultural references leads us to be able to understand the ‘in jokes.’ In my thesis I have excluded Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish humour and comedians, which are often self referential and distinct. From now on I shall focus on British humour. It would be impossible to discuss ‘Britishness’ without having to mention the country’s social class system, as it predicates so much of the national psyche. Britain has remained a strongly class conscious society. The perception still persists that one’s social class remains the same regardless of any change in wealth, influence or similar status. Going hand in hand with the class system goes the accent. The accent is an obvious marker and the centrepiece of some comedies (www.screenonline.org.uk).
18 Another determining fact is that Britain has been magnetic over the centuries for immigrants from various corners of the world. Accordingly, historical moments and development of the country has had great impact on national character. Also the comedy and humour is influenced by the evolution of the country. British history does not exclusively consist of royalty and Empire, of course, but it often seems that these are key ingredients, namely for foreigners, in understanding the ‘Britishness’ (www.imperialconflict.com). The relative decline of Britain’s power during twentieth century and Britain’s historical position as colonial, political and economical super power also influenced many attitudes in British society. Britain still experiences uncertainties about its potential influence and appropriate role on the world stage. Analogically, the effects of global economic competition, two World Wars, Cold War politics, domestic economic and social problems forced Britain to realize its reduced international status (Oakland 94). The British today are facing confronting substantiality in cultural and economic fields different from the past. The benefits from industrial revolution such as cheap raw materials and cheap labour and an uncompetitive world market cannot be enjoyed in the same amount as in the past. Traditional certainties seen by the society has declined and became more stressful, diverse, mobile, conflict ridden and individualistic (Oakland 7). The British comic boundaries according to Kingston in his book British Comedy Greats are recognizable to anybody who grew up in Britain but will stay hidden and unknown abroad. Due to cultural references that are important in humour, the humour itself can persist equally effective for decades to next generations as long as they share the common knowledge (Kington 7). British comedians and British comic actors occupy a central place in British mass entertainment. Reciprocally, they influence the language and other components of British society (Alexander 132). Every national humour carries definite symptoms that can be shared within other nations or vice versa. British humour is famous for its intellectual depth, wit, self effacing culture, and its significant breadth. Slang terms and personal references of British humour and British comedies can remain hidden to non English speakers. Opposing this fact, British comedies
19 gained enormous international popularity. The question that arises is what are the roots and the historical moments that influenced British humour. To sum up some important features throughout the British history we must bear in mind historical reaction to the intolerance of Puritanism, the tradition of absurd and also nonsense poetry popularized by Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Historically French comic theatre left its influence on British theatre, too. Unquestionably, the richness of English language enables the fundamental base of humour, the wordplay. Concerning the wordplay, we need to mention some key points in ‘verbal humour.’ Very good representatives of what is British are the puns. Puns are very difficult to explain to non English speakers and are hardly translatable, if at all. Understatement can be considered as another humorous product of the Britons. Using irony make the joke pass unnoticed to those who are not familiar. Satire, sarcasm, black humour and the absurd are some of the general features that British humour offers. Interesting point of view offers the themes of British humour. Themes are based not only on historical background but also on contemporary issues. Benny Hill’s humour due to his juvenile style is known behind the British borders. He was very popular namely in Germany and although his sketches appeared in early 1990s in the Czech and Slovak Republics, his fame has faded away. Sexual and scatological themes such as terms smut and innuendo could quite correctly represent this kind of humour. Authority as well as disrespect of members of establishment has always been a great chance for humorous comments, sketches and comedies. Political satire Yes, Minister or Have I Got a News for You, a satirical panel, may serve as a good example. The absurd, manic and surreal are another themes widely found in British humour. Parents, teachers versus children or in other words everyday life situations are grateful moments that can be described or laughed at. This topic was represented in 1990s Royle Family or in The Office . The British class system certainly provides a wide field for irony and sarcasm. Absolutely Fabulous, You Rang M’Lord etc. serve as a good examples for upper and middle classes distinctions. British TV comedy series about a French village occupied by Germans during the Second World War, ‘Alo,’Alo! clearly states another kind of British humour and it is a fun of foreigners. Often going hand in hand with racism, bullying and harsh sarcasm (www.answers.com). British comedy writers generally prefer dialogues in which the comic lines are based on the characters who are speaking them and the situations in which they find themselves (Berman 17). There is another aspect of British production that is more technical. Most British comedies tend to expand the story outside the studio walls. It is quite common that characters are brought outdoors. The locations may vary from the quiet villages to the countryside.
20 Seemingly endless comic possibilities and storylines occur in the sense that there are no limits concerning when or where the comic story can take place. For instance, Red Dwarf takes place three million years in the future. These surreal adventures of heroes in sci fi comedy travel in space. Their spaceship occasionally reveals back on Earth (Berman 17). By contrast, The Black Adder series return to the Middle Ages. Throughout the period of time this historical comedy appeared on TV made its way forward into twentieth century. Similarly, Dad’s Army or ‘Allo, ‘Allo! found its setting during the World War II (Berman 17).
21 Part Two: 6. Contemporary British Comedians Britain offers a wide range of excellent comedians. Needless to mention the world famous crew of Monty Python’s five Britons – John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle. Rowan Atkinson’s characters, including the juvenile Mr. Bean or appearance in Black Adder series are well famous behind the borders. Atkinson together with Richard Curtis wrote The Thin Blue Line series that gained enormous popularity, too. Red Dwarf authors Rob Grant and Dough Naylor invented the unique sci fi sitcom. Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft are the authors of ‘Alo, ‘Alo!’ series that are still on the TV among foreign countries. At last we can mention Anthony Jay as a father of the idea of an excellent Yes, Minister series that are quoted and well known around the world (Berman xvi xviii). I have chosen Sacha Baron Cohen’s and Chris Morris’ works to analyze. This chapter will provide an analysis of their humour, the facts about the comedians, about their shows and I will enclose my own comments. Their works will be analysed in respect to previous theoretical part on humour. The 11 O’clock Show is a late night satirical sketch show running three nights a week. The first series was obviously a trial run and its format Burns and MacAulay as anchormen, Iain Lee as sideman, Daisy Donovan as roving reporter was not a comfortable one. Elements such as spoof interviews with unknowing celebrities, mocking vox pops, satirical commentary on breaking news stories, featured in the show. The effect was clumsy and self conscious. These problems were straightened out by the second series. The show’s biggest impact, made in the first year, was Sacha Baron Cohen’s character Ali G – ‘Channel Four’s official voice of youth’ whose often hilarious interviews with unsuspecting politicians and other authority figures made the creation a cult smash (www.bbc.co.uk). 7.1. Sacha Cohen and his alter egos Sacha Noam Baron Cohen was born on October 13, 1971. Cohen is an English comedian and actor. The best known character that Cohen plays and built his career on is Ali G. Ali G is a
22 hip hop reporter from Stains in England. His character speaks in specific language that attracts even more attention then just the strange outfit that is so typical for his alter ego of Ali G. The second, recently world known character is Borat. Borat is a Kazakh reporter with rather strange habits. This alter ego is the most controversial and the most successful at the same time. Bruno is the third character of flamboyant Austrian gay fashion reporter. This ego is not as widely known as the other two characters (www.answers.com). All three characters featured in Cohen’s Da Ali G Show . The Show is often drawn as unscripted program in which Baron Cohen conducts interviews as one of his three characters with people who ostensibly believe that the interviews are sincere and legitimate (www.hbo.com). In words of Ali G the citation explains how he appeared on TV: “Me woz born in da heart off da Staines ghetto. I has lived wiv me Nan in Staines at 37 Cherry Blossom Close from da day me woz born, coz wiv both me parents havin been smoked, dere werent no one else around to look afta her. Me has been carin for her ever since. Me woz failed by da skool system and hated every minute me spent in da classroom. In fact added together, dat time woz probly da most borin 3 hours of me life altho me do still go to a skool re union every second Monday at Staines Job Centre... As well as bein unemployed i iz also got a lot off well important careers. As head of Da West Staines Massive, me control da most peace lovin and violent gang in da hole of Barkshire. Afta happearin on some crap programme dat woz on at 11 a clock or somefin, it werent long before me ad me own show. Dis meant me was able to take a in depf look at a lot off serious issues.... I iz now easily da most respekted face on Brittish telly and it iz probably only a matter off time before me get offered me own slot on Channel 5 or hopefully even cable...” (www.hbo.com) 7.2. Ali G Ali G’s success has been made on interviews with famous people, often politicians, who were not privy to the joke that Ali G, rather than being a real interviewer, was a comedic character played by Baron Cohen. According to Rolling Stone magazine, Cohen would always enter the interview area in character as Ali G, carrying equipment and appearing to be an insignificant crew member. Ali G’s style is to convince the interviewees that he is a half witted person and that it is them who have the intellectual power. However, this would grant an advantage of surprise, whereby the interviewee would be less likely to opt out of the Ali interview prior to
23 its commencement. On at least one occasion, the interviewee was merely told that Ali G had a popular show on MTV that kids watched. The resulting willingness of Ali G’s targets to answer his frequently risqué questions often created surprising conversations. Interviewees have included famous people such as astronaut Buzz Aldrin, perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader, writer Gore Vidal, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, Egyptian millionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, professor Noam Chomsky, English football player David Beckham, or former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali (whom Baron Cohen, in his Ali G character, referred to as ‘Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Ghali’) (en.wikipedia.org ). Cohen usually dislocates his guests by controversial inconsistent questions and moreover in specific lingo. Talking to the great and the good about the issues that really matter Ali is the only interviewer prepared to ask the really difficult questions like “what was it like to walk on the sun?” to astronaut Buzz Aldrin or asking the ex head of the FBI to cast his mind back to the grassy knoll and ask “who really shot JR?”. For example journalist Andy Rooney was one of the few personalities who grew extremely frustrated and abruptly ended the interview, prompting Ali G to ask “is it ‘cos I is black?,” and to accuse Rooney of being “racialist”. Another interview, with former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, grew so contentious that Fitzwater angrily ended the interview and proclaimed about Ali G: “The guy’s an idiot”. Cohen deliberately uses the language of a teenager combined with slang words, jargon and ‘ghetto style’ lingo. See appendix 1 for the examples. This mixture itself makes interviewees uneasy, funnily enough, his ‘victims’ are socially important figures or respectable scientist. Cohen’s character Ali G also provokes with intentionally confusing terms. The word battle is very sophisticated and ridiculous at the same time so Cohen plays the game where the opponent cannot win. In one of his series Ali G interviews scientists on the topic of evolution. When Ali G is told that all humans belong to the Homo sapiens species he gets completely offended. Purposely confusing the meaning with homosexuality provoke scientists even more. (www.answers.com). According to Koller’s functions of humour Cohen attacks existing standards and values by pointing out the negative aspects of society. By his humour he gets attention that serves as a open critique. Cohen provokes thoughts and he either reinforces or undermines stereotypes. For example when Ali G interviews Sue Lee in the ‘Woman’ episode he provokes thoughts about position of women in society. Ali G asks “Who is better?” The question may lead to
24 unintended classification and stereotyping whether the male of female population is better. The professor Lee is an expert on gender studies therefore this conversation is ratcheted. Through Cohen’s humour we can apply another function according to Koller’s classification. One of his function states for symbolizing close ties. Cohen’s profoundly demonstrates social bonds towards his part of the town, e.g. east side versus west side. Moving deep emotions is another technique of Cohen’s humour. By my opinion Cohen’s humour is intelligent, it is wise, well thought out reaction to the events in society. Cohen provokes with statements about genders, about races, about disabled people, about sexual orientation, about values, religion and all controversial topics. 7.3. Bruno Baron Cohen’s second alter ego is ‘Bruno’ (sometimes written Bruno), a gay Austrian fashion show presenter, who often lures his subjects into unwittingly making provocative statements and engaging in embarrassing behaviour, as well as leading them to contradict themselves, often in the same interview. Bruno asks the subjects to answer ‘yes or no’ questions with either “Vassap” (yes), or “Ich don’t think so” (no), or sometimes “Ach, ja!” (oh yes!) or “Nicht, nicht” (not, not). In at least one segment on Da Ali G Show he encouraged his guest to answer questions with either “Keep them in the ghetto” or “Train to Auschwitz”. Bruno’s main comedic satire pertains to the vacuous ness and inanity of the fashion and clubbing world, so for instance the aforesaid indifference towards potentially upsetting Holocaust references is intended to reveal a certain insularity surrounding the cultural context of the interviewee. www.wikipedia.org Bruno is Cohen’s third character, who claims to be a fashion gay reporter from Austria. He discovers the fashion show industry from ‘behind the scenes.’ Some of his victims are fashion designers, models, fashion show producers and important figures from the business. Bruno interviews unsuspecting guests about topics such as fashion, entertainment, celebrities and homosexuality. The emphasis on the topic depends as each interview progresses. As with his other characters Cohen, as Bruno, is able to improvise from his subjects’ reactions to further the humourous effect. The Austrian TV station’s logo features the letters OJRF (revealed once as Österreichischer Jungen Rundfunk, or in English, Austrian Boy Broadcast) inside a baby blue square, with a smaller purple square in the upper left quadrant. The name is similar to that of Austrian national broadcaster ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk). The logo often appears on Bruno’s show in the upper right corner of the screen. Bruno’s segment on Da Ali G Show is called Funkyzeit mit Brüno (Funkytime with Bruno). It is interesting to observe Cohen’s linguistic sensibility. Cohen works precisely on accents that make his characters
25 more believable. Bruno speaks with a faux German accent, often substituting “w” sounds with “v” and “s” sounds with “sh.” His voice is high for a male. He boldly carries a positive attitude, often commending his interviewees with lines like: “that’s great” following their comments. The following citation provides the language of Bruno character (www.en.wikipedia.org). Entschuldigung bitte, jetzt ist Christmas, or Weihnachten as we call it in Austria. That’s why Bruno will probably not find the zeit to put news all the time. Of course, there will be a new clip on Wednesday, as every week. But we wish you a fabulous Weihnachten mit the Christkind or the Santa Clause or what ever you want. Be turned on, take a walk on the brown side, be fabulous. 2007 will hopefully bring some more news about the movie. (www.austriangay.tv.at) This time Cohen’s alter ego generates humour through three devices: interviewees are making outrageous statements, he is revealing an interviewee’s apparent stupidity and Cohen forces an interviewee to take an opposite position on a subject. In one episode, a casting director says Osama Bin Laden is “cool” and “fashionable”. Another masterpiece of Cohen is in an episode where a hairstylist Jonathan Antin compliments Bruno on his weighty observation of villains such as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Saddam Hussein always having a moustache, and good people such as Jesus, Rod Stewart and hippies always having long hair. When asked to tell a deaf youth to have safe sex in this episode a clothing store manager sits silent and motionless with his arms spread wide. Bruno allows it go on for 55 seconds, not saying a word, until the man tires (www.en.wikipedia.org). Camp, vain and self obsessed, Bruno is the voice of Austrian youth TV. At home in the world of air kisses and air heads with his ‘faux hawk’ and g string, Bruno trumps the most vacuous, sycophantic and intellectually redundant fashionistas with his inanity and superciliousness. Patrolling the catwalks and after show parties of New York Fashion week and taking the fashion pulse of America, Bruno seeks out his prey like as if it was a bargain at a Barney’s sale. www.hbo.com Bruno also very often takes his interviwees aside and says that there is a problem with their statements or opinions. Often the subjects agree and reverse their position immediately. For instance, Paris Hilton’s appearance is trashed by two gentlemen working in the fashion industry. Bruno pauses the interview and tells them that the Hilton Group is a big sponsor. The two immediately reverse positions and proceed to rave about Ms. Hilton’s fashion sense as the interview resumes (www.en.wikipedia.org).
26 Cohen and his crew appeard close to a physical confrontation. In an interview with Howard Stern promoting the second season of Da Ali G Show, Sasha Baron Cohen states that at one point the man took out a gun and chased Bruno and the crew out of the establishment (www.en.wikipedia.org). 7.4. Borat Pubis hair is Kazakhstan’s best export product it can be used to clean pots and pans and it can be used to put into gloves for children. (Borat Sagdiyev) Borat Sagdiyev is Cohen’s most controversial character. The world known reputation Cohen gained due to the film Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). Borat Sagdiyev is Kazakhstan’s sixth most famous man. A leading journalist from the State run TV network, Borat has been sent to the United States to report on all aspects of American life. Cohen, alias Borat asks the questions that no westerner would dream of. Borat has tireless quest for knowledge and explores the ‘beauty of western life.’ In his film, Borat is telling dating agencies that he will ‘crush’ women who are unfaithful, touching the penises of Vietnam veterans in Atlanta, urinating on trees with new age gurus in Sedona. Borat on his first ever trip abroad presents a picture of America. The film was screened also in East European countries so for Slavonic nations the funny part starts at the very beginning as Cohen uses namely Polish language for some of his frequently used phrases. For instance, the exatract from the film represents Borat’s lingo where he greets in Polish: “Jak sie masz? My name – a Borat. I like you. I like sex. Is nice.” This kind of greeting is controversial itself as American society is concerned as prudish. Cohen continues on the same wave during the whole film. The example dialogs and comments on various situations will follow: Borat: (while driving) “Look, there is a woman in a car! Can we follow her and maybe make a sexy time with her?” Driving Instructor: “No, no, no, no, no, no!” Borat: “A why not?” Driving Instructor: “Because a woman has the right to choose who she has sex with.” Borat: (stunned) “WHAT...? You joke?” Driving Instructor: “It must be consentual. How ‘bout that?” Borat: (turns to Instructor, pauses) “Ahahahahaha!” Driving Instructor: “That’s good, huh?”
27 Borat: (pause) “Is not good for me.” The sexism that Cohen uses is enormously obvious. The topic itself is controversial but the way he acts persuade his ‘victims’ that he means everything what he does or says seriously. Cohen again points out the stupidity and ignorance. According to Koller Cohen attacks existing standards and values. (www.hbo.com) In the next example dialogue we can note many factors, such as sexism, racism, bullying, disrespect. We can also examine reactions that are not appropriate or morally acceptable in the western society: Borat: “I want to have a car that attract a woman with shave down below.” Car Dealership owner: “Well that would be a Corvette. Or a Hummer.” The enquiry that Borat makes is ridiculous itself. Surprisingly and quite typically for Cohen the ‘victim’ plays along. Absurdly the car dealer knows what kind of car fulfils this extreme requirement and he starts showing Borat cars. Car Dealership owner: “We’ll try to help you out here.” Borat: “A man yesterday, tell me if I buy a car I must buy one with a pussy magnet.” Car Dealership owner: “He means a car that women like.” Borat: “Yes, but where do you keep this magnet?” At this point, the car dealer agrees to continue in this conversation. Borat again rises absurd question and typically for Cohen allows the other part to think that he is intellectually above him. Car Dealership owner: (interrupts) “No. There’s no magnet he just means the vehicle. Women love the Hummers.” Borat: “Do this have a pussy magnet?” Car Dealership owner: “No. The vehicle itself would be a magnet.” Borat: “If I give you good price, will you please put in pussy magnet?” At this point, the car dealer is convinced that he deals with unequal intelligence. Cohen continues with outrageous comments and insists and prolongs the awkward situation. Car Dealership owner: “Yeah but there’s no there’s no such thing in this country as a as a magnet.”
28 The car person is obviously trying to avoid Borat’s language and made up words because he finds them, either rude, pejorative or inappropriate. Borat: “If this car drive into a group of gypsies, will there be any damage to the car?” Car Dealership owner: “It depends on how hard you hit them and all that.” Borat: “Hard!” This is clearly racist statement and suggests that Borat will be using car for killing people. Cohen intensifies the ridicule and absurd. At this time Cohen has the other person right in the position where he wanted. Subconsciously, the car dealer helps to build the awkward idea up. Car Dealership owner: “You might if somebody rolls on the windshield, they could crack your windshield.” The person himself starts building ludicrous ideas. Cohen graduates as his counterpart interacts: Borat: “How fast do I need to go to guarantee I kill them?” Car Dealership owner: “Uh let me tell you something with this vehicle here probably doing 35 45 miles per hour will do it.” Leaving the other person to suggest the speed limit that would kill minority is just a matter of Cohen’s excellent manipulation. Borat: “Great! When I uh, buy my wife, at the start she was uh, cook good, her vazhïn work well, and she strong on plow. But after three years when she was fifteen, then she become weak, her voice become deep: BORAT BORAT, eh, she receive hair on chest, and vazhïn hang like sleeve of wizard.” Cohen, alias Borat accelerates the attacks. Clearly sexist’s comments have the function of provoking thought and moving deep emotions. At this point the person is confused and feels awkward, no matter continues in dialog. Car Dealership owner: “Huh Jesus...” Borat: “How do I know that this will not happen with the car?” Cohen shows perfect ability to keep the conversation going and to change the subject at the right time. Cohen ends the conversation by revealing the amount of money that is absurdly but consciously inappropriate for a car that has been presented to him.
29 Car Dealership owner: “Chevrolette guarantees you that with a warranty”. Borat: “I like a very much buy this Hummers, how much is it?” Car Dealership owner: “Fifty two thousand.” Borat: “I am looking for something between um, six hundred to uh... six hundred and fifty dollars.” Car Dealership owner: “We don't have any cars for six fifty that you can buy. I might be able to sell you a wholesale car, a car with a lot of miles for seven hundred with no warranty.” (www.ibdm.com) Borat character continues mocking today’s values, namely western society values. He does that through the fundamental statements of how things work in his mother country and again provokes this time American culture and nation and more importantly condemns Americans of sexism, racism, homophobia and anti Semitism and jingoism. Cohen himself had to face accusations of being racist or anti Semite due to his characters’ statements which make the whole situation even more absurd. Cohen himself was born into Orthodox Jewish family and his mother was born in Israel. As a jest, while playing the anti Semitic character Borat, Cohen frequently speaks in Hebrew. As was previously highlighted Cohen uses precisely many languages. In his controversial film he uses Polish, Romanian and Hebrew. The interesting fact is that Cohen himself studied Hebrew in Israel where he learnt the language fluently. It is very interesting to observe people’s reaction towards his jokes. Older Czech generation was at first offended when watched Cohen’s film. It is quite understandable due to the pride of East European nations. Nevertheless the joke points out the ignorance of the western countries. Again as was stated above we share the joke because some overreacted scenes evoke in us the real life experience but make us laugh at those who do not know (www.ibdm.com) 8. Christopher Morris and his comedy works Christopher Morris was born September 5, 1965 in Bristol, England. Morris is an English comedy writer, satirist, producer, director, actor and radio DJ. Not only is Morris a great comedian but also one of the most astute and controversial satirist of his age. Among his masterpieces such as On The Hour, The Day Today and Jam, his TV comedy Brass Eye belongs to the most discussable ones. Patrick Marber, Doon Mackichan and Steve Partride create a group formed around Mr. Morris. While the other members obtain plaudit for their works, Morris is the television taboo breaker (www.news.bbc.co.uk).
30 He was fired by Radio Bristol, with varying accounts claiming that he had either been excessively abusive to a caller or had talked (and possibly eaten) over a news broadcast. (en.wikipedia.org) 8.1. Brass Eye Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries which aired on Channel Four in 1997 and was re run in 2001. The series were initiated by Chris Morris, co written, amongst others by David Quantick, Peter Baynham, Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan. It was conceived as a sequel to Morris’ earlier spoof news programmes On The Hour and The Day Today , and satirized the media’s portrayal of various social ills. There are rumours that Morris is planning another special for later in 2007. The theme will be terrorism (en.wikipedia.org). Everything he does looks and sounds genuine. Film is shot just as it is for the news itself and unsuspecting guests are seduced into believing that they are appearing on a pukka show (www.news.bbc.co.uk). Brass Eye has been branded by The Sun newspaper as the “sickest TV ever.” It is another British controversial program where public figures are fooled into fictional and often obviously absurd charities and courses. His comedy is unsettling and often disturbing, ridiculing the medium as much as the message. Morris and his team deal with contemporary issues and tabloid media news. As Chris Morris is a perfectionist his ‘news’ are trustful and also his performance is convincing. The trick is that he is using a documentary, rather than the news. The format it set out to examine serious themes like crime and animal abuse, using unsuspecting diverse celebrities to endorse its message and stoke up moral panic (www.chilled.cream.org). One episode, which dealt with a fictitious drug, Cake, prompted the Tory MP David Amess to ask questions in the House of Commons and led to Morris being sacked by Michael Grade, then chief executive at Channel Four. In this episode Morris, as an undercover reporter, asks purportedly real life drug dealer for fictional drugs. The made up names of the so called drugs, i.e. ‘Triple sod’, ‘Yellow Benteens’ and ‘Clarky Cat,’ make the situation even more absurd and funny because the drug is pictured as a water melon sized pill. This episode relates more or less to the Czech Republic. This fictional drug is called ‘Cake’ and comes from Prague, Czech Republic. The capital is shown during this sketch as well as an article on the
31 front cover in one of the leading national newspaper ‘Mladá Fronta Dnes.’ Prominent political figures were also tricked into filming video warnings against this Eastern European drug. In other episode Morris posed himself as a talk show guest with strong discriminatory attitude towards AIDS. He divides people into those with ‘good AIDS’ (e.g. from a contaminated blood transfusion) and ‘bad AIDS’ (caught through homosexual activity or drug abuse.) Around 2000 complaints (and approximately 3000 calls of support) were received regarding the show, and some politicians hastily spoke out against Morris. David Blunkett said he was "dismayed" by the show, and Beverley Hughes described it as "unspeakably sick" (while admitting that she had not seen the programme). Although she did not criticise the show, Tessa Jowell was reported as asking the Independent Television Commission to revise its rules to allow such a controversial show to be prevented from broadcast even though she hadn't watched the actual episode of the show. There was also a vociferous tabloid campaign against Morris, who refused to discuss the issue. The episode went on to win a Broadcast magazine award in 2002 and the complete series, including the 2001 special, was released as a bestselling DVD later that year. (www.wikipedia.org) To sum it up, once again, in this paragraph I provide an example of Morris’ highlight breaking taboo episodes with brief summary. Cake, Brass Eye , 1997: The spoof documentary featured a show about a dangerous and fictional drug. Public figures were persuaded to speak on camera about its evils. Bernard Manning told the show: “If you’re sick on this stuff, you can puke yourself to death. One girl threw up her own pelvis.” Paedophilia, Brass Eye Special , 2001: Public figures were duped into making statements about child sex crime. The DJ Neil Fox said “paedophiles have more genes in common with crabs than they do with you and me. Now that is science fact. There’s no actual evidence for it, but it’s a fact.” Myra Hindley, Brass Eye , 1997: Morris performed a spoof song in the style of Pulp. The lyrics included the line: “Every time I see your picture, Myra/I have to phone my latest girlfriend up and fire her/And find a prostitute who looks like you and hire her/Oh me, oh Myra” (www.news.independent.co.uk). Christopher Morris is certainly controversial figure with the power to divide the whole nation and British society. Personally, I find this kind of humour challenging and intelligent. His humour is frequently dark and uncomfortable and therefore shocking. Morris has an unquestionable talent to amuse and shock and consequently delight and disgust Britain.
32 8. 2. The It Crowd: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” Chris Morris also appears in a more recent situational comedy The IT Crowd that started its run on February 2006. Even though that The IT Crowd series has been written by an Irishman living in Britain, Graham Lineham, I have decided to dedicate a part of my thesis to this genre of sitcom. If I was to use Lineham’s own words from an interview for Channel Four “The IT Crowd are in the tradition of the British sitcom, ‘cause there’s no Irish tradition of sitcoms” (www.theitcrowd.co.uk). Among others, Roy Chris O’Dowd (also starred in Red Cap ), Moss Richard Ayoade (appeared in Morris’ Channel 4 comedy Nathan Barley ), Jen Katherine Parkinson (starred in Doc Martin ), Chris Morris plays Mr. Denholm. Denholm is a director of Reynholm Industries, which is a huge company in London. Morris’ character is a parody of modern earnest upper management, always ready with new and often ridiculous initiatives, such as mixed gender lavatories in the office, or stress busting seminars and other equally ludicrous ideas. Mr. Denholm always tries to boost performance in a company and he openly boasts employing attractive people who do very little work and all engage in adulterous relationships. Denholm is also very easily distracted, and often pays little attention to the people he happens to be having discussions with (en.wikipedia.org). The IT Crowd series are situated at the IT department which is located in the basement and the unbelievable phrase “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” became a notoriously known among the Czech IT Crowd fans. This phrase is used by all IT department members on every question concerning computer problems.
33 8.3. Jam – visual comedy art Jam is a television version of the radio series Blue Jam . Jam was transmitted without a commercial break, due to Morris’ insistence and Channel Four’s agreement. Macabre subject matter and soundtracks of the original were showed. Also the show presented the material in distorted, disorientating visuals. The team, including Chris Morris, pushed the boundaries of television comedy further than any other show had done for many years. They were experimenting with form and setting as much as it did with notions of taste and acceptability. Although the series concentrated mainly on sketch material, some episodes e.g. Diana Funeral speech (which has since appeared at www.bishopslips.com) were filmed but not used (http://chilled.cream.org). It is not surprising that Morris has a great influence on people around him. Whereas the routine of commercials on TV is disturbing but we have already come to accept them, the power to affect the events only proves that Christopher Morris is highly influential. 8.4. Radio work Chris Morris took part in the radio program On The Hour . This British radio programme was written by Morris and others (Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick.) Morris’ initial intention was indeed to show how the public would believe anything if it was delivered with a straight face. Morris presented himself, probably the only time, after his full and own name, as an overzealous and overly important figure. This parody radio program was broadcasted by BBC Radio 4 in 1991 and 1992. On The Hour had a regular cast as interviewees, reporters or news presenters. Perhaps, the surrealism, satire and parody is an unsurprising element in Morris’ work (en.wikipedia.org) The next paragraph demonstrates the On The Hour stylish news. This is an abstract of an episode broadcasted August 31, 1991 and called “Twenty five minutes squeezed into one programme.” The M25 is missing, last seen being scraped away by a man with a spoon. “ On The Hou r” is in the thick of the road theft news, zooming up the fast lane of the current
34 affairs motorway to bring us Alan Partridge reporting on Arsenal’s transfer news, The Queen Mother speaking for the first time of her relationship with John Major, and a special report on the unusual business practices at Barton’s Matches. This Week’s Audio Pullout: The Seventh Tabernacle Adventist Church Presents “ The Tab ” talking about religion for folks who don’t do sin. Liberals and homosexuals, GO AWAY! (www.chilled.cream.org). The M25 is the most important motorway in Britain and it is highly absurd to announce that the road is missing. Similarly, as the Queen Mother has never had personal relationship with former Prime Minister John Major, mocking both public figures evokes the joke. On The Hour finally made the leap from radio to television with the The Day Today program. This groundbreaking six part series mocking the self importance of television current affairs programming, similarly parodying the same sort of visual characteristics and stereotypes that On The Hour had done in the news in the sound form. Chris Morris again appeared as the show’s anchorman, and also acted as writer, composer (with Jonathan Whitehead) and co producer (with Armando Iannucci). The radio cast and crew were all involved with the series, with the exception of Stewart Lee and Richard Herring, filled by Peter Baynham. Impressively, The Day Today used again material from the radio show On The Hour . This time, the crew took full advantage of the opportunities presented by the visual medium. One of the most successful comedy shows of the 1990s, The Day Today went on to win several awards, and Chris Morris won the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer (www.chilled.cream.org).
35 Part Three: In the third part of my thesis I will state my personal opinion on British humour, I examine the things we share within humour and highlight the differences between Czech conceptions of humour. Also it is important to point out the similarities and differences between the two cultures. Humour allows us to survive when everything else fails. Anti Reich and anti Stalin humour was a criminal offence punishable by life of 10 years of prison labour, etc. People used humour anyway, but whispered it. A Munich comedian, Weiss Ferdl joked that prison camps are highly guarded, but “just a word of humour and I can be in there.” Concentration camp humour was a necessary weapon of resistance and survival. To give up humour was regarded as defeat. Even the oppressed children played such games as “Gas Chamber” and “Gestapo Agent” (Lipman 13). In respect to Lipman’s statement we can suggest and apply similar approaches towards British and Czech humour. Czech nation has been influenced by many historical events, both in the negative and the positive way. In principle, we are the nation that is historically dependent on greater powers. Throughout the history diverse political systems were in charge of Czech nation. The Czechs experienced World Wars, emperors, Austria Hungary, Nazism, and communism. Today we face different kind of exploitation. This is not that much of an ideological base but on the economical dependency. Consequently as the nation is influenced so is the humour. Humour therefore reflects the situation of the nation. I suggest that humour is a phenomenon that constantly develops in its form. Although the Czechs lived through constant oppression, namely on the intellectual base some forms explicated more than others. I need to highlight a fact of perpetual censorship. Political satire as genre officially did not exist. On the other hand ambiguity developed into great lengths. Predications, indicating and suggesting became regular ingredients in the Czech society bowl. Consequently, the official entertainment lacked intellectual taste and was more focused on the physical humour.
36 Laughing and laughter as a natural thing was restrained and people were well cautious of when, where and with whom they are laughing at or laughing with. Also the Czechs were forced to accept the situation and revolt in hidden forms. This, of course, was a matter of strength and individual character. Assuming that revolting has historical roots in the Czech society and therefore it comes along with the suppressed pride. I am convinced that the Czechs are very pride people. By comparison, this kind of experience the Britons lack. Throughout the centuries they were in completely opposite position. The feeling of freedom and power, it is discussible if entitled or not, marked their characters. Revolting could have been and still can be done in an open way. Expressing thoughts on public has been and is possible. Such privilege certainly influences the national characteristics. Arguably, the Czechs and the Brits laugh at different things at different time due to their historical diversity and the sense of shared vary. The class system that is a target of British comedians and comedies is not developed in the Czech society as hierarchy was not desirable. Nevertheless, lords and ladies were in awareness of Czech people due to jokes about Englishmen. The only awareness that I can think of that British people might have had about the Czechs and that appeared as contribute in British jokes is the Skoda car. Skoda car as a Czech product was stereotyped and linked with fault liability and therefore with jokes. The phonological similarity between two words ‘Czech’ and ‘cheque’ was also a subject of some British jokes. To be born English is to win first prize in the lottery of life. ~Cecil Rhodes~ According to Antony Miall the attitude of English towards other nations, or better to put it towards not English, is not fear of foreigners, e.g. xenophobia, but xenopili, e.g. pity for foreigners for having the misfortune to be not English (Miall 5). On the other hand, the attitude of Czechs towards other nations is extreme. They simply support, disagree or do not care about other nations. Again, this can be put down to the constant dominion of other nations throughout the history. The Czechs have grown antipathy towards Germans, due to World War II. The Russians have been unpopular due to occupation in 1968 and former superiority of Soviet Union. More or less, these days Western society,
37 namely Americans are playing number one on the “we do not like you” scale. The extreme attitude of liking or disliking has its psychological explanation. “The English are moral, the English are good, And clever, and modest and misunderstood.” (Michael Flanders – song writer) Accent is a considerable matter among English people and can place an individual straight away. A regional drawl is no longer considered the fatal defect it once was. The Oxford accent or BBC English pronunciation, as it used to be called, is no longer important but still, it can be a great advantage. Arguably, more important than the vowel sound is the vocabulary. English people will distinguish one another whether they say ‘sweet’ or ‘after’ rather then ‘pudding,’ or whether they sit on ‘sofa’ or ‘settee’ or whether they go to the ‘loo’ or ‘toilet.’ These are the countless distinctions which will asset English people into certain social groups (Miall 21). In the Czech Republic can be distinguished certain dialects and still, even in such a small country, southerners can laugh at people from Prague and vice versa. Similarly, education and social group can be recognizable through handling the Czech language. Friendship is understood and probably hidden behind certain social occasion and do not go behind the border of intimacy. When English people say: “We must meet again” – it is not meant to believe them (Milsted 22). Family, in the Czech society, is understood rather as large, extended family. Historically, three generations lived and shared lives together. It is no exception that until recent grandparents lived together with their children and their grandchildren. The family value is slightly changing but still the ties are stronger then in Britain. Usually, family to English people means a small, nuclear family. Perhaps, the English ideal would be to live their individual lives – in their own personal castles (Miall 22). Due to previous lack of goods and poor services in the Czech Republic, people were used to help themselves with amateur inventions. Improving, gadgetry was very common and need not to be highlighted as it was counted as a standard skill. Self help style of building houses,
38 cottages or reconstructions of flats was a normal practice. “Czech golden hands” also used to be a popular proverb and characteristic feature of, dominantly, Czech male population. Whereas for the Brits any kind of home improvement is a matter of pride as the next citation represents: “…..and here’s an new ball valve I’ve just fitted to the downstairs lavatory. It’s the XJ36 – you might think that’s extravagant but I thought the remarkable performance figures justified the extra expense.” Similarly, when one visits English home, then one must be prepared for the tour around the place with a detailed introduction of DIY (do it yourself) successes (Miall 36 37). Put away the fact of constant complaining about public transport, almost everyone in Britain has an access to a car when over the age of 17. Using car frequently, especially for the short journeys leads to the traffic problems and insufficient number of parking spaces. Let this serve as a “classic” example of ‘Britishness:’ Average speed in built up areas is 11 miles an hour – a speed exceeded a hundred years ago by a horse drawn carriage (Milsted 50). Generally speaking, there is not much tradition in culture of public transportation. It is not about the lack of technical equipment but more about the manners. Stepping on somebody else’s foot, elbowing or crowded buses, trams or trains is regular everyday experience. “Because the English do not like to be told what to do, any order has to be given with a degree of politeness which many other nations find incomprehensible. Should you follow custom and express an order or request, you will achieve a desirable effect. Express it simply as an order, with no hint of personal choice, and the English will invariably break for a tea” (Miall 65). Sadly, the Czechs used to be told what to do in the form of commands and orders without any personal choice. Logically, the Czechs have aversion to any kind of restriction and became masters in obeying laws or neglecting their duties as long as they can and as long it has no consequences for them. Concerning contemporary Czech humour, I dare to make my personal comparison to the British one. Similarly as the crew of Monty Python’s is world wide famous, so could be the group around Svěrák Smoljak and their Jára Cimrman . The only reason for not happening so
39 is the language barrier of the Czech language. This humour is as well as absurd and intelligent as is Monty Python’s. Similarly covers historical themes, contemporary issues and laughs at everyday routines. Their reputation in the Czech Republic is so big that during the similar programme as “ The Best Briton ” Jára Cimrman , the fictional figure had to be officially announced as a fake figure and therefore disqualified from the contest. The Czechs proved their unity and their sense of humour when protesting against it and signing petitions against this official statement. It might be bold of me but the Czech satirist, Petr Čtvrtníček has also controversial performance, tickling the public with fake news that are similar to Chris Morris’. The only difference is that the fake is more obvious but the principle is the same. The television series Česká Soda were much discussed in the post revolutionary times and were seen as absurd and harsh. The same phenomenon – making fun of foreigners appeared and basically, was the main theme. Germans were parodied in this programme and the public loved it. Theatre group – Sklep represent seemingly alternative stream based on intellectual, deep, absurd humour. Quite recently, Bára Štěpánová and her ŠÍŠOU , which is phonetically transcribed from English meaning “She Show” has surprised me with her programme. Her show is completely hilarious and strongly reminds me of a British humour. Absurd sketches, brilliant word play and faking the truth with the serious face, sharp tongued comments about politics, all of it have in common with British comedy shows. Finally, I must mention that the history of Czech humour is great and brought huge number of excellent satirist and comedians, in every époque, in every political system and in every stage of wealth. In contrary the British humour can and could have been done openly without any fear of persecution. British and Czech humour share many attitudes, many genres and themes. We are able to understand British humour quite well and also we can appreciate the beauty in it. As for me, student of English language, the cultural knowledge opens new perspectives. The language of humour is rather difficult in foreign language but once managed then different and better attitude and relationship to the culture where the language is spoken can be enjoyed.
40 Conclusion: I have decided to dedicate my thesis to the British contemporary humour due to my personal experience with British society which I gained through multiple visits and stays in the country. This thesis should represent general and also my own point of view on British humour. Also my aim is to introduce the wit in contemporary British comedies. Importantly, I need to convey that I am an utter fan of British humour. Humour is an indivisible part of both nations, the Czechs and the Britons. Even though that our perspectives may differ we share and enjoy similar genres. Satire, irony and political satire are favourite genres for both nations. My thesis is divided into three parts. Whereas the first part includes definitions on humour looked at from various angles, e.g. philosophy, psychology, linguistics etc. The first part is also focused on possible influence, development and changes in British society. The second part is dedicated to contemporary British comedians who are believed to be controversial. I analyze and introduce their works, provide facts and evaluate my opinion on their shows or programmes. The comedians are Sacha Baron Cohen and Christopher Morris. In the third part I state my personal opinion and try to find similarities and differences between the Czech and British approach towards humour. For a language student it is a myriad advantage to know and to understand the culture of the studied language. Humour opens vast possibilities in better, more sophisticated and deeper communication with people of the studied subject – English language. Realization of differences and of course similarities can be a perfect start for intercultural friendship or relationships. Understanding culture and humour of other nations also make us more aware of own nation and importantly, makes as universal human beings. I have enclosed a CD with examples of the analyzed British comedy programmes and hopefully it will help us understand, enjoy and share moments with unique British cultural life.
41 Appendices
42 Appendix 1: JOKES COLLECTION Part One shows examples of jokes with themes of Essex girls. Essex women are commonly linked with stupidity. These jokes are based on question/answer structure. Part Two represents jokes about gender stereotyping. These jokes mock women, their emotional side, their habits likes and dislikes. Part Three shows examples British stereotyping. The Collection of jokes offers anecdotes about the Queen, about the Irish, the Scots and the Welsh and of course the British. Part One Q: What do you call an Essex girl with half a brain ? A: Gifted! Q: How do you brainwash an Essex girl ? A: Give her a douche and shake her upside down. Q: Why do Essex girls wash their hair in the kitchen sink ? A: Because, that's where you're supposed to wash vegetables! Q: Why do Essex girls wear their hair up ? A: To catch as much as they can that is over their heads. Q: Why is it good to have an Essex girl passenger ? A: You can park in the handicap zone. Q: Why is an Essex girl like a turtle ? A: They both get fucked up when they're on their back. Q: How do you make an Essex girl's eyes light up ? A: Shine a flashlight in their ear.
43 Q: Why should Essex girls not be given coffee breaks ? A: It takes too long to retrain them. Q: What do an Essex girl and your computer have in common ? A: You don't know how much either of them mean to you until they go down on you. Q: What did the Essex girl think of the new computer? A: She didn't like it 'cos she couldn't get East Enders.... Q: What do you call an Essex girl with a fiver on the top her head? A: All you can eat, under a fiver. Part Two THINGS YOU WILL NEVER HEAR A WOMAN SAY What do you mean today's our anniversary? Can we not talk to each other tonight? I'd rather just watch TV. Ohh, this diamond is way too big! And for our honeymoon we're going fishing in Alaska! Can our relationship get a little more physical? I'm tired of being "just friends". Honey does this outfit make my butt look too small? Aww, don't stop for directions, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to get there. Is that phone for me? Tell 'em I'm not here. I don't care if it is on sale, 300 pounds is too much for a designer dress. Hey, get a whiff of that one! Part Three The Queen of England was showing the Archbishop of Canterbury around the Royal Stables when one of the stallions close by farted so loudly it couldn't be ignored. 'Oh dear,' said the Queen, 'How embarrassing. I'm frightfully sorry about that.' 'It's quite understandable,' said the archbishop, and after a moment added, 'as a matter of fact I thought it was the horse.' There are four kinds of people in the UK
44 First, there were the Scots who kept the Sabbath and everything else they could lay their hands on. Then there were the Welsh who prayed on their knees and their neighbors. Thirdly there were the Irish who never knew what they wanted but were willing to fight for it anyway. Lastly there were the English who considered themselves self made men, thus relieving the Almighty of a terrible responsibility. The Irish: McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the Irishman started to leave. "' Scuse me", said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done, "what was that all about?" "Nothin', said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives.!!!! The Scottish: The Scottish bus driver was giving a tour of Scotland to a group of tourists. The tour went through the countryside and the driver would point out sights of interest. He drove by this one area and said, "Over there is where the Scottish PULVERIZED the English." They drove on a little further and the driver pointed to another area along the roadway and said, "This is the place where the Scottish MASSACRED the English." Not much further down the road the driver told his passengers that on the right was the great battlefield where the Scottish WHIPPED the English. About that time a man on the bus, with a stiff English accent, said, "My good man, didn't the English win any battles around here"? "Not when I'm driving the bus" was the response. An American was hopelessly lost in the Highlands and wandered about for nearly a week. Finally, on the seventh day he met a kilted inhabitant. "Thank heaven I've met someone," he cried. "I've been lost for the last week." "Is there a reward out for you?" asked the Scotsman.
45 "No," said the American. "Then I'm afraid you're still lost," was the reply. Jock and an Englishman were flying from Edinburgh when the stewardess approached. "May I get you something?" she asked. "Aye, a whusky," Jock replied. She poured him a drink then asked the Englishman if he'd like one. "Never!" he said sternly. "I'd rather be raped and ravished by whores all the way to America than drink whisky!" Jock hurriedly passed the drink back, saying "Och, Ah didna ken there wuz a choice!" The Welsh: Some English tourists decide they should go and see the famously long named village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales. They decide on going for a hamburger lunch and they debate how to pronounce the name of the place, but they simply cannot decide where to begin with it! After a while they hail one of the blonde assistants. "Excuse me, my dear" one asks,"but could tell us where we are, and please, say it very, very slowly." The girl leans over their table and says: "Buuuurrrrrrrrrr gerrrrrrrrrrrrr Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg" An Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman went into a bar and ordered a whisky each. They were just about to sip on their lovely malts when three huge bluebottles buzzed in and plop, plop, plop, they each fill into a glass. Well the Englishman is so repulsed he pushes his way. The Irishman fishes his out and continues drinking quite unperturbed. The Scotsman picks his out of the glass too but holds it up and shakes it violently shrieking at it: "Spit it oot ya wee b******!"
46 Appendix 2 This table represents Cohen’s large filmography with years of the films, titles and his roles. I also include so far unpublished comedies that are right at the moment in process. Year Title Role 2008 Dinner for Schmucks unknown 2008 Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill Curly Oxide 2008 Madagascar 2 Julien (voice only) 2008 Bruno The Movie Bruno 2007 Sweeney Todd Signor Adolfo Pirelli 2006 Night of Too Many Stars: An Borat Sagdiyev Overbooked Event for Autism Education 2006 Borat! Cultural Learnings of America Borat Sagdiyev for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan 2006 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Jean Girard Bobby 2005 Curb Your Enthusiasm (season 5 Larry's Guide #2 (guest star) episode 10 "The End") 2005 Madagascar Julien (voice only) 2003 2004 Da Ali G Show Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Bruno 2003 Spyz James Bond 2002 Ali G Indahouse Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev 2000 The Jolly Boys' Last Stand Vinnie 1998 1999 Da Ali G Show Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Bruno 1998 The 11 O’clock Show Ali G 1998 Live from the Lighthouse Ali G
47 The table represents Chris Morris’s work throughout the various media. Radio Shows Television Shows Other Projects
No Known Cure The Day Today Big Train
Chris Morris Jam/Jaaaaam BEST BAR (NONE)
Loose Ends Brass Eye Second Class Male/Time To Go
Up Yer News Brass Eye Special The Smokehammer
The Chris Morris Nathan Barley Absolute Atrocity Special Christmas Show
On the Hour Bushwhacked
Why Bother? My Wrongs 8245 8249 and 117
The Chris Morris The IT Crowd Music Show
Blue Jam
48 The Top 10 Comedians on the right is a list compiled by Channel 4 Television in the UK and is voted for by a range of UK comedians to find the Comedians that most inspired current comedians to get into the business. Top 10 Comedians of UK Comedians 1 Peter Cook
2 John Cleese
3 Woody Allen
4 Eric Morecambe
5 Groucho Marx
6 Tommy Cooper
7 Lauerl and Hardy
8 Bill Connolly
9 Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer
10 Richard Prvor
49 Appendix 3 Ali G Dictionary
A Aight Alright Alo Hello Asian Agent
B Babylons Breasts Batty bottom Batty boyz Gays Batty Milk Asses milk Bangin talking Beast punishment muscle Bedebynow Greeting Bell End the tip of male genetalia derogatory name for a man Big Up Well done/cheers bitch women BLT weapons of mass destruction Boka The sound it makes when you kill someone, and the title of Ali's new film. Boyakasha! er boyakasha!? Boh Greeting Bone have sexual intercourse Bruvers coloured people Brick Poo (i.e. lay a brick)
C Cheeky little lady A woman who looks like theyve just been boned Chikun Chicken Crew small gang Cunt Nasty word for female Genitalia Chocolate orange Clockwork Orange Chill relax Check dis Look at this
D Dong Penis (also see 'Bell end' and 'Beast')
E East Staines Massive Arch enemey of Ali's massive Easy now Relax Electricolocuted Electrocuted Exit hole Arse hole
F Fit Attractive
50 Flange female genetalia Feminism lesbianism for real Really Flour Da smallest fing in the universe
G Gaelic a man who sleeps with another man and lick (you know what dat is) Geezer guy
H Haccessible available to the opposite sex Happarently Apparently Hash erbal remedy hang relax Hear me now Listen to me Hactually Actually Homopathic Homosexual Homosexuals Homosapeans
I I is ere I am here Innit Isnt it Increase da Peace Stop bruvers killin bruvers
J Julie Ali's Woman Jesus Jacky Chan Jiggy have sexual intercourse Jizz Spunk K Killion biggest number in the world
L Let it rip take it away
M Massive large gang Main man/woman friend Menstral Angry Me Boyz my mates Minigin Ugly Minger Nice personality but as a face like a rotweiller's asre Morons Mormons Minge female genitalia Mr biggy Male Genetalia Muff female genitailia Muslims Protestants
51 N Natterin talking Nobbin Having sexual intercourse
O Orange Juice Spunk
P peeps people Punani Female Genitalia
Q
R Rank Nasty Ruk Fight Ramadamadingdong Ramadam Racalist Discriminatoin Recognize Greeting RAC RUC Respect compliment
S Sensemleia erbal remedy Skunk erbal remady Splif erbal remedy Shout out congratulate
T Trisexual someone who will try anything sexual Ting things Terrerorism Terrorism Toker Someone who smokes da ganga Turf Land owned by gang
V Vet veteren/vetenary Vagina orrible word
W Wales The fish with the biggest dick in ocean Warrior Male Genetalia Westside west part of Staines West Staines Massive Ali's massive Wicked Expression of approval or excitement
52 Bruno Dictionary
A Ach ja oh yes Arsch Arse Aufstehen Erection
B Being fabulous – being gay/happy
G Gesprtizen to jizz
I Ish dont fink so – no way
J Jetzt bin ich hier mit Now I'm here with
N Nicht nicht – no no (not good) No Verds No words
P poopanshaft ass hole
S Schitzenpoof Anus Schwanzenstücker Penis Spritzen Ejaculate Stinker Anus
V Vassup What's up (also used to say somone is in fassion
W Walk on the Brown Side Homosexual experience
53 Borat Dictionary
B Barbara eat Bush = hair around testicles
C Chram Testicles. D Dzenkuje Thank you Dirt poo (i.e. doing a dirt ) Democratic Party: The political party of the homosexual in the US and A
F Football Kazakh uclear retardation disease which causes feet to grow out of testicles
G Gentleman and prostitutes Ladies and gentleman H Happy time have fun Hand Relief Masturbation
I I like I like International Singing Prostitutes Pussycat Dolls J Jagshemash (Polish: Jak siê masz) How are you Jessica Simpsons Jessica Simpson K Katzouli Strange animal
L Liquid explosion Ejaculation Locust Lead character (police detective) in a popular crime drama on Kazakhstan Television Lord of Hazzard Dukes of Hazzard
R Romance inside a lady Sex S Scrotum testicles Shakira female genitalia Shurik A game which you shoot dogs in a field with dogs Shithole Toilet Sexy time explosion sex Spermatazoa Sperm
54 T Tishi Hush! (e.g. when Borat cow made a noise, he shouted ' tishi' at it) U Uzbekistani Enemies of Kazakhstan
V Vigakitzov Even stranger animal W wawaweewa oh my god!
55 Appendix 4 British Comedies through the Century 1970s Dad’s Army The Last of the Summer Wine Are You Being Served? Rising Damp Fawlty Towers The Good Life Open All Hours The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Bless Me, Father Butterflies Shelley To the Manor Born 1980s Hi De Hi Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister Only Fools and Horses The Bounder The Young Ones The Black Adder Don’t Wait Up No Place Like Home ‘Allo, ‘Allo! Three Up, Two Down Hot Metal Executive Stress
56 The Two of Us Red Dwarf Colin’s Sandwich May to December 1990s One Foot in the Grave The Piglet Files Waiting for God Keeping up Appearances The Brittas Empire As Time Goes By Side by Side Absolutely Fabulous Chef! The Detectives Goodnight Sweetheart The Vicar of Dibley Nelson’s Column The Thin Blue Line 2000s Da Ali G Show Bruno Borat Brass Eye The IT Crowds The Black Books
57 BIBLOIOGRAPHY Alexander, Richard J. Aspects of Verbal Humour in English . Gunter Narr Verlag 1997 Berman, G. Best of Britcoms . Tailor Publishing Company 1999 Christopher, D. British Culture: An Introduction. Routledge 1998 Critchley, S. On Humour . Routledge 2002 Davies, A. and Sinfield, A. British Culture of the Postwar: An Introduction to Literature and Society. Routledge 1999 Freud, S. Jokes and its relation to the unconscious. Leipzig: Deuticke. Monro, D. H. 1988 Koller, M. Humor and Society: Explorations in the Sociology of Humor. Cap & Gown Press 1988. Kington, M. British Comedy Great. Cassel Illustrated 2003 Lipman, Steve. Laughter in Hell: The Use of Humor During the Holocaust. NJ: Aronson 1991. Marwick, A. British Society since 1945 . Penguin 1996 Miall, A. and Milstead, D. Xenophobe’s Guide to English. Oval Projects Ltd. 1999 Midwinter, E. The development of Social Welfare in Britain . Open University Press 1994 Morreall, J. Humor Works . Human Resource Development Press. 1997 Neale, S. Popular Film and Television Comedy . Routledge 1990 Oakland, J. Contemporary Britain: A Survey with Texts . Routledge 2001 Obelkevich, J. and Catternall, P. Understanding Post War British Society . Routledge 1994 Reichl, S. and Stein, M. Cheeky Fictions: Laughter and the Postcolonial . Editions Rodopy B.V. 2005 Ross, A. The Language of Humour . Routledge 1998 Shibles, Warren A. Emotion in Aesthetics . Springer 1995 INTERNET SOURCES Laughter, 6 March. 2007. 9 March.2007 Wikipedia
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60 Resumé Tato bakalářská práce je věnována analýze britského současného humoru,vedoucí k závěru, že humor sbližuje jednotlivé národy, ač mohou procházet různými historickými událostmi, které jednotlivé národy formují a ovlivňují. Britský a český humor má jisté rozdíly, ale stejně tak v každém nalezneme mnoho společného. Pro studenta anglistiky je humor národa, jehož jazyk studuje nedílnou součástí, která rozšiřuje jeho obzory, slovník i pochopení samotné kultury. Recipročně, nespornou výhodou pochopení cizí kultury je uvědomění si sebe sama. První část bakalářské práce je souhrnem dostupných definicí, nazírající na humor z různých úhlů pohledu. Druhá část se zabývá analýzou dvou současných britských komiků a to Sachy Barona Cohena a Christophera Morrise. Dále je v druhé části práce věnován prostor dílům televizním, filmovým i z radiové produkce obou britských komiků. V poslední třetí části, uvádím svůj osobní pohled na britský humor ve srovnání s českým a jaké výhody přináší studentovi jazyka porozumění kultuře a humoru země, jejíž jazyk studuje. Resume This bachelor thesis is dedicated to the analysis of the contemporary British humour leading to the conclusion that humour converge and bring together individual cultures. Although that each nation carry and undergo various historical events that form and influence single nation. British and Czech humour have certain aspects in common but also vary in some respects. For a language student, understanding humour of the nation who’s language studies is impartial, broadens his sight and also vocabulary and leads to understanding the culture. Reciprocally, undeniable advantage of understanding foreign culture is understand its own culture. The first part of this bachelor thesis is a summary of approachable definitions on humor, looking at humour from different angles. The second part analyses two contemporary British comedians, namely Sacha Baron Cohen and Christopher Morris. Also part of the second part of this thesis is dedicated to their radio, television or film production of both comedians. In the last, third part of my thesis I try to state my own personal opinion on British humour in comparison to the Czech and I try to point out what advantages understanding the humour and culture brings to an English language student.
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