Masaryk University Brno FacultyofEducation Department of English Language and Literature British TV Humour Bachelor thesis Brno 2006 Supervisor: Written by: Andrew Philip Oakland, M.A. Petr Bartoš 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. ................................................ Petr Bartoš Acknowledgements I would like to thank to Andrew Philip Oakland, M.A. I am grateful for his guidance and professional advice on writing the thesis. Contents Introduction…………………………….……….…………….…………………...3 FIRSTPART 1. WhatisHumour?.....................................................................................................5 2. HumourandCulture…………………………….……………………………...… 6 3. WhatamusesBritain?……………………………….…….……….………...……7 4. Comedy……………………………………………………………………………8 4.1 BritishComedy………………………………………………..………………..…9 5. BritishTelevisionComedy.……………………………..……………………...…9 5.1 Sitcom -situationalcomedy…………………………………………………….10 5.1.1Britcom……………………………………………………………….…….……11 SECONDPART 6. What makesBritainlaugh?..……………………………………………..………11 6.1 Madness& Surrealism…………………………………………………………...12 6.1.1MontyPython'sFlyingCircus…………………………………..………….……12 6.2 PoliticalSatire…………………………………………………..…………….….14 6.2.1Yes,Minister……………………………………..………………….…….……..15 6.3 TheRace……………………………………………………….……………..….17 6.3.1DaAliGShow………………………………………………………………..…18 6.4. TheFamily………………………………………………...…………….………20 6.4.1OnlyFoolsandHorses………………………..……………..……... ..................21 THIRDPART 7. It’s MontyPython!.……………………………………………….............….…24 8. ManipulationinPoliticalLife……………………………………… .........…….26 9. “Boyakasha!”........................................................................................................ 27 10. "Thistimenextyear,we'll bemillionaires!"………………………..…........…..30 Conclusion………………………………………………………….................... 33 APPENDICES AppendixA……………………………………………………………….. .................. 35 AppendixB………………………………………………………………..................... 37 AppendixC……………………………………………………………….................... 38 AppendixD……………………………………………………………… . .................. 40 1 Bibliography………………………………………………………………................... 41 Resume…………………………………………………………………… ................... 44 2 INTRODUCTION Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humour to console him for what he is. ~Francis Bacon ~ InBritainduringthe 1950s electronic goods suchas televisions,small radios andrecord players became cheap andwidelyavailable,and by1960most homes contained at least one of these.Cultural material was increasinglycreatedfor mass audience inthe form of television programmes,popular music andfilm.The sale of popular novels,women’s magazines,sensational newspapers andcomics alsoincreasedtomeet demandfor light entertainment.(Christopher 1999:5) This was the time whenBritish sitcom andcomedy showswere born. InBritaincomedyis one of the most popular genres.Slapstick,sitcoms,standup,satire, surrealhumour -theBritishhavealongtraditionoflaughingparticularlyatthemselves. Inthis thesis I studyBritish televisionhumour range from early60’s tothe endof the millennium, particularly twocomedyshows andtwoBritishsituational comedies that arewell-knownas britcoms. From aninexhaustible quantityof highqualityof British comedies andcomedyshows I have decided to take a closer look on one britcom and one comedy show that also appearedon Czechtelevision,namelyYes,Minister andMontyPython’s FlyingCircus andsituational comedyOnlyFools andHorses,andat Da Ali G Show that were very famousinBritainbuthasnot beenscreenedonanyofCzechtelevisionchannels. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part I try to find the answer to the questionwhat a humour is,what amuses Britainanddescribe what a comedyitself is. I alsomentionBritishcomedyanddefinegenresasasitcomandbritcom. Inthe secondpart I analyse the content of all four comedyprograms.The secondpart is dividedinto four chapters according torelevance tothe topics whichare Madness and Surrealism , Political Satire , The Race and The Family . 3 Inthe last part whichis dividedintofour chapters - It’s Monty Python!, Manipulation in Political Life, Boyakasha!, "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!" I conveysome ideas about the humour inthe comedies I have analysedinthe secondpart, theories why theybecame sopopular andreasons whyOnly Fools andHorses and Da Ali G Show hasnotappearedonCzechtelevisionsofar. ThethesisissupplementedwithaCDthatcontainssamplesoftheanalysedprograms. 4 FIRST PART 1. What is Humour? Defining and analyzing humour is a pastime of humourless people. ~Robert Benchley ~ Have youever trytofind what a humour is? Have youever askedanyone todefine or to give an explanation of humour? It is curious that everyone knows it, everyone experiencedit but almostnooneknowshowtodefineit. There are philosophical studies of humour that focus on the development of a satisfactorydefinition of humour.According tothe standard analysis,humour theories were classified into three groups: incongruity, superiority, and relief theories. Incongruity theory is the leading approach and includes historical figures such as Immanuel Kant andSøren Kierkegaard.Theyprimarilyfocus onthe object of humour and see humour as a response to an incongruity, a term broadly used to include ambiguity, logical impossibility, irrelevance, and inappropriateness. The Superiority theorist is Thomas Hobbes, who said that humour arises from a "sudden glory" felt whenwe recognize our supremacyover others.Amongsuperioritytheorists belongalso PlatoandAristotle whoemphasize the aggressive feelings that fuel humour.The third group,Relief theory,is typicallyassociatedwith FreudandHerbert Spencer,whosaw humour as fundamentally a way to release or save energy generated by repression. (www.iep.utm.edu) One of the manydefinitions of humour says that “humour is somethingthat makes a person laugh or smile.” That would mean that whenever we laugh or smile we experience something humorous. Is it really true? Do we really laugh or smile only whenwe are encounteredwithsomethingfunny? Of course not! Smilingandlaughter is not evoked only by humour, laughter can be among many others evoked by fear of embarrassment or bytickling.What is more,we rather laughthantolookstupid,we laughoutof politenessoreventocoverourrestlessness. The other thingis that not everybodylaughs or smiles at the same time,tothe same things.It is possible toclaim that somethingis humorous,eventhoughnoone laughed 5 at the time –andit canoftenhappenthat people laugh,but someone canclaim,“That’s notfunny.”(Ross1998:1) As closer studies of humour revealed humour is based on a complicated multidimensional relationthat arises inthe interplayof the observer, the object that is observed,andthe situation.It arises neither inthe object itself (things themselves are not comical –theybecome soonly throughthe subjective prism of humanreception), nor in the observer himself. The relation between the object and the observer is, moreover,neither constant,nor regular –not all people consider the same thins tobe funny.Not eventhe same observer needconsider the same object funnyunder different circumstances.A veryimportant role is playedbythe momentarysituation.” (Poláčková 1990:80) Even though there are many studies and theoretical works trying to define humour, there has not actuallybeenfounda reasonable answer tothe questionwhat humour is. We still donot know.“What we knownabout humour todayis not enoughtoform a relativelycomprehensive theory,it is rather a mosaic of observations and partial views ofselectedproblemsfromvariousaspects.” (Poláčková1990:80) As humour is a part of any nation’s culture the next chapter deals with humour and cultureandfeaturesofBritishhumour. 2. Humour and Culture Culture canbe definedinmanydifferent ways .One of the manydefinitions is: “Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings,hierarchies,religion,notions of time,roles,spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the courseofgenerationsthroughindividualandgroupstriving.” (www.tamu.edu) Humour is a universal humancharacteristic whichall cultures posses.The humour of a nationor individual is anintegral part of that personor nation's culture.Totrytodefine the “humour” of a nationis impossible task,as different people withinthat nationare always going to have their own individual sense of humour. Yet understanding the sense of humour of people is a keyelement of understandingthe culture andlanguage 6 andperhaps evenmore importantlyof developingrelationships with people from that country. The more we know,the more we canshare withanother culture the closer we canget toeachother.(www.teachingenglish.org.uk) Tounderstandthe Britishsense of humour takes time.Once youunderstandit you will love it or hate it, there is nothing in between. British humour is notable due to its intellectual depth,usageofBritishslang,wit,sarcasmand'playsonwords'. British humour canseem offensive or insulting until you get usedtoit andaspects,such as slangterms or Englishpersonal references have a reputationfor beingpuzzling to nonBritishspeakers of English.Nonetheless,manyBritishcomedy TV shows which use it as a basis have beeninternationallypopular,andhave beena