I am French and I have seen several videos of French people saying that humor in the US is really different from humor in France.
For example, they explained that American humor was more in the "action" that is to do an action that will make people laugh, he gave for example, the example of a person who had brought a goat in school.
While the French humor is more in the sarcasm, in the "clash" in the irony. To make jokes on the physique, on the family etc it is a lot of black humor, for example a friend said to me after I went to the hairdresser "Shit, your the same haircut as my dog" and they explained that in the USA it is not necessary to make this kind of humor because the Americans will find that offensive.
Yes, it is true. Amercian humor is not aim at the person or their family in a personal way and sarcasm is often misunderstood as mean or passive aggressive.
This why most Americans find French people rude and insulting. There is no irony in comparing me as individual to a dog.
To say my hair cut looks like your dog, is ironic only if it obviously apparent to the person that in reality they actually in fact look really good and you like the haircut. The irony being nobody wants to look like a dog, so obviously it's supposed to be funny.
But then again, if you think someone looks good, why not just tell them that they look really good. Don't you think that would have the same if not better effect of making someone feel good about themselves?
Because if they do not get the joke, then you literally based upon your own words told the person they look like a dog. Of course, that would not be funny at all, and if you didn't think they looked like a dog, then why not just give them a genuine compliment?
Thank you very much for the feedback, I am interested in these cultural differences and I can better understand why the Americans find the French "rough".
I lived in Germany for 4 years, and Italy for 8 as an American. I will be very honest with you, I love it, but French people were like the least funny people in the world to me.
I will admit, in general I really cannot relate to them as easily as I did the Germans and Italians.
We have a wide variety of humor. It changes over time also. Like an example of what you call "action" humor might be "slapstick", which is not nearly as popular as it used to be.
Some people mentioned that we don't use sarcasm. Apparently they just don't understand it. We use a HUGE amount of sarcasm.
We use a lot of over-exaggeration. We take simple things and blow them up to the point of absurdity.
We make use of the language. English has a lot of homophones that they are heavily used in humor. The surprise punchline often makes use of this. You talk about one thing, but are really talking about a different thing.
The homophones also allow for double entendres, which are often sued in humor.
Humor tends to be different with different classes, education level and occupation. I worked in engineering for many years and engineers tend to have their own type of humor. I can't describe it, but it's different than most other people's humor, and I think a lot of people wouldn't even understand it.
A lot of Americans like British humor, but not necessarily all of it. We get a large amount of BBC sitcoms and movies. For example I was recently talking to someone about the show 'Allo 'Allo, which a lot of Americans liked. Everyone has their own thing. Like some people loved Benny Hill, others (like me) hate it. I'm more of a Monty Python type. I was a huge fan of it back in the 70s.
Something that's not as common any more is a comedy team with a straight man. The straight man is "deadpan", meaning they keep a poker face showing no emotion at all. Their job is to set up the joke, while the other person does all the humor. Here's an example:
Yes, I agree. Americans in general just do not understand humour the way others in other parts of the world do, and I've experienced this phenomenon right here on GAG when I would joke about something and the Yanks here would think I was being serious when I was, in fact, being sarcastic for example. They do not understand sarcasm, at all, and their sitcoms are totally not funny (ex. 'The Big Bang Theory' - they need to add a laugh track, 'The Office').
In my part of the world (i. e. New Zealand, Australia), we joke all the time, don't take life at all seriously most of the time, and have a light-hearted approach to most things, in sharp contrast to Americans who are always SO formal ("Yes maam, no sir" - ugh, give it a rest!) and serious all the time. They really do need to lighten up I think.
I don't think there's any such thing as a distinctive American sense of humor. There are so many variations of humor (and comedians) that makes calling anything distinctly American pretty tough. There's a lot of Southern regional humor that probably doesn't register with anyone but Southerners. But most humor is poking fun at the things we do and everyday life. Our senses of humor are probably acquired tastes for most non-Americans, just like some British humor strikes us as totally unfunny.
I don’t really find most things humorous to be honest unless it is a sort of spoof of something I already know.
I do find that the French YouTubers who use subtitles sometimes try to be funny in a way that I find dry so that could be from the cultural differences.
But I’m sure French people think Americans are loud and obnoxious (which lot of us are.)
I have almost never had a bad interaction with French people, unless they are so nationalistic that they don’t want to see English in their comment section.
I'm American and I think that's funny. I also don't generally find physical humor funny and I'm not a snowflake that gets offended by everything. We have a lot of comedians that feel the same way. I think our comedy is less monolithic
The US is pretty big, almost as much population as all of Europe and almost as many sub-cultures. We have a common language but there are big cultural differences. So I don't think its easy to define "American humor".
Humor depends on the crowd. Different comics focus on various audience types and shape their humor for the audience. Humor today has become politicized. Offensive stuff now ruins careers or ends up as a complaint in HR the next day.
Humor has still become politicized and people are offended at everything. Make sure your audience has similar humor before any joke. The country is big, what works here doesn't work there. Target audience analysis is always necessary
That dog joke may be insulting, if it's taken that way but, most people would laugh at it. Sounds to me like the French would love Don Rickles! But, I hear they love Jerry Lewis.
I think it's both to be honest. Stand up comedy is almost exclusively verbal, but movies, TV shows and prank shows are more action based or mixed. But I thought Les Visiteurs was very action based
So I don't understand, you mean you want me to stop talking about France? Well I understand that it can annoy you but you can just block me and you won't see my questions anymore
Girl's Behavior 
Guy's Behavior 
Flirting 
Dating 
Relationships 
Fashion & Beauty 
Health & Fitness 
Marriage & Weddings 
Shopping & Gifts 
Technology & Internet 
Break Up & Divorce 
Education & Career 
Entertainment & Arts 
Family & Friends 
Food & Beverage 
Hobbies & Leisure 
Other 
Religion & Spirituality 
Society & Politics 
Sports 
Travel 
Trending & News 
