The USA and the UK enjoy a special relationship, but the two nations differ wildly, especially when it comes to comedy. American comedy tends to be more on the nose, whereas British humor is more subtle and sillier.
So join us as we explore some differences between the two nations and their sense of humor via memes. There’ll be some stereotypes along the way, but as the Brits say, don’t get your knickers in a twist!
USA vs. UK
Before we discover the differences between American and British comedy, it may be helpful to look at the differences between the two countries. The USA is a vast, wild, continent-sized nation filled with dangerous animals that will take your arm off for fun — mountain lions, grizzly bears, coyotes, alligators, rattlesnakes, and giant eagles.
The tiny United Kingdom’s most dangerous animal is the pigeon. A disease-carrying, statue-pooping flying rat. The next most dangerous British animal is the seagull, which will steal your fish n’ chips as you walk along the pier.
You Wot, Mate?
England isn’t really a green, leafy paradise. Many of her urban areas are lifeless, soulless wastelands. The same goes for English guys. In Hollywood movies, they look like James Bond, drive elegant cars, and wear the finest Savile Row suits. But in reality, only 0.01% of British men are like that. The rest look like this:
The average English male can be found chomping on pies in the pub, punching police horses, or singing obscene songs at football (soccer) matches.
Tough Cheese
Earlier, we mentioned how big the USA is. If Texas were a country, you could fit the United Kingdom inside it almost three times over. As such, Brits and most Europeans view a five-hour drive as a long schlep, probably ending up in another country.
But in America, a five-hour drive is nothing. Some Americans in Wisconsin and Montana drive to Canada just to get quality cheese. That’s one thing the Brits can do that Americans can’t… Cheese. Cheddar is meant to be creamy white, not bright orange!
The Wild, Wild West
Without stereotyping too much, Yanks are louder than Limeys. This is because the USA is huge, so neighbors needed to shout louder. As macho frontiersmen pushed west, they became grizzled outlaws. The Wild West featured cowboys who’d take you out just for talking to their horse. Rugged cowboys needed equally tough sheriffs and lawmen to take them down.
Fast-forward 150 years, and American police drive armored SWAT tanks, whereas British bobbies can often be found chasing criminals on bicycles like it’s the 1950s.
Swan Lake
Swans don’t just cause havoc for rural police officers in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz; they do it in London, too! Brits pride themselves on keeping calm and carrying on, but, in reality, they panic at anything out of the ordinary. However, they also laugh at themselves for doing so.
When a swan was spotted on a London bridge, the police brought out their riot shields… to scoop the bird up. Luckily, after calling the army, the swan was detonated in a controlled explosion. Not really… no swans were harmed.
Level 5 Goose Warning
Here’s another example of London being shut down by a wild bird. London Underground staff’s signs are famous for making commuters laugh, so when a goose invaded the platform of this metro station, they created this hilarious sign.
While our American cousins would probably have turned the event into an ad hoc duck hunt, the more reserved, slightly awkward, bumbling Brits do what they do best — avoid the situation by not making eye contact with the goose and hoping the problem goes away!
The British Museum
Now, the Brits have a reputation for invading and colonizing half the world’s countries (including the USA), taxing their subjects, and pillaging all their natural resources while leaving behind a few railways. Victorian explorers grabbed anything and everything that looked remotely valuable and brought it back to the British Museum, which is mostly full of Greek and Egyptian collectibles.
These two guys are showing how the British Museum pilfers foreign countries by trying to smuggle Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa into their backpack.
Special Relationship
Ever since that whole tipping tea into Boston Harbor affair and that little spat in 1776, the British and Americans have enjoyed a good-natured tit-for-tat, love/hate back-and-forth banter-fueled conversation about history. For instance, when Americans say they won World War II, Brits will remind them that they showed up halfway through the war, three years late.
So every time a combative American mentions the British Empire looting foreign countries, Brits point out that they did precisely the same thing to Native Americans.
The British Empire
On a similar theme, Americans will point out that Britain has invaded and plundered 171 out of 195 or 87.69% of countries. During Queen Victoria’s reign, the British Empire covered one-quarter of the world’s land surface and governed around one-fifth of its population.
That means the few they haven’t yet invaded are still on their to-do list! In response, Limeys will remind Yanks that since 1776, America has been at war over 90% of the time!
Jurassic Park
The Brits tend to take themselves slightly less seriously and, therefore, are generally better at laughing at themselves, especially when things go wrong. Recently, people paid £35 ($44) a ticket to attend an overpriced, disastrously planned Willie Wonka event in Glasgow, Scotland.
The owners promised a magical chocolate factory, but they ripped off the public with a bare, barren, gray warehouse and a couple of unimpressed, depressed Oompah Loompahs. Several cheeky Brits took to social media to poke fun at the event, including this homemade Jurassic Park.
Choo Choo!
Here’s another example of the Brits taking themselves less seriously. The driver of this rail replacement bus changed the sign to reveal that his bus thinks it’s a choo-choo train. Of course, an American bus driver might have done the same thing, but this kind of silliness is more likely across the pond.
The Brits don’t mind showing off their childishness if they get a laugh, and this Fat Controller jumped at the chance to be a kid again by driving Thomas the Tank Engine for a little while.
British Weather
With America’s vast, diverse topography comes huge meteorological differences. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave often gets battered by desert heat, hurricanes, and snow blizzards.
But when a light drizzle falls on England’s Green and Pleasant Land during their eight-month winter, the Brits love to complain about the climate every chance they get. In a recent poll, 95% of British conversations were about the weather. The other 3% was about tea, and the remaining 2% was about cricket.
Scottish Snow Plows
Towns in the American Midwest’s Tornado Alley are regularly devastated by half-mile-wide Force 5 Hurricanes. Conversely, when two inches of snow falls in England, the whole country grinds to a halt. Snow plows grit and salt motorways while rail networks close, schools shut, and people take three weeks off work.
North of the border in Scotland, where they get more snow, they’ve given their fleet of snow plows (spelled snow ploughs) some hilarious winter-themes names. Other favorites include Hello Gritty, The Great Grittish Flake-Off, Sled Zeppelin, and Sweet Child O’Brine.
Should Have Gone to Specsavers
Here’s yet another example of Brits laughing at their incompetence. In the UK, there’s a chain of optometrists/opticians called Specsavers. Their famous advertising campaign features short-sighted people getting things wrong, leading to their slogan, “Should have gone to Specsavers.”
However, one myopic driver took their slogan too literally and drove into the store. Spotting the supreme irony, a quick-thinking photographer snapped a photo. Here’s a joke you can borrow. Just change the name to your local optometrist. “Guess who we bumped into in Specsavers yesterday?” When your friend asks, “Who?” Tell them, “Everyone!”
British Food
In addition to drinking tea and talking about the weather, Americans love to bust Brit’s balls for having bad teeth and bad food. This meme couples bad British food with their love of looting half the world for spices. Every Englishman, you see, loves his steak and kidney pie with mashed potatoes.
But even he’d have to admit it’s ironic that Britain looted half the world’s spices only to create meat pies with gravy, fish n’ chips, and bangers and mash as its staple diet.
Old World vs. New World
In response to their nation being called small, the Brits will probably point out that most of America looks like a giant parking lot. In fact, they’d call it a giant car park. America is a new country compared to Britain and, therefore, doesn’t have thousand-year-old Gothic cathedrals and 2000-year-old walled cities like London.
As such, much of the USA’s interior looks like this. We must point out that not every British rural town is this picturesque. Just half of them!
Pomp and Circumstance
The British Isles have much more pomp and circumstance than the USA, like Kings, Queens, Royal Weddings, and Morris dancers. Town criers ring bells and shout the news in towns that haven’t yet invented reading, electricity, radios, televisions, or the internet… places like Wales and Scotland.
This social media user poked fun at King Charles III during his recent 2023 coronation. They pointed out that most Brits have crowns and scepters lying about in their garage or garden shed… which their ancestors stole from abroad.
Brits vs. Ants
This Venn diagram brilliantly sums up the similarities between Brits and ants. Our English chums do indeed have a weird loyalty to their King or Queen, form lines (queues in British English), take things that don’t belong to them, and like crumbly pastries.
Yet there are two reasons you can tell an American has created this meme. First, Brits don’t take things back to their colonies — they take things from them. Secondly, no Brit would ever say beans and toast… it’s beans on toast!
The Glottal T
Another considerable difference between the UK and The USA is language. The language has changed hugely over the 250 years since the Founding Fathers broke ties with King George III. This meme from an American is deliciously subtle, and even we had to think about it for a moment or two.
It shows Bri’ish keyboards without the letter ‘T’ because Londoners don’t use the letter ‘T.’ They pronounce the word ‘butter’ as bu’er. It’s called the Glottal Stop. Whereas Americans use the Dental T, saying ‘budder.’
I Gained 100 Pounds
In America, bigger is better. But if a Brit gains a hundred pounds, that means they’re $125 better off. However, if an American gains 100 pounds, it means they’ve probably been gorging on French fries (chips), cookies (biscuits), and potato chips (crisps) in their pants (trousers) while watching soccer (football) in their apartment (flat).
They probably haven’t even walked along the sidewalk (pavement) across Main Street (High Street) to take out the trash (rubbish).
US vs. UK Accent
The accent has also changed massively over the last few hundred years. The American accent is a wonderful mix, most notably Irish. But did you know that some American accents can be traced directly back to the English towns immigrants came from? Boston’s famous non-rhotic (or “r-dropping”) and elongated ‘Ah’s’ like in Fenway Paaahk, come from Naahwrich in Norfolk and Baahston (Boston) in Lincolnshire.
The American Deep South accent comes from immigrants from ships sailing from England’s South West — like Bristol, Devon, and Cornwall — where farmers still speak with a slow, rural drawl.
Brash and Bold
Here’s a great example of British-American banter. This dude showed up at his friend’s British-themed party dressed as a Bald Eagle, wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, squawking loudly, and dumping tea in the bath. American humor tends to be more brash and obvious, and this party prank is about as loud, in-your-face, and unimaginative as you can get.
While the Brits at this party would have politely chuckled, the joke would certainly have worn off after between five to nine seconds.
British Looking Cat
This post from an American social media user correctly points out that this cat looks British. As Chandler Bing might say, “Could this cat be any more British?” Well, the only way would be if it wore a pinstripe suit and carried an umbrella in one hand and a briefcase in the other.
Of course, that’s a stereotype carried over from yesteryear. Today’s Brits are more likely to be found wearing sweatpants (or tracksuit trousers, or Tracky-B’s), stealing glue, and sniffing cars.
We Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
Life is tough for young workers in the UK and the USA. While our grandparents bought their first house from a farmer in exchange for three magic beans, rent in London and New York now takes up 98.74% of kids’ monthly wages.
This social media user points out that since leaving the European Union, butter has become more expensive than gold in the British Isles. Believe it or not, many UK supermarkets electronically tag tubs of butter so shoplifters can’t steal it. We can’t believe it’s not better!
Pancake Day
On top of the differing language, topography, weather, culture, and humor, Brits celebrate different holidays. They don’t have Thanksgiving and don’t take Halloween, sorry… Hallowe’en, as seriously. The day after Christmas is called “Boxing Day,” presumably when arguing relatives get to don boxing gloves and box each other’s ears in.
Brits also tend to only eat pancakes on one day of the year — Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins. This post demonstrates how they presumably celebrate Pancake Day!
Don’t Take the Piss
While the Brits definitely complain more than Americans, this makes them excellent critics and grammar police. They can spot the slightest mistake at a thousand yards, sorry… meters — and they always, always let you know. Like this welcome mat spotted at a local B&Q or Homebase, the UK’s equivalent of Home Depot, pronounced ‘depp-oh,’ not ‘deep-oh.’
The doormat is meant to say, “Hope you brought wine,” but looks more like it says, “Hope you brought urine!” Is this what the Brits mean when they say taking the piss?
Power Outlets
We’ve already mentioned the many geographical and cultural differences between the USA and the UK. Staying on household topics, the two nations’ power outlet supplies differ hugely. The UK uses huge, bulky plugs, so their sockets can power whole towns.
So, when you compare UK power outlets to American ones, the results are… baffling. But don’t tell your American power outlets that British electricity sockets are bigger and better, as they will look this level of shocked.
US Walls
Staying with household stores and construction, while Americans are generally more robust than their British cousins, their houses are not. Punch a wall in an American home, and your fist goes right through, as US houses are made of wood and cardboard. But try punching a wall in the UK or anywhere in Europe, and your hand will undoubtedly come off worse.
That’s because the brick wall was probably built by the Romans 2,000 years ago and has survived dozens of invasions and two World Wars!
Rats
On the whole, the gentle banter — or bantz, as the British call it — between Brits and Yanks is wholesome, respectable, and well-appreciated. Other times, it turns plain nasty.
When this social media user saw a headline on The Mirror website suggesting that rats make ‘sociable, intelligent, and friendly’ pets, they said they hoped the rats could pass these traits onto the British people! That said, we’re presuming the poster is American… although they could come from any other country!
US vs. UK Stand-Up Comedy
When it comes to stand-up comedy, American comedians like Bill Burr tend to cut to the chase, shout a lot, and let you know when the punchline arrives. White British comedians like Stewart Lee love to sit back and let the audience slowly work out a joke. American TV even invented canned laughter so the audience knows when to laugh!
Both countries love a stand-up roast, but British stand-up comedy can be caustic and brutal. Here’s controversial Scottish comic Frankie Boyle telling it like it is about America.
US vs. US Sitcoms
Another huge difference between British and American comedy is likeability and delusion. Friends’ Chandler Bing was the funniest guy in the room — while Ricky Gervais’ The Office UK character, David Brent, thinks he’s the funniest guy in the room. The Office USA’s Michael Scott is somewhat likable… but David Brent is a deluded, inept loser with no redeeming qualities.
This trend goes back through British comedy for decades. Take John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty, who thinks he’s the world’s best hotel manager when he is, in fact, the worst. He could be the best hotel manager… if it weren’t for all those pesky guests!
