--- ---  # The Difference Between American and British Humour ## Video: 10 Questions for Ricky Gervais [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Ricky Gervais](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xUbIPBDl.m3u8) (9:55)  _Published 2007-12-05. Watch comedian and executive producer of The Office Ricky Gervais talk about Steve Carell, Gary Shandling and Richard Lewis_  by [Ricky Gervais](https://time.com/author/ricky-gervais/)  ## Ricky Gervais Nov 9, 2011 2:34 PM UTC  Left; NBC: Everett  by [Ricky Gervais](https://time.com/author/ricky-gervais/)  ## Ricky Gervais Nov 9, 2011 2:34 PM UTC It’s often dangerous to generalize, but under threat, I would say that Americans are more “down the line.” They don’t hide their hopes and fears. They applaud ambition and openly reward success. Brits are more comfortable with life’s losers. We embrace the underdog until it’s no longer the underdog. We like to bring authority down a peg or two. Just for the hell of it. Americans say, “have a nice day” whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it’s because we don’t want to sound insincere but I think it might be for the opposite reason. We don’t want to celebrate anything too soon. Failure and disappointment lurk around every corner. This is due to our upbringing. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. Brits are told, “It won’t happen for you.” There’s a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don’t get irony. This is of course not true. But what is true is that they don’t use it all the time. It shows up in the smarter comedies but Americans don’t use it as much socially as Brits. We use it as liberally as prepositions in every day speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out. This can sometimes be perceived as nasty if the recipients aren’t used to it. It isn’t. It’s play fighting. It’s almost a sign of affection if we like you, and ego bursting if we don’t. You just have to know which one it is. I guess the biggest difference between the U.S. version and the U.K. version of _The Office_ reflected this. We had to make Michael Scott a slightly nicer guy, with a rosier outlook to life. He could still be childish, and insecure, and even a bore, but he couldn’t be too mean. The irony is of course that I think David Brent’s dark descension and eventual redemption made him all the more compelling. But I think that’s a lot more palatable in Britain for the reasons already stated. Brits almost expect doom and gloom so to start off that way but then have a happy ending is an unexpected joy. Network America has to give people a reason to like you not just a reason to watch you. In Britain we stop watching things like _Big Brother_ when the villain is evicted. We don’t want to watch a bunch of idiots having a good time. We want them to be as miserable as us. America rewards up front, on-your-sleeve niceness. A perceived wicked streak is somewhat frowned upon. Recently I have been accused of being a shock comic, and cruel and cynical. This is of course almost solely due to a few comments I made as host of last year’s Golden Globes. But nothing could be further from the truth. I never actively try to offend. That’s churlish, pointless and frankly too easy. But I believe you should say what you mean. Be honest. No one should ever be offended by truth. That way you’ll never have to apologize. I hate it when a comedian says, “Sorry for what I said.” You shouldn’t say it if you didn’t mean it and you should never regret anything you meant to do. As a comedian, I think my job isn’t just to make people laugh but also make them think. As a famous comedian, I also want a strict door policy on my club. Not everyone will like what I say or find it funny. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are enough comedians who try to please everyone as it is. Good luck to them, but that’s not my game, I’m afraid. I’m not one of those people who think that comedy is your conscience taking a day off. My conscience never takes a day off and I can justify everything I do. There’s no line to be drawn in comedy in the sense that there are things you should never joke about. There’s nothing that you should never joke about, but it depends what that joke is. Comedy comes from a good or a bad place. The subject of a joke isn’t necessarily the target of the joke. You can make jokes about race without any race being the butt of the joke. Racism itself can be the butt, for example. When dealing with a so-called taboo subject, the angst and discomfort of the audience is what’s under the microscope. Our own preconceptions and prejudices are often what are being challenged. I don’t like racist jokes. Not because they are offensive. I don’t like them because they’re not funny. And they’re not funny because they’re not true. They are almost always based on a falsehood somewhere along the way, which ruins the gag for me. Comedy is an intellectual pursuit. Not a platform. As for cynicism, I don’t care for it much. I’m a romantic. From _The Office_, and _Extras_ to _The Invention Of Lying_ and _Cemetery Junction_, goodness and sweetness, honour and truth, love and friendship always triumph. For me, humanity is king. Oh and for the record I’d rather a waiter say, “Have a nice day” and not mean it, than ignore me and mean it. _Read next:_ [_10 Rules You Need to Know to Communicate Effectively_](http://time.com/3640695/10-communication-rules/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ### See the Best Impressions on Saturday Night Live  Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child in 1978. Edie Baskin—Warner Bros./Archive Photos/Getty Images  Dan Aykroyd as President Richard Nixon in 1978. Fred Hermansky—NBC/Getty Images  Dana Carvey as Ross Perot in 1993. Raymond Bonar—NBC/Getty Images  Norm MacDonald as David Letterman in 1997. Mary Ellen Matthews—NBC/Getty Images  From left: Molly Shannon as Monica Lewinsky and John Goodman as Linda Tripp in 1998. Mary Ellen Matthews—NBC/Getty Images  From left: Jimmy Fallon as Michael Stipe and Ana Gasteyer as Celine Dion in 1998. Mary Ellen Matthews—NBC/Getty Images  Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery in 2000. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek in 2002. Mary Ellen Matthews—NBC/Getty Images  Maya Rudolph as Donatella Versace Mary Ellen Matthews—NBC/Getty Images  Alec Baldwin as Tony Bennett in 2005. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  From left: Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton and Will Ferrell as Janet Reno in 2007. NBC/Getty Images  Will Farrell as President George W. Bush in 2008. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  From left: Tina Fey as Governor Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Senator Hillary Clinton in 2008. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  Kristen Wiig as Liza Minnelli in 2012. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  Kenan Thompson as Rev. Al Sharpton on Oct. 25, 2014. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  Kevin Hart as James Brown on Jan. 17, 2015. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images  Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber on Jan. 17, 2015. Dana Edelson—NBC/Getty Images [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) Ricky Gervais: The Difference Between American and British Humour ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3720218/difference-between-american-british-humour/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3720218/difference-between-american-british-humour/"},"headline":"The Difference Between American and British Humour","datePublished":"2011-11-09T14:34:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:26.204Z","description":"Apart from the spelling of the word, obviously","url":"https://time.com/3720218/difference-between-american-british-humour/","keywords":["Humor","society","golden globes","Ricky Gervais"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt597fecb915fb1122/698780b335ba6fff5dc073cd/auntitled-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ricky Gervais","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ricky-gervais/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt597fecb915fb1122/698780b335ba6fff5dc073cd/auntitled-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"auntitled-1","caption":"","creditText":"Left; NBC: Everett","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/humor/","name":"Humor"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3720218/difference-between-american-british-humour/","name":"The Difference Between American and British Humour"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Questions for Ricky Gervais About the TIME 100","description":"In 2010, RIcky Gervais was listed on the TIME 100 most influential people in the world. 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