Last week, an anonymous PopWatcher ripped me for fetishizing British culture. And yeah, I’ll cop to it. I’m the anglophile version of that Rastafarian-worshipper Andy Samberg parodies on SNL. I brew my tea in a brown betty. I drop words like “tat” and “crikey” into everyday conversation. Yet, I’m not head-over-heals for everything across the pond. Colin Firth’s long in the tooth. I can’t get hip to Graham Norton, and bangers-and-mash isn’t my bag. But that doesn’t mean I don’t try: In the next few days, I’ll be giving a chance to two British things I just can’t understand: Royal-worship and Ricky Gervais as a stand-up.
Don’t get me wrong, I recommend PBS’s new Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work docuseries, which begins airing Wednesday (check your local listings for the time). Did you know the Queen hosts an average 50,000 party guests at Buckingham Palace per year? That she’s a patron of 620 charities and organizations? Want to learn more (and see her decked out in several different hats)? Then watch this really well made (and I make fun, but really interesting) show. I’ll just never be obsessed with Liz, Harry, and Co.
Later, on Saturday, HBO airs Ricky Gervais’ first American stand-up special, Ricky Gervais — Out of England at 9 p.m. Now, I love Gervais. He’s a phenomenal actor. But I don’t buy him as a stand-up. One, he seems uncomfortable. Two, after seeing him live twice and buying two of his previous concerts on DVD, I’m floored (in a bad way) about how often he repeats the same material. And if a gag hasn’t shown up in an old routine, it’s straight off his Xfm radio show. To steal his own phrase, it’s Ricky-diculous — which I can’t help but find disappointing. (Though he’s still one of my favorite guys, and if you’ve never seen/heard this stuff before, it’s still pretty gosh darn hilarious. So, in short, watch that too.)
But first, tell me what British stuff do you just not get? Monty Python’s Flying Circus? As Time Goes By? Coupling? Oasis or the Beatles? What can you just not latch on to?
The weekly Bits and Bobs calendar, after the jump.
addCredit(“Gervais: David Eustace/HBO; Queen Elizabeth II: Cathal McNaughton/AFP/Getty Images “)
Monday (Nov. 10): Jamie Oliver talks to Letterman at 11:30 p.m on CBS.
Tuesday: Cast members of Broadway’s Billy Elliot visit ABC’s The View. George Gently, Series 1 (featuring Richard Armitage’s episode) drops on DVD, along with the Jamie Bell-starrer, Mister Foe. (P.S. and there’s a new Enya CD. Shhhhhh!)
Wednesday: Daniel Craig guests on Regis and Kelly (check local listings), Dido hits Ellen (ditto), and BBC persona non grata Russell Brand chats with Letterman (CBS, 11:30).
Thursday: Pick up Warning at One, the new Lois Meade Mystery by Anne Purser.
Friday: The new Bond is out.
Saturday: BBC Radio 6’s Live at Two airs the Cure’s 1997 show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Sunday: Julie Walters stars as an uptight teacher battling the Swinging 60s in Filth on PBS’ Masterpiece Contemporary at 9 p.m.
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Oh where do I start? Defs don’t get the love affair with the royals, Oasis, warm beer, Coldplay (actually that’s an American affectation – the Brits are growing sick of ‘em, finally!), haggis and basically any local ‘cuisine’ that requires mushy peas.
Stuff like Monty Python, Doctor Who, Premiership football (soccer), Merchant & Ivory dramas and silly humour from Ricky Gervais, Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross I have come to love and appreciate because they’re so unashamedly British and loony in their charm.
But Aubry – wherefore the Colin Firth apathy? Please tell me you were joking.
Most British humor delights me, but I tried but could not stand “Little Britain”. Blergh. And was anyone else bored to tears with “The Last Enemy” on Masterpiece last month?
My sci-fi tolerance is limited in general. I’ve tried but just can’t latch on to Dr. Who, Torchwood or Primeval.
Babs, I agree. I stuck through all five episodes of The Last Enemy hoping it would pick up. It was disappointing. Matthew Goode was the best part.
Please tell me the Colin Firth thing was a joke, cause seriously. No knocking my favorite Brit besides Hugh Laurie!
I still don’t get Monty Python. I’ve tried. Several times. I just don’t get it. I’m still working on Doctor Who as well. My sister loves it and she and I usually agree on things like that, so maybe I’ll come around.
I love most everything British… just ask my cousins who live in Liverpool and London. I talk with them constantly about Brit pop culture and how it totally blows American stuff out of the water.
But, I haven’t been able to latch on to Little Britain more than a little bit. The first episode I watched was mildly funny, and it just went downhill after that. It just seemed like the same bad jokes and characterizations over and over again.
I’m also mildly surprised that I don’t love Doctor Who as much as Torchwood. Usually, I can’t stand spinoffs, but Torchwood is AWESOME! I like Doctor Who, but I don’t get all the fuss over it, especially all the “WHO will be the next DOCTOR?” stuff.
Well, my boyfriend is a Brit so he’s exposed me to pretty much all the culture has to offer, both good and bad. I do enjoy Dr. Who but it’s not can’t miss TV for me, same applies to the original Life on Mars. I also love Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” but I never saw the allure of Jamie Oliver. And I really don’t like Little Britain, despite the bf’s best attempts to win me over. I just find it crass and unfunny.
Love British humor (humour?). People always tell me I have a very dry, Brit-style sense of humor. In fact, my wife and I are moving there next month. Love Mr. Bean, Fawlty Towers, many other things BUT…Spaced. I just could not get Spaced. Love Simon Pegg–Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, etc. But something about Spaced failed to click with me.
As years go by, I find myself drawn more and more to the BBC.
I love Torchwood, Primeval, Stacey & Gavin, Graham Norton Show and Top Gear. Who didn’t love Absolutely Fabulous? And The Vicar of Dibley? Just brilliant.
I have tried “Skins” but couldn’t latch on.
Love, love, love Ricky Gervais and am looking forward to his special. Thought he was great in “Ghostown” as well.
Last Enemy was slow and, yet, disturbing. I stuck it out because I will watch absolutely anything that Robert Carlyle is in. (Although can he please be a good guy for once? Thought he was going that way in Last Enemy but no!).
I don’t understand the reality shows like X Factor and the others that have been translated to our shores. Hate them here and hate them from there.
I’m with those not enamored of Little Britain – just didn’t do it for me. I saw the Ricky Gervais HBO special at the recent NYC screening and I laughed so hard it hurt. I had not seen any of it previously, so don’t know about that bit, but his riff about the AIDS postcard was freaking hysterical.
BBC has been a fixture in my house for years. I LOVE Doctor Who. The one I don’t get is Are You Being Served. My mom watches that show non-stop, and I just don’t understand what she finds so funny about it.
I’m a closet anglophile since my mom is a born and bred Irish woman. When we’d visit in the summers, I’d hear stories of the black and tans coming to take over the farm that made my skin crawl. My original boogiemen. But there’s something about British wit and the foriegness/sameness of them that fascinates. That said, I don’t understand the monarchy, but I watch every PBS special about them. What is it about the queen and her family?
Have always loved Monty P.
James Marsters got me into Torchwood season 2, which I really enjoyed.
Brit food generally blows, but I do love a good Yorkshire pudding!
Ditto everyone’s comments about Little Britain. I love so many other shows but just not getting Little Britain or Skins. And when can we stop with the reality tv both here and the imports?? The BBC and ITV have so many shows to offer why is BBC America filling most of their programming with reality tv? I know it’s cheaper but please…
Love Monty Python, Vicar, Life on Mars, Fawlty Towers, AbFab, but I must admit I have NEVER understood the appeal of Benny Hill. I saw a few episodes when I was a kid and I’m not sure what creeped me out more -Benny himself or the fact that my dad thought it was hilarious.
I also am typically a big fan of things British, especially when it comes to television and music, but I have to say, Little Britain is one show I just don’t get. I mean there are some funny jokes or gags here and there but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. There are way funnier British shows that don’t repeat themselves nearly as much.
Ricky Gervais was a genius in The Office but outside of that…meh.
First I have a recommendation: Last night I (luckily) caught the first episode of Lost in Austen with Jemima Rooper (from Hex and Kinky Boots). Great fun! I don’t know if it’s arrived yet in the States, but I recommend you search it out.
What I definitely don’t get is Coldplay. Their music does nothign for me and I especially don’t understand their matching outfits and I really don’t understand when I comment on their matching outfits people don’t realize they’re wearing matching outfits. I think they’re like asparagus pee — some of us can smell ‘em and some of you can’t.
I don’t understand Colin Firth. He is just an average actor, in my opinion, with average looks. Yet women go gaga over him because he played Mr. Darcy eons ago. Can’t they just get over him? Also, Monty Python–I just don’t get it. I don’t get any of it…killer rabbit, invisible horses?
I’ll chime in with the rest of the peole who aren’t into Little Britain. I love so many British shows I probably couldn’t list them all off the top of my head, but that’s one I just don’t like. This may draw criticism, but I’m also not a fan of The Office (that goes for the US version too). And I agree with Deb- Matthew Goode was the best part of The Last Enemy!
I too am a lover of most things British (I have ancestry from Cornwall, so you’d be appalled by many of the “traditional” things I eat). But I’ve never been able to understand the fascination with bands like Oasis and Coldplay, or some of the horrible Euro-disco stuff. I’ve never understood marmite, Orangina, haggis, warm beer, cold toast, or kippers being culinary hits. And I’ll have to admit that I never “got” old Doctor Who (I like the new ones), Thunderbirds, or Red Dwarf.
But lately, I have an unholy obsession with Torchwood. Must be all the gorgeous….. Welsh accents.
I’ll be happy if we never, never, ever import another British reality show. We’ve got enough crap of our own!
Orville…I’m with you on not understanding Red Dwarf, but I do like old Doctor Who. I’m into Torchwood as well, though I don’t generally tell people that- it’s a little embarrassing. Moving on…
I don’t understand the love affair with Colin Firth either, or AbFab.
I adore Doctor Who and anything related. Also, all the Masterpiece Theater stuff (especially the Austen ones) and State of Play, Life on Mars, etc.
But Benny Hill? Amazingly unfunny.
I was at the warm-up shows here in L.A. for the HBO special and I laughed my ass off.
Granted, I have not ever seen his stand-up so I don’t know if it was “old” material but it was funny as hell. I look forward to seeing what he ended up using for the big show.
Love love love
Hustle
Colin Firth (and I’ve never seen that version of P&P!)
Wallace and Gromit
Like
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Don’t get (at all!)
AbFab
Are you being served
Love Vicar, Keeping up Appearances.
Love british mysteries.
Thought Ricky Gervais was funny at Emmys.
Wife loves “Last days of Summer Wine” -(or something like that…) I don’t get it. Also May-December – about a young/old couple. Don’t get that one.
There was something called “My Hero”. That was funny. And there was another one, with one of the teachers from Harry Potter as the mother -with a husband and family – that was good, I just don’t remember the name of it.
And I never got Monty Python – though I loved Faulty Towers.
Skins is based around young British culture so it’s not likely the US would get that…I’m surprised they show it there.
Did Father Ted ever make it there? That was brilliant in the 90’s.
I hate Coldplay…what I don’t get is how they’ve made it big in the US.
Don’t forget…there’s some US things us Brits don’t get either. Seinfeld for example.
2cents – I think you mean My Family with Zoe Wannamaker, Robert Lindsay and Kris Marshall. That was funny and it’s still running.
The secret with Monty python is to leave your brain behind when you watch it. It is just silliness for silliness sake.
Little Britain largely isn’t funny after the first series apart from Tom Baker’s voice over as they stopped trying to be funny and tried to shock too much.