How would you describe Irish humour?

Rds1989

and is it that different from British humour?

ilovesleep

witty

m@cc@

Rds1989 wrote: »

and is it that different from British humour?

I think Irish humour is darker. We're much more likely to fit death and alcoholism into jokes.

UrbanSea

Sarcastic and uncaring.

pragmatic1

m@cc@ wrote: »

I think Irish humour is darker. We're much more likely to fit death and alcoholism into jokes.

Yeah I think its very similar to Brit humour but a little darker.

Saila

was in a cafe the other week, they were getting a roof next door but still part of the cafe put on/fixed...it started raining..

the guy fixing the roof says "were getting wet now"
owner says "get the roof on and you'll be nice and dry wont you!"

classic..only in Ireland would you get that

smugchik

What about Psychoville and The League of Gentlemen? Doesn't come much darker than that...

I think it depends on the individual rather than the country. Although, I spend quite a lot of time in Donegal and find them humorless. I have good friends up there but the ones with a gsoh all originate from outside Donegal....

Saila

sharp and witty

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Not that dissimilar, other than the fact that we're better at taking the piss out of ourselves.

thehairyelbow

Un f**king beatable!

m@cc@

smugchik wrote: »

What about Psychoville and The League of Gentlemen? Doesn't come much darker than that...

What's your point?

Sky King

A lot of it now is influenced by comedy from the USA and UK.

I think one thing that is unique to us is the horriffic slagging we can give each other. i remember there was an italian guy in a group of me and my mates one time... the thought a fight was going to break out but we wer just tearing strips off each other for the craic. No harm done.

bonerm

sarcastic, ironic, reactionary, puerile.

orourkeda

unique

smugchik

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Yeah I think its very similar to Brit humour but a little darker.

m@cc@ wrote: »

What's your point?

I was answering an earlier comment which stated that Irish humour was darker than English humour. On the whole, I find English humour darker. Of course there are always exceptions...

I should have included the original message. Sorry for confusion.

mfceiling

The only country where you can tell someone to f*ck off and what you mean is "are you serious"...

Dangerous Man

Depends. A lot of Irish people I know find Tommy Tiernan and the D'Unbelievables funny. Others don't. It can't be easily summed up.

For Forks Sake

mfceiling wrote: »

The only country where you can tell someone to f*ck off and what you mean is "are you serious"...

**** off

RichieC

sarky and self deprecating.

Some people think it's picking on someone unmercifully... they aren't usually funny at all.

Saila

mfceiling wrote: »

The only country where you can tell someone to f*ck off and what you mean is "are you serious"...

nah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26UA578yQ5g

LETHAL LADY

I would describe Irish humour as dry humour.

starviewadams

Puerile and shíte for the most part!
With the exception of Dylan Moran and David O'Doherty.

Craebear

Get up on stage, shout and jump around like a lunatic and you are considered the funniest man in the country.

Saila

Craebear wrote: »

Get up on stage, shout and jump around like a lunatic and you are considered the funniest man in the country.

another one who's only seen his latest stuff..

W.Shakes-Beer

As dry as Ghandi's slipper.

In my (and my friends) cases it is often sickeningly crude, so much that I have to watch who's around me first.

ilovesleep

Ireland was handed a cruel hand of cards and we've been poked and proded with the sharp end of the stick and I think it is great that many people here on AH and also in my daily life can crack up jokes about it and find some humour in it all despite all the baddness.

Wackawacka

From having worked extensively overseas, I had to adapt my expression of humour to be accepted locally. One of the things I've had to adapt is that the format of Irish humour is markedly different. Irish humour tends to revolve primarily around telling stories ("So I says 'xxxxx', so she says, 'xxxxx' "), or making puns ("Tonehenge", "Stiffy on the Liffey"), etc. Definitely slagging is not universal, it is definitely Irish, but don't know enough to say whether it is Irish only or British only as I've never lived there. Also, I've noticed that when asked our honest opinion about something, even in writing, it isn't uncommon to insert humour there as well, which to foreigners may look out of place or inconsistent with expectations of decorum. Humour tends to be much more common place in Irish society than many other places.

Taboo subjects tend to be very different. Gay sex jokes, sex jokes in general, race jokes, religion jokes, and political jokes, tend to be much more taboo than elsewhere. Irish humour tends to be shier, and more about, well, nothing. Standup comedians use funny situations, poke loving fun at Ireland and Irish culture, make fun of regional stereotypes, but humour tends to be, well, about nothing, i.e. the point is to have fun, but not to be (very) critical. By comparison, the great standup comedians of the US, like George Carlin, Andrew Dice Clay, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Chris Rock, Dennis Miller, Lenny Bruce, some of these were viciously aggressive, usually with a specific point in mind. I do think British humour to be in between Irish and American humour in that regard.

Given the state of affairs in Ireland, imagine if we had a Jon Stewart lampooning Irish politics on a nightly basis. There surely is plenty enough fodder! Though I'm not sure if he'd be made Taoiseach, run out of town, or sued to bits.

bayern282

Vastly overrated, Dara O'Brien springs to mind. You can almost hear him thinking to himself

'' OMG, listen to me, I'm so wacky and whimsical, must be cos I'm OIRISH , no one else is capable of this !''

The funniest humour doesn't have to try so hard, Glaswegian wit or Northern English drollery is far funnier to me than the sort of stage Irishness that tends to grate.

OPENROAD

bayern282 wrote: »

Vastly overrated, Dara O'Brien springs to mind. You can almost hear him thinking to himself

'' OMG, listen to me, I'm so wacky and whimsical, must be cos I'm OIRISH , no one else is capable of this !''

The funniest humour doesn't have to try so hard, Glaswegian wit or Northern English drollery is far funnier to me than the sort of stage Irishness that tends to grate.

The one Irish comedian I really like, actually probably my favorite comedian

Blobby George

bayern282 wrote: »

Vastly overrated, Dara O'Brien springs to mind. You can almost hear him thinking to himself

'' OMG, listen to me, I'm so wacky and whimsical, must be cos I'm OIRISH , no one else is capable of this !''

O Briain is a terrible comedian who has been winging it for far too long. He is symptomatic of the nudge wink type humour the Irish lap up so much.

Pauleta

Timing

Table Top Joe

kilkenny flyer wrote: »

A lot of it now is influenced by comedy from the USA and UK.

I think one thing that is unique to us is the horriffic slagging we can give each other. i remember there was an italian guy in a group of me and my mates one time... the thought a fight was going to break out but we wer just tearing strips off each other for the craic. No harm done.

Ha ha,i had the exact same thing in Australia only with an American instead of an Italian,he was stunned
"oh my gawd! i thought you guys are friends??!"
"Huh?...we are"
"Then why are you so.....mean to each other??"
"Just havin a laugh like...what?"



Poor guy was baffled.....it is a bit weird though,ripping the piss out of your best friends for fun......what can i say though,i love it

--LOS--

durty

holystungun9

I'm learning to turn down the abuse factor which we use big time amongst ourselves, but is deemed hurtful everywhere else.

lastlaugh

Blobby George wrote: »

O Briain is a terrible comedian who has been winging it for far too long. He is symptomatic of the nudge wink type humour the Irish lap up so much.

O'Brien is terrible I agree. He landed on his feet in the UK for some reason. Lame ass jokes altogether, he used to do a really annoying, EHHHHH, after each punchline. To me is a very bad representitive of Irish humour.

I suppose I would describe it as witty.

Dave Allen would be a very good Irish comedian.

I can't say I ever got yerman Tommy Tiernan. I haven't seen most of his stuff and I don't think I will ever bother.

mrsdewinter

This doesn't apply to Irish stand-ups so much, but in everyday life, a lot of our humour seems to be built on making people feel as uncomfortable as possible. When I'm in a bad mood, a dig from a friend will almost reduce me to tears. Of course, what I'll have forgotten is that, just the day before, I doled it out myself...

poppylady

I think it can vary from county to county. Or there may even be a town/country divide.

Sonnenblumen

Quick thinking. Dara O'B is a great example.

pappyodaniel

One word that hasn't been mentioned yet is surreal. Think Flann O'Brien, Spike Milligan, Graham Linehan, Dylan Moran.

Satire.. you'd have Dave Allen, Dermot Morgan, Dave McSavage, Mario Rosenstock

and ****.. Brendan O'Carroll, Brendan Grace, (insert comedian here)

leggo

In three words? Resigned to defeat.

celtictiger32

i think we have a great sense of humour, and it does differ from british humour although there are similarities. i think the american humour is probably one of the worst with a few exceptions

KyussBishop

I saw the show 'Boys from the Blackstuff' recently (worth a watch), which is a really old 80's thing set in Liverpool; the humour from that I think is kind of similar to how Ireland can be.
But ya as someone said; dark and self deprecating, often through ripping into someone/something, but a lot of it is also storytelling.

Been a while since I watched TV regularly, but I don't think there has been much good Irish comedy stuff for a while? What recent/current stuff is worth seeing?

SparKing

A lot of said here that I agree with but I think that the best Irish comedy is dark and irreverent and definitely self-deprecating, we always seem to take pride in that which other nations wouldn't such as drinking too much, terrible politicians etc.

Laika1986

We are great for making jokes or laughing at terrible times.

The majority of rte comedy does not represent our humour I feel apart from fair city of course.

Aoifey!

Banter.

s20101938

Irish humour is Sarcastic, Puerile, Snide, Lazy, Cruel

O'Briain is painfully unfunny. He thinks he's more intelligent than everyone because he studied Theoretical Physics and Maths at College. I can just imagine him smirking to himself and thinking:

"lol at my own jokes. Well if I can make a bunch of theoretical physicists laugh I can make anyone laugh, haw haw haw."

twat.

Azureus

I find Dara O'Brien hilarious. Same with people like Neil delamere (some of the funniest standup Ive ever seen), Ardal Ohanlon et al. Dylan Moran is another one.
Its people like Jason Byrne who ruin Irish comedy imo.

Irsih humour in general is self deprecating and that's what I love about it. Any time Im away with friends abroad, people think we hate eachother
(A usual exchange before a night out would be something along the lines of..
Me: Do i look alright in this?
Mate: Nah, your arse is massive, cant believe youd go out in public with that thing on ya
Etc.
But funnier-its just too early to think of examples

Saila

s20101938 wrote: »

O'Briain is painfully unfunny to me because I dont get it and it makes me feel small

twat.

there thats better

Paddy Cow

Irish humour can be very literal and we can come across as being smart arses, even when we're not. An example is when the Cheryl asked Jedward where they saw themselves in 15yrs time and one of them said "well I see myself being older". Louis got it but Simon thought they were being cheeky gits.

It's also deeply sarcastic and cutting and I have to tone it down sometimes or people take it the wrong way.

Skerries

that wasn't them trying to be funny that was them being the thick eejits that they are