This is the last thing we need here.
I'm not a big fan of comedy in general, but I am an adult human who is capable of hitting the channel change button if it comes on, or leaving a conversation about it.
Truly have never understood this knee jerk reaction people have to criticism. It's a healthy part of civil discourse. I'm not only interested in seeing everyone's praise.
'I wish this thing that other people enjoy would die, even though it doesn't impact my life at all' is not a healthy part of civil discourse.
[edit] The thing is that I actually agree with the parent: I can't stand Mr Bean - it makes me physically cringe. But I recognise that other people are fans, so I'm happy to just shut up and let them have their fun.
I interpreted your post though to be a general sentiment that we shouldn't even voice negative opinions, even if they are done so politely. I certainly wouldn't agree with that perspective. As someone who is rather neutral to British humor, I enjoy seeing both positive and negative conversation around the subject.
The great American comics are people like John Belushi, the wisecracking charmer who gets the girl in the end, while the British comedian prefers to play the failure; British comedy comes from strife and tragedy and embarrassment and loss of dignity, which is why most British comedy focuses on lower/middle class people and their relationship with the hierarchy: Basil Fawlty (John Cleese's character in Fawlty Towers), Blackadder, David Brent (The Office), and so on.
The types of comedic personalities you tend to see in American culture are the likes of Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler, featuring people who may be average, but generally don't start as failures, and if they do (or if they have an unfortunate fall from grace in the middle of the story), the central theme isn't the inevitability of their failure, but an optimistic path towards self-betterment and reclaiming control over their own destiny.
The US also doesn't have the kind of history of tensions between the classes that Britain has (even though wealth inequality is objectively worse, and the system is simply not recognized as being a class system among ordinary people). The American style of comedy goes hand in hand with the idea of the American dream, that anyone can succeed if they try hard enough.
The most "British" American comedy I've seen in recent times was Forgetting Sarah Marshall (written by Jason Segel, an American, but directed by a Brit, Nicholas Stoller), which basically revels in the haplessness and constant failures of the main character, and his path to happiness isn't the traditional American one (though it has that "pull yourself by the bootstraps" approach).
I recommend watching the clip. Fry delivers a very eloquent thesis. If you're not familiar with Fry, his answer might sound rehearsed, but it's clearly not; he's just extremely articulate.
Stephen Fry explains the difference here: https://youtu.be/8k2AbqTBxao
Actually very insightful, and explains why I have never been fond of the cool guy that gets all the girls US comedy loves to represent.
Sorry, but this was true fifty years ago. German cars haven't been as realiable as, say, Japanese cars for quite some time now. The myth still persists, though.
Of course, reliability is not the only thing that matters in a car. German brands excell in technological innovation, I think. I still prefer a reliable car over a higher-tech one.
But since you're talking about German cars and about Britain, I have to say that, somehow, as the years and decades go by, I find the the most timelessly beautiful cars ever made were the British ones. (Jaguar e-type, Aston Martin DB4gt, McLaren F1, etc).
What about it don’t you like, specifically? And what comedy do you prefer?
It’s also clever - the lack of language makes it universal. Most of the people I’ve met who profess their love for the character are not native English speakers.
There’s a culture-spanning appeal there, and fame, that Eddie Murphy (with all his undeniable standup skill and wit) will never, ever achieve.
To say crafting that lacks talent does Rowan Atkinson a big disservice.
You do realise that the comedy scene in Britain is hugely varied? So you don’t like Mr Bean. That’s fine. But there’s plenty of comics at the other extreme end of the spectrum here too. And a plethora of stuff in between too.
There are amazing America and British stand up comics, I'm a bit out of the game recently, but oldish (80s and 90s) stuff from both sides of the pound were amazing (I loved Bill Cosby and Woody Allen stand up records for example but never had a chance to see them on tv as there were no recordings (one of Cosby I watched actually, and think audio only was better)
To be honest I think it’s silly to get all nationalist about something as subjective as comedy, and trying to compare one to another and deciding who is better accomplishes absolutely nothing
Some British comedy (Fawlty Towers, Black Books, Fleabag) is amazing. Most of it is crap (Mr Bean, Keeping Up Appearances, One Foot in the grave).
There are some terrible British bands, and some great French cars.
Generalising about culture is pointless.
I completely agree with the pricinple.
But British comedy in particular has the same reputation as British rock music. It's universally considered one of the best in the world, and your opinion on this matter seems like a very weird outlier.