P Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Carried out a search and did not find anything so:What is typical French humour - what makes them laugh(a few seriuos replies would be appreciated)Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndford Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Me speaking French, according to my physio!!Liz in 47 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Selling a pile of stones interlaced with wood full of termites for a few 000 € usually brings a smile to their faces Have a look at French TV you will get the drift fairly quickly, although ignore the usual French dubbed US teeny type programmes, they ae juist not funny to anyone except the yanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tourangelle Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Mr Bean was very big when I first arrived here. I've never found it funny myself. Anything starting with Mr and Mrs X have a son, what is his name, - a bit like knock, knock jokes. If your French is up to it, have a listen to Rires et chansons, it is a radio station, that should give you a good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Or watch some of the well-known comedy films.Le Père Noel est une Ordure. Almost an ancient classic!Les Visiteurs. Understanding the posh lady will test your French to its limits!Taxi, Chouchou, Rrrrrrrrrrr, les Trois Mages, there are loads to choose from, and there are new comedies in the cinema all the time. Saw a trailer for "Il était une fois dans l'oued" the other day, it looks so cringingly awful I think I'll just have to go and see it! Caméra Café in the evenings on TV was a bit of a laff, and so was Caamelot.Reading matter - try Fluide Glaciale, tons of extremely unsophisticated jokes based on young lads going goggle-eyed over girlies with unfeasibly large bosoms. Glossier than Viz but without the range.Even if you sometimes feel you're missing the point of French humour, never fear - they often comment on the weirdness of "l'humour anglais"! Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tourangelle Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I agree that the French find all of the above funny. I personally don't, and I am usually disappointed by French films that claim to be comedies, as I just don't laugh - a recent example is the film Travaux... on sait quand ça commence. So now the question has been more or less answered, what do you all find REALLY funny that the French find funny too? I must admit I quite like les guignols, and also un gars et une fille, but only for about 10 minutes at a time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roli Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 Although excruciatingly painful at times, I persevere with French Tele as it is my main source of learning the language. The funniest thing seems to be throwing water on each other at the end of a chat show. For the life of me I cannot see anything amusing about it but have watched Tele with my neighbours…they think it’s hilarious. I have seen this happen dozens of times and still everybody seems to fall about laughing. Then it is all shown again on "The Best of....."In fact the worst moments seem to be shown as the best of.I saw an emission of Cauet another chat show, where one of the male guests said to Kylie Minogue’s sister: "I wanna f *** you" this guy was about 4ft tall with a deformity. When he got a laugh he went on to repeat it over and over until the poor girl had no choice but to walk of the set. This clip has been shown repeatedly as one of the funniest moments. I would have thought anybody involved would wish to forget it.Oh and someone falling over….. That always gets em going.Roli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkndnv Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I must admit most of the "comedy" on French TV doesn't make me laugh, but then that's true of English television humour too. Though I must admit to liking that Chouchou and Loulou, Un Gars une Fille thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo53 Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 The French do farce really well (in films, haven't seen any sitcoms of this genre). I have seen some really funny (in a juvenile sort of way) films with typical plots along the lines of a couple of bozos from the middle ages being transported forward in time and causing havoc in the present day, or some such. These have the added advantage of having pretty unsophisticated dialogue, making them relatively easy to understand. But can't remember the names of any of the films.Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted September 3, 2005 Share Posted September 3, 2005 I do quite enjoy the films, although some are just really naff and wouldn't last 5 minutes in the UK. Although to be fair, the really bad ones don't last much longer than that in France either! They differ from American comedies in that they can have some extremely unpleasant bits in them. Like the wife-beating/violence in Pere Noel, I still don't like that, and the bit at the beginning of Les Visiteurs where he hits her and she falls off the balcony (or sthng like that!). The modern ones tend not to be disturbing like that. TV is different, and quite honestly I don't know who watches all that stuff! Any Michael Youn fans out there? Iznogoud woznogoud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mpprh Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 HiHaven't seen them recently, but there was a double act called les vampes.It followed the philosophical two men in a pub sketches similar to the two ronnies (or derek & clive, but cleaner).The two characters were old bats from a rural village, dressed to match, discussing the business of the villages : the new top of the boulangeres wife, the parisians up the hill, latest couplings, etc.For some reason, my mother in law thought it was disgraceful !Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missy Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 [quote]Carried out a search and did not find anything so: What is typical French humour - what makes them laugh (a few seriuos replies would be appreciated) Paul[/quote] The same as asking what makes the Brits laugh! From the vantage point of understanding humour of 2 different nations and in 2 languages I find the humour on both sides rather the same... Admittedly some points DO get lost in the translation but not that very much... All to do with the mind of the person listening to the joke or seeing the gag...My husband never understood why his Father-in-law was an avid watcher of Benny Hill ! but then after many years I've understood that my husband can't see any humour in Benny Hill ! Nor does he see any humour in Pantomime but having taken my parents, who do not speak a word of English! to see a couple of panto shows in UK, they loved all the slapstick visual jokes and thouroughly enjoyed themselves recreating them with their grandchildren! Shame the children have grown up into grungy teenager and opinionated adults!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 But many French love Benny Ill !There is also Thierry Le Luron, Coluche, Muriel Robin, Les Nuls, and what about de Caunes et José Garcia, etc., etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddie Posted September 4, 2005 Share Posted September 4, 2005 The film about the two men being transported to the future.There were two I believe. The first "les visiteurs" with Jean Reno and Christian Clavier was funny. The sequence - well you can only stretch a gag so far. Asterix also with Christian Clavier was also funny in French and you didn't need to be fluent to understand it. Come to think about it Christian Clavier is usually pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicfille Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Films with Agnès Jaoui, Catherine Frot, Jean-Pierre Darroussin etc, such as Le Goût des Autres, Un Air de Famille, Cuisine et Dépendences - they can be pretty funny in places and I'm pretty fussy about my comedy.However I cannot hack the "Bronzés" films ("Les Bronzés font du ski" etc etc) which are similar in style to the Carry On series. They have a vast and devoted following and are a pretty good indication of what the average French person will laugh at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now