British Film Comedy
Keyword(s):
The English reputation for dry, reserved expressions of “humour” is the starting point for an exploration of the sub-genres that typify Britain’s comic legacy. This chapter reviews the history of British comedies from the early clown-based films that sprang from vaudeville through the Ealing Studios and Carry On cycles of the 1940s and 1950s, to the Monty Python parodies and multicultural satires of the 1960s and 1970s, the regional and romantic comedies of the 1980s and 1990s, and beyond. An important focus of this chapter is how a country that shares a common language with the United States comes to distinguish its film industry from Hollywood, building on its own unique history and cultural traditions.