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I've been given the task of purchasing some dvd's which will help the local staff in Manila get better acquainted with the British culture and lifestyle, specifically around the humour factor. What do Brits find funny type of thing.

I immediately thought of Little Britain, BlackAdder...

What would you recommend?

Edit : Not limited to recommendations just from Brits of course

A few DVDs of standup comedy? Frankie Boyle, Alan Carr... see if they have "Live at the Apollo" somewhere.

Special suggestion: Everybody loves Raymond

Not going out, my family, fawlty towers, doc martin

of course only fools and horses as the BBC still runs it regular like. And let's not forget eastenders ( although drama I spose)

Eastenders and Corrie to explain that most people are depressed

Black Adder to teach irony

something with Jack Dee to teach deadpan understatement

Top Gear. 'nuff said

The Office .. Just because

What, no Monty Python??

Ok chuck in a copy of Holy Grail

BoD wrote:Ok chuck in a copy of Holy Grail

That's more like it!

life's a piece oh shit, when you look at it......

Love Thy Neighbour
Mind Your Language
On The Buses
The Young Ones

The first two are absolutely perfect.

Only foreigners watch 'mind your language'. Nobody in UK ever did

BoD wrote:Only foreigners watch 'mind your language'. Nobody in UK ever did

A bit like Neighbours in Oz then.

Just add Kylie and it is the same

Benny Hill of course

second 'The Young Ones'...

Given the apparently pan-Asian obsession with the chronically unfunny Mr Bean, Blackadder or something else featuring Rowan Atkinson might be of interest.

Also, would a contemporary British soap be useful? Coronation Street? Eastenders? On second thoughts, probably not - presumably you'd have to be a long term viewer to get the characters/storyline etc? Dunno.

Just saw BoD's suggetion of The Office. Definitely.

TV: To the Manor Born, The Vicar of Dibley, Yes Minister, Wallace and Gromit
Film: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually

Think about your audience. I'd keep it PC - Stuff like Love Thy Neighbour and Little Britain could upset or offend.

Suprised no one has mentioned Bend it Like Beckham? It covers a lot of ground.

I think some of the humour you guys are suggesting is a little to hard core for introduction material (particularly Little Brittain and Black Adder) - reckon that's the sort of thing you need to build up to after starting with something a little softer. Thought Top Gear was a good suggestion as a starting material. Keeping Up Appearances with Hyacinth Bucket still makes me crack up! ( I loved Doc Martin thought that was good suggestion) Has anyone mentioned Vicar of Dibley yet? How about some of the lighter hearted Dr Who episodes?

What about some of the celebrity cooking people - there's quite a range you could show for the different personality types and splice together segments. And they could also get a double whammy of food culture (Deliah, Nigella, Oliver, that guy who isn't Lenny Henry but reminds me of him, a bit of Floyyd, even that twat ex-Soccer player)

I'm not sure looking at a nations TV output of humour is a good way of picking up UK's culture. Humour in itself is a very personal thing: what I think is funny others may not. And the other way around. Little Brittain....god help the UK if people on the end of the phone start talking to me like that.

Not sure how you would pick up the culture of the UK, especially as the culture is so diverse from city to town to countryside, from north to south, then across the various nationalities.....

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The Lady Killers
Shallow Grave
The Lavender Hill Mob

Tas wrote:food culture (Deliah...

How to Cook, Lesson 1 - How to boil an egg.
Step 1: Fill a saucepan with water.
Step 2: Place on cooktop and switch on.
Step 3: Wait until the water boils. You know it's boiling when bubbles appear and steam rises from the surface.
Etc...

Watch that, and people will think that the poms have no food culture.

...Hang on, that could be startlingly accurate!

Ab Fab!!

Thanks all, I'll see what I can pick up bearing in mind the audience is in the under 30 category. Well under in most cases!

As for sport, I can lend them my Wales 2008 Grand Slam dvd so got that area sorted

EDIT : The aim of the excercise is to help give the team an insight into daily British life - the current cultural training which runs for 3 days includes a whole day on the history of the royal family and the parliamentary system. Not topics that ordinarily come up in a converstation about mobile telephones....

Fat Bob wrote:I'm not sure looking at a nations TV output of humour is a good way of picking up UK's culture. Humour in itself is a very personal thing: what I think is funny others may not. And the other way around. Little Brittain....god help the UK if people on the end of the phone start talking to me like that.

Not sure how you would pick up the culture of the UK, especially as the culture is so diverse from city to town to countryside, from north to south, then across the various nationalities.....

Well, I think it will help. We (my family) didn't visit Britian or have English friends but I think we all do understand british humour (though we don't use it ourselves - just not us) by watching tv.... or do we..

When I think of British culture I think of:

-Stiff upper lip, no complaining, got to get the job done
-Strong belief in fair play and doing things the right way
-Gentlemanly (or ladylike) manners

Idealistic, perhaps, but why not focus on the good parts? Those shitty TV shows mostly focus on the bad parts.

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