00:10the English have always been famous for their sense of humor this can be seen in
00:15all aspects of their life their persistence in living in such a tiny wet
00:22their national games their history their traditions and in their strange institutions
00:38even when their leaders go to Europe a joke is never far away but what exactly is characteristic
00:45of the English sense of humor we asked Dr. Primula Steinbein a famous author from
00:50Lichtenstein but fortunately as a foreigner she can find out by attending the Royal Institute of
00:58Applied Comedy where Professor Aza Hartford and his team are about to give one of their lectures on
01:04the nature of English humor last week I dealt with the origins of the joke from the simple
01:10loss of trousers Jake through to the relatively sophisticated banana skin precipitation joke now
01:16variation of this joke was made possible by the invention of this piece of machinery
01:24here we see how its risible potential was cunningly exploited
01:43even greater hilarity was made possible however by the introduction by the Normans of the plank
01:52note the proportions and point of balance essential for humorous function first the simple side swipe or
02:00whop hi Fred an increment in mirth is affected by a simple variation known as the side swipe and return
02:14hi Fred and now the double side swipe and return hi Fred and now the double side swipe and return
02:40hey Fred
02:45it is generally agreed that the Byzantines first developed the dessert as a method of light entertainment
02:51although it reached a peak of perfection in England during the Napoleonic war
02:59first the simple straightforward deposit
03:09next the simple sideways deposit
03:14third the simple surprise deposit
03:22finally the frustrated double deposit
03:34we now move on to the more interesting but little known variant involving greater interpersonal complexity
03:40nominally designated the three course complex
04:07one thing that seems characteristic of English humor is its utter predictability one can always tell
04:14exactly what is going to happen sometimes almost minutes before it actually does
04:19of course sometimes the tension inherent in this type of situation can be quite funny
04:25but I think it's true to say that on the continent we prefer less predictable type of joke
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