UK

Britain’s funny genes

By team ⋅ March 29, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

The Independent, 9 March

A transatlantic survey of more than 4,000 twins has suggested that humour regarded as typically British – biting sarcasm, teasing and self-deprecation – is linked to genes found in British men and women, but not in Americans.
While both sides of the Atlantic are able to look on the bright side and appreciate jokes, often known as positive humour, the genes associated with negative humour were only found in the UK. Experts are baffled by the results, but say that the findings may explain why the denigrating humour of Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and The Office is accepted in the UK, where many Americans can find it too aggressive.

The study examined the genetic and environmental contributions to humour in nearly 2,000 pairs of UK twins, comparing the results with a US study of 500 sets of North American twins. Dr Martin, from the University of Western Ontario, said that results showed that ‘In North American families, there was a genetic basis to positive humour, but negative humour seems to be entirely learned…In the UK, both positive and negative styles had a genetic basis in the sample.’

It is suggested that Americans cannot understand the British desire to keep putting themselves down. Comedian Charlie Higson claimed that such humour was less sophisticated than American humour, where clever people did clever things. David Brent offers another explanation: ‘There’s a weight of intellect behind my comedy.’