Little Britain USA

I have been a fan of Little Britain for a long time. I live in the USA but downloaded and watched all the UK episodes like I do a lot of British TV; Top Gear, Saxondale, Ali-G, I'm Allen Partridge, the Original Office, etc, etc.. I am a true lover and connoisseur of UK comedy shows. Little Britain is no Saxondale but it is a great show.

When I first saw Little Britain USA I nearly threw up laughing so hard! Not only has the show evolved and gotten more edgy it is clear that they are able to go much further because of the R rated content HBO allows that BBC in the UK did not.

It funny to see the negative responses on here, they seem to be mostly from people from the UK. And I suspect that the only reason they don't like it is because they went into it determined to hate it just because of the "USA" on the end of the title. If they ever got the show before they would really love the "USA" version that does not hold back! This show makes jokes about sexuality, racism, etc. that most American TV wont touch. This is something that has been funny about The Office, Saxondale, Ali-G, even Top Gear for years. The fact that the people from Britain don't get how over the top that is here for this audience, mixed with the sheer raunchiness allowed by HBO over BBC is truly their loss!! And I suspect more about a miss placed sense of anti-Americanism than a true evaluation of the show!!

It's nice to see some edgy comedy. All the comedy shows on TV are so bland. Other sketch shows like SNL, Mad TV have no had anything good in ages. You have to listen to radio and Howard Stern, for anything even close to original and edgy. I hope the show does well, it deserves to. I wish the other shows before mentioned would watch this and learn a few lessons. They are so scared of offending anyone, their shows have become stale and unwatchable. Anyone who disagrees, see how many people watched SNL after their first sketch. Comedy shows use to push the envelope, now they all attempt to meet the greatest mass. So in the end I hope this show does more then just make it to the next season, I hope it influences comedy programs on this side of the pond!

I really like the three series of Little Britain (the British version). They're in no way my favourite comedy show (South Park, Family Guy, The Office, Extras, Spaced, Brasseye and Big Train all come above it), but as far as sketch-show comedy goes, the original series was pretty good.

Watching Little Britain USA, I can't help but feel disappointed that many people will not like it, therefore they will not want to visit the original British series, which I think is so much better than this.

The jokes are more immature than before, and some of them simply are not funny. Overall, the show still generates laughs and is enough to pass the time in a semi-pleasant way. Just don't go expecting award-winning comedy this time around.

Little Britain: 1. Take a dozen jokes, about a third of which are actually funny, make each joke into a sketch. 2. Repeat the exact same joke in each episode, but with a minor variation. Instead of Lou and Andy spouting their catchphrases in their living room, they're now doing it in a supermarket!!!!!! Hilarious! 3. Do this so much that even the sketches that were slightly amusing soon become tired and repetitive to anyone whose idea of comedy isn't just endless catchphrases. 4. Enjoy unfathomable success.

Little Britian USA: 1. Repeat steps 1-3 above, but this time set everything in the States because an American audience won't understand it otherwise. 2. Chuck out any jokes that aren't about penises. 3. Add an irritating canned laughter track. 4. Put a few more penis jokes in for good measure. They're just soooo witty. 5. Hopefully bomb and be banned from our screens forever.

I loved the original Little Britain and was prepared to really like LB:USA since HBO's got a track-record of nurturing good writing. But, here's the thing: the laugh track in the original serves (at least in my opinion) as a bit of double-irony. The jokes are puerile and play on basic stereotype. They're easy to laugh at already. No laugh track required, so its addition works as a counterpoint to the irony. Not so in the American version; it actually feels like a degradation of the jokes. Or maybe I'm overthinking this thing. Tell you what. If you've seen and liked Little Britain, you'll like Little Britain: USA, because it's god-damned funny and Tom Baker still does the narration. If you've never seen it, try it. But don't act like you didn't know it's not American-style. The word Britain's right there in the title.