That's Not Funny.

Britain is a huge comedy heaven. Stand-up comedy is enormously popular, and the British are good at it. American comedians typically go out for more sketch comedy, like in Saturday Night Live. While there are some brilliant American stand-up comics (Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Jeff Foxworthy and co, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock) most of the are either dead or making shit TV sitcoms or movies. (Eddie Murphy, you died to me long time ago.) The pinnacle of success for an American comic is making a movie or having a tv show with your name on it. Thus, most Americans are not exposed to a lot of stand-up comedy, especially if they don't watch Comedy Central late at night. Sketch Comedy is where it's at.

In Britain, however, stand-up comedy has not faded gently into that good night. It is alive and well, as shown by the prevalent TV show format of "quiz-com". These are generally trivia games where the individuals collect points which are dutifully tallied up at the end and winner declared. Americans will most likely relate this to "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" hosted by Drew Carey (another stand-up turned sitcom star turned host) where "the points don't matter". Drew Carey regularly awards a million points to his "contestants" which are really the same three or four people every week. Add to this the British addiction to trivia (witness the ever-popular "Pub Quiz"), and you can see the quiz-com is the bastard child of WLIIA and Jeopardy. (Or, perhaps their parent. I don't know.)

So the quiz-com is the best place on TV to see comedians in Britain. Every city also has their own comedy clubs, and comedians regularly do stand-up shows stadium style, as demonstrated on "Live at the Apollo" and the Edinburgh Festival. But as most people just see the quiz-coms. And it is here that accusations of racism and sexism are most strongly demonstrated.

The Guardian asks "The black comedy circuit is booming, with packed crowds and a host of stars. So why aren't there more on TV or at mainstream venues?" Last year, host of quiz-com "Mock the Week" was forced to say that quiz-coms aren't sexist. Yet when you look, most of these quiz-coms have few ethnic people of any gender and few women whose names don't begin with "Jo" and end with "Brand", as comedienne Victoria Wood said.

To me these are valid observations and valid questions. But I feel the fault lies not with Dara O'Brien (for one) or even the producers of these various shows and formats. It is the British culture itself.

Comedy works best coming from the underdog. Who was the last comedian you say whose act was based on the wealthy, the well-to-do, the posh ones? Perhaps Monty Pythons "Upper Middle Class Twits" sketch, and David Mitchell (Guardian commentator extraordinaire) and Marcus Brigstocke ("Argumental") often base their acts upon their posh upbringing, but by far the most popular character is The Working Man. Example: Al Murray's "Pub Landlord" character who is loud, drunk, sexist, racist, etc. etc. etc. In the US we likewise do not see upper class comedians. Instead, we treasure the black comedians, the blue collar comedians, the anarchist comedians. To be middle class (in the American sense) might be ok, but to be upper class (British: middle class) would mean career death.

But it is the very inequality that gives rise to great comedy. The Guardian comments:

Comedy is, or is perceived to be, an art form rooted in recognition and shared cultural references. Its audiences – far more so than those for music, films or fiction – are wary of artists whose experiences may not resemble their own.

 Britain is a very splintered and schizophrenic nation: it thrives on inequality. Inequality between genders, inequality between races (by which I include all ethnic groups such as "English", "Scottish", "Irish", etc.), but above all, inequality between classes. It is imperative that everyone know their place. Add to this the fact that there really is no middle class the same way that there is in the US, and you have a vast proportion of the population that feels like the underdog. This gives way to reception to comedy. You like comedy more if you feel like the comedian understands what's hard about your life.

And yet, the inequalities are still maintained, not broken. In areas of high unemployment, it's quite common for others to hold you back, discourage success and effort. Parliament still reflects the high and mighty, not the every man. Southern English accents are more common on the news, but broad regional accents (like Yorkshire, Lancashire, Scottish) are more common in commercials (as my husband says, "to inspire trust"). The people in Britain have no desire to lead, "Mary Dejevsky: We already do too much. Don't expect us to govern, too." At best, the British person just wants to be left alone. But that's no revolution. And it isn't equality either.