Humor in HP.

[mesmer44]

No: HPFGUIDX 186585

"eggplant107" <eggplant107 at ...> wrote:
>
>  "Carol" <justcarol67@> wrote:
> 
> > Carol, who doesn't have access to Britcoms and is still
> > somewhat at a loss regarding understated British humor
> >(maybe I should look for it in Jane Austen!) 
>

Eggplant replies:
 
> Nah Jane Austen is bush league, go with the real deal, go with Monty Python; not the TV show go with the movies. Pure brilliance expressed as only the British can! 
Steve replies:

I disagree that the Monty Python movies are far superior to the tv show episodes. The movies are great, but without the popularity of the tv shows there would have been no demand or market for the movies. The skits in the tv shows are I agree Pure brilliance. I'm not sure about the "as only the British can" claim, but I do agree that British humor is unique and hilarious in ways more suble and clever than much American humor.
> 

Eggplant continues:

> JKR has lots of humor in her books, it's interesting that the only other fantasy writer that anybody dares to mention in the same breath as her is Tolkien (OK, Pullman too), and in all the Rings books I can find only one joke, and it stank big time. Now I understand that famous actors motto "Dying is easy but comedy is hard".
> 

Steve replies:

I dare to mention several fantasy writers, most American, in the same breath as JKR  when it comes to humor and when it comes to serious fantasy novels. L. Frank Baum's Oz books are classic fantasy novels w/ wonderful humor.  Ruth Plumly Thompson carried on with the Oz books after Baum and she is delightfully humorous as well. NY Times best selling author David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series are extremely popular fantasy novels with a great deal of humor in them. Terry Pratchett has an amazing following w/ his very silly and funny Discworld books. Piers Anthony (from Florida) is one of the most prolific, funniest and punniest writers ever and his Xanth fantasy novels have been extremely popular best sellers for a couple of decades at least.  Terry Brooks is one of the most respected and top selling authors ever. His NY Times bestselling Shannara series will soon become movies and are very close to Tolkien in scope and style.  His popular Landover series is also quite funny at times. Terry Goodkind's NY Times Bestselling Sword of Truth series is the source of the top rated Legend of the Seeker tv series and has great humor as well. George R. R. Martin's NY Times bestselling Song of Ice and Fire series will soon be dramatized on HBO and has also a great deal of humor. Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance novels are also bestselling novels w/ wonderfully clever and funny characters. These and of course C. S. Lewis are just a few examples. I could list many more. And while I like Phillip Pullman, I don't consider him nearly as talented as most of the above authors, and certainly not to be mentioned in the same breath as JKR and Tolkien.

Eggplant continues:

> By the way why is it that the British as so good at writing fantasy? No American writer even comes close. And I say that as a American.      
>  Eggplant

Steve concludes:

I disagree completely with the claim that no American writer even comes close to being as good as the British in writing fantasy. Besides the authors I mentioned earlier, there are also Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time series), Robert E. Howard, Robin Hobb, Robert Vardeman, Lin Carter, L. Sprague De Camp, Poul Anderson, David Brin, David Farland, R. A. Salvatore, Mercedes Lackey, Christopher Stasheff, Janny Wurts, and Raymond Feist. As beloved and fantastically popular authors as JKR and Tolkien are, Great Britain doesn't have a corner on the market of great fantasy fiction. However, in the case of JKR, they do have a corner on a fabulously wealthy one.