Comparing humour in two British comedy episodes
...reakdown is a feature even further in the episode. Basil's humble hypocrisy gets a workout when a handsome young chap sneaks a girl into his room. Trying to catch the adulterers in the act, he finds himself in an absurd bedroom farce finishing with his famous duck-walking. We see that both verbal and visual comedy is used, and very cleverly combined which makes the episode very enjoyable for watching and for listening. Yes, Prime Minister is a very different type of British comic series as it is about politics. Written by two ex-politicians, it contains facts, exposed in almost satirical way. After the Prime Minister's Question Time, Jim Harcker has publicly denied something which is actually true. Sir Humphrey accuses Jim of having told a lie and he says: I know this is a difficult concept to get across to a politician. This, of course, is sarcasm to the audience as politicians are known to “lie, smiling”. We see that the comical feature is due to verbal use and not visible. The language is very sophisticated, formal and tells nothing with a lot of words. This is usually used for manipulation as it confuses the listener and Jim often asks “What are you saying?” The major difference in the two episodes is in the means, used to create the comic effects. In the first one the visual means are very effective, combined with ambiguous expressions and easy-to-understand...