I have been so slack on posting culture shock information on my blog. (stupid self-absorption! it gets me every time.) This past week someone did a google search for American vs. Australian humor and found me. Why? I have no idea because I certainly have never talked about Australian humour (or lack thereof. 
) Btw – I find out about google searches through wordpress. It’s one of their features. 
Ok so back to culture shock and humor. Australian humour is different than American humor (besides the differing spellings.) Australians don’t care about societal rules like tact or situational sensitivity. No no – that doesn’t matter there. In fact breaking those rules makes things even funnier down under! We break those same rules for humor’s sake here in the U.S. but not to the same extent. I actually really like Australian humour and I think the best description of it can be found here. (a very informative and humourous read.)
Do you like the show Reno 911? I do! In fact I love that show. If you like Reno 911 I think you would probably like Australian humour. One night I was bored out of my mind and I decided to watch some telly (that’s Ossie for TV) and I discovered Kath & Kim (the original AUS version – the US copy is dumb.) Anyway – LOL! Only Australians could pull that off. It’s like the Australian version of Reno 911 except instead of cops they are bogans.
How do you know if you’re a bogan? If you let your 15 year old daughter smoke at the dinner table … in front of her kids.
Have a happy day!!!
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It’s a shame you don’t watch M rated movies because there is a great deal of sofistication in Australian humour that you’re missing. Muriels Wedding, The Castle, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Young Einstein and even a political television show like The Hollowmen and Reno 911 shows like Summer Heights High. And considering the content and nature of Reno 911 the movies and shows listed above are tame in comparison. Apart from the occasional swear word you’re missing out on quite alot.
And a very big LOL to the ‘Possibly related posts’; My breast pump talks to me.
I was told that America is rapidly moving toward Australian culture, so I’m glad that you’re telling me what’s coming. So basically, nothing is sacred? Awesome.
Having lived in Australia for a few years, I still am surprised by how ruthless they are in their humour. Nothing is off limits, and it takes a while to realize that they aren’t trying to be controversial, they just joke about anything.
Example, shortly after the tragic events of Sept. 11, the Chaser had the following headline up on their website:
‘Centrepoint climbs two places in “tallest building in the world” rankings’
hahahah im from australia andd kath and kim are awesome :) im so happy you love aussies LOL
Aussies are just laid back. We wont sit there and scrutinize everything and then jump up and down because we think we are offended. We laugh at ourselves way too much to take anything seriously. Our way of thinking is, its all a bit of fun, just relax. Though I will say this, British Humour trumps Aussie and American humour any day. Go watch Blackbooks then tell me you aren’t in tears from laughter at the end of an episode.