Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany • Hacker News Board

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#51

Post by nkrisc » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 1:37 PM UTC

082349872349872 wrote: post #23

nkrisc wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The short 18 minute long movie has also managed to delight audiences in Australia and South Africa, though it is less popular there than in Europe. Considering they mention Australia and South Africa together, then later in the same sentence say it is “ less popular there than in Europe,” I would say with 100% confidence that the author meant to say Australia, not Austria. After all, Australia is not in Europe so i…

> Australia is not in Europe Maybe not by geography, but by Euro♡ision, it is?

I’ll leave to Europeans and Australians to debate. I’ve no skin in this game.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#52

Post by torarnv » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 1:40 PM UTC

omnibrain wrote: post #16

A little know fact is, that the swiss TV produced their own version with the same actors, but subtle (and not so subtle) differences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP7Q8B8YB5k

What are the differences? Do you have a link to the original?

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#53

Post by codeflo » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 1:52 PM UTC

vander_elst wrote: post #18

The best thing about the German version (if you watch in on tv) is that before the comedy begins, there's an explanation about why it's funny.

For anyone outside of Germany who's wondering, the introduction mostly has the function of explaining the setting and the key repeating line to people who might not be completely familiar with the English language. It's usually shown without subtitles.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#54

Post by _joel » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 1:56 PM UTC

nonrandomstring wrote: post #43

As a Brit deeply into comedy I can confirm my total ignorance of "Dinner For One". How very strange what travels. Visiting the US I was surprised how many Americans knew obscure and not terribly funny Monty Python sketches word for word, and meeting a Chinese CTO once whose first words were "Ah Mr. Bean".

Likewise, never heard of it

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#55

Post by smcl » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 1:57 PM UTC

082349872349872 wrote: post #23

nkrisc wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The short 18 minute long movie has also managed to delight audiences in Australia and South Africa, though it is less popular there than in Europe. Considering they mention Australia and South Africa together, then later in the same sentence say it is “ less popular there than in Europe,” I would say with 100% confidence that the author meant to say Australia, not Austria. After all, Australia is not in Europe so i…

> Australia is not in Europe Maybe not by geography, but by Euro♡ision, it is?

Some of these continental orgs are quite flexible about what countries they permit to join. For example Israel is also in Eurovision, but it’s not in Europe. Similarly Australia are part of the Asian Football Confederation rather than Oceania’s Football Confederation (and Israel is a member of UEFA rather than AFC, for obvious reasons)

I don’t think anyone is saying “Australia is part of Europe” with a straight face though :-)

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#56

Post by smcl » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 2:00 PM UTC

nonrandomstring wrote: post #43

As a Brit deeply into comedy I can confirm my total ignorance of "Dinner For One". How very strange what travels. Visiting the US I was surprised how many Americans knew obscure and not terribly funny Monty Python sketches word for word, and meeting a Chinese CTO once whose first words were "Ah Mr. Bean".

For a long time I hadn’t either. It’s become much more well-known in last few years though - around this time of year a few places like BBC or Guardian run stories on this tradition.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#57

Post by goto11 » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 2:03 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #48

interfixus wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And lest we forget: The hackneyed Disney Christmas Show at 1600 hours sharp on the 24th of December. In this household, Christmas officially starts when the mouse from Cinderilla squints and runs the thread through the giant needle's eye. These are generally the only two times of the year I have anything to do with live TV. Godt nytår!

Whereas in Sweden it starts at 15 and, for some reason[0], is titled “Donald Duck and his friends wish you Merry Christmas”, despite Jiminy Cricket being the presenter. [0] The reason is obviously his popularity in Sweden

I was surprised to discover that Mickey Mouse was more popular and well-known in the US than Donald Duck. Come on, Donald Duck is a much more fun and interesting character!

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#58

Post by notahacker » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 2:04 PM UTC

nonrandomstring wrote: post #43

As a Brit deeply into comedy I can confirm my total ignorance of "Dinner For One". How very strange what travels. Visiting the US I was surprised how many Americans knew obscure and not terribly funny Monty Python sketches word for word, and meeting a Chinese CTO once whose first words were "Ah Mr. Bean".

Mr Bean travels well because it's universal humour requiring no translation. Has done well in British consciousness for a single 15 episode series too. For slightly related reasons, Norman Wisdom became absolutely massive in the Eastern Bloc because his apolitical slapstick could be portrayed as "struggling against capitalism" :D

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#59

Post by gambiting » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 2:07 PM UTC

In Poland, the British comedy “keeping up appearances” is very popular for some reason. When I moved to the UK I was surprised it’s almost unknown here for anyone under the age of 60.

Re: Dinner for one: A little-known British comedy famous in Germany

#60

Post by wsdan » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 2:11 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #17

st_goliath wrote: post #10

Also here in Austria, usually broadcast shortly before midnight. Not sure if the author confused it with Australia, which is confusingly mentioned under "Popularity across Europe", or lumps us up with Germany, which misses the fun factoid that we split up again in 1945 (and also tends to get people over here surprisingly pissy).

> The short 18 minute long movie has also managed to delight audiences in Australia and South Africa, though it is less popular there than in Europe. Considering they mention Australia and South Africa together, then later in the same sentence say it is “ less popular there than in Europe,” I would say with 100% confidence that the author meant to say Australia, not Austria. After all, Australia is not in Europe so i…

I can confirm that in Australia SBS (a government owned TV channel) has played the show every New Years Eve at 6.10pm for 30 years and everyone I knew always watched it before heading out to celebrations.

https://www.sbs.com.au/guide/article/2016/12/19/broadcast-sb...