Yeah I wasn't quite talking about that idea that we're better at irony in comedy, which I agree is largely nonsense. If anything I think US comedy is generally a bit drier than ours.

I meant more that US comedy more often has that warmth to/underneath it that I was talking about before. It's not afraid to be earnest. Whereas over here I think we go ew, emotions, how embarassing. I don't think we're "better at irony" but I do think we believe that comedy has to have ironic distance from anything emotionally warm(? struggling for the right word). 

Things like Taxi, Cheers, Roseanne, US Office, Parks and Rec, King of the Hill, Community, even Simpsons and Futurama. They'd often get very sentimental/sincere/earnest/emotional (not quite sure which word is right) in a way that UK comedy generally backs away from or, at best, *immediately* undercuts with a joke to prevent us from the embarrassment of sitting in our emotions.

The US *also* has the other, colder/more distant, stuff - Curb Your Enthusiasm (which I think it excellent but find hard to watch for this reason), Arrested Development, Schitt's Creek etc.. But it seems less the norm.

And I struggle to think of UK comedy with that USey warmth. It's not *entirely* absent, I think it was there in Shameless? Which makes me think it has a class component, which seems likely.

Maybe it's like you were saying with theatre and it's because TV is really still a very oxbridgey, middle class endeavour over here, which I don't think is/was the case in the US. 

I've not seen Better Call Saul (or Breaking Bad) so can't comment directly. They look very good, but the subject matter has always put me off.

I think Saul in particular is pretty magnificent, though the tone switching from comedy to drama to melodrama and tragedy can be a bit whiplash-inducing at times. It usually handles it well.

I could do with a new comedy series. We tried Ted Lasso and it was sort of alright, folksy heartwarming comedy, but it started to lean a bit too hard into the heartwarming for our taste. That and that anything to do with professional sport starts to feel a bit too close to the dayjob for my liking!

Yeah, Ted Lasso is free of conflict to the point where it's hard to tell whether you actually watched anything.

Coupla straight-up comedies I've enjoyed recently: Class of 07 and Abbott Elementary.