“Casual UK”: 50 Funny Posts That Perfectly Illustrate What British Humor Is All About (New Pics)
If British humor was a painting collection then the subreddit r/CasualUK would be the gallery that houses it. This online community has 883K members and politics aside, they constantly share everything that makes their country what it is.
From crazy expensive London apartments to a few blokes enjoying a pint, it's all in there!
Continue scrolling to check out r/CasualUK's most upvoted recent reposts and when you're done, fire up Bored Panda's earlier publication on the subreddit as well!
This post may include affiliate links.
Spotted In Manchester
To learn more about British humor, we contacted an up-and-coming comedian from the UK who is making a name for herself with deadpan, low-energy stories, Rachel South. The first words that came to her mind were "sarcastic", "ironic", and "dry".
It's also "self-deprecating or painfully (but sometimes welcomed) insulting of others," South told Bored Panda.
These features reveal themselves in the topics that Brits like to joke about the most, too. "[They mostly make fun of] their appearance, how fed up or embarrassed or awkward they are, other people's misery, sex and the mundane," South explained.
"A lot of stuff is spoken about but maybe the least I see on the circuit is overly specific, unrelatable stuff or offensive material. Most comedians I've met are pretty left-wing!" she added.
G7 Security
Good Old National Trust
When it comes to comparing American and British humor, Ricky Gervais thinks that the former is more "down the line."
Gervais, who co-wrote, co-produced and starred in the hit BBC series The Office, which was on air for two years and adapted for a U.S. series for eight seasons, believes Americans don't hide their hopes and fears.
Echoing similar thoughts as Rachel's, he wrote in Time Magazine that Americans "applaud ambition and openly reward success" while "Brits are more comfortable with life's losers."
"We embrace the underdog until it's no longer the underdog. We like to bring authority down a peg or two. Just for the hell of it," Gervais explained. "Americans say, 'have a nice day' whether they mean it or not. Brits are terrified to say this. We tell ourselves it's because we don't want to sound insincere but I think it might be for the opposite reason. We don't want to celebrate anything too soon. Failure and disappointment lurk around every corner. This is due to our upbringing. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. Brits are told, 'It won't happen for you.'"
Richard Osman From Pointless Having Some Culture Problems
If You Can Read This, You Are Not A Train!
Struggling To Understand The Hype Around Jeff Bezos And Richard Branson Going To Space When A Guy From Wigan (And His Dog) Reached The Moon In A Homemade Rocket In 1989? Why Is The Media Silent On This?
Gervais finds these differences everywhere from mass media to mundane conversations. "There's a received wisdom in the U.K. that Americans don't get irony. This is of course not true. But what is true is that they don't use it all the time. It shows up in the smarter comedies but Americans don't use it as much socially as Brits. We use it as liberally as prepositions in everyday speech. We tease our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid sincerity until it’s absolutely necessary. We mercilessly take the piss out of people we like or dislike basically. And ourselves. This is very important. Our brashness and swagger is laden with equal portions of self-deprecation. This is our license to hand it out."
If you think this can sometimes be perceived as nasty, you're right. But only if the recipients aren't used to it. In reality, it isn't. As Gervais says, it's just play fighting. A few more posts from r/CasualUK and you might get it, too.
"Try not to take things too seriously, even if the person talking seems really serious," Rachel South said. In fact, her comedy style represents that her country's quite well so I highly recommend visiting her Instagram account.
Historical Figures Lined Up For Reopening Of Museum Of Gloucester
This 900 Year Old Floor Tile At Gloucester Cathedral Contains The Footprint Of A Very Good Boy
This Company Has Been Getting Boycotted Over Their Name. I’m Sorry But This Is Brilliant British Humour
Now This Is How You Sell A Laminator
I Applaud Tesco For Doing This
True Bill
So what you're telling me, is that it DOESN'T look like this? *sadly cancels travel plans
Heading Back To The Movies: US Vs UK
Only In The UK Would It Be Understood By Everyone This Is A Message Of Affection
City Of Leicester Starts Turning Bus-Stops Into “Bee-Stops”
Today I Stumbled Upon Where History Was Made
Front Seat On A Double Decker Bus
When The Pubs Have Been Closed For 4 Months, A Bit Of Rain Won't Stop These Lads
This Little Guy Has Come To Visit Me Every Night For The Past 2 Weeks
Title Of The Next Bond Film Announced!
Jesus Saves! (But Can’t Park For S**t)
How To Measure Things Like A Brit
Took This On My Evening Walk Last Night; Thought It Looked Quintessentially British
the only thing missing is a man in a suit wearing a bowler hat carrying an umbrella holding a cup of tea saying bloody hell
On The Morning Countryside Dog Walk When I Hear Barking, Couldn’t Figure Out Where It Was Coming From Until I Look Up
Picked Nanny Up To Take Her To An 8.30 Dentist Appointment, She Made Me A Packed Lunch In Case I Got Hungry While I Wait The 45 Mins For The Appointment. Nan's Are Awesome
Coming Back To My Desk, Wondering Where My Pistachios Went, Nearly Had A Heart Attack
Found In Garden Today
I'm Liking The Translation For 'Cappucino' Into Welsh
Be Ashamed
Shots Fired In The Office Kitchen
Can't Get More Casual Than A Pony Waiting Outside The Post Office
Saw This Today On Towan Beach, Newquay... We Can Be A Romantic Bunch. Congratulations Whoever You Are
I really think public wedding proposals are a bad idea. You totally put pressure on the person being asked to say yes. Proposals should be a private, personal thing. If he'd left her name off, taken her up there and shown her the picture, then proposed that would be different. (yes, other people, other ideas. but mine is to make whoever is getting proposed to, to be as non-pressured as possible)
Drove Past Batman On The M5 Yesterday. Good To Know He Is Out There Keeping Us All Safe
My Local Cinema Being A Little Pessimistic About Reopening
The Plot Thickens In Fife
I Thought I'd Clear A Few Things Up
English muffins aren't cake, they are a bread product that is awesome, toasted with a runny fried egg
Free Range Yorkshire Puddings With Gravy
Can’t Beat A British Festival
A Letter I Received This Morning
Going To My Mates For Football Tonight. My Mum Just Popped In To Drop These Off For Me To "Share With My Friends"
Schrödinger's Ballgames
I Present To You The Greatest Lie Told To This Country: 30g Is An Acceptable Serving Size Of Cereal
The bowl size is acceptable. And it should be filled to the top with cereal. Then carefully pour the milk.
My Local Tescos Has Had To Create A No Man's Land To Protect The Price Reducer
OMG! This! Some people behave like animals scrapping and shoving just to get 20p off a packet of mince. Carnage.
Scagsy, yes and it's normally some four foot six Eighty year old female Ninja with elbows sharpened to infinity!
Load More Replies...All items going out of date are reduced and displayed in the same spot. If they still haven't sold by 7pm they are reduced again. Regular customers know this and know they can get products that were 4-5 pounds for as little as 25p. It can cause quite the stir
Load More Replies...yep, talk about teacups and royalty all you want. this is the britain i know.
Not to get too deep, but it might say something about the level of poverty in the UK?
Mate my mum used to work in a Morrisons here and the old ladies would circle like vultures for the reduced items, she said it was savage sometimes.
I've seen this quite a few times with the poor worker getting verbal abuse ,,, for the sake of 10p,,,, I'd tell them to piss of. Job be damned.
I once caught a vendor flipping over cheapers competitor's prices during a holiday sale.
A lot of shops now remove the items, take them out back to put reduced stickers on and then dump the whole lot into a cool unit/shelf(for baked and canned/dried goods) for the hordes to sift through...
The grocery nearest to me used to let needy people come in at the end of the day. They could search the entire store for soon to be expired products, the manager would pay them a pittance per item, and they could keep the food if they wanted. I thought it was a win/win situation.
Load More Replies...When stock, usually fresh, is coming to the end of its use/sell by date, it gets reduced. In my store, on the actual day it's up. Usually 25% off in the morning, 50% off around mid-afternoon, then 75% off, or more, as a final reduction in the evening. And can confirm it gets a bit heated. With us, it's mostly old men. I've thankfully trained most of them to respond to a sharp glare. Instead of hovering over my shoulder, they spen 10 minutes perusing random sections of nearby merchandise before swooping in when I move on
Load More Replies...This used to be my job. It was carnage. However I did admire the customers who wanted the items-not leaving things to go to waste. I know for a lot of customers this was a good option to ensure their family got a healthy full meal at an affordable cost.
i saw a woman in a little tesco following around the girl with the reducer gun, asking her to hurry up and get to this specific section because she wanted an item there reduced. then harassed her constantly to put the price down on items that weren't even going out of date any time soon. i felt so bad for the girl!
I had to look up what mince is, said the American with embarrassment.
this is for the people living in the £750 a month London basement / room with steps into it
Not really a joke, more typical of British supermarkets. Think of Black Friday sales in the US! But this is every day, with cut-priced products that are going out of date code.
Load More Replies...No, because you can see the old prices, sometimes it's been reduced three times, because it's perishable stuff. Also I will have been watching it's progress from the normal shelf, to the half price shelf, to the 10 pence basket, over a couple of days...
Load More Replies...I Was Looking At Places In London And Saw This. The Front Door Is A Window?!
The Netflix Documentary We Are All Waiting For
This thing escalated quickly as it was soon discovered other supermarkets had caterpillar cakes. The best way to describe it would be if Linux, Microsoft and Apple built their own versions of Skynet and set them on each other to see who is the rightful heir to world domination
M A T H S
Surely Aldi Could Have Chosen A Better Font
Went To The UK For A Couple Of Days, Bought A Few Souvenirs
Apparently Bacon Is The Most Important Part Of A Full English, Followed By Sausages, Toast And Beans. Agree Or Disagree?
Note: this post originally had 51 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
It's always fun to see how British see and recognize ourselves, and then how others see us from the outside. Brits usually have a good sense of humour about themselves.
HEY! I'm British and I can laugh at these things because they don't offend me. Most of us can as well.
I love British humor. We used to get really funny shows from there, but the one I loved the most is long gone. "One Foot In the Grave". Wanted to take notes.
the r/casualuk subredit is glorious. I've been part of it for at least 2 or 3 years now xD
It's always fun to see how British see and recognize ourselves, and then how others see us from the outside. Brits usually have a good sense of humour about themselves.
HEY! I'm British and I can laugh at these things because they don't offend me. Most of us can as well.
I love British humor. We used to get really funny shows from there, but the one I loved the most is long gone. "One Foot In the Grave". Wanted to take notes.
the r/casualuk subredit is glorious. I've been part of it for at least 2 or 3 years now xD