British humour

Common themes include sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek, banter, insults, self-deprecation, taboo subjects, puns, innuendo, wit, and the British class system.

Restoration comedy is notorious both for its innuendo and for its sexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakish aristocratic ethos of his court.

They were often bawdy, with innuendo and double entendres, and featured stereotypical characters such as vicars, large ladies and put-upon husbands, in the same vein as the Carry On films.

Many comedians from music hall and wartime gang shows worked in radio after World War 2, and characters such as Julian and Sandy on Round the Horne used innuendo extensively.

By the end of the 20th century, more subtlety in sexual humour became fashionable, as in Not the Nine O'Clock News and Blackadder, while Bottom and Viz continued the smuttier trend.

Along with the first of these two series, Till Death Us Do Part was an attempt to deal humorously with the influx of immigrants to the United Kingdom, but it is now usually considered to have been counter-productive.

The Young Ones featured a police officer (in sunglasses) engaged in racial profiling, only to discover the man was white and wearing dark gloves.