Spot said:
speaking of the Stooges, i saw a documentary/biography type show about them a few years ago. to help explain the humor of the Stooges, for those of us that never "got" them (*raises hand* )...
*raises hand*
desperately trying to think of recent American sit-coms I found funny.... all I come up with are the Bob Newhart Show (original one, where he's a psychologist in Chicago), Mary Tyler Moore, MASH, Soap, All in the Family (rip-off of an English show), Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman! and the Larry Sanders Show
but none of the above come even close to making me laugh as hard as the Canadian show The Newsroom, or the English shows Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By
as for the lack of French comedians, I'd say quantity is more than made up for by the quality and sheer genius of Jacques Tati