I like the swimming pool ...

"Are you sure there's a market for these organic swimming pools ?"

"No, it's definitely an elephant's foot."

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"Ok, Joe, here's one for you: What's got five legs...."

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...what had five legs and is loking really pissed right now"

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"You were only supposed to rub it!"

Not sure that works without:

"Lamps are so old hat these days"

"Have a break, have a hottub"

Snowbell, you have no idea how many times I've used the kitkat phrase. Lol!

Hmmm, the "hot tub" concept opens some interesting ideas up. Nice one!

I think this just proves the US model for this kind of humour - lots of people flinging ideas at each other and refining them together. Not sure it works with drama or narrative comedy. But for jokes it does.

I think most UK comedy is written in pairs too: Cleese and Booth, Galton and Simpson, Gervais and Merchant, Marks and Gran, Curtis and Elton, Armstrong and Bain etc.

Would the enviromment angle work with the New Yorker? How about: 'I've had a good check...this one's sound.'

Isn't the US model many many more people - like a whole roomful of people? When you consider the amount they have to churn out in terms of episodes I don't think it would be humanly possible with just a pair. But US comedy (apart from Frazier) is usually more joke joke joke and less structure - tending more toward several strands which come and go, whereas I think the ones you mentioned are very tightly structured dramatically - which takes a lot of time. I don't know, you might disagree. I think it is a different animal though.

I think it is a different animal though.

No, it's definitely a tree.

Oh NMott - what has Griff unleashed!

How about:

(Singing): I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay, I sit in trees and wait all day?

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Err the questionmark was for the how about? Oh help!

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Or plain creepy.

"Can you guess what I'm wearing?"

Yep (as far as I know) US comedy is worked on in a room by huge teams of writers, with the script projected onto the wall page by page while everyone picks the jokes apart. I assume that an initial script (or at least an outline) is developed by one or two people before this stage, but I don't know. I've just bought a couple of US books on sitcom writing so maybe I'll find out.

(As far as I know the only UK sitcom which is done in this fashion is My Family. This show is obviously beneath contempt and unworthy of further discussion.)

It hadn't occurred to me that the longer runs of US sitcoms would make them impossible to do with just two writers, yes that makes perfect sense.

Then again, you have shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm which are very much more "auteur" written, and large sections of it are improvised, presumably under the strict guidance of Larry David.

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Frasier is pure genius.

No, it's definitely a tree.

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Yes Ashlinn I think some kind of environmental / tree surgeony kind of joke would work well!

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"And that, Mr.Baggins, is how we deal with Ents."

It was interesting to watch the behind the scenes programme about the Vicar of Dibley, and how the writers would change things right up until the last minute, and re-write/re-shoot if they thought the audience didn't get it.

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I love Fraiser:

Niles: "Her lips said 'No', but her eyes said 'Read my lips.'"