The funny thing is that each country has their own kind of humor. For me, I just love the crazy humor from the British. Recently, they are airing a rerun of the hitserie "Allo Allo", a British comedy about the second world war. It is written and directed by David Croft, the same guy behind "Are you being served?" and "Hi-de-hi".
I must say, that recently the humor is changing, even in England. I also love to watch "Two pints of beer and a pack of crisps". Compared to the humor from David Croft, this is much more direct and blunt. But as always also a bit focussed on everything "below the equator", like all British humor. Who doesn't remember the scene of Mr. Bean with his finger sticking out of his pants while greeting the queen?
Like I said, every country has his own sense of humor. The British have a rather subtle sense of humor, sometimes even a bit "dirty" and ambiguous (dubbelzinnig). The Dutch humor is more direct I think, and sometimes quite hard. The French must have a sense of humor too, but I can't think of anything, since I am not familiar with it. The American humor is quite visual, never "dirty" or ambiguous (there are exceptions). The Japanese have quite a sadistic sense of humor. The more it hurts, the harder the laughter. And the German? Do they have a sense of humor? Can't really think of a good German comedy or stand-up comedian.
Anyway, not only the humor depends on country, but also on the era. When you mention the names of Wim Sonneveld, Wim Kan, Toon Hermans, anyone can think of at least one scene of their show (sorry, couldn't find any good material of Toon Hermans). But their shows where always decent, never rude, sometimes a little on the edge (for those days I mean) when it comes to dirtiness. And still it's timeless, well, for me at least.
And remember the New Year's Eves. Every year first Wim Kan and later Seth Gaaikema looked back on the past year, politically. You were looking forward to it at the end of January already. And for politicians it was a great honor if you were mentioned in their shows. Maybe even some political decisions were made, just to get mentioned. But sttt, you didn't hear that from me!
In the '70 and '80 you get a new political shift from christian conservative to progressive left. And the humor went along with it. Freek de Jonge and Youp van 't Hek showed up, and started to ridicule everyone who didn't fit into their left-minded political image. So, down went the shares of the Ikea, and even Buckler (an alcohol-free beer brought on the market by Heineken) died a nameless death in the same year it was introduced.
You had to be afraid not to buy something or do something that was mentioned in their shows. Everyone tried not to live a middle-class life, or else you would fit the profile, ridiculed by earlier mentioned boys.
This left-winged comedy lasted for quite a while, and comedians came and went, all with the same messages, the same political correctness. It was like left had a monopoly on the humor.
Luckily, nowadays the left-winged comedians are becoming extinct. More and more comedians are just swinging from left to right, hitting on anybody and nobody in particular.
Yeah, even though the humor has changed over the past centuries, still it's an important aspect of life, and no matter what kind of humor you like, and what makes you roll on the floor, remember: "A day not laughed, is a day not lived!"
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