When I first started writing, I was living in England and I had that uniquely English sense of sarcasm, which has definitely seemed to have left me. I am a naturalized American and my sensibility has become far more American.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As a former writer for the 'National Lampoon,' I've probably contributed to the sea of sarcasm in which we live.
I think at its best the American sense of humor is the same as the British sense of humor at its best, which is to be wry and ironic and self deprecating.
I always thought the biggest failing of Americans was their lack of irony. They are very serious there! Naturally, there are exceptions... the Jewish, Italian, and Irish humor of the East Coast.
Sarcasm is weird. Even not in acting, in life I feel like 'sarcastic' is a word that people use to describe me sometimes so when I meet someone, it's almost like they feel like they have to also be sarcastic, but it can sometimes just come off as mean if it's not used in the right way.
I speak pretty fluent American, though I do so with a strong British accent, and I love America: The scale and the variety of it are astonishing to someone not born there, and I'm convinced that its energy and generosity have somehow rubbed off on me and affected my writing. For the better.
My humour and my work ethic definitely come from my Scottish side, and I have to say the sense of humour doesn't really translate when I'm in America.
I have no idea what a British sensibility or a British sense of humor is. I have no concept of what that is. I have no concept of what American sensibility is. I was born in Great Britain, but I was only there for six months, and we moved to Belgium, where I grew up.
Sarcasm doesn't translate in print at all.
Sometimes Americans don't quite get my sense of humor. My good ol' British sarcasm seems to go over their heads.
I grew up in an environment of jokes and sarcasm and puns. I talk that way, so I write that way.