“America is Too Big to Know Itself” | Hugh Laurie on Working in the US vs UK | Edinburgh TV Festival
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 янв 2021
- Award-winning actor, director, singer, musician, screenwriter and author, Hugh Laurie CBE received the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Outstanding Achievement Award at the prestigious 2019 TV Awards, and discussed House, working in the US versus the UK, and why it’s so difficult to make dramas about suicide.
Subscribe for more: bit.ly/EdFestSub
Find out more here: bit.ly/1SiJFQb
#HughLaurie #Roadkill #EdTVFest 
Развлечения
My favorite House episode was when Hugh Laurie had to play an American attempting a British accent. Comedy gold.
My favorite episode was when House burst into the surgery room and said: "It's Houseing time!" - and then proceeded to Gregory all over the room.
@@VG-fk6nk Thanks for making me hate myself after reading and laughing to this...
I housed so hard that time he said that thing
Like how Dominic West faked a fake British accent in one episode of The Wire:
ruclips.net/video/XBL2Wq5YjSw/видео.html
@@VG-fk6nk Don't get this lame shit. Different generations I guess?
I love that Laurie is sharp enough to see the presenter trying to lodge insults about Americans in nearly every question she asks. Not only does he not bite, he genuinely shows admiration. One of my favs of all time.
I'm from the Midwest (american), and I can say confidently that if you were to play every clip of Hugh from House for me and my peers, nobody would ever be able to guess that he is from the UK.
im from the uk love House M.D. but never in a million years did i think he was from the uk I mean i know he lived in the uk but damn its crazy to think about idk im speechless
@@fabian09332
You need to see Blackadder then.
@@fabian09332 You’re from the UK but you didn’t know any of the many things Hugh Laurie had done on British TV prior to House?
After watching the series about 10 or 12 times through, I found one word in one episode that he pronounces British. That's the only fault I could ever find. A phenomenal achievement.
@@johnp515 no offence to amyone but Im 20 and also from a non British family so the chances of me watching British tv of that caliber was to say the least unlikely, I saw a documentary about the shows he was on, I believe the only reasom that came on my radar was the belief him being an American actor who happen to come to the uk, that being my perspective since i had not watch it. Kinda of funny a documentary would lack that information 🤔.
My daughter was in 8th grade when she started watching Dr House and from then on she decided to be a doctor and amazingly she now is in medical school!! You inspired so many!
That’s cool hope she is enjoying it
She should write him when she graduates. 😊
I'm really pleased for you and her.
Good parenting and good TV role models.
Wishing you all the best.
In a 10 minute sound bite Hugh displayed an incredible range of awareness. From self awareness to societal awareness and much in between. A beautiful mind indeed.
You can see why Stephen Fry admires him so much.
He's a good guy
He went really over board with the contribution that his role in the TV show and the TV show itself has brought to the world. Actors, celebrities and the like don't actually contribute to the world as much as say a social worker does (In my humble opinion) and yet they are paid enormously well and are really full of themselves.
If House were made today, he would be shot in the head? What does that even mean? Societal awareness my ass. Like... House was an opiate-addicted actual murderer. That's not some new woke-based objection. People have always not wanted their doctors to be high on vicodin lololol
These people aren't being discriminated against and 'cancelled'. They're just not used to hearing what we say about them, and are having an ego reaction because they still don't think we should be able to talk to them how we like.
Dumb.
The comments about British accents were absolutely spot on, I moved to Australia decades ago and many people here seem to be tone deaf to that kind of thing.
My husband is from Scotland and when he moved to the states in 1998 he said to me Americans don’t realize how big of a country it is. Very interesting hearing Hugh basically say the same thing.
And north of the 49th parallel (canada) is icy wasteland!
No one realizes how big America is. Americans because it's normal to them and the rest of the world because media makes the country seem small. I lived in the Midwest. A 5 hour drive for a weekend visit is confusing to people who just don't get America's size
@@dwightropp3014 Americans are insulated from the outside world. The comment I addressed is Americans have no idea how big America is ... I added they don't know how big America is AND they "think" north of the 49th Parallel (the 49th Parallel is what divides America from Canada) is nothing but frozen waiste land!
@@haroldsandahl6408 He's talking more about the distance's effects on customs and lifestyles. Like with the accents. Have a southerner drive around in midwestern winter and watch them drive into a ditch. Likee clockwork.
Yes sometimes being here in the western part of the US I feel closer culturally to Mexico than I do to the east coast. The east cost cities feel more foreign to me than when I travel to Puerto Vallarta or Cancun.
as a brit i always found it bizarre when i was young that many americans didn’t have passports, but this sums it up very well, such a broad and diverse country, you’d never need to leave to experience some of the most beautiful aspects of geography in the world
@@DontBurnTheAmericanFlag no it doesn’t, don’t lie. Our media makes ‘us’ afraid of our neighbors terry might be a gang rapist todd might be a nazi
Our media brainwashes people into hating the other tribe, be it race, sex, gender, or politics
Our media brainwashes us into buying shit we don’t need so bezos can get another yatch
Europe has much more interesting cities and cultures, but we have the best nature by far! Also yes, a New Yorker (like myself) flying to Florida for the weekend is basically like traveling abroad lol
@@koschmx never but I've heard good things!
@@koschmx mizzy has done his damage
@@kevinmccabe7263 europe has a disgusng histry
europ started two worldwars and muderd more than 50 million people
you know who hitler was? a european
you know who stalin was?a european
you know who mussolini was? a european
european histry is the most disgusng by far
As a lifelong American, I can say that his American accent is better than mine. I was shocked to learn he was brittish. House was 100% believable.
I was too. It blew my mind.
Same here!
House felt so real it was a bit jarring to hear his British accent
It's not possible for a native person to have a bad accent, it's yours. You may be confusing dialect with language. He does speak English better than most people.
Americans don’t have an accent. Everyone else does.
I am a disabled veteran ( USMC ) after a few back surgeries I ended up with having to use a Cain that for some reason I was really embarrassed about. My wife had discovered the show house around season 4 of the show and introduced me to it. I have a similar sense of humor as house so quickly feel in love with show. I found a carbon fiber Cain with flames and off I went with a completely new attitude being disabled and it honestly helped me through a dark spot in my life… I personally believe that no one could play House better than Hugh Laurie did… ❤
Regardless of country 🇬🇧🇺🇸I thank you for your service
1:40 he’s totally underselling how brilliant his accent was, i grew up Loving house one of the biggest shocks of my life was finding out house was English like years later
Same
I just found out right now. lol
+1; When I originally found out he wasn't American, I admit, I was totally fooled.
I spent quite a bit of time in the UK in the early '80s and every time I saw/heard someone attempt an American accent, it was _soooo_ obvious (and bad...). Two examples come to mind-- Griff Rhys Jones on Not The Nine O'clock News, playing John McEnroe ("Morning, my parents!...") and Kenny Everett, doing numerous characters, all obvious and shitty.
It's as though the following generation saw all that and decided to do it right... There's more actors these days who slip in and out of perfect accents than I can count... Maybe all this is anecdotal but it sure seems like a major shift from back then...
@@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG Do you think for even ONE SECOND that the extremely agile and witty Griff Rhys Jones EVER did ANYTHING in his work that was not deliberate?
Are you literally that challenged as a thinker?.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 Take a deep breath there, fella... Just an observation...
For a time at Cambridge University, the student drama troupe included Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. Must have been amazing.
Yes, and Emma likely has the highest profile of the three. But what are the chances they would be all together in the same group?
Then you might enjoy"Peter`s Friends"
@@dwightropp3014 I don’t know about that. Hugh was the biggest name in TV during house. And Stephen is a national treasure. I think if you asked Americans they’d say Hugh. If you asked British they’d say Stephen
@@reaver4149 -- Well, perhaps in TV in the UK, though I found that Emma did just as well in TV there, too, but I was mainly referring to movies, which carry a higher profile and esteem internationally, I do believe. Here is a breakdown of the major awards (and noms) among the three (all for acting unless noted otherwise)...
EMMA THOMPSON (‘70’ award Wins & 137 noms in total, all told)...
- “4” Oscar ‘Movie’ nominations/”2” WINS (one for acting, one for writing).
- “9” Golden Globe ‘Movie’ noms/”2” WINS; one ‘TV’ nom.
- “8” BAFTA (Brit) ‘Movie’ noms/”2” WINS and “2” 'TV' WINS.
- “4” Brit-Indy-Film noms/”1” WIN.
HUGH LAURIE (‘24’ Wins & 61 noms in total)...
- No Oscar noms.
- “7” GG ‘TV’ noms/“3” WINS.
- “9” Emmy ‘TV’ noms (no wins).
- “1” Brit-Indy-Film WIN.
STEPHEN FRY (‘11’ Wins & 20 noms in total)...
- No Oscar noms.
- “1” GG ‘Movie’ nom (no win).
- “7” BAFTA (Brit) ‘TV’ noms (no wins).
- “1” Brit-Indy-Film nom (no win).
Stephen never really managed to break into the US, whether through choice or whatever, in the way that Hugh has.
I have nothing but admiration for Hugh Laurie who is modest but immensely accomplished - he and Stephen Fry represent the best of their generation in intellect and consistent quality of work.
Yes, and we can likely admit Rowan Atkinson into that echelon, too.
@@dwightropp3014 I would somewhat agree, but as a distinct non-fan of Mr Bean and the Johnny English movies I would have to say that the consistency of Rowan's work is not so great as the others - but that's just my opinion.
@@alanmusicman3385 - I see, but I have to say that I feel he is just as brilliant as them, without a doubt.
@@alanmusicman3385 I love Black Adder so much I can forgive him Mr. Bean.
Stephen Fry was talking* with Craig Ferguson about having a home in the US. Being in America he always had the feeling he is “coming home”
I still freak out when I see Bertie Wooster diagnosing people
I feel like he'd have had to consult Jeeves for at least a few of his patients.
@@luannmaute1155 Or Edmund.
No other show dealt with opioid addiction like House, a truly great show made great by Hugh Laurie and some excellent writing and supporting cast. Everything he touches is better for it.
The struggle of being an intelligent person in a very stupid world is also beautifully portrayed.
I started rewatching it and forgot just how much the opioids are intertwined with the character. I’m basically him right now, except switch Vicodin for Percocet and lack being a medical genius
I never made it through an entire episode.
House reboot!!
@@snicksabea It doesn't need a reboot. It's perfectly watchable as is.
Obviously Laurie "gets" us in the US -- his accent reflects his deep understanding. His comment on Americans but up and working at 5 am is spot on. Many Europeans think they understand the US but Laurie actually seems to understand.
He is trying to be polite, unlike the rest of Europeans.
@@randomdude8202 yes, like you who knows what all Europeans think about the USA.
@@GrandTerr Not all, just the ones who know what they are talking about. Unlike you, pal.
:D i'ts your way of life. It's horrible, but you want to live it. :D Ameeericaa. :D
@Bradford content I think he's referring to his American accent. And there is something to that. If he's understand the place so well that Americans don't even realize he isn't one of them...
As an American, I have three things to say about this video:
1) Hugh Laurie’s American accent is just about flawless.
2) The comment about America being too big to know itself is very interesting. I have often told people from other countries visiting the USA that there is no such thing as a typical American; the country is just too big and diverse.
3) Mr. Laurie’s comment about a drama addressing mental health issues makes me think of MASH, a comedy-drama from the 1970’s that takes place in an American Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. A recurring character on this show was a psychiatrist named Dr. Freedman (Alan Arbus) who occasionally shows up to address a mental health crisis brought about by the trauma of war. The episodes in which Dr. Freedman appeared were among the best in the series…..
It's big and diverse, yet every person needs a label. That's what I've noticed as a Brit living in the U.S.
@@cornishpasty4344 A label? Such as?
@@saberswordsmen1 They often come off as very flat and monotone. Truth is there is a lot of nuance to the various 3 dozen or so American accents. It's true, you can only see the cracks once you know. Another british actor with perfect American accents is Gary Oldman. Also, Daniel Day Lewis can even do convincing regional American accents. When he did Lincoln he sounded perfectly Midwestern. When he did Gangs of New York he had a nasally NYC thing going on...maybe if I was from working class NYC I'd be less impressed.
British actors affecting American accents tend to get caught by specific words, such as yogurt (which they pronounce as “yaw-gurt”) and anything (“an-a-thing”).
@@aaronwells6608I would guess that he means identifying yourself as being part of a group e.g. hipsters or something
I once knew a barmaid who was born and raised in Wimbledon by Glaswegian parents. Her accent was an adventure.
😂
He is absolutely correct. I am from Ireland, I have lived in the US for 18 yrs.
America is way too big to know itself.
It's not right or wrong, but it just true.
Great interview. Grew up watching Fry and Laurie. Have always loved Hugh Laurie.
It does have one benefit: one can vacation to an (to you) exotic local without ever having to actually leave the country and due to its sheer size and diversity, you always get the chance to meet new interesting people that are from completely different (regional sub)cultures in most places that just happen to also be your fellow Americans majority of the time.
As a Canadian, I'd add most people don't realize that America really is North America. Especially with so many immigrants from Mexico/central America. The left wants to see hispanics as victims while the far right wants to see them as invaders. In reality North America is a continuous culture. Miami is an extension of Cuba, Toronto has a massive Carribean connection, Montreal and Haiti are siblings, Texas and Northern Mexico are kissing cousins. It's shocking how little attention North America gets as a continent in many ways which compares to Europe. The media treats America has a country divided up between hicks, preachy liberals and oppressed minorities. In reality North America is a very unitied and diverse continent, there are no cultural borders in the way people imagine it to be the case. I remember when a Mexican first tried to convince me he was a North American, when I was like nah brah you're clearly central American. However over time I learned that it really is a diverse continent where borders really don't mean too much. If you spend time in Toronto Jamaica really is just the next country over. You can go to central Florida and it's nothing but white boomer Canadians, yet you go 3 hours down the road and you're basically in Cuba/Miami.
Yeah, distance from LA to NYC is 4000 kilometers. Moscow to Lisbon is just 500 kilometers longer.
@@brandonclark435 I think I measured London to Baku on Google Earth once, and it came out to roughly the same distance as LA to NYC. The difference is that it's not too uncommon to move around the country (my grandparents grew up in the Midwest, but my parents grew up in the Los Angeles and western Washington areas and I grew up in Oregon), and I think most of us who had that sort of experience have an individualized cocktail of regional accents.
I've lived in Florida, Texas, California, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona, and Indiana
Everyone is the same and nobody can agree on how to talk.
One of the most remarkable things I’ve seen was Hugh Laurie’s screen test for House. You can probably find it somewhere here. Someone out of the shot said “action!” And Laurie BECAME House - before uttering a single word. It gave me new respect for acting and for Hugh Laurie in particular.
He was ill with the flu or something similar when he recorded that audition too.
I heard that when he was giving his first audtion, a passing producer saw it and said "see, this is what we need, a good American actor, instead of all those foreigners".
"Too big to know itself." That's one of the best descriptions of my country I've ever heard.
Parents today are so worried about keeping their children, particularly their daughters, "safe" that they don't realize that loneliness and isolation and idleness/stagnation are the greatest dangers there are.
Whoever loves Hugh and has only ever seen him from house, watch him in ' a bit of Fry and Laurie ' and truly appreciate his range as an actor .... Enjoy
This is how you depict a charming, perceptive, intelligent character.
You hire an actor naturally possessing all such treats in outstanding quantity.
Im an American and your flawless and consistent accent had ME convinced that you were an American. Well done ol chap!
American here - I hadn't heard of Hugh Laurie before House and was genuinely surprised the first time I heard him speaking in his normal accent.
Hugh Laurie was on the show "Black Adder" with Rowan Atkinson. I so much wanted for Laurie as "House" to have an episode in which he gets into trouble for arranging for a visiting surgeon from England, played by Atkinson in his Mr. Bean character. The show could be about House trying to cover for Dr. Bean's errors and explaining that it wasn't really a blunder to invite him -- that the English doctor really is a brilliant surgeon.
Dr. House goes through a list of shows to watch on his TV and skims through "Blackadder" :) A nice easter egg.
His portrayal of Bertie Wooster was as good as it gets!
i mean that's funny from a blackadder perspective but would enormously devalue house
That would indeed be funny but Rowan has quite a range himself and could surely play any dramatic character the writers came up with.
@@gbeachy2010 Maybe a Maigret crossover.
My cousin Susan was the caterer for the show House. She spoke highly of Hugh, said he was a true gentleman. It was a great show 👏. I always thought he was American until watching this!
The funny thing is this show has actually saved lives. Since it’s pretty solidly based in real medical science, some real life doctors have watched the show and been able to diagnose and treat patients based on remembering symptoms and diagnostic cues that the program showcased. House was a very powerful cultural phenomenon that is still relevant to this day, and in my opinion the best medical drama ever made.
One of the UK's biggest brains with an acting ability that dwarfs most of us lesser mortals. Thanks for all you've done Hugh! Your performances in Black Adder and Dr House were all absolutely brilliant.
It is impressive but you don't need to Dick ride
Why do folk like you feel this need to slaver over people?
Oh, my, love me some Blackadder!!
He puts on makeup and pretends to be someone else….. that’s immortal?
Brilliant musician, and athlete (rowing) - Steven Fry rightly pointed out how irritatingly great Hugh Laurie is :)
Went for training just outside Chicago one summer. A French coworker was over for the same session. The Thursday before Labor Day, he pulls up in a Mustang convertible. Everyone asks what he's up to....."Going to Vegas!". Someone pulls out early Google maps on a BlackBerry Perl to show him the trip...20hrs driving at 85mph. He thought he could spend a long weekend in Vegas.....after a short road trip....from Chicago. He was utterly dumbfounded to find out the Chicago was as close to Vegas as Paris is to Moscow.
"It's important to stand up for truth over sentiment, over feeling." Incredibly apt for today's world where emotions reign supreme.
so true, but then you get the ultra conservatives who don't give a shit about facts
Sentiment and emotion, while one is born of the other, are fundamentally different in their functions... Sentiment is emotional expression by fiat, divorced from reality and dishonest. Emotion it's self is simply the consequence of subjective experience/reflection. No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. British popular culture is steeped in politeness/sentiment, he's not talking about the American hyper-sensitivity/victomhood issue. Englishman are the most polite savages you'll ever meet. They just can't decide if they hate that fact or are proud of it.
Yeah. Republicans reign Supreme in yankland
Only issue with that is tons of people treat their own sentiments like truths
When I first started to watch House MD, I took for granted that Laurie is American. When I learned he isn't, I was super-impressed with how he mastered the accent. 'Hose M.D.' was a great show, especially the early seasons.
HOUSE was a wonderful show and Hugh Laurie a great actor.
Yes
Rachel Green disagrees
It got a bit relentless
@@hagestad Who???
Here here!
I'm impressed he's heard of Oregon. We get overlooked a lot.
How do you behave, what do you eat and how do you dress?
Hes lived in California filming tv shows and movies for years. I'd be shocked if he didn't know Oregon, a bordering state. Rhode island or new Hampshire would be more impressive.
I'm impressed that he pronounces it correctly, when so many Americans don't.
"Nobody on their deathbed ever said 'I wish I had spent more time at the office' " US Senator Paul Tsongus.
This guy is not only an incredibly excellent actor... he is also a very lucid intellectual (what he says at 6:00 is golden) and probably a wonderful human being (and this gives you a little faith in humanity)
When you see how his facial expressions, his mouth movements, etc. work naturally, you see what a great actor he was in House.
Yeah he’s nothing like House in real life. Makes it very plainly clear how much even the tiniest movement and behavior he did with the character was very well considered to deliver such a memorable performance for a near decade.
It's utterly bizarre to me that dramas about suicide are not allowed because it's "imitable behavior" and yet we have no such strictures on dramas about MURDER. Think about that for a minute. It's perfectly alright to watch a movie or a show that shows you all the details about how to kill ANYONE ELSE, but not yourself. What does that tell you about our society? How utterly depraved and twisted is this culture that that is even an imaginable circumstance, let alone a fact so ordinary that nobody ever even thinks about it?
Because of the prevalence of Suicide over Murder but also how impressionable a lot of us are to it.
If you are on the edge of Murdering someone watching someone do it in a film probably won't change it that much
If you are feeling actively suicidal it's much easier to get tipped over the top
The evangelicals never whine about the absurd levels of ultra-violence in films and in TV series. But sex? That's a line we can't cross. Schmucks.
@@Selendeki Conservatives are kinda strange. The more guns the better but the less information about sex or the more demonizing sex the better. Thats childs behavior cos its shows no responsibility.
@@Selendeki Arent conservatives the descendats of those medival puritans who couldnt have their way in Europe so they went to America?
The world grew up but they somehow didnt.
Now the way the US-system should work is this. Its like a startup company. There is a guy with a crazy new idea and there is the venture capitalist with the experience in the business and the money.
The conservatives should be the rational guy and liberals the crazy one. But they dsont want to work together and there is no 3rd central party with best of both worlds.
So what do you think will happen?
@@oxybenzol9254 you're not that far off... the goal of the Puritans 400 years ago was to come to the New World and establish a theocracy of sorts. Of course by the time we actually forged a country in 1776 most of those Puritans had died off, but the puritanical culture it was built on remains to this day.
He’s absolutely right about us Americans not having a great ear for accents. We can usually get the general region the accent is from (South, East Coast, Midwest, etc.) but it’s very hard to pinpoint it to a specific area a lot of the time unless you live there. Hollywood being in California also kind of standardizes a lot of our pronunciation and vocabulary.
The US is a couple dozen countries pretending to be one country lol (even in individual states there's a lot of division)
I live in South Carolina. We're a smaller state, and we have several dialects depending on where we live in the state. I'm from Pendleton in the Upstate, and when I went to Clemson, I met students from such places as Orangeburg and Charleston, who speak differently from the way I do. I loved that.
@@carlablair9898Pennsylvania is like that too, even just across certain county lines. It's interesting and kind of strange how different they can vary even across short county lines (and not just the more stereotypical Philly accents either).
House actually did deal with a suicide in one episode. One of the main doctors was found in his home. I don't know much about the subject, but I thought the show handled the issue pretty respectfully.
I think that's when Kal Penn left the show tp go work in Obama's cabinet.
As I recall, what made that episode particularly striking was how out of the blue the suicide seemed. It conveyed the sense of bewilderment that people often feel in the aftermath of the self-murder of someone who had successfully masked their anguish.
Imagine working so hard you forget to enjoy life and spend time with friends family all through your life….not just when you retire and die by the time you’re 70
That's more a baby boomer mindset. Gen Z doesn't think that way at all, much more a "get rich quick" mindset now
Wow. You nailed it. I’m retired now but remember choosing sleep over food because I was soo done after work. When I had children I took a nap after work before starting dinner. It was an exhausting lifestyle. As for those super achievers that could keep up - they were devoid of comfortable friendships. Americans are driven and it isn’t healthy for relationships of any kind. No wonder people think Americans are a Me, Me, Me kind of people. They really aren’t but they can’t seem to get off the merry go ‘round. Quite inhuman and sad.
It's quite sad to hear.
There is that "hard yakka" ethic here in Australia but there is nobody I work with who would dream of calling me before 7AM or after 5PM..
If it's anything that really can't wait, the call would always start with an apology for calling me late.
I think it's partly materialism and advertisers who push the idea you have to have all of the latest things. A man named Philip Slater who wrote that americans feel deprived if they don't have the latest consumer object. Overconsumption.
That work ethic comes from the realization that if want to do something difficult, big, important, or all three at once, you have to work hard. The reason the US is do dominant is because Americans are the most productive people on the planet. We don't want to live la vita dolce, we want to go to the moon, Mars, and do it while inventing whole other industries.
@@FrankDyke US productivity figures do not stick out from your so-called 'dolce vita' economies. Working long hours does not equate to high productivity. Quality of life has a huge impact on productivity; exploitation is just a different route to achieve the same but it doesn't have to be.
@@susanboswell4117 This is why so many millionaires try to warn us that eventually your property ends up owning you. Materialism compounded by more and more wealth is a never-ending trap, for which you don't have to be rich in order to understand.
1:45 The first time I heard Hugh’s real voice (after watching the entire series at that) I was SHOCKED. I didn’t know he was actually British. He did an amazing generalized American accent, he didn’t fall into the Transatlantic accent trap when taking on the perfecting his character. He went for a more rugged, very slightly northeastern approach (which fits the location of the show). Perhaps one of the greatest talents of our time.
Love this man. He is such a capable performer and brilliant thinker.
I was amazed at the difference in his performances between Blackadder and House. Though even with House, his comedic timing sometimes does shine through.
Let's not forget that the accent helps A LOT in regards to the "brilliant thinking" bit.
In interviews Hugh always makes me think. This time when he said that Americans are very hard workers and it blew his mind. Being from Germany that is considered ruly, the amount Americans work is great yet mind-blowing given America's wealth. The more incomprehensible the drive to work so hard if you compare America's life expectancy with less wealthy countries. Why? There you go Hugh, I'm thinking again.
reminds me of Sir Alec Guiness in his ability to take on different personas.
@@AimingAtYou That's true. Also, in terms of talking trash the British accent helps a lot. I can tell the royal undertone is infuriating being at the receiving 😠 lol..
Let's just get this straight, those of us in America who are not workaholics are NOT keen on waking up early and working all day.
But it's the extroverts, the go-getters, the pains in the ass, that everyone sees and hear from. The rest of us sane people are just in the background, doing our thing.
We do have the highest rate of not taking vacations in the Western world
There's probably some peer pressure to do these things. I know in London, working for certain businesses there's very much that pressure. Then you burn out and have health problems and probably most who do it still don't get rich :-D. I say that as one who probably did burnout, looking back at it, and am suffering the problems of that years later.
@@miket2120 Without a doubt.
@@miket2120 That's not our fault. Blame our employers.
I know it's a bit cliché, but still my favourite on-screen Hugh Laurie moment was the last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth.
In quick succession he had both one of the funniest lines ever, and also one of the most heartfelt. When they're getting ready to go over the top and he says _"I'm... scared, Sir"_ Always hits me right in the feels. And then right after he holds up that little officers baton and says _"I wouldn't want to face a German machine gun without this!"_ which always makes me laugh.
For me that is one of the finest TV comedy show scripts ever written. That episode is a masterpiece.
He's right. America is enormous. I get flack for barely leaving the country, but I've covered more ground just exploring the Rocky Mountains and the southwest deserts than any wanna be Instagram model touring Europe, Cabo, or Malaysia. It's insane how big and geologically diverse the US is, and I haven't even made it to the west coast.
Yea that ain’t true
I worked a factory job in the US. My normal schedule was 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, with a minimum 3 expected 16 hour shifts taken, averaging over 80 hours a week. I was fired for not taking an additional 16 hours on my one day off because I wasn't "a team player".
America is not just "hard working". In America, you lose your job if you don't work yourself to death.
I believe you
@@helenswan705 I had the same experience but found that in this country and system I could break out of it and get control of my own life. So I took what I’d learned and started my own business. Yes, it was hard but rewarding. Get outa there. Night school. Vo-Tech. Community college. Opportunity is all around. Look for one you like and grab it. Just do it.
>America is not just "hard working". In America, you lose your job if you don't work yourself to death.
I disagree a bit. It's seems more dependent on the type of job you have I assume.
In retail you have to really work hard to get fired.
I've been working some form of retail for a decade and its wild how much people get away with before any disciplinary action is taken. It's pretty damn common for someone to just not show up 4 times a month and no one seems to care, like just last week we had 4 people just decide to not show up (3 no call, no shows and one call off though he later told me he just didn't wanna work that day and went clubbing.)
They in general don't expect much and you have relative freedom to mess with your schedule, the only thing that tends to not fly is if you are integral to a Saturday shift and tell them "I can't work Saturdays anymore" or if you want more then 35 hours a week.
Hugh Laurie is a tremendous intellect and phenomenal actor
He’s so right about Americans not knowing other American accents. I remember visiting California and someone asked me if I was from Texas. I’m from the border of Ohio and Kentucky. The difference between an Appalachian accent and a Texas accent (which is NOT the same as a southern accent) is vast. Or, it is to someone who has either, lol.
Hugh Laurie is a legend ...👍👍👍👍
Yep .........., glad I finally learned his name haha.
I moved to America and this is truly the country where you can be anything you want. I achieved more in this country in a few years than the decades I spent elsewhere. The frenetic pace and never ending work hours are the reason why I’m leaving.
Sadly, the “be anything you want be” America no longer exists for most Americans. Only people with exceptional talent, money and connections can do so. And increasingly the exceptionally talented without money and connections are losing out. And then there’s everyone else. They are screwed regardless of hard work.
@@RobespierreThePoof mainly because `helping others` and education doesn`t really(with exceptions) produce what we need to survive and thrive as a society. food and cash. which to some degree is understandable, the vest have been hellbent on education for decades and decades and we are losing out to asia partially because of it. education does not create a product to export
@@RobespierreThePoof "The American system of the 1950s remains one that the whole world can and should admire. But they should also be asking why America hasn't been able to keep it"
the US was like asia is now back then. full of production jobs... and people were willing to pay high taxes for the common good
Cambridge University delivered another comedy genius! This man made me laugh more during the 80s and 90s than anyone else alive. Thank you good sir!
Was it really the university? I read some of the autobiographies of Stephen Fry and he attended one lecture during his undergraduate degree, not sure Cambridge can be credited apart from that it brought them all together to do skits.
@@holliswilliams8426 I meant it in the sense that it just so happens that many great comedians went to Cambridge, eg Eric Idle, Peter Cook, John Cleese, Emma Thompson and many more. I'm sure they would have been just as fantastic comedians without their Cambridge experience! But as you say, it did bring them together...
As an American that loved the show, I thought he was an American until the goodbye extra bits at the end, "He's a Brit!?". His accent was perfect.
"Truth over feeling" My God how accurate that was.
"someone have to speak up for truth over sentiment. Truth over feeling". Love it.
She has a gorgeous voice.
And she lets him speak, a very good hostess
Her name is Mariella Frostrup and she is very well regarded journalist and presenter. Probably just as well known in the UK as Hugh.
The drama "Six Feet Under" was largely about people bringing about their own deaths and gets at part of what Laurie is speaking about.
As the grandson of a Scottish immigrant
What Hugh said of us rings so true
Running a lorrie for the last 37 years
I consistently run into people that have never left the town which they reside. No desire for travel whatsoever. Something I'll always fail to understand. Kind of sad in all reality
I'll always remember my first time the UK about 20 years ago. I met an elderly man in a small town who said he'd never been more than 10 miles outside his town. I just thought that was sad lol
Travel is not about sights but people. People are more familiar at home. A deeper bond is forged with those you really know.
This is a quality interview. Wow! She's a good interviewer and he's a good conversationalist
No she isn’t. She constantly interrupted him and never let him finish a point
@@mattew0113 Yeah, I don't think she's good at all. Laurie just had really interesting, insightful things to say that make her banal questions seem good.
What a wonderful interview. Underestimate Hugh Laurie at your peril.
I worked ao hard for so long as a US truck driver that when I had a stroke and medicalled out 1.5 years ago it was a giddy relief. Still is. That's insane, honestly.
So sorry you had a stroke, but glad you've gotten some relief!
this sounds a sad story but I don't really understand it. say a bit more?
@@helenswan705 I'd imagine the sentiment is in the realms of when you're under so much constant pleasure, you're glad to have an out, no matter the form it takes. Most people don't think about it but truck driving is an incredibly stressful job, especially as a long-haul/over-the-road driver. The hours are extremely long, there's always someone breathing down your neck because you're expected to make a three-day drive in two or less, you're constantly looking out for the next idiot who's going to try screw up your day because they think a truck can stop on a dime when they pull in front of you or brake check you for the sake of it, you're away from home, away from your friends and family. And for those who don't go home nightly, you're always on the job: you've arrived at a company but they've got an hour of backlog (which always turns into 2, then 3) so you're waiting, still in your truck; you've done your allotted hours so it's time for lunch, you're still in your truck; you've finished your work day, done everything you possibly can and you're _still in your truck_. Even for a recluse, it's not always an easy life. And on top of it, the pay isn't all that great when your hours can tally up to being 14 several days in a week.
@@daggern15 I thank you for your reply. You sound sad like you have done this yourself. I totally understand truck driving is hard work. Also any other kind of driving for long hours. Here in Uk we have many people doing delivery driving and they are punished, they are pushed, it is not fair at all.Cos we want our next-days- dont we. I can only suggest that you get into a union, and get together. it's the only way to go.
The fact that he is able to so fully transform himself for a role is the mark of a fantastic actor.
Hugh has such a wealth of rich ideas and an equally rich vocabulary to articulate it. Fascinating man to listen to and one can see how he and Fry get on so well
It's mobility as well and not only size. People are born in one place and raised in another. They move around. They have parents from two different places. Accents are regional but there is more fluidity in them.
Strange tho, that you can tell somebody is black regardless of what part of the US they're from.
@@jdrancho1864 Not necessarily. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and black people there tend to sound the same as anyone else.
@@caulkins69 All three of them?
There are about 10 accents in the whole US- and 3 of them are variants on Mexican Spanish.
@@anonUK That is incorrect. In fact, there is an excellent series of videos about American accents on the WIRED RUclips channel. You should check it out.
I have watched the whole thing 3 times in the last 10 years and amazingly each time I see things in a different way from the first time I watched. Incredible acting that can never be matched.
You must have little to do with your life. The series had diminishing entertainment value over the years resulting in its cancelation. Thank goodness it was finally ditched in 2012, largely due to Hugh Laurie's bizarre unconvincing performance. His American accent was a contrived embarrassment. Proving once again that a genius in London will always be a bust in New York when chasing American money. The only reason the show lasted so long is that he was popular in the U.K and able to fool a British audience.
@@pip393 not one part of this comment makes sense 😂
@@analogpark8059 Nor contains a shred of truth
Even season 7 and 8? Oof.
Absolutely true. Every region is different, east coast, west coast, Midwest, southern states, the divide is definitely starting to take it’s toll.
The elegance and intellect this gentleman speaks with is truly remarkable. I could listen to him talk all day. 💗
As an American, I agree. We are a big country both metaphorically and literally. I have only been to 5 states and lived in only 2!
“It was a gilded cage.” That off the cuff metaphoric response to diminish the harshness of his description was so good. My brain got jealous the second I heard it. 4:58
When I moved from southern California to southern Oregon, it was an 850 mile drive. That is an adjacent state.
I think this holds true in particular with first-generation Americans whose parents came from abroad. You have the family and culture you were raised in; you can be raised in a region of America, but then travel a time zone away and feel the least in common with those around you despite being as American as everyone else.
True. I live now in Texas and tho I've lived across the States and around the world-- I always in TX feel like a 🐠 🐟 fish outta water. It's not the West-- no cowboys or cowboysm culture. It's not urbane and sophisticated but not down home either. They aren't brave in your face but rather passive and bent on a avoiding any deviation in thought or action. In short, it's the opposite of me.
What a fascinating interviewee and excellent interviewer. Rare!
I could listen to this man for hours
Americans not only loved him and his show but they showed a lot of love to his jazz-ian, if I may say so, album.
The answer is "yes." Many Americans were shocked to hear Laurie's accented voice for the first time.
unaccented voice. unaccented.
Absolutely. I knew Fry and Laurie but my husband had no idea he was British at the time he was doing House.
What an insight. The USA is too big to know itself. In Canada, being a much smaller population and economy, and more at risk of being the prey, we tend to be very aware of our surroundings. It's a national obsession being aware of our southern neighbour and I am constantly shocked at what is common knowledge to us, many people in the USA are not self-aware of. Also, Canadian politics is so boring it's hard not to watch news of theirs more. For those of you who have not been to the USA, there are far more sane people there than what their news suggests.
Brilliant and insightful conversation!
That was fascinating. Thank you.
"Truth over sentiment." Couldn't have better summed up our national illness. Cool to hear that diagnosis from someone like Laurie.
Love this fellow's talents and public personality. Only watched him years ago ...
Speaking as an American, I was intrigued by Laurie’s insight that America is a country too big to know itself. In MANY ways!!! Particularly in the moral dimension. On the other hand, Americans are often accused of being the most insular people on the planet, for precisely the same reason. We’re so big we have no pressing need to learn about anyone else. This lack of self-knowledge, combined with America’s energetic brio, is precisely why America has done so much good for the world, and simultaneously so much accidental damage,
Tocqueville touched on this in his travels and writings on the American Republic in "Democracy in America" (1835)
@@williamjones4716 Thanks. It’s been a long while since I read it. While I’m thinking about it over my morning coffee, Americans don’t know, or WANT to know, much about the darker parts of our history, and certainly not about the darker parts of human nature, which is why so many have fallen as willing victims to the cultish politics of the far right. We keep telling ourselves that it can’t happen here, which is the best way to ensure that it happens here. I’m sure Mr. Laurie would agree.
BS
@@user-ci7vu7eo9w Why?
Americans should not feel they don't have anything to learn from anyone else, but I don't blame them if they do feel that way, because it's not their fault. It's American politicians who take advantage of America's insularity and the idea of American exceptionalism who ignore the possibility of learning from other countries. The USA is a very young country compared to most European democracies, but if American politicians were to compare American society with most Western and Northern European ones, it would be deeply embarrassing and glaringly obvious they'd done nothing to actually deliver on their lies of the USA being the greatest country in the world.
Delightful conversation, thank you.
My wife had no idea that Hugh Laurie was English until I showed her some Blackadder. I laughed my butt off and she was absolutely gobsmacked.
This guy is so multi talented and intelligent, just not fair on the rest of us.
but he wears it well. Never puts anyone down, it is we who do that to ourselves
Oh my goodness, call me crazy but I had no idea he wasn't American!!! Hearing his accent now has me wide-eyed in shock!!! Wow, he nailed that role in more ways than I even realized!!! House was me and my dad's favourite show! I had no idea!!! It's like when I heard Idris' British accent for the first time after only seeing him in American films! Once again, mind blown!!!
If you'd like to see the roles he's most known for in the UK, check some clips of him from "Jeeves and Wooster" and "Blackadder" 😊
@@Charharr Thank you so much! I definitely would!
@Charharr91 hoe can you forget a bit of fry and Laurie
@@vanessalunn4838 first few seasons of Jeeves and Wooster are really good
@@holliswilliams8426 Thank you so much! I'm definitely interested!!!
I love Hugh. I discovered him in House and learned to love his work with Black Adder and the brilliant show A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
What wonderful conversation.
I was quite shocked to find out Dr. House was really from the UK. I used episodes with my ESL class of medical students in S. Korea. The show was just great!
Really??? The last Superman & two of the most recent Batmen were British.
@@mikespearwood3914 And Spider-man and Doctor Strange. It's a bit crazy really.
Eloquent, thoughtful. What a marvelous person.
You don't know how big this country is until you drive and fly coast to coast about 10 times...It's a beautiful country too...Every area unique and beautiful in its own way.
I remember watching the Emmys and HL won an award. I almost fell off my chair when he started his acceptance speech. I had no idea he was British. Well done, sir!
OMG😲😲 I thought he was American. Very skillful Actor!
I didn't know he was British until I saw him in an interview many years ago. His American accent is very convincing.
And the earth is not flat....
@@N269 But sarcasm falling flat is
I love Hugh. He's such a wonderful actor and comedian to watch. Fry and Laurie is still one of my favorite shows
i love this guy ! thanks for the shows and movies !
When I was younger the accents on the east coast would change every 15 to 40 miles.
Nowadays it seems not so much.
I’ve noticed the same thing about the South. The unique Southern accents are fading away in a lot of places. I’ve always attributed it to the ubiquity of flat Midwestern accents on TV.
Media has eve rd out our accents
The UK never understands why we don’t vacation more internationally. Well, like he said, we are huge. Even neighboring states are so different. One state is the size of one Western European country. We have two enormous mountain ranges, ocean side on three sides of white sande, brown sand, pebbled beaches, and rocky beaches, Florida with alligators and iguanas and the Keys islands, swamps, enormous lakes and rivers, giant deserts, badlands, forests, woods, snow skiing in the mountains, water skiing, vacation homes, RVing, Las Vegas, open prairies where you drive an hour without seeing a soul, cowboy ranching country (me), Niagara Falls, Yosemite park, etc. Only thing we dont have is jungles, rain Forrest’s, , Animals? Coyotes, squirrels, bison, moose, grizzly bears, brown bears, black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, wild boar, all sorts of poisonous snakes, wolves, lynx, reindeer, etc.
I think it's about exposing yourself to different cultures and ways of life rather than simply different geography and flora/fauna.
I think that's what the American who vacations purely within America may find lacking.
America is a wonderful and diverse country, but you aren't truly experiencing a different way of life just by going from Wyoming to Florida.
Is comment about knowing where TV shows take place reminds me of when we were watching Happy Valley, and my mum who used to live near Dewsbury, just kept pointing out all the places she'd been.
Perfect way of putting it