"Little Britain USA": The British are Coming, and They're Bringing the Gays With Them

David Walliams as Sebastian Love (Photo: Danny Feld/HBO)

Meanwhile, Sebastian Love, who has by now become Prime Minister of England (after lusting openly after his boss, played by Buffy's Anthony Stewart Head, in the original series) and has developed a heavy crush on the American President, a handsome, take-charge black man played by Henry Lennix. Marjorie Dawes, apparently having offended every last overweight person in the UK, has come here to head up a new FatFighters group, and Carol Beer, the least helpful woman ever, now works as a hospital admittance clerk.

We caught up with Lucas and Walliams over the summer at the Television Critics Association conference and asked them if there were special considerations they had to take into account in translating their unique brand of comedy for an American audience:

David Walliams: We generally followed our comedic instincts, but we enjoyed the opportunities to create new characters that we couldn’t have done in England, like we’ve got a character Ben Gordon who prides himself on being the eighth man on the moon. And this is something that has to be American because only America sends people to the moon. Or the cutesy Mom and daughter that say good night to each other in this cutesy way like, “I love you more than rainbows.”
Matt Lucas: “I love you more than chocolate milk.”
DW: “I love you more than bunny rabbits.”
ML: “I love you more than penises.”
DW: Yes, the daughter is always coming out with these rude things. And again, that’s just something that, I don’t know, people are not quite as cute as that in England. It definitely felt more American, somehow.
ML: Americans can embrace sentimentality a bit more. We’re a bit more cynical.

Photo: Danny Feld/HBO

That's not to say that Little Britain USA's humor isn't topped with a heavy dose of cynicism. Mark and Tom, the beefed-up bodybuilders, engage in flagrantly homoerotic behavior while bragging about how many women they've bedded, and when onlookers gape at the compromising positions they get themselves into they respond, "What are you, a faggot?" And when visiting Brits Lou and Andy get themselves into a spot of trouble with the law, police put out an APB for a black man, despite quite clearly having caught Andy's pasty face on camera.