The great schism

I remember seeing an interview with John Cleese where he said―and I have to paraphrase here―that what's funny isn't someone acting crazy. It's when you see someone else seeing that person act crazy. He said this in relation to Fawlty Towers, which exploited that principle to the hilt. 

There have been three American attempts to remake Fawlty Towers and they've all been miserable failures. Of course the original only ran a dozen episodes, so it's not like the US versions fall all that short on that front. But there's the question of how those episodes are remembered, and that's where the original is so far ahead.

And I think the problem is that the characters and concept don't translate from one side of the Atlantic to the other. America doesn't have the same sense of propriety, that silent, invisible straight man. If Americans see someone acting nuts we ignore it, confront them, or run. Stiff upper lip doesn't enter into it. It's notable that Connie Booth, Cleese's wife at the time, was from the US and still spoke in her native accent in real life. But she was cast as Polly, one of the less stuffy younger generation.