I think that he has fallen into a classic mistake by judging the 200+ million of us by the actions of the few he has personally met. Whether or not that judgment was even more slanted by his being on the left coast where PC seems to have more seized the minds of the people is another matter. I, for one, have had an appreciation of the British, American, and even the more bizzare German humors. Granted there hasn't been much in the US of late that rises above the level of the toilet water, but even 3yr olds eventually get tired of poopie jokes, maybe there is hope.
With my oh so useful (See the sarcasm, see it? we do have it.) English degree, I have experienced the literature of most nations, and each comes from a separate idoim, and it takes a special effort to understand one another on this level, I feel certain that humor would be no different. The writer has not grasped the basic concept of the US. That is that not one of us is like another, and we are durn proud of the fact we can't make heads or tails of each other, either. I think that is why when it comes time to tally what, if any, contribution the US makes to world humor, we need to look at the campy indivudualistic taste we have for the absurd. Think of the old route 66, what other country could you spend the afternoon driving from the natural caves, to the cement dinosaurs, and then spend the night in a tee-pee shaped hotel room. Did these people think that the world needed a 40 foot tall muffler man? No it just struck them. That is our humorous strength, the benelovent wacko down the street with the 30 windmills in his yard.
So, my fellow Americans, Celebrate your heritage, cast off the shackles of community rules that bind you to foreign views of the astetetic, and plant a plastic flamingo, weld some of your spares into a critter you like that will annoy your neighbors, or smear cement over some chicken wire and call it archeology. Then watch as people in the cars going by smile, like you know you do when you see it whipping by at 55.
MattP