Oh, come on: what is uniquely American

"But stand-up and its emphasis on self-deprecation and crossing red lines is uniquely American." Oh, come on. Enough of this quintessential American sport of self-praise, which De Tocqueville talked about. But this is not uniquely American at all: there are elements of that in Jewish Yiddish humor, and even in classical Arabic literature. Al-Hutay'ah, the classic Arab poet, wrote poems mocking his own mother, father, and...himself.