British humor, let alone culture, gets more difficult to define the closer you look at it. At first glance, everything seems to be clear-cut: the Queen, the Victorian era, rading P. G. Wodehouse's books, looking posh, sounding posh, pip-pip, cheerio, drinking tea and eating crumpets, liking ships (and having lots of them!), and the Beatles to name a few iconic images. You can probably picture these without much effort.

But once you start thinking about it, British culture becomes harder to define precisely. And naming a few examples of what’s overwhelmingly British doesn’t get to the essence of what makes British humor, well, British.

I wanted to get a better handle on the link between humor and culture, so I reached out to comedian Ariane who’s working on a number of witty projects. Who better to talk about what makes people laugh than a British comedian who knows what the entire thing is all about?

Professional comedian Ariane told Bored Panda that humor plays a “huge role” in British culture. And this isn’t bound to change anytime soon. “I think it is inherently witty and quirky but coupled with a huge dose of irony and self-consciousness,” she noted that British wit often has a dollop of self-deprecation mixed into it.

According to Ariane one of the best things that sum up the essence of British humor is the Very British Problems book series that also has a Twitter account. “It's sarcastic, petty, ridiculous, embarrassed, self-conscious, and underpinned with the knowledge and awareness of how silly Brits are,” the comedian said.

I also talked to Ariane about the impact that British soft power, films, and media have globally. In her opinion, the way that British culture is characterized all around the world is slightly inaccurate and doesn’t represent the reality of being a Brit.

They’re not all as glamorous as the stars you’re used to seeing on your TV screens (though I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that all brits have a secret use-in-an-emergency top hat and monocle kit; pity I haven’t been able to prove it yet).

“When people think of us, they think of the Royal Family, iconic images like London buses and phone boxes, afternoon tea, period dramas, and posh people—like Hugh Grant in Richard Curtis films!” Ariane explained how the world tends to think when it thinks of the UK.

“They see us as charming and antiquated and think we're adorable. Spoiler: we're not really like this! Which they'll find out if they ever visit Britain, but I guess most people never do, so we remain cute and posh in their imaginations,” she said.

This proves that even a lack of travel can have its upsides, namely, maintaining the illusion that all brits are as charismatic and gorgeous as the delightful Mr. Grant.