Why don't americans get british humour?

Having lived in Southampton England years ago, it seems to me that British are NOT in to slap stick comedy, which Americans are, and the Americans do not like the British sense of humor, which to me deals on word play (puns). Whenever I told a joke while in Southampton and the locals did not see the humor in my joke, I would tell them that it "lost something over the Atlantic" While drinking a pint at the frog and friget in Southampton, a bloat mentioned to me that Benny Hill, the first citizen of Southampton, was not that well liked in the UK, I know he is/was loved in America.