While Britain couldn't compete with the Hollywood blockbuster or its A-list salaries, we smiled smug in the knowledge that comic gold was ours and ours alone.

America could keep the millions they'd made out of John Candy, Steve Martin and Jim Carey, because British humour was sophisticated, subtle and therefore beyond the wit of our transatlantic cousins.

However, the oft repeated lament from those who fail to break the States that British comedy simply gets lost in translation is looking increasingly weak. Ricky Gervais has become a darling of the US chatshows, the American version of The Office scooped pretty much every award going, and now Life on Mars and The IT Crowd have become the latest homegrown shows to cross the divide, this week winning International Emmys for best drama and best comedy.

If the result surprised the shows' creators it was less of a shock for those who have long been perplexed by the irony argument.

"When people accuse Americans of lacking an ironic funny bone they seem to conveniently forget that it is the same country which produced The Simpsons, Seinfeld and before them M*A*S*H," says American comedy writer David Freedman. "Americans do get irony, but to them there's a time and a place for it. The time and place is in the evening, sitting down in front of the television.

"Where you get into trouble is dropping irony into an everyday conversation. In Britain you hear it all the time, but Americans take themselves too seriously to appreciate irony in everyday conversation they don't have time for it. However, that's true of Germany too."

Many believe the apparent newfound love of British comedy is not due to the USA accidentally discovering their collective sense of irony, but the success of BBC America, which has allowed audiences to see shows other than the usual exports of Benny Hill and Are You Being Served.

"I remember writing a show for America and the producer rang me up to say, 'It's fine, but you need to remove the jokes on page seven, page 14 and page 23," says Brad Ashton, the London-based author of How to Write Comedy. "It turned out they clashed with the sponsor's message, and that's a problem a lot of British writers face when they come to getting their shows on US commercial channels.

"However, BBC America has allowed shows to be aired unadulterated and many have found a loyal audience. There are always going to be some things which don't translate – Americans didn't get On the Buses because they never had conductors or double deckers, and when they cast a sweet Mexican guy in Ronnie Barker's role in Porridge it was always going to be a disaster, but we are not totally alien beings.

"Americans like their comedies based in reality, which is why The Office worked so well and if you look back through the history of comedy you'll see that sitcoms like Terry and June and Steptoe and Son were equally as popular in the US as they were over here.

"I think we are probably more aware of the shows which do well on the other side of the Atlantic these days, but the Americans have always had a soft spot for our comedians."

Given the American public seem to be welcoming British comedy with open arms and handsome pay packets, it's little surprise that UK stand-ups are voting with their feet. Gervais may have been the warm-up man, but the likes of Jimmy Carr and Dara O'Briain have also since won over American audiences. And Russell Brand may not have been so quick to resign from his Radio 2 show had he not been in the middle of touring US comedy clubs, having secured a one-hour special on the Paramount Comedy channel.

Britain may pride itself on its comic talent, but if they keep disappearing overseas it will be America which has the last laugh.