What was with the mobile nude coverup scenes?

I actually thought the sequel was funnier, but I had to see this one to know how Austin Powers started.

They had this weird, ridiculous gag scene where Austin's walking around in...a house? A hotel suite?...totally naked, and he's surreptitiously being covered up by various objects in the room, including his girlfriend holding up a magnifying glass that just happens to obscure his privates from the camera. They had an ending scene with both of them naked and doing the same cleverly-hiding-the-privates-and-lady's-chest-with-objects gag.

In the opening credits of the sequel, they had Austin doing this exact same thing, with a ton of sexual jokes written into the objects used to hide his privates.

I didn't think it was very funny, just plain weird. Must be a British thing. Did anyone British laugh at those scenes?