Any Monty Python fans here?

[mupcollector1]

I am, I love British Comedy. Spitting Image, The Goons, Not The Nine O Clock News, 2DTV, a little bit of Benny Hill and Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Movies. I was just watching the Monty Python's Almost The Truth Lawyer's Cut on TV and taped it with my DVR (plus I own the DVD set already) and it just brings back so many good memories. Plus I'm trying to get myself the episodes on iTunes for my iPod. My favorite episode was probably "Your No Fun Anymore" which was a season 1 episode. I just love how wild and crazy it was.

 

[Oscarfan]

I love "MP and the Holy Grail". I've watched clips from Flying Circus, but never a full episode. The best bit I've seen so far is the Pantomime Horse/Spy sketch; it's my kind of absurdist humor.

 

[mupcollector1]

Flying Circus is Amazing, It's basically what Monty Python was all about. Unlike Life of Brian, and Holy Grail, the show was a sketch comedy show and they did it in a very surreal way. It's like you never know what's going to happen from start to finish. Sometimes they would run the ending credits 10 minutes early and then announce they still have 10 minutes left so they do a sketch. Sometimes they would do just one sketch that fills up the whole show. One of them I remember was the history of hot air balloon inventors and they never bathe or there's an episode where this guy who rides a bikecycle helps out this guy who's basically trying to get out of town like a hitchhiker but giving him a ride, aka piggy back riding the bikecycle driver and this person gets admessia and thinks he's Frank Sanatra or something like that. lol There was an episode where the theme was day ja vo (however it's spelt. lol) and it's the same sketch over and over and over about the host of a show introducing the subject and it just repetes and he slowly tries to run away from the studio to catch this Ice Cream truck driven by a doctor, Doctor Truck or Therapist Truck. lol But most episodes doesn't make any sense and basicly the funnest thing about it. Like they would have these weird running gags where people would question "Lemon Currey?"

Though the episode that I referred to "Your No Fun Anymore" would start with Eric Idol as this Camel spotter who's never spotted a camel and gets challenged by John Cleese who notices that Eric's character is nothing but a lying con-artist and Eric utters out "Oh Your No Fun Anymore", then there's several short sketches of characters using the catch phrase. One of my favorites is Graham as Dracula going up to this lady in bed who's sleeping and then all of a sudden his fangs fall out of his mouth, the lady wakes up "Oh Your No Fun Anymore." lol Then Eric as The Camel Spotter threatens anyone using his catch phrase again. Then a bunch of unrelated sketches, it goes on to another sketch where a character utters out the catch phrase then he's tyed to the railroad tracks. lol Though my favorite sketch in the episode is the Science Fiction Sketch, it's probably the silliest thing they ever did on the show. lol I'd love to discribe it but I'm afraid that it would be kind of controversial to mention on the forum so I'll just leave it at that. lol

Sometimes there's a bit of risky things that happen on the show mainly because in Europe they can show things on TV that America can't. Though there's some really great sketches from the show.

The Dead Parrot Sketch which is basically the #1 Monty Python sketch
The Spam Sketch (It's really hard to explain, I totally recommend it)
The Cheese Shop Sketch
Confuse the Cat
The Silly Walks Sketch

There's also another one that's good, I think it's from the final episode. It was a satire of the low class British Family and Terry Gilliam with a Beer Gut is laying down on the couch eating a bowl of beans and it's all over the place, on him and on the couch and he keep shouting in the background "I RAIN OUT OF BEANS! I WANT MORE BEANS! BEEEAAAANNSS!" and he's basically ignored. The whole family is arguing and then there's a gong sound and they all stair at the TV camera and take a bow. lol

 

[Twisted Tails]

Sorry to bump the thread, but I guess I am a monty python fan now thanks to my last seminar class. It was called: The Argument Clinic.

 

[mupcollector1]

I've always enjoyed the show a little more then the movies. Though Meaning of Life was the closest to the show besides "And Now For Something Completely Different" which is basically the best of the Flying Circus sketches re-filmed for the movie screen. I like the sketch from I think the first episode where someone writes the funniest joke ever written and it ends up being quite deadly so the army started using it as a secret weapon and it ends up being so dangerous that the original document had to be buried. lol I tried to translate the joke when it was revealed sort of in German. Something about Dolphins or something like that. lol

 

[rowlfy662]

i love a good bit of Monty phyton though the other show you mentioned Spitting image is a personal favorite of mine

 

[fuzzygobo]

Besides Flying Circus and the movies, Python also made some incredible albums back in the days when if you wanted to listen to music, you had to put these things called RECORDS on a PHONOGRAPH. (no CD's or iPods back in those prehistoric times).

Some of the records contained bits from Flying Circus, plus some skits you could only hear on record. And all were adorned with Terry Gilliam's artwork.
The absolute best was 1973's "Matching Tie and Handkerchief". If you ever come across it, the cover itself is not bad, but when you pull out the inner sleeve, the graphics might make you scream. (Gilliam was, and still is a twisted genius!)

This album was the world's first and only 3-sided record. Side Two contained a double set of grooves, and the material you got to hear depended on where you put the needle
on the record.

Am I showing my age too much?

 

[mupcollector1]

i love a good bit of Monty phyton though the other show you mentioned Spitting image is a personal favorite of mine

Same here. Spitting Image is my 3rd favorite tv show ever. I've been trying to contact ITV and Network DVD about the DVD releases of the second half of 1990 and all the specials, documentaries, The South Bank Show special in 1990, commercials, TV spots, Comic Relief. They did a ton of stuff and were very popular in it's day but currently they are among one of the rarest TV Shows to find complete. Network keeps telling me that it's in the matter of clearance issues for contraction reasons which also relates to why lots of lines from sketches and even some full sketches and songs are edited completely out some of the episodes even though they are about 20 years old. Plus also when I asked ITV who owns Spitting Image to just switch to another DVD company because the Network DVD line hasn't released another Spitting Image DVD since March 2009 plus the episodes are edited and there's No Special Features which I find ridiculous because Spitting Image did tons of stuff like I previously mentioned. Even their releases are out of print, a single series the price is sky rocketing on Amazon and eBay. The only thing that's in print still is the box set for series 1-7 and series 8 (which was their final release in March 2009) is worth hundreds. It's crazy, It's like how can something that was made 20 years ago need to be re-edited and checked for clearance. The show rarely ever used copyrighted material since it was a satirical parody sketch show, most of their songs were parodies unlike their Our House parody in 1992 where they must have gotten permission from Madness to do that song. It's kind of sad that the show barely has a legacy like Monty Python and Benny Hill. But I hope someday Spitting Image will come to DVD complete and full of special features of everything they ever done as well as episodes for iTunes. The Genesis music video seems to be the only thing relating to the show available.

 

[animalrescuer]

I love the Dead Parrot sketch! I also like the Lumberjack Song and the Ministry of Silly Walks, too. I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail only once, I'll have to watch it again sometime.

 

[mupcollector1]

Speaking of British Comedy, anyone ever seen "The Young Ones"? I bought the DVD set in decent shape at a thrift store. One point last week I decided to watch it and I was cracking up like crazy, it was a lot like if Monty Python had a sitcom. It starts out like a sitcom but the characters are crazy and all this surreal stuff and slapstick is happening through out. For example there's this hamster who bites Vivian (the punk character who looks a bit like Crasher from The Jim Henson Hour pitch tape "InnerTube") and he throws the hamster in a pot and the hamster starts eating whats inside rather quickly and somehow he falls through a floorboard. The hamster is bloated and starts gas flying across the other room like a balloon. It was really funny.

Rick is this really wound up anarchy political activist who's always snobby, stressed out and causing fights all the time.
Neil is this dim witted hippy who's always doing all the chores for everyone and is quite depressed and often criticized as being incredibly boring
Mike is almost like the Groucho Marx kind of person who makes fast pace smart remarks but is considered to be more of the straight man in the college dorm group
Vivan is this destructive punk character that always breaks everything and always loves to get Rick anger then he usually is and get him even more wound up.

For example there was an episode after the pilot where the four characters move into their new home and Vivan and Rick are fighting over a bedroom. Vivan ends up taking a match and lighting the bed on fire and says "My mistake, it was your room." they argue a bit and they both run out as the bed's flame gets out of control, they go in the hall and shout "Neil, your bedroom is on fire." and they leave, Neil looks in and says "Oh you guys, not again." lol

It's a really great show, I love it. I never would have thought I would see something just as funny on the lines of Monty Python and Benny Hill.

By the way, speaking of Monty Python...Terry Jones makes a cameo as a priest in one of the episodes.