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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: bout to crash on March 19, 2015, 08:57:22 AM

Title: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: bout to crash on March 19, 2015, 08:57:22 AM
I figured this should probably exist.

Carry on.

(https://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16500000/Monty-Python-and-The-Holy-Grail-monty-python-16580821-500-277.jpg)
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Prog Snob on March 19, 2015, 09:09:48 AM
Indeed, it should.  I'm not even sure where to start with their brilliance so I'll let someone else go.   :lol
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Tom Bombadil on March 19, 2015, 10:01:31 AM
Yes, wherever bicycles are broken, or menaced by international communism, bicycle repair man will be there to smash the communists.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 19, 2015, 10:59:43 AM
Favorite sketch that doesn't involve parrots:

I've always been partial to Ethyl the Frog (the Piranha Brothers). It's a wonderful ratio of silliness to cleverness. The interviews in particular are exceptional. Even the schoolmaster whose interview is only discernible by the miming. I also like when they're willing to spend longer than usual on a good bit. Some of their longer sketches don't work (Scott of the Antarctic) but as a faux investigative report this one worked wonderfully.

Honourable mentions to The Restaurant Sketch, The Visitors and Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit. While Ethyl the Frog is brilliant, it doesn't cause me to laugh like any of these three.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 19, 2015, 11:01:39 AM
John Cleese must have been HOARSE after that Self Defence sketch. He basically screams for the entire thing.

Also - the argument sketch is brilliant too and The Upper Class Twit Of The Year.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Zook on March 19, 2015, 11:24:20 AM
I've seen a sketch here and there which were funny, but I've only seen The Holy Grail as far as movies go.

One day I'll dig deeper.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 19, 2015, 12:03:15 PM
Controversial I know but I think The Holy Grail is MUCH better & funnier than Life Of Brian.

Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 19, 2015, 01:17:38 PM
Not so controversial.  Monty Python and The Holy Grail is widely regarded as the best and funniest, even if it was their first (And Now for Something Completely Different doesn't count, since it was literally just sketches from the TV show rehashed for the big screen).

Lemon Curry?
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 19, 2015, 01:25:54 PM
Controversial I know but I think The Holy Grail is MUCH better & funnier than Life Of Brian.
I don't think it's controversial, though I certainly disagree. While HG is certainly funny, it's funny in a silly, madcap sort of way. I find LoB to be not only funnier, but funnier on more levels. You don't see any symbolism in Holy Grail and very little intelligent humor (aside from the anarco syndicalist commune, I suppose). Life of Brian, on the other hand, is very intelligent. It's still quite silly at times, but it's also wonderful commentary on organized religion and politics. Honestly, I'd rank TMoL ahead of Holy Grail for largely the same reasons. While it lacks the social and political commentary (aside from the Catholics and their Protestant neighbors), it's still more intelligent humor, not relying on the zaniness that HG does.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: ariich on March 19, 2015, 01:29:06 PM
(https://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r243/ariich/random/tumblr_mw6prz8xBS1s5rq27o1_400_zpsjp8tyot3.gif)






















(https://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r243/ariich/random/Monty_Python_The_Fish_Slapping_Dance_zpsewhykudo.gif)
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: BlackInk on March 19, 2015, 01:31:05 PM
Watched their recent live show a few weeks ago. Not as funny as I had hoped. Best part was the improv/blooper bit during the dead parrot scene, that was hilarious.

I love both The Holy Grail and Life of Brian immensly, though I probably like LoB the most. The Meaning of Life has some really good bits as well, but it's not quite as good as the other two.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 19, 2015, 01:45:17 PM
(https://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r243/ariich/random/tumblr_mw6prz8xBS1s5rq27o1_400_zpsjp8tyot3.gif)
When I excluded parrots from the favorite sketches post, I was going to exclude pilchards, as well. I couldn't come up with a third wildly popular sketch whose subject begins with the letter P so I decided to leave it at one.  :lol
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 19, 2015, 02:40:15 PM
Ah, The Fish-Slapping Dance!  I'm not sure how it came about, but my daughter and one of her friends wanted very badly to do this brief sketch at the youth talent show at our church some years ago.  This was when they were maybe nine or 10 years old.  They did it!

I played some silly music on the piano, with obvious accents to which one of them could time the small fish slaps, then my daughter pulled out a much larger fish and clobbered her friend with it.  As with the original, it was silly and stupid and made no sense, and the audience loved it.  (I was especially proud of the "original score" I provided.)
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: bout to crash on March 19, 2015, 11:16:14 PM
 :lol, awesome.

Holy Grail was my introduction to Monty Python and will always be my favorite, maybe followed by Meaning of Life. I need to see Life of Brian again because it's been ages.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: masterthes on March 20, 2015, 07:09:52 AM
I'm proud to say I have the entire Flying Circus on DVD. Of course, Dead Parrot is my favorite sketch. Life of Brian is my least favorite of the three movies
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 20, 2015, 07:40:24 AM
I have DVD boxed set as well.  I worked my way through the entire series, in order, over the course of several weeks.

I'm old, so I remember when Monty Python's Flying Circus, the television show (the group itself is Monty Python), was still relatively new and unknown in the United States.  Early 70's, when TV Guide was still the only way you knew what was on TV, and the local public television station from MSU had only recently started listing their content.  They probably either didn't have enough to warrant it before, or it the schedule itself wasn't consistent so there was no point.  This was when TV stations went off the air at night, and public TV stations had even shorter hours.

The last thing on Sunday nights, at 10:30 PM, was "Monty Python's Flying Circus - Satire".  There was always a descriptor, "Comedy", "Drama", "News", "Religion", etc.  I didn't know what "Satire" was, but the name of the show practically begged me to check it out.

Oh man.  This is insane!  I had never seen any British television before, let alone British-style humour, and this just blew me away.  I was maybe 12 years old.  It was like nothing else I'd ever seen.  Years later, in English class in high school, we had a short unit on some of the "lesser" genres of literature.  Every literature class covers poetry and stuff like Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy, but this took a look at political, metaphorical, satire, those guys.  "Satire"?  And I remembered the TV Guide listing which said that "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was satire.  I'd just thought it was comedy.  But apparently someone at TV Guide, or perhaps the person who submitted the listing to TV Guide, considered Satire important enough to distinguish from generic comedy.

And it's true.  Monty Python is like nothing else in the world of comedy.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: hefdaddy42 on March 20, 2015, 08:01:53 AM
I would like to buy some cheese.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: bout to crash on March 20, 2015, 08:39:51 AM
 :lol

I have DVD boxed set as well.  I worked my way through the entire series, in order, over the course of several weeks.

I'm old, so I remember when Monty Python's Flying Circus, the television show (the group itself is Monty Python), was still relatively new and unknown in the United States.  Early 70's, when TV Guide was still the only way you knew what was on TV, and the local public television station from MSU had only recently started listing their content.  They probably either didn't have enough to warrant it before, or it the schedule itself wasn't consistent so there was no point.  This was when TV stations went off the air at night, and public TV stations had even shorter hours.

The last thing on Sunday nights, at 10:30 PM, was "Monty Python's Flying Circus - Satire".  There was always a descriptor, "Comedy", "Drama", "News", "Religion", etc.  I didn't know what "Satire" was, but the name of the show practically begged me to check it out.

Oh man.  This is insane!  I had never seen any British television before, let alone British-style humour, and this just blew me away.  I was maybe 12 years old.  It was like nothing else I'd ever seen.  Years later, in English class in high school, we had a short unit on some of the "lesser" genres of literature.  Every literature class covers poetry and stuff like Shakespeare and Thomas Hardy, but this took a look at political, metaphorical, satire, those guys.  "Satire"?  And I remembered the TV Guide listing which said that "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was satire.  I'd just thought it was comedy.  But apparently someone at TV Guide, or perhaps the person who submitted the listing to TV Guide, considered Satire important enough to distinguish from generic comedy.

And it's true.  Monty Python is like nothing else in the world of comedy.

Awesome post!

I remember TV Guide. Shiiiit.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 20, 2015, 11:01:04 AM
Appropriate for today.

The 1972 Eclipse of the Sun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQEsVl0wkQ)

A radio broadcast of a solar eclipse.  Only from the deranged minds of Monty Python.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 20, 2015, 11:06:40 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/slEkt6z.gif)
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: chaossystem on March 20, 2015, 04:16:53 PM
This thread is making me want to PUKE my GUTS out!!!

Remember THAT one?

WHY? WHY? WHY? Don't we have anything like this anymore?

It's like comedians, comedic actors, and comedic writers stopped being creative after Monty Python!

It's like they got scared and gave up trying to be creative and original.

The thing that made them great was that they would always throw something new and unexpected at you.

Very few people attempted anything like it before or since.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 20, 2015, 06:31:12 PM
My favourite English sketch shows since Monty Python are :

• The Fast Show
• Man Stroke Woman ( well worth a watch - very funny & original )
• Big Train
• Harry & Paul
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Shadow Ninja 2.0 on March 20, 2015, 09:27:58 PM
This thread is making me want to PUKE my GUTS out!!!

you uh


might want to see a doctor about that
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: chaossystem on March 20, 2015, 10:58:10 PM
You never saw that cartoon on MPFC?

I feel sorry for you.

It almost made me LAUGH my guts out!
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 21, 2015, 07:00:32 AM
Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: chaossystem on March 21, 2015, 01:20:34 PM
How Not to be Seen
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Onno on March 21, 2015, 01:35:27 PM
Yay, great thread! Reading Cleese's book now, it's great!
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 21, 2015, 02:37:46 PM
Yay, great thread! Reading Cleese's book now, it's great!
Seems few have even heard about it, but there's a video from his Alimony Tour that's excellent. Basically a retrospective his life with lots of video clips from is shows. I'm sure all of it's covered in his book but it's still great to see him present it live. After all, he is quite possibly the funniest man on Earth at the moment.

Alas, only short snippets available on YT, but I'm sure it could be seen in full somewhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiQsi1dntOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7tsDA7qXqo
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Jaq on March 21, 2015, 03:19:57 PM
The first time I saw Monty Python was in the late 70s on public television, a sketch where they were big game hunters using military equipment to hunt ludicrously small animals, with the highlight being using a F-104 Starfighter to kill a mosquito. The punchline was pretty much "someone said you should use a flyswatter instead. Where's the sport in that?!"

And boom, I fell in love.

My sister hates just about anything British. She is a self styled (and self taught) redneck and beer drinker, so naturally British comedy is something she finds just plain bad. British comedy, television, movies, etc, she tells the rest of us just isn't for her and isn't any good.

She walked in on me once watching the Upper Middle Class Twit of the Year bit and laughed so hard she cried and her ribs hurt the next day.

Monty Python cares not for your prejudices. They can make something that kills anyone who watches it.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: chaossystem on March 21, 2015, 04:09:45 PM
Never forget:

There is nothing more dangerous than a wounded mosquito!

Words to live by.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: chaossystem on March 21, 2015, 04:12:03 PM
Controversial I know but I think The Holy Grail is MUCH better & funnier than Life Of Brian.

You're not alone.

Holy Grail was the only one of the Monty Python movies that I liked.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Onno on March 21, 2015, 05:09:23 PM
Yay, great thread! Reading Cleese's book now, it's great!
Seems few have even heard about it, but there's a video from his Alimony Tour that's excellent. Basically a retrospective his life with lots of video clips from is shows. I'm sure all of it's covered in his book but it's still great to see him present it live. After all, he is quite possibly the funniest man on Earth at the moment.

Alas, only short snippets available on YT, but I'm sure it could be seen in full somewhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiQsi1dntOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7tsDA7qXqo
I've seen that. It's hilarious. He is indeed the funniest man on Earth!
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 21, 2015, 06:13:15 PM
When I was a corporate trainer, I attended a lecture by John Cleese.  He had a series of training videos (I don't know whether or not he still makes them) employing his skills as both an actor and comedian in training people.  So he was selected to speak because of that, but also because he's John Cleese, and people would want to see him anyway (I was in the second category).  He also had a book out and talked about that.

Anyway, as you might expect, it was a somewhat more "serious" lecture on using humour in training, but it also had a fair amount of humour in it, as that was part of the point.  Nobody likes attending corporate training, but it's a necessary evil in the business world.  What you can do, however, is infuse it with a certain amount of levity.  Not so much that people think it's all just a joke, but it doesn't have to be eight hours of boredom and tedium per day, either.

I already did that quite a bit, having honed that skill during my tenure as a high school teacher, but since I'd never seen Monty Python live, I was just digging seeing John Cleese in the flesh.  I sat maybe 20 feet from him, and got to say "Hi!" to him afterwards, but that was it.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: KevShmev on March 21, 2015, 06:36:06 PM
Life of Brian is great, and I would agree that it is probably more clever and multi-dimensional than The Holy Grail, but THG is just funnier, IMO.  I never not laugh when I watch The Holy Grail.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: ariich on March 22, 2015, 02:42:13 AM
Life of Brian is great, and I would agree that it is probably more clever and multi-dimensional than The Holy Grail, but THG is just funnier, IMO. 
This sums it up nicely for me. Both classic films!
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: hefdaddy42 on March 22, 2015, 10:38:20 AM
Life of Brian is great, and I would agree that it is probably more clever and multi-dimensional than The Holy Grail, but THG is just funnier, IMO.  I never not laugh when I watch The Holy Grail.
Same here.  I think that both are masterpieces, but for me there is a lot more replay value in Holy Grail.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: BlackInk on March 22, 2015, 10:48:09 AM
The Holy Grail seems to be more structured as a series of comedy sketches, which makes it so that less active investment in the story is needed. That naturally makes it easier to watch and rewatch, casually. However, Life of Brian is superior as a movie in my opinion (but like I've said before, I love both). Life of Brian is, as Kev said, much more clever as a whole.

Plus, it has the 'Biggus Dickus' bit, which always completely cracks me up.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 22, 2015, 04:55:21 PM
I think their movies directly reflect how they matured as a troupe, and as writers.  The first film, "And Now For Something Completely Different" was literally some of their sketches redone for the big screen.  "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" actually grew out of a sketch that they were writing during the final season of the Flying Circus.  The idea was that King Arthur and his Knights were somehow in modern-day England searching for the Holy Grail, and they ended up finding it at a department store, where you can find most anything.  They knocked it around for a while, it got longer and more involved, and they eventually decided to make it an actual period piece and a feature-length film.  But their experience at that point was still basically in writing sketches, so it does play out as a series of pieces that contribute to a whole, much like the individual songs in a concept album.  ( :omg: Monty Python were prog!)

"Monty Python's Life of Brian" is definitely a more fully realized concept, but I think it would not have been made had "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" not come first.  They needed the experience in working on a larger scale, and writing for the big screen.  Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam had some more film experience under their belts, and it shows.  It's a more mature work.  "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" gets back to what I still think is their strength, which is funny sketches.  Another "concept album" if you will, with the overall theme of Life and its stages, it's really just a collection of sketches with the same theme.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: bout to crash on March 22, 2015, 11:24:49 PM
Well-said  :tup
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: puppyonacid on March 25, 2015, 07:32:52 AM
I think the election special is hilarious and Eric Idle in the travel agent sketch. Friend of my dads saw him do that live (as he does at the Hollywood Bowl) and he did not drop a beat:

Why, why, what's the point of going abroad if you're just going to be treated like a sheep? Carted around in buses surrounded by sweaty mindless oaves from Kettering and Boventry. Their bloth baps and their bardigans and their transistor radios, bomplaining about the tea — "Oh, they don't make it properly, do they?" And stopping at endless Majorcan bodegas selling fish and chips and Watney's Red Barrel and calamaries and two veg, and sitting in their cotton sun frocks, squirting Timothy White's sun cream all over their puffy, raw, swollen, purulent flesh 'cos they overdid it on the first day, and being herded into endless Hotel Miramars and Bellevueses, Bontinentals with their international luxury modern roomettes and swimming pools full of draught Red Barrel and fat German businessmen pretending to be acrobats and forming pyramids and frightening the children and barging into the queues. And if you're not at your table spot on seven you miss your bowl of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, the first item in the menu of International Cuisine. Every Thursday night there's bloody cabaret in the bar featuring some tiny, emaciated dago with nine-inch hips and some fat bloated tart with her hair Brylcreemed down and big **** presenting Flamenco for Foreigners, and adenoidal typists from Birmingham with flabby white legs and diarrhea trying to pick up hairy, bandy-legged, wop waiters called Manuel. And once a week there's an excursion to local Roman remains, where you can buy cherryade and melted ice cream and bleedin' Watney's Red Barrel. And one night they take you to a typical restaurant with local atmosphere and color and you sit next to a party of people from Rhyl who keep singing "I love the Costa Brava! I love the Costa Brava!" And you get cornered by some drunken greengrocer from Luton with an Instamatic camera and last Tuesday's Daily Express and he drones on and on and on about how Ian Smith should be running the country and how many languages Margaret Powell can speak and then she throws up all over the cuba libres. And spending four days on the tarmac at Luton Airport on a five-day package tour with nothing to eat but dry British Airways-type sandwiches. And you can't even get a glass of Watney's Red Barrel because you're still in England and the bloody bar closes every time you're thirsty. And the kids are crying and vomiting and breaking the plastic ashtrays. They keep telling you it'll only be another hour, but you know damned well your plane is still in Iceland and has to come back and take a party of Swedes to Yugoslavia before it can load you up at 3 a.m. in the morning. And then you sit on the tarmac for four hours because of unforeseen difficulties, i.e. the permanent strike of air traffic control over Paris. When you finally get to Malaga airport, everybody's queueing for the bloody toilet and queueing for the bloody armed customs officers and queueing for the bloody bus that isn't there, waiting to take you to the hotel that hasn't yet been built. When you finally get to the half-built Algerian ruin called the Hotel del Sol, by paying half your holiday money to a licensed bandit in a taxi, there's no water in the pool, there's no water in the bog, there's no water in the tap, there's only a bleeding lizard in the bidet, and half the rooms are double-booked, and you can't sleep anyway, 'cause of the permanent 24-hour drilling of the foundations of the hotel next door. Meanwhile, the Spanish National Tourist Board promises you the raging cholera epidemic is merely a mild outbreak of Spanish Tummy, rather like the previous outbreak in 1616 even the bloody rats are dying from it! Meanwhile, the bloody Guardia are busy arresting 16-year-olds for kissing in the streets. And finally, on the last day in the airport lounge, everybody's buying little awful horrid donkeys with their names on, and bullfight posters with their own names on, like Antonio ----, Mr Brian Pules of Norwich. And then finally when you get to bloody Luton, you're ---- around for another four hours, while they find a plane that has to take you back to Manchester. And when you finally get to Manchester, there's only another bloody bus you have to wait 16 hours for...
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 25, 2015, 08:23:54 AM
I'd vote for Tarquin Fin- tim- lin- bin- whin- bim- lin- bus- stop- F'tang- F'tang- Olé- Biscuitbarrel any day of the week; what a guy!

And yeah, Idle had a real knack for rattling on like that. I think there were a few instances where he'd do that and it always amazed me.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 25, 2015, 09:13:15 AM
I like that sketch where they're interviewing ( i think ) the world's oldest man and his name is so long that every time they say it in full it takes about 2 minutes to say it and at the end of the sketch - the guy just dies before answering.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 25, 2015, 11:56:50 AM
I like that sketch where they're interviewing ( i think ) the world's oldest man and his name is so long that every time they say it in full it takes about 2 minutes to say it and at the end of the sketch - the guy just dies before answering.
Johan Gambleputty. . .of Ulm.

The only part I really found funny was that when the interview came to an abrupt end, Cleese (the interviewer) went off camera and returned with a shovel to start digging a grave for him.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: bout to crash on March 25, 2015, 07:07:39 PM
 :lol, yes
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Podaar on March 26, 2015, 06:49:22 AM
"Oh, mother, don't be so sentimental. Things explode everyday."

"Oooo, I suppose so. Anyway, I didn't really like her that much."

 :rollin
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 26, 2015, 09:28:30 AM
I like the sketch where some german composer ( Mozart? ) is hosting a show about deaths that week .

There's a segment of the show called "request death" and someone nominates Graham Chapman's character - who we then see in an armchair suddenly die.


:lol


And of course The Funniest Joke Ever sketch is classic and The Argument sketch.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: chaossystem on March 26, 2015, 03:50:44 PM
I think it's odd that no one else wants to talk about the insane cartoons they had on the show.

(In my opinion that was the best work that Terry Gilliam, the only American member of the group, ever did.

Never cared much for his movies.)

Remember the one where they showed what watching too much T.V. REALLY does to your eyes?

I think, in way they helped pave the way for things like Beavis and Butthead, South Park, and some of the prime time and Adult Swim animated series.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 26, 2015, 04:38:16 PM
Stop it!  Stop right there!  You are correct -- no one else wants to talk about the cartoons, so just stop it!





Actually, the cartoons served a very important purpose in the show: they usually linked the sketches together, when there was no other way.  Later, there were more complete bits which were entirely animated.  Perhaps coincidentally, but perhaps not, Gilliam was originally not listed as a proper member of Monty Python; the other five names were listed in the credits, and there was always "Animations by Terry Gilliam" or something like that.  Eventually, he was "promoted" to a full member of the troupe.  This was also after he'd appeared in a number of sketches as well.

His films are hit-or-miss for me, usually falling into the "miss" category, but with a few exceptions.  I liked Time Bandits.  I understood The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but I'm not sure about its rewatchability for me.  The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was pretty cool, but also pretty weird, as all his films are.  There's no question that Terry Gilliam is a real artist.  I mean, his films show that there's clearly something not normal about him, but if you can enjoy the ride, there's a lot of really cool shit going on.  Unfortunately, he's usually a bit too "out there" even for me.  A lot of his film is just nonstop WTF for me.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: masterthes on March 26, 2015, 05:07:46 PM
Zero Theorem definitely fell in the "out there" category. I loved Parnassus
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 26, 2015, 05:10:00 PM
He was listed in the closing credits with the rest of them (alphabetically) at the second episode. The first he was "also appearing" with Carol Cleavage. While not treated as an actor early on (which is unfortunate, IMO) he was always considered one of six members.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: countoftuscany42 on March 26, 2015, 11:55:43 PM
finally got around to watching Monty Python Live (Mostly).  great send off for the Pythons, really wish they'd done some of these shows in the US, but oh well.
some of the best moments are when they crack up or lose their place  :lol
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: sneakyblueberry on March 27, 2015, 04:47:34 AM
This thread made me realise I've never actually watched Holy Grail in its entirety.

I just popped it on and spotted the swedish subtitles and paused the movie to turn them off (can never NOT read subtitles).  Got super confused when I saw there were no subtitles selected :lol  Epically trolled by a movie released 14 years before I was born.  I feel like a little boy who's just been given a lesson in smarts by his grandpa.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 27, 2015, 05:31:36 AM
I nominate 12 Monkeys as best Gilliam film.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Onno on March 27, 2015, 05:43:54 AM
Yes, Twelve Monkeys is absolutely brilliant.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on March 27, 2015, 07:09:59 AM
This thread made me realise I've never actually watched Holy Grail in its entirety.

I just popped it on and spotted the swedish subtitles and paused the movie to turn them off (can never NOT read subtitles).  Got super confused when I saw there were no subtitles selected :lol  Epically trolled by a movie released 14 years before I was born.  I feel like a little boy who's just been given a lesson in smarts by his grandpa.

Nice.  Yeah, I've never really thought of it as trolling, but in this context, I guess that's what it was, and what they did.  Heh heh.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 27, 2015, 08:17:28 AM
This thread made me realise I've never actually watched Holy Grail in its entirety.

I just popped it on and spotted the swedish subtitles and paused the movie to turn them off (can never NOT read subtitles).  Got super confused when I saw there were no subtitles selected :lol  Epically trolled by a movie released 14 years before I was born.  I feel like a little boy who's just been given a lesson in smarts by his grandpa.
Better still, I believe they were gibberish anyway. Even the Swedes would have been trolled.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Zydar on March 27, 2015, 08:20:31 AM
If you're talking about these subtitles, then it's not Swedish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKPvXDwXcs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKPvXDwXcs)

Looks more like a parody of the Norwegian or Icelandic language.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 27, 2015, 08:21:56 AM
Those ? :rollin

I saw this film when I was about 13 and I always knew they were a joke. Even back then.

Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 27, 2015, 08:25:39 AM
Also - that must be the inspiration for all the Zucker & Abrams movie credits such as Airplane ! and The Naked Gun.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on March 27, 2015, 08:26:00 AM
If you're talking about these subtitles, then it's not Swedish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKPvXDwXcs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKPvXDwXcs)

Looks more like a parody of the Norwegian or Icelandic language.
There ya are. I knew we had a resident Swede around here somewhere. Although that wasn't the explanation I was expecting.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Zydar on March 27, 2015, 08:27:01 AM
Sorry to disappoint  :P
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: sneakyblueberry on March 27, 2015, 04:47:37 PM
Those ? :rollin

I saw this film when I was about 13 and I always knew they were a joke. Even back then.



Who's a clever boy then!

If you're talking about these subtitles, then it's not Swedish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKPvXDwXcs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKPvXDwXcs)

Looks more like a parody of the Norwegian or Icelandic language.

I figured they were 'fake swedish' after the 'why not try a holiday in Sweden this year' line.  Google reckons I'm not the only one who made that jump.  Immense apologies to our true swede brothers and sisters.

Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on March 29, 2015, 04:30:37 AM

Who's a clever boy then!


Me !  :D
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on December 02, 2016, 01:27:45 PM
I've got 6th row seats to see Cleese and Idle doing whatever it is they're doing tonight. Should be a hoot. Anybody else seen this or plan to? Did anybody even know they were touring?
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on December 02, 2016, 01:34:28 PM
Oh, and they had better examples of trolling. On one of the records they recorded two different two completely different sets of sketches and put them on separate groove tracks on one side of the record. Until you figured it out, and for the average Python fan of the era that might have taken months, you'd hear completely different recordings based seemingly at random but really depending on where the record was when you set the needle down.

I know they also wanted to do a bit where the volume lowered very gradually over twenty five minutes so you'd keep turning it up. Then it would finish off with an insanely loud recording of a Sousa march or something. Not sure if this ever happened, though. 
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: King Postwhore on December 02, 2016, 01:48:49 PM
6th row.  Thats awesome El Barto.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: hefdaddy42 on December 02, 2016, 01:52:23 PM
I've got 6th row seats to see Cleese and Idle doing whatever it is they're doing tonight. Should be a hoot. Anybody else seen this or plan to? Did anybody even know they were touring?
I did not.  I know about the screeings of Holy Grail coming up with Cleese doing a Q&A afterwards, but it isn't coming anywhere near me.

Oh, and they had better examples of trolling. On one of the records they recorded two different two completely different sets of sketches and put them on separate groove tracks on one side of the record. Until you figured it out, and for the average Python fan of the era that might have taken months, you'd hear completely different recordings based seemingly at random but really depending on where the record was when you set the needle down.

I know they also wanted to do a bit where the volume lowered very gradually over twenty five minutes so you'd keep turning it up. Then it would finish off with an insanely loud recording of a Sousa march or something. Not sure if this ever happened, though.
Glorious.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on December 02, 2016, 02:01:44 PM
I've got 6th row seats to see Cleese and Idle doing whatever it is they're doing tonight. Should be a hoot. Anybody else seen this or plan to? Did anybody even know they were touring?
I did not.  I know about the screeings of Holy Grail coming up with Cleese doing a Q&A afterwards, but it isn't coming anywhere near me.
Hadn't heard of those. Roger Ebert once spoke of attending a screening of Pulp Fiction at some film-studies seminar where anybody could yell stop and they'd pause the film to discuss various aspects of it. Something like that would be interesting, though I doubt Cleese has the patience for it. Maybe they could break it up into 20 minute sections or something. Doing a post screening Q&A would be rather generic. It'd be nice to be able to delve into specifics.

At the same time, while I consider Cleese to be one of the funniest men on the planet, he never struck me as a very nice man. I could see him really cutting people to shreds at such an affair.

And all else withstanding, I'd much rather see Life of Brian in his company than Holy Grail, and based on everything I've heard from the man, so would he. 
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on December 02, 2016, 02:15:13 PM
The first Monty Python album I got was "The Monty Python Matching Tie & Handkerchief" and it was three-sided.  Both sides of the record are labeled "Side 2".  One side is normal, somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes of sketches, and the other side has two concentric grooves.  Depending on where the needle came down, you would hear a different track.  Also, the entry points are not directly opposite each other on the vinyl; there's about a 2/3 chance that you'll play one track rather than the other, so it could be several times playing "Side 2" of the album before you happen to hear a completely different set of sketches.

The record jacket was fun.  It looks like a gift box you might buy for somebody, a matching tie and handkerchief set.

(https://imgur.com/T48tVKJ.jpg)

The outer jacket originally had a cutaway revealing the inner sleeve, enhancing the 3-D effect a bit (mine is like this! :)).  When you pull out the record in the sleeve, you see that it's another Terry Gilliam drawing.

(https://imgur.com/wLZ5VZc.jpg)

Monty Python albums are cool.  Many of them are made up of mostly the same sketches you've seen in the television series, but they're different, sometimes subtly and sometimes quite a bit.  They're like the "studio versions" of the sketches, and the TV series has the "live versions".  Things are reworked when the humor specifically comes from what's visible on screen, or other accommodations are made.  They are worthwhile.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on December 02, 2016, 02:30:42 PM
The album version of Holy Grail is excellent. It's about 60/40 bits from the movie and new connecting bits.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: hefdaddy42 on December 02, 2016, 06:16:41 PM
At one time, I had Matching Tie and Handkerchief on cassette. It always played the same shit.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Orbert on December 02, 2016, 08:55:18 PM
The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/5139DfXZOsL.jpg)

Executive Version
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: BlackInk on December 03, 2016, 01:27:56 AM
Recently watched both Holy Grail and Life of Brian with a group of friends, further solidifying my opinion that while Holy Grail is a quite a bit funnier, Life of Brian is the overall better movie. I still love both though.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on January 12, 2017, 12:31:56 PM
Recently watched both Holy Grail and Life of Brian with a group of friends, further solidifying my opinion that while Holy Grail is a quite a bit funnier, Life of Brian is the overall better movie. I still love both though.

Yup I've always thought so. Much funnier. Life Of Brian is not bad but Holy Grail is just piss funny throughout.

plus the whole Biggus Dickus scene is just crap imo.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: BlackInk on January 12, 2017, 02:13:43 PM
I love that scene. Watching those extras trying not to laugh is a clear highlight of that movie.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: hefdaddy42 on January 13, 2017, 09:07:10 AM
plus the whole Biggus Dickus scene is just crap imo.
???  That scene is hilarious.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on January 13, 2017, 09:09:00 AM
No it isn't.

COCKUS MASSIVUS

wow so funny

VAGINUS ENORMUS

are you in stitches yet ?

GINORMUS ANUS

fuck me wheres my 3 picture deal
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: BlackInk on January 13, 2017, 09:31:20 AM
Obviously, just the words "Biggus Dickus" being naughty words isn't what's funny about that scene, so I don't know what point you're trying to make.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: hefdaddy42 on January 13, 2017, 10:04:51 AM
No it isn't.

COCKUS MASSIVUS

wow so funny

VAGINUS ENORMUS

are you in stitches yet ?

GINORMUS ANUS

fuck me wheres my 3 picture deal
lol
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on January 13, 2017, 10:09:17 AM
Obviously, just the words "Biggus Dickus" being naughty words isn't what's funny about that scene, so I don't know what point you're trying to make.
Indeed. Might be the finest example of completely missing the point I've ever witnessed.

As for me, Brian totally blows away HG, but that's largely just a matter of personal preference. Grail tended to rely on silliness too much. It's certainly got its brilliant moments, but mostly it's just over the top. Brian tended to be more dialogue driven.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on January 13, 2017, 10:13:31 AM
Can we just agree that The Meaning Of Life is the worst of the 3 ?

I'm not included And Now For Something Completely Different - since it's not even a film.
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on January 13, 2017, 01:10:25 PM
Yeah, Meaning of Life is terrible. Except for Mr. Creosote.

And Every Sperm is Sacred.

And the Protestant couple that won't fuck.

And Mr. Death.

And Live Organ Transplants.

And The Galaxy Song.

And Cleese as the schoolmaster teaching sex ed.

There's no doubt it's the weakest of the three movies. The lack of a cohesive structure really hurts it and some of the bits aren't particularly good. At the same times it's hard to really bag on the film because there's a ton of great stuff in there. It gets panned because it's not a rehash of Holy Grail or as witty as Brian, but in the end it's still pretty entertaining.

And the Crimson Permanent Assurance.

And my personal favorite scene, Graham being chased off a cliff by girls with floppy breasts.



Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on January 13, 2017, 01:11:52 PM
Mr Creosote and The Grim Reaper are my fave two scenes.

" I didn't even have the mousse ! "
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: El Barto on January 13, 2017, 01:21:55 PM
As is so often the case, Palin made the whole bit. Gilliam as the obnoxious American was great, and Arthur Dent's cameo was a nice touch (fellow Footlighter, if I'm not mistaken).
Title: Re: The Monty Python Thread
Post by: Kotowboy on January 13, 2017, 01:24:05 PM
Gilliam has renounced his American citizenship and is a Brit now.  :hat

Happy to have ya.