What's your opinion of Monty Python's Flying Circus?

[shawn703]

I think I may be either too young or too American to really "get" Monty Python. I did laugh during the Holy Grail, but I got the Flying Circus boxed set for free and might have snickered a couple of times and groaned a couple of others. Granted I haven't watched the whole thing yet and may just be getting the wrong impression from the early episodes. What does everyone else think?

[asthmaticeog]

1. I think they're amazing,

but extremely silly material, played so dryly, is not for everyone. Some people get it, others wonder about the mental condition of those who get it.

[skooooo]

2. Always like Monty Python..

..but for sure, some of the skits are hit or miss, or you have to understand the cultural context a little bit, maybe. We have kind of a "best of" that is absolutley great.

[Big Kahuna]

3. Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries!!!

Sorry, I was raised on the stuff. I think they're brilliant.

[tjwash]

12. This parrot would not move if you put four million volts through it.

He's bleedin' demised. 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!

THIS....IS AN EX.......PARROT!!

[Goathead]

16. Ken clean air systems

For lunch Ken crouches down in the road and rubs gravel into his hair.

[nyhuskyfan]

14. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time

There's a lot of humor in Monty Python that is lost in the generational/cultural gap. Some of their news reports are direct spoofs of BBC shows from that time, for example. And, like any sketch comedy show, they'll have the occasional skit that falls flat.

The spam episode is the one to watch, to start with. It included the Hungarian phrasebook ("please fondle my bum"), the hospital for over-acting, and the classic spam skit. If that episode doesn't get you to laugh, you'll probably never laugh at Monty Python.

[deadparrot]

4. I'm an extremely big fan of dry, Pythonesque humor, and always have been.

If you don't believe me, refer to my user name. :)

Others don't like it, though. It's all a matter of opinion.

[OneBlueSky]

5. something of an acquired taste . . .

but once you "get" it, they're hysterical . . . precisely because it's all so silly . . . :)

[htuttle]

6. It's a Man's Life in the British Army

[maxsolomon]

7. yeah, they're pretty overrated

and difficult to understand.

you should sell your box set & get some jeff foxworthy dvds

[skygazer]

8. Absolutely hysterical

I loved the TV series - the movies are fun but not the same. It's very odd, dry humor and very British. Easy not to get. I enjoy the absurdity of it all. Some of their stuff was beyond brilliant - the Travel Agent sketch or the Spanish Inquisition. Every time Bush mentions terra, I think of the Spanish Inquisition -

"Our chief weapon is fear - fear and surprise. Our TWO chief weapons are fear and surprise and.... I'll come in again. Amongst our weaponry are....."

[lil-petunia]

9. understand the context

Those days were crazy. The US had a belly button csar who prevented ads or TV shows from even showing the female belly button.
The UK was even more "preverse" than that. The most anally insecure, uptight, proper, class-oriented and internally bigotted country around. Then came
MP and his flying circus.

It turned around BBC as anyone knew it. It poked fun at the most serious anal pols around. It made asses look just like that. The Ministry of Silly Walks managed, in one fell swoop, to attack everything the brits held near and dear, including odd, ineffective govt bodies, doing nothing constructive, even odder self-satistfied pompous asses that would make Cheney look charming, and the oddest old school network whose odor managed to spread throughout the UK.

[proud patriot]

10. started watching MPFC when I was a wee las on PBS

They are super Funny ..

[redqueen]

11. Unbelievably fantastic.

Some of the best material / delivery ever. Ever ever.

[DODI]

13. I love them. I first saw them on , I believe, The Dean Martin Show in

the early '70's - he showed the bit about the middle-class guy's ordinary day -- having spears thrown at him, people waiting for the bus being attacked by I think Frankenstein. It was magic! The shows showed up on PBS soon after and we watched it every Sunday night. I love the Pythons.

[Peachhead22]

15. Brilliant

IMO, they're the fathers of what we now think of as "British Comedy".

[MikeG]

17. How to recognize different kinds of trees from quite a long way away.

[China_cat]

21. I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok

[maveric]

24. Lyrics to Lumberjack

I'm a Lumberjack

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day
(He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day)
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea
(He cuts down trees...)
(He's a lumberjack...)
I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
(He cuts down trees...)
(He's a lumberjack...)
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspenders and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa
(He cuts down trees...)
(He's a lumberjack...)
filename< LUMBERJK[br />

[China_cat]

22. I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok

Sorry for the dupe

[grannylib]

18. Python rules...been a fan since the early 70s when I lived in England.

One of my favorite sketches is the tourist (John Cleese)in the tobacconist's shop, trying to make sense of his English phrasebook, which was written by a pervert.
"Drop your panties, Sir William, I cannot wait until lunchtime."
"My nipples explode with delight!"

[elperromagico]

20. "My hovercraft... is full... of eels."

:D

[elperromagico]

19. I'd like to answer this question, if I may, in two ways.

Firstly in my normal voice, and then in a kind of silly high-pitched whine...

[eyesroll]

23. Small doses for me.

I enjoy snippets here and there. I couldn't just watch a marathon, though.

[achtung_circus]

25. I live for marathons.

Please can it be time for another marathon. My heart stops and I need the machine that goes PING.