It was 42 years ago today that the BBC first broadcast a sketch comedy show that ran for only 45 episodes over four season but has endured the many decades since, inspiring countless adolescents and adolescent-minded adults such as myself with a brand of humor that was smart and irreverent. And silly and ridiculous. I am, of course, talking about Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
While it had a relatively short lifespan on television, the Monty Python name survived through a series of films over the years that have gained cult status including Monty Python and the Holy Grail which became the Broadway hit, Spamalot. I remember going in high school to first see the film at a downtown theatre that no longer exists. It was playing on a double bill with a much cruder and pretty much forgotten film, The Groove Tube. I can’t recall much about The Groove Tube but for The Holy Grail I mainly remember laughing with joy, even through the final credits. I’ve seen the film dozens of times over the years and always find myself giggling like a kid a each.
Many of the skits have become embedded in the consciousness of the population. You still hear of high school kids today who revere the show and can and do recite many of the skits verbatim, much to the delight of many around them, I’m sure. Did I say delight? I meant chagrin. Okay, the skits are funny– when Michael Palin or John Cleese or the other Pythons are doing them. But I’m glad that their humor still makes the young giggle in the same way that I experience those many years ago. Hopefully, when I’m many years older, I’ll be shaking my fists at kids to get the hell off my lawn and to stop singing that damn Lumberjack song!
Here’s a taste of the Pythons. It’s their classic SPAM skit, with all the shrillness that Terry Jones can muster as the waitress.
Redtree Times 