# can somebody explain to me the appeal of Monty Python? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112 "2003-08-23T06:05:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/1 "2003-08-23T06:05:29Z")
The times I’ve seen _Monty Python’s flying circus_ and clips from the movies, I’ve found it painfully unfunny. I would appreciate if someone would explain what’s so funny about it all. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/2 "2003-08-23T06:10:44Z")
One who attempts to explain humor is unqualified to appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/3 "2003-08-23T06:12:17Z")
That’s like Hitler asking, “Please list the positive qualities of the jewish people. I’d really like to know.” Humor works with different people. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. You can’t really _explain_ why something is funny, it just is. _(it’s an analogy, i’m sure you’re nothing like hitler and you love jews very much)_ ---
**Author:** ![sanja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@sanja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sanja)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/4 "2003-08-23T06:21:35Z")
i don’t think one can be explained into finding something funny. i might suggest that in a way, to find MP funny is akin to finding ‘the waste land’ an enjoyable poem; certainly much of MP’s humor relies on … let’s say a liberal arts education. which isn’t to imply that you are uneducated, just to say that there are interests and sensibilities inherent in the average liberal arts student that aren’t found in the average physical therapy student. there, how’s that for a thoroughly unfunny, non-humor-inducing response? ---
**Author:** ![sanja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@sanja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sanja)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/5 "2003-08-23T06:26:18Z")
now of course we can analyze (which, yes, does mean “to imbue with or enhance the anal quality of something”) the comedic structure of any python skit and describe the humorous mechanisms at work – is that what you’re looking for? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/6 "2003-08-23T06:29:13Z")
Monty Python was anarchy. If you don’t like them you probably don’t like an earlier form of anarchy, like the Marks Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/7 "2003-08-23T06:32:35Z")
> [@](#): > > can somebody explain to me the appeal of Monty Python? People like it because it makes them laugh. If you don’t think it’s funny, there’s really no appeal. I don’t know what would make you change your mind about that. I think their best stuff is funny any time; most of it you have to be in the right mood for, since it’s so absurd and idiosyncratic. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/8 "2003-08-23T06:41:17Z")
It really depends on your sense of humor. For some, Fawlty Towers is one of the funniest shows on Earth (me!), and for others, it’s just John Cleese yelling and acting stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/9 "2003-08-23T06:45:30Z")
Think of something you find funny. That’s how I feel about Monty Python. The end. ---
**Author:** ![Bullwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Bullwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/10 "2003-08-23T07:04:27Z")
Ni! ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/11 "2003-08-23T08:22:27Z")
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to respond with nothing but a Monty Python reference…59 minutes apparently. For the OP, what everyone else has said. Humour is a matter of personal taste, and if you don’t find something funny, that’s all there is to it. While I love Monty Python, there’s other forms of humour I just don’t get the appeal of, primarily gross-out humour. Doesn’t make me better or worse than people who do find that funny, just different. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/12 "2003-08-23T08:27:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by captainQwark \* > \*\*The times I’ve seen _Monty Python’s flying circus_ and clips from the movies, I’ve found it painfully unfunny. I would appreciate if someone would explain what’s so funny about it all. \*\* Out of curiosity what sort(s) of comedy do you find truly funny? What really tickles your funny bone? What comedian or comedy group do you really like? ---
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/13 "2003-08-23T09:31:33Z")
something I find funny is _Mystery science theatre 3000_ ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/14 "2003-08-23T09:40:29Z")
Hmmm I wouldn’t have thunk that finding humor in MST3K and MP ro be mutually exclusive. MST3K is…umm…usually more smart? and MP is usually more…slapsticky? But they are both “stupid”\* humor? \*stupid humor=anything I liked growing up that I tried to make my Dad sit through. Monty Python, Spaceballs, Police Acedemy, etc. Which is odd because he LOVES “Its a mad mad mad mad mad mad mad world” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/15 "2003-08-23T09:51:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by captainQwark \* > \*\*something I find funny is _Mystery science theatre 3000_ \*\* I think the problem is one of context and familarity. MP was _hilarous at the time_ they came out because it was new and no one had ever seen quite its like before. Same with Kids in the Hall. Viewed through the time lens both might seem a little stilted at this point, but they were groundbreaking and that made them especially funny in the context of the time and social context they debuted in. In this same way the arch humor and asides of MST3K you find appealing may will seem incomprehensible to our children. ---
**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/16 "2003-08-23T12:04:46Z")
I wouldn’t say that Monty Python was “stupid” humour. Yeah it was slapsticky a lot, but the levels of creativity those 6 guys reached was very far from stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/17 "2003-08-23T12:23:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*I think the problem is one of context and familarity. MP was _hilarous at the time_ they came out because it was new and no one had ever seen quite its like before. Same with Kids in the Hall. Viewed through the time lens both might seem a little stilted at this point, but they were groundbreaking and that made them especially funny in the context of the time and social context they debuted in. In this same way the arch humor and asides of MST3K you find appealing may will seem incomprehensible to our children. \*\* It took getting this far in the thread for me to decide someone else had said what I think. I was a big fan of not just Monty Python, but of several British comedy acts of that period. _Beyond The Fringe_ was one that doubled me up with laughter. Picture the period if you can. Early 1960’s. The 50’s had been about sitcoms like “I Love Lucy” and Sergeant Bilko and other such things which had their own ways of poking fun at the lifestyle of the 50’s. Most of those shows and sketches had their own brand of lunacy but it was based on the Vaudeville and Burlesque model for humor. Broad and joke-based, or slapstick, or pratfalls, or blackouts. But most of it had that American flair which was funny to some extent because it relied on the idiocy of the participants. Much like Jerry Lewis’s appeal in his Dean Martin days was based on his mockery and exploitation of retarded and handicapped people. Very non-PC, if you will. Now take that same brand of mockery and exploitation that had fueled “American 1950’s Comedy” and import the typical view of British life. Stodgy, haughty, very protocol-oriented, without the least trace of humor or even any understanding of it. Voila! Monty Python and its rivals. Americans had two sorts of things to laugh at now: the traditional stupid stuff, and now a set of stupid stuff coming from the stiff and unfunny British. You had to have been there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/18 "2003-08-23T18:58:08Z")
The old quote about jazz applies here, as well: “If you have to ask, you ain’t never gonna know.”. ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/19 "2003-08-23T20:16:24Z")
Splunge! ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/20 "2003-08-23T20:26:01Z")
Well, as others have said, even a thorough analysis won’t make you laugh at something if it just doesn’t tickle you. But here’s one consistent element of Monty Python comedy: people doing ridiculous things, but doing so in complete seriousness. (Example: the knights in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ don’t have horses, but they pretend that they do. This is patently absurd, yet they themselves don’t think so.) Here’s an idea: look at the kind of comedy available on tv in 1965, then watch Monty Python. Although it seems dated now, it introduced a whole new level at the time. Fortunately, there are lots of different kind of comedy. There’s no right or wrong answer to the question of what you find funny. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112.md?page=2)