# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/41 "2003-08-24T15:19:56Z")
Thanks for y’all’s replies. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/42 "2003-08-24T16:38:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \* > \*\*I had a medieval history professor who described “Life of Brian” as the most historically accurate movie ever made about the Roman Empire. Smart woman. \*\* Heh. I had a medieval literature professor who said that the Monty Python troupe was the only company she’d trust to create a movie of _Gawain and the Green Knight_ because “they really know their medieval.” I wonder if your professor knows my professor? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/43 "2003-08-24T17:07:01Z")
On that note, my mom (English teacher) used to show Holy Grail in class when they studied King Arthur, cause it was the one time when the kids would pay attention. ---
**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 24, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/44 "2003-08-24T17:36:41Z")
I first saw Monty Python about thirty years ago, when it started coming on PBS in America. My observation since then: Monty Python – funny. Obsessed fans recreating Monty Python sketches word-for-word – not funny. Creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/45 "2003-08-24T19:04:34Z")
I think the people talking about absurdity are on the right track, but it’s also the BUILDING absurdity they use so well. Absurd: Saying “I didn’t expect some kind of Spanish Inquisition” and the Spanish Inquisition bursts in. Building Absurdity:…and keeps flubbing and adding to their lines until they finally get flustered and have to go out and come in again. ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/46 "2003-08-24T22:18:39Z")
My Arthurian legend/medieval English lit professor shows and talks about _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ every chance he gets. Maybe all these professors are onto something… ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/47 "2003-08-25T03:00:56Z")
Splunge! ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/48 "2003-08-25T03:58:04Z")
I demand a shrubbery. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/49 "2003-08-25T06:53:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eternal \* > \*\*If I’m not mistaken, and I never am, laughter is primarily meant to reduce anxiety. Arguing about the mortal state of a parrot would normally be an uncomfortable situation, but being as it is not us involved, we can see the humor in the situation. It inspires us to be more take our own lives less seriously. This is why dirty jokes are the lifeblood of the army, and every squad is required to have at least one wiseass. > > So what I’m saying is, if you don’t find Monty Python funny, you aren’t supporting our troops. Either that or you thrive on pressure or something. What to I know. \*\* Sir, I’d like to Get out of the Army. It’s dangerous. There are men out there with guns. Some of them even have tanks. Did you realize that if there’s a war, a real proper war, I’ll be sent to fight? I might even be killed! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/50 "2003-08-25T16:40:37Z")
All I can say is that I get down on my knees and thank God every day that I discovered Monty Python all by myself in the late 1970’s. If I’d heard the geeks and creeps spouting every line ad infinitum (and I oughta know…I’m one of them) Then I’d probubly hate them too, and wish they were dead, and myself, for not liking them… what was the question again? * * * _Conquistador Brand Instant Coffee brings new meaning to The word “Vomit”_ ---
**Author:** ![Sad\_Waters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Sad\_Waters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sad_Waters)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/51 "2003-08-25T17:07:39Z")
2 words: Fishslap Dance ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/52 "2003-08-25T18:21:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lilbtagna \* > \*\*My Arthurian legend/medieval English lit professor shows and talks about _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ every chance he gets. > > Maybe all these professors are onto something… \*\* My wife is a professor of music history. She’s putting a class together to teach next spring on Medievalism. It’s not about real medieval music, but on the various ways that imagined versions of the middle ages have been interpreted musically over the years. She starts with Wagner’s _Ring_ and Orff’s _Carmina Burana_, and ends up with the soundtrack to Peter Jackson’s _Lord of the Rings_. During the section on film music she will of course be showing _Monty Python’s Holy Grail_ as well as _Excalibur_ and, believe it or not, _Army of Darkness_ … . ---
**Author:** ![hanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@hanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hanza)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/53 "2003-08-25T23:38:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I had a medieval history professor who described “Life of Brian” as the most historically accurate movie ever made about the Roman Empire. > [@](#): > > I had a medieval literature professor who said that the Monty Python troupe was the only company she’d trust to create a movie of Gawain and the Green Knight because “they really know their medieval.” The reason that they are so accurate, IMO is that Terry Jones is apparently a world renowned expert on history (especially the medieval period), and I believe he lectures on the subject at Oxford university from time to time. Sorry, no link, just remmber reading this in a newspaper article published several years ago- too lazy to go digging it up now. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/54 "2003-08-26T06:31:27Z")
From Wikipedia, on Terry Jones: Non-fiction Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary - 1980, (updated 1994) Foreword to The Quest for King Arthur by David Day - 1995 Television Terry Jones has presented several factual television programmes, notably a major BBC documentary series, The Crusades (1996). Link: [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140257454/ref=pd\_sim\_b\_dp\_1/026-8825942-7523616](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140257454/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_1/026-8825942-7523616) Links to Terry’s history books: [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0413691403/qid=1061879758/sr=1-8/ref=sr\_1\_2\_8/026-8825942-7523616](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0413691403/qid=1061879758/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_2_8/026-8825942-7523616) [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0563370076/qid=1061879758/sr=1-6/ref=sr\_1\_2\_6/026-8825942-7523616](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0563370076/qid=1061879758/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_2_6/026-8825942-7523616) ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/55 "2003-08-26T06:45:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > \*\*Sir, I’d like to Get out of the Army. It’s dangerous. There are men out there with guns. Some of them even have tanks. Did you realize that if there’s a war, a real proper war, I’ll be sent to fight? I might even be killed! \*\* Are you a conscientious objector? No, sir. I’m a coward. See? That’s a joke. Respectfully, I disagree with **Eternal** ’s carefully nuanced and delicately phrased load of hogwash. Humor comes from the (harmless) unexpected. (Harmful unexpected causes a fear response.) The Pythons brilliance came from taking mundane situations into unexpected directions. Coconuts replace horses, to no discernable effect. Knight gets all his limbs hacked off and still wants to fight. Crucifixion victim whistles and sings about looking on the bright side. Starving sailors in a lifeboat argue about who gets to eat who. An undertaker tries to convince a potential client that his mother’s body would be best disposed of by ingestion. Restaurant staff goes into berserk hysterics over a dirty fork. Vikings sing about Spam… Do you find these incongruous concepts funny? > [@](#): > > I’m afraid I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No, I must ask nobody … no, I must ask everybody to… I must not ask anyone to leave the room. No one must be asked by me to leave the room. No, no one must ask the room to leave. I … I … ask the room shall by someone be left. Not. Ask nobody the room somebody leave shall I. Shall I leave the room? Everyone must leave the room… as it is… with them in it. Phew. Understand? Now, alduce me to introlow myslef. I’m sorry. Alself me to myduce introlow myslef. Introme -to-lose mlow alself. Alme to you introself mylowduce. Excuse me a moment. ::bangs himself on the side of the head:: Allow me to introduce myself. I’m afraid I must ask that no one leave the room. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Inspector **Tygr**. ---
**Author:** ![sanja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@sanja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sanja)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112/56 "2003-08-26T08:03:42Z")
ok, you’ve all missed it by a mile: MP popularized postmodern irony seinfeld encompassed the coda [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-somebody-explain-to-me-the-appeal-of-monty-python/197112.md?page=2)