# How funny, to you, are Monty Python? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104 "2012-03-29T01:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/101 "2012-09-05T04:15:23Z")
> [@Greekfreak](#): > > Better than SNL by far, and doesn’t even come close to SCTV. SCTV was hilarious the first year and a half, until Harold Ramis left the show. It was just never the same after that. My disappointment grew with each passing year. SNL was also hysterically funny when it first came on. Then I went and lived abroad for over a year. When I came back, I turned it on and said “Oh, my God! What happened while I was away?” The only bright spots after that were the Eddie Murphy years (and maybe, just maybe, the final year with the original cast, after Belushi and Ackroyd left). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/102 "2012-09-05T04:46:57Z")
Female, 49. Absolute genius for me too. Yeah, there’s a saturation effect, but they wouldn’t have that if they weren’t geniuses. ---
**Author:** ![getitrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@getitrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/getitrite)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/103 "2012-09-05T05:16:32Z")
Absolute genius, saw them on the TV, then saw everyone of their movies," Life of Brian "got me, now have “Always look on the bright side of life” as a ring tone. To old to tell you my age. Always have lived in USA. Still enjoy the “randy” side of British comedy, they have learned to get over themselves when it comes to humor, Americans have too many prudes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/104 "2012-09-05T05:22:10Z")
37, male, American. I’m not a Python obsessive, though I have seen all their movies one or two times. I’m not sure I’ve seen all the episodes of Flying Circus, but certainly most of them. I voted comic geniuses. I agree with the posters above, that when they fell flat, they fell flat, but their brand of comedy was brilliant. I’m a sucker for intelligent humor with an absurdist twist. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/105 "2012-09-05T07:03:34Z")
(Pokes thread) hmm, fairly fresh zombie… I’ll risk it. 47 Female Kiwi. Genius. The first show I was allowed to stay up late for. I still remember some of the gags that (AFAIK) never made it to the records and such. Like when the credits ran (what seemed like) halfway through the show and everything after was spoofing what must have been the following shows back in Brittain. But wore the records out with friends, too. My kid, at 13 y/o, loves them as much as I do, even requesting Life of Brian and Holy Grail DVD’s as birthday presents. We both end up breathless at some of the old skits on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/106 "2012-09-05T08:10:42Z")
“Really Funny” I wavered between that and comic geniuses, but I preferred the Gilliam/Palin line of obscure/random humour to the Cleesian rants. (Although some of those rants are very funny!) Hence the second billing on the poll. 🙂 Yet another 40 Kiwi, female. This is a Larch. A LARCH. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/107 "2012-09-05T10:01:07Z")
1. Torn, but I finally opted for hit and miss. Some of their stuff is hysterically funny but being American some jokes don’t translate well. Some of their schtick runs on a bit long. On the average I will watch an episode or one of the movies but I will not go out of my way to find them online or on TV. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/108 "2012-09-05T11:34:31Z")
Voted “other”. They used to be funny, but I haven’t aged well. I used to die laughing at Monty Python, but I don’t find much of any comedy funny anymore except for an occasional smirk, and I usually only laugh at things that weren’t intended to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/109 "2012-09-05T13:09:56Z")
45 year old female living in the US. I voted “meh”. I think the individual players are comic geniuses but as a whole, Monty Python has never worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/110 "2012-09-05T13:30:52Z")
I put “really funny”. Occasionally “comic geniuses”, and an odd miss here and there. 42, US Most of the humor ages very well…their occasional topical references tended to be very British, so we yanks never got them anyway. My almost-two-year-old is already practicing for a job in the Ministry of Silly Walks. See? The humor ages just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Greekfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@Greekfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greekfreak)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/111 "2012-09-05T14:35:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > SCTV was hilarious the first year and a half, until Harold Ramis left the show. It was just never the same after that. My disappointment grew with each passing year. > > SNL was also hysterically funny when it first came on. Then I went and lived abroad for over a year. When I came back, I turned it on and said “Oh, my God! What happened while I was away?” The only bright spots after that were the Eddie Murphy years (and maybe, just maybe, the final year with the original cast, after Belushi and Ackroyd left). I agree the early Canadian shows were the best ever, but only the Cinemax run can really be called crap. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/112 "2012-09-05T15:26:37Z")
45, USA. I voted genius. Only caught the “Flying Circus” in bits and pieces on public television in my youth, but my friends and I thought they were hilarious, and of course the movies as well. Bought all the DVD sets as soon as they were available. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/113 "2012-09-05T16:05:39Z")
Male, 51 Discovered them in the 9th grade on PBS quite by accident. For a long time I felt that I must be the only one in my town who watched them or got their humor. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/114 "2012-09-05T16:11:14Z")
Male, 50, Canadian. I used to drive into town from the farm to my sister’s place to watch Python on Sunday nights - she had cable and we didn’t. Loved them then and I love them still. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/115 "2012-09-05T16:17:05Z")
Not sure what I should vote; I recognize the humor on an intellectual level, but it does not make me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/116 "2012-09-05T16:18:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Not sure what I should vote; I recognize the humor on an intellectual level, but it does not make me laugh. OK, Spock. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/117 "2012-09-05T17:32:41Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Male, 51 > > Discovered them in the 9th grade on PBS quite by accident. For a long time I felt that I must be the only one in my town who watched them or got their humor. I forgot to say I voted for absolute genius, but that’s only because there wasn’t a choice for absolute _fucking_ genius. Still watch the show and movies. Still have two original LPs from high school, ha! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/118 "2012-09-05T20:18:46Z")
36, female, UK. I voted geniuses because when they’re funny, they’re really funny. Also because my daughter and her friends, who are teenagers, love them too (the films, at least), so it can’t have aged that badly. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is probably one of the best-known songs in the UK in terms of how many people know both lyrics and tune. And the Galaxy Song, with the same tune, is factually correct or close to it and actually taught me a fair bit - I still know all the words now. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/119 "2012-09-05T20:59:15Z")
Female, 24, USA. Really funny. Shading towards genius but I didn’t want to go that far- some sketches are funnier than other. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104/120 "2012-09-05T21:27:20Z")
Geniuses. I’m 27 (and a woman), first started watching _Flying Circus_ late at night on PBS when I was 9 or 10, and have been hooked ever since. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-funny-to-you-are-monty-python/617104.md?page=7)