# Something from Monty Python that's Not Funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966 "2013-01-22T00:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/41 "2013-01-22T19:48:09Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > I still don’t understand what the [Crimson Permanet Assurance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crimson_Permanent_Assurance) was all about (at the beginning of _The Meaning of Life_). Does that even count as Monty Python? You’re having a go at us, right? Absolutely hysterical. The best “filler” ever run before a movie that I’ve seen. Not funny sketch with John Cleese? How about Cleese standing on a shore explaining that the episode ran short and they needed to fill it out. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/42 "2013-01-22T19:52:27Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > You’re having a go at us, right? Absolutely hysterical. The best “filler” ever run before a movie that I’ve seen. No accounting for taste. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw it which was in the theater on the first run. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/43 "2013-01-22T21:07:59Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > I still don’t understand what the [Crimson Permanet Assurance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crimson_Permanent_Assurance) was all about (at the beginning of _The Meaning of Life_). Does that even count as Monty Python? If you have ever worked in an office and hated it, it is a wonderfully cathartic piece. I loved it, and it was a big plus in a movie that I found a little uneven in entertainment. I actually liked the Mr Creosote part. That’s strange because I’m not usually a big fan of gross out humor. But again, _Meaning of Life_ came out at a time when there wasn’t so much gross out humor in movies. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/44 "2013-01-22T22:10:09Z")
“Mr. Neutron” is unwatchable and the 4th season was not all that good overall (though “Michael Ellis” was OK). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/45 "2013-01-23T19:31:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yes. But not poison. The whole point of the gag was that the one little mint was all that was needed to make him explode because of his gluttony. If its poison or he shoots him with a gun there is no gag. You need to watch the scene, someone posted a link. He is given something that causes everything else to give off a gas. He balloons in front of us and the waiter knows it is going to happen. Definite chemical reaction causing huge amounts of gas. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/46 "2013-01-24T08:57:46Z")
I never found the “It’s…” guy at the start of every episode particularly funny, ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/47 "2013-01-27T03:15:59Z")
I have always thought the whole “Blancmange” thing from Season 3 or 4 to be tedious. Regarding the Gumbys, I think the whole man-with-knotted-handkerchief-on-head-wearing-shorts-standing-in-water thing was a parody of the way British men looked when they were on vacation. Excuse me … on holiday. I was just rereading a James Herriott book, written in the 1970s, and he mentioned subbing in for another vet who went on holiday to the beach. He got a picture from the guy, and he describes him as wearing a knotted handkerchief and shorts, standing knee-deep in water. As soon as I read Herriott’s description, I immediately saw Michael Palin as a Gumby. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/48 "2013-01-27T03:38:45Z")
This whole discussion misses the point. The aim of Monty Python was not to be funny. The aim of Monty Python was to be silly. Big difference. A sketch be both funny and silly. Sometimes it’s only one of those. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966/49 "2013-01-27T06:24:17Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > I have always thought the whole “Blancmange” thing from Season 3 or 4 to be tedious. “The Science Fiction Sketch”?:eek: Heretic! :mad::mad: But perhaps you are talking of another “Blancmange” thing: I am reasonably sure that “The Science Fiction Sketch” is from season one, or at most two. It is actually an anticipation and counterpart of events related in a more literal and linear way by Star Trek: TNG. It explains why the Borg traveled back in time in order to invade Earth. As the python reveals, they went back to the 1970s, and did it in order to win Wimbledon. Which they did, repeatedly. > [@BobArrgh](#): > > Regarding the Gumbys, I think the whole man-with-knotted-handkerchief-on-head-wearing-shorts-standing-in-water thing was a parody of the way British men looked when they were on vacation. Excuse me … on holiday. It is a parody of a parodic stereotype of the working class Englishman on holiday from a much earlier period. I actually grew up in an English seaside resort town, much favored by working class holidaymakers, through the 1950s, '60s and '70s, and I do not recall ever once actually seeing a man with a knotted handkerchief on his head. I was aware of the stereotype, though. Presumably it used to happen once upon a time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-from-monty-python-thats-not-funny/647966.md?page=2)