So my daughter, Gwen, an art student up in Boston, was taking a class that was an overview of Aztec art. The teacher was discussing the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, and at one point she endeavored to put things into historical perspective. “What else,” she asked the class, “was going on in Spain during the 15th century?”
Gwen raised her hand and replied,”The Spanish Inquisition.”
“And what was the Spanish Inqusition?” asked the teacher.
Without hesitation, Gwen replied, “Unexpected.”
Dead silence from the class. The teacher laughed. The rest of the class just frickin’ sat there.
I think she was relieved when she told me what happened and I laughed, and then I related it to Kath and she laughed. At least *we* got the joke. Shows we raised Gwen right.
PAD
• 
One more:
I was in Chicago visiting a friend a few years ago. This was during one of those severe heat waves that they occasionally have, and temps this day were over 100-110 degrees; actually too hot to sweat.
My friend and I got onto an El-train. The AC in the first car was broken, so almost everybody crowded into the second and third car. (Upon reflection, it probably would’ve been more comfortable in that first car.) We were packed in like rush-hour in Tokyo.
As we pulled out of the station, one man turned to the one next to him and actually said, “At least it’s a dry heat.”
I started singing. “Always look on the bright…side of life!”
And four or five others, on cue, started whistling.
Life was good….
Ah yes, the hazards of in-jokes (cont’d).
Japanese language class.
Teacher asks me “How is your bath?”
Expected response: “It’s very comfortable, thank you.”
Actual response: “Itaiiiii!” (Japanese for “ouuuuch!”)
And I wasn’t surprised when only the [Japanese] teacher and one student broke up laughing. Not having there, the rest of the class couldn’t be expected to know how almost scaldingly hot the waters of some old-style public baths could be up to about ten years back.
Thanks for the morning laugh Peter…
I needed it.
Regards:
WSJ3
A Python fan forever!
To be fair, Monty Python — like just about all sketch comedy — is very much of its time, in the moment. There’s really no reason to expect that folks that are Gwen’s age (i.e., college age) should find it funny. Nothing wrong with young folks who DO like it, obviously, but an ignorance/indifference toward Python is hardly something that people in their late teens/early 20s should be criticized for. Heck, I’m 28, and it’s a bit too old even for me.
Sketch-comedy is simply *like that,* at least in my opinion. When I was in middle school, nothing seemed funnier to me than Saturday Night Live. In high school, I discovered “Kids in the Hall,” and it seemed so far ahead of its time, and I couldn’t go back to “SNL.” In college, someone introduced me to “Mr. Show,” and every episode had me on the floor. When I’d watch reruns of “Kids” on Comedy Central, they suddenly seemed so very stale. These days, I’ll occasionally trot out my Mr. Show DVDs, and while some of it makes me chuckle, and I can still be intellectually impressed by its uniqueness (while also acknowledging that it owes a LOT to Python), it certainly doesn’t blow me away the way it used to.
All of this stuff was good in its day, but … let’s be honest, guys, it’s not great literature or art. It’s just a bunch of jokes that were very funny the first time we heard them.
Jason
I respectfully disagree. They are just as funny today as they were then (and some of them actually get funnier!)
‘Course, that’s just my opinion.
Glenn Hauman said:
I’m very proud of my honorary niece.
So.. you must be the godfather? No wonder Peter does everything you “suggest.”
As for this Monty Python business… I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Now if you’ll excuse me, my sleeping parrot needs some cheese.
RLR
Jason wrote: All of this stuff was good in its day, but … let’s be honest, guys, it’s not great literature or art. It’s just a bunch of jokes that were very funny the first time we heard them.”
Oh, I don’t know, while some of the Monty Python material IS dated, and the show’s general pacing may seem glacial to anyone under 30, many of the sketches are as fresh and funny today as they were 30 years ago, in my opinion.
I feel the same way about TV shows like Second City, SNL and In Living Color; and films like Airplane, Hot Shots, Naked Gun, etc.
While some of the material falls flat, the best stuff still shines.
Some people may just not “get” Monty Python, and that’s fair. After all, we’re all different. But I’ve also known people who don’t “get” the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Harold Lloyd, Steve Martin or Mr. Bean. Just because some people may not “get” this type of comedy doesn’t mean the rest of us only like it out of nostalgia or whatever. In the case of The Three Stooges, Curly died before I was born. Yet to this day, the Curly episodes — and Curly — still make me laugh the most. As a kid, I never really liked the Joe Besser/Joe DeRita versions of Curly, even though those “Curlys” were contemporary for me.
Nah. The best of Monty Python is still hilarious. There’s no “halo effect” as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t think there’s much of a halo effect for Python, really.
There’s much more of one when the humor is topical, which IMO is why song parodies tend not to hold up unless it’s somebody like Weird Al, and even then I personally tend to find his “style parodies” much better after the fact than his direct song parodies.
But the truly standout Python sketches in my mind — the dead parrot, the fish-slapping dance, the cheese shop, the argument clinic, the vocational guidance counselor, etc. — are really context-free and thus remain timeless.
As long as we’re talking about sketch comedy, though, I need to recommend “Smack the Pony”. It’s a British show that used to air on Bravo a few years ago, and it’s the funniest new thing I’ve seen in years, bar none.
TWL
Comedy is a totally subjective thing of course but to me the Python stuff has stood the test of time. I agree that the show seems somewhat dated and the low production values are a bit more off putting than I’d remembered but the basic funniness of the material still resonates. Python material is funny even when it’s done by people other than the original actors. For that reason I expect it to last.
Also, it has an absurdist quality that keeps it from dating as badly as much of the SNL material has. Same for the Stooges; smacking a guy on the head with a lead pipe and hearing it make a hollow coconut sound will always be funny. Some stuff transcends time. I would not be surprised if people were reading and performing Python 200 years from now (I will, however, be surprised if I’m there to enjoy it).
Good comedy rarely ceases to be good.
Sometimes if the comedy is too topical/political the humor is lost on those who don’t understand the dated references. Tom Lehrer’s 1968 album That Was the Year That Was is a good example. No one can really be expected to laugh at the Werner Von Braun or Hubert Humphrey songs anymore.
But other songs of his are ageless — such as I Hold Your Hand in Mine, The Hunting Song, and Oedipus Rex.
I crack up listening to Abbott and Costello routines, as well as Allan Sherman songs, even though I was born in 1969.
And Monty Python are minor deities. There’s no reason someone 100 years from now won’t laugh at Argument Sketch, Cheese Shop, or The Wide World of Novel Writing.
My Python related story.
Back in 2000, my wife and family went to the UK. When we got to the Scotland/England Border, the wife and I had our picture taken on the “Scotland” side with our our arm raised (ala the episode where everyone is turned into Scotsman so the aliens can win Wimbeldon).
When we got home, only one of our friends got the joke. And they’re all Python fans!
(The best part of having our picture made was the Piper playing the tune from the episode.)
“But I’ve also known people who don’t “get” the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Harold Lloyd, Steve Martin or Mr. Bean.”
Actually, I’d find it more noteworthy if you’ve known someone who DOES like Mr. Bean 😉
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
That’s really funny!
But she should be happy, if she thinks that get through with that joke is hard in america she should try to do it in Spain!! (Thought it was a reference to the funniest joke in the world).
I’d love to have someone able to recognize that reference in my college!
All this chatter… there must have been trouble down at mill!
Tom Lehrer’s 1968 album That Was the Year That Was is a good example.
Yeah, especially since it’s really from 1965. 🙂
No one can really be expected to laugh at the Werner Von Braun or Hubert Humphrey songs anymore.
Point taken in general, though I personally still find the Von Braun song uproariously funny. (“Whatever Became of Hubert”, not so much.)
And of course, something like “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” is ageless. It all depends on how much current-events context they’re putting in.
TWL
there’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium…
…and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium…
PAD
All of this stuff was good in its day, but … let’s be honest, guys, it’s not great literature or art. It’s just a bunch of jokes that were very funny the first time we heard them.
Ahhh……yer talking to some sketch comedians here…..
“And of course, something like “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” is ageless.”
So THAT’s where that song is from? Ever since it was a semi-major character point of Jeffrey Geiger, Mandy Patinkin’s semi-disturbed heart surgeon on Chicago Hope, I wondered about the song – where it was from, if it was a real song or if David E. Kelley made it up … The internet IS educational!
I may not teach art history but I do teach philosophy and I know funny. And that joke was funny.
MW
Actually, I’d find it more noteworthy if you’ve known someone who DOES like Mr. Bean 😉
Don’t make me beat you over the head with my copy of the Mr. Bean DVD boxed set! 🙂
New Channel 4 comedy, from the creator of Black Books, Father Ted and Big Train.
The IT Crowd. First episode online, for free.
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/I/itcrowd/video/index.html
Gwen wins the prize, as far as I’m concerned!
Going to toss in MY “at least SOMEone got it” story here: Hubby and I were grocery shopping, and came upon the aisle showcasing SPAM. Hubby, knowing my distaste of it, points it out: “Look honey, your favorite! SPAM!”
“But I don’t want *any* SPAM,” I replied, as another couple was coming down the aisle towards us.
Just then, the gentleman rattled off, “Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg, sausage, and bacon; egg and SPAM; egg, bacon, and SPAM; egg, bacon, sausage and SPAM; SPAM, bacon, sausage, and SPAM; SPAM, egg, SPAM, SPAM, bacon, and SPAM; SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, egg, and SPAM; SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, baked beans, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, and SPAM; or lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pate, brandy, and a fried egg on top and SPAM.”
His wife looked at him as if he’d lost his mind, while the three of us laughed like madmen.
As we passed by we all nodded to each other in recognition, and then we heard him singing quietly (through fits of laughter) as they continued down the aisle, “SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM..SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM… Lovely SPAM,wonderful SPAM….”
That was a good day…
Python’s humor can transcend language and culture both. When our foreign-exchange student, Andrey, first encountered “Holy Grail” in a Literature of Film class; he hated it. He complained about the geek who said the lines as they were watching it. But Python was insidiously invading his system.
Months later, we watched the “Lord of the Rings” and the adventurers were underground in a deserted dwarf hold. As they were reading the log that was scrawled on the wall, I leaned over and whispered to my wife, “They were attacked by the hordes of AAAAaaarrrgh!”. At the same time, Andrey whispered in her other ear, They were attacked by the hordes of AAAAaaarrrrgh!”.
I love it,
mark
Tom Lehrer’s 1968 album That Was the Year That Was is a good example.
Yeah, especially since it’s really from 1965. 🙂
Ahh, yes. I usually remember the year by the introduction to the song “National Brotherhood Week”. But somehow I forgot Lehrer referred to Malcolm, and not Martin. Way too many people got shot in the 60s.
So THAT’s where that song is from?
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park is on the album: An Evening (Wasted) With Tom Lehrer
Other Tom Lehrer albums
Songs by Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer Revisited
That Was the Year that Was
Which completes the set, though as far as I know, he’s still alive and teaching math at Harvard.
There is a newer box set: The Remains of Tom Lehrer, which contains some previously unreleased gems.
Hey, just so we’re clear, I’m a different Jason than the one above, and I’ve loved Monty Python since a friend introduced us in high school. Even now at 29, I still use “MY BRAIN HURTS” or “SORRY” at least once a day, usually to no acknowledgement whatsoever. I agree with several of the above posters that what makes Python transcend its contemporary acts and its multiple descendents is that any group of friends can repeat a Python bit and make it one of the funniest things they do that day. To me, the low production values actually helped the show, because the show has a minimalist quality to it that keeps it from aging as quickly as shows like SNL or Mad TV. Even In Living Color when watched today seems dated. But you start talking about ex-parrots or Spam with a friend in the know, and you’ve got all the laughs you could want.
Smart kid! Reminds me of my first Astronomy class a few weeks ago: The instructor was going over the very basics, and said we’d be spending a lot of time on the sun, “And we all know what the sun is, don’t we?” Before I could stop myself, I replied: “The sun is a mass of incandescent gas!” Silence. “A gigantic nuclear furnace?” Still silence. I sat in embarassment as the instructor continued (she wanted to know we all knew it was a star).
I don’t actually like much modern comedy now. I’m 13 so… I love Monty Python, SNL (THE OLD STUFF!, Cheech And Chong, etc. Btw i’m sorry if i make alot of you feel old…
Wesley
RhiannonStone, I actually play that song for my Earth Science class. Most of the kids like it, or, more accurately, they like it more than watching me give them more notes to take.
Many thanks to you PAD (and mad props to Gwen for her quick wit) for starting this thread and to all of the other posters with excellent Monty Python stories!
It was just what I needed to hunt down what time Monty Python episodes are on the BBC and set my DVR to record all of them! Now I can see all of these hilarious skits once more and relive the funny!
Out of curiousity, with this diverse group, do people have a favorite member of Monty Python? I’d probably have to go with John Cleese just because he somehow has a way of doing “serious” characters that totally cracks me up!
Bill
Re: Mr. Lehrer —
Which completes the set, though as far as I know, he’s still alive and teaching math at Harvard.
Alive, yes; teaching math, yes (albeit not much); Harvard, no. He’s been at UC Santa Cruz for ages; a friend of mine who was a student there knew him well enough to go to a party at his house.
And may I just say that his take on things is desperately, desperately needed in this day and age.
TWL
Out of curiousity, with this diverse group, do people have a favorite member of Monty Python? I’d probably have to go with John Cleese just because he somehow has a way of doing “serious” characters that totally cracks me up!
I tend to go back and forth between Cleese and Chapman. Both are astonishingly good as Authority Figures Gone Silly. (And as a writing duo, their stuff comprises about 95% of my favorite Python material.)
Least favorite as a performer: Terry Jones. He’s fine (particularly as a Pepperpot; he might be the best middle-aged woman of the group), but never really got to me as a performer. As a director or co-director of most of the films, he’s fantastic. I think he’s got more strengths in writing and acting than in performing.
TWL
RhiannonStone –
My now almost 16 year old son took in ‘Why Does the Sun Shine’ to play for his 8th grade science class when they had their unit on the Sun to play for the teacher last year.
He’d never heard it.
Can I say I love my kid?
Now, if I can only find a place that doesn’t have the ‘Rabbit With Sharp Pointy Teeth’ slippers on backorder in time for his birthday next week…..
I once wrote Python’s ‘Medical Love Song’ as a verse inside a Valentine’s Day card — Man, my girlfriend dumped me so fast I felt like I was travelling backwards in time… and her language was mighty colourful, too!
…mind you the laughs, back-slaps and free pints I got off my mates when I told them about it almost made up for it.
So, you raised Gwen on Monty Python, and I’ve raised my son Sebastian on Peter David…
I wonder if Sebastian’s class mates will miss the references to “Knight Life” that he tends to quote already…