A knight rides an imaginary horse through the English country side. Slapping coconuts provide the hoof beats. What else could it be but “Monty Python and the Holy Grail?” Right away, as the film opens, the boys from Monty Python establish a lunatic logic . The kings of British comedy cut along the bleak landscape, riding a murky line between outright insanity and pure genius.
“Bring out your dead.”
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin first unleashed themselves upon the world with the debut of Monty Python’s Flying Circus in October of 1969 . The short form comedy sketch show ran until 1974, pushing the boundaries of acceptability and good taste all along the way.
Over 35 years later, after the release of four feature films and a broadway show, their influence can be seen in everything from the Muppets to South Park. The comedy troupe’s first three films are low budget masterpieces, Indie Films before the term existed.
This weekend the Orpheum in Foxboro will hold a Python-A-thon movie festival, featuring, The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, And Now For Something Completely Different, along with the children’s film, “Wind In The Willows.” Catch them while you can.
True Monty Python aficionados have the ability to quote entire skits and long stretches (if not all the dialogue) from the movies, especially the classic Holy Grail. Aficionados is a nice term to describe that coworker, friend or spouse who for no reason will say things like, “We are the knights who say Ni.”
The Pythons have gone from a cult classic to a permanent part of the mainstream. Even non fans tend to reference the Black Knight, responding to grievous injury with, “just a flesh wound.” John Cleese’s bit as the vicious, even to his last insult, warrior has become part of the vernacular. The bleeding and appendagless knight evolved into a symbol for underdogs everywhere. Cleese’s calm demeanor betrays an underlying madness that charges Monty Python’s best work. “I’ll bite your legs off.”
Slapstick and gross out humor mix with philosophical tangents such as Michael Palin’s turn as Dennis the communist peasant who tells King Arthur, “I didn’t vote for you.” Monty Python’s brilliant use of irony and Shakespearean comedy style riffs have spawned legions of of fans. Somewhere tonight in a college dorm room kids are still watching. If not they are trying to solve a question posed early in the “Holy Grail,” surfing web pages that try to estimate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
Like an infectious disease, Monty Python passes from one person to another. Fans are often desperate to enlighten the uninformed. This is probably one of the reasons behind the Orpheum’s Python-A-thon. The 1996 adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s children’s tale, “The Wind in the Willows” provides a chance to hook the kids early.
Skits like the famous Dead Parrot, included in “And Now For Something Completely Different.” helped introduce Monty Python to an American audience. The film combines footage from the Flying Circus with reworked classics in a best of collection. They have been going strong in the States since its release.
“The Life of Brian,” the Python’s first “for real film” and most radical work, takes not so serious digs at organized religion. Who else would portray an ex-leper complaining that Jesus was a, “bloody do-gooder.” The film turns crucifixions and stonings into brilliant bits. Even the innocuous question, “what have the Romans ever done for us?” spirals into comic heaven.
Part of the group’s legacy has been proving that no topic is off limits. Hold nothing sacred expect for comedy. The last shot of “The Life of Brian” frames dozens and dozens of men dying on Roman crosses. Yet, it is difficult not to laugh at the events that led to this point in the film. The only blasphemy would be passing up the chance for laughs.
Like the Beatles the cast all went on to individual success but there is nothing like the Pythons together. The television series and films comprise an amazing body of work best described as a comedy circus. The audience never knows what to expect. Monty Python attacks the pomposity and hypocrisy inherent in authority figures one minute and the next they are proposing to cut down a tree with a herring. The fearless Pythons are always out to confuse and delight the audience.
In a world of formulaic sitcoms and dull Hollywood movies Monty Python’s surreal humor still rings true. So even if you are not one of the knights who now say, “EcEkki-Ekki-Ekki-Ekki-PTANG Zoom-Boing! Z’nourrwringmm!” check them out. You may never have become the shrubbery salesman you thought you would but as Eric Idle sings at the end of “The Life of Brian” Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
“Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!”
This feature originally appeared in The Sun Chronicle