Monty Python
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
The television shows were funny when first seen, at the age of 12 or whatever I was back then. Likewise, Douglas Adams' books were good at first reading. Even the Dirk Gently books. There are a lot of works like that (And I don't mean to poke at Brits...these examples are just the first to pop into my head.) But except for bits and pieces, now and again, they don't do anything for me. Shrug
We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube, VidMe and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc. and FB
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
If someone has to explain to you why it's funny, it stops being funny! For me, it was a bunch of very clever people observing life and putting a different spin on it. It was absolutely ground breaking in its day because it was a new and unique form of comedy that appealed to a generation. To be fair, it was also very experimental, so although it is revered now by those who remember it and appreciated it in the context of its time, equally there was a lot of it that didn't really work and was quietly forgotten.
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I probably learned more about British culture from Monty Python than from anywhere. I was 16 and a friend of mine had recently moved from the UK with 5 or 6 Monty Python LPs that we'd listen to. Most of it works quite well without video. I still remember the diatribe from the Travel Agency sketch, which is packed with cultural references.
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Did he have the three sided "Matching Tie and handkerchief"? Yes, it had three sides, I believe they were label side 2 and side 2! :)
Yes! Side 2 had two parallel tracks, so you had to reposition the stylus until it found the one you wanted.
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
...having fortunately not been brought up in the UK...
Fortunately for you, or for the Ukians? :-\
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
Fortunate for me in that I didn't get that horrid accent and accept eating food I'd otherwise be ashamed to give away. And, of course, the bad teeth and most of all, they're stuck with "The Royals". Fortunate for them in that they already feel bad enough about themselves - and such a shining example would only cause them more hurt.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
It's not important how funny they are now. It's the groundbreaking work they did for every comedian that came after them. I still find most of the things that they did very funny. And we can be eternally grateful for introducing us to the 'joys' of SPAM. Even now the spam sketch is bloody funny. They will always have a special place in my life. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
It's primarily right place at the right time. I'm old enough to remember (just) the original broadcasts and it felt revolutionary then. Twenty years ago I bought the entire collection on DVD and enjoyed about 85% of it then. Last time I took a look I enjoyed about 50%. Doesn't devalue the historical importance of what they did though. I think this is just part of the ageing process; I can barely listen to the Goon Show today, but loved it thirty years ago. Comedy evolves, I find little makes me laugh out loud now while the kids laugh uproariously at stuff I find cliched and generic. So, what makes me smile these days? Beef And Dairy Network Podcast[^] BBC - Search results for John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme[^] Any suggestions for other titles?
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
Let’s face it ! As programmers sometimes we get into worries so easy and by elements so vague that we forget to “always look on the bright side of the life”. [A stupid song], perfect for stupid depressions. My humble opinion…
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
You aren't Welsh, aren't you? (Ok, that's Black Adder, but still... ;-) )
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Fortunate for me in that I didn't get that horrid accent and accept eating food I'd otherwise be ashamed to give away. And, of course, the bad teeth and most of all, they're stuck with "The Royals". Fortunate for them in that they already feel bad enough about themselves - and such a shining example would only cause them more hurt.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
I didn't get that horrid accent
Which horrid accent - the Queen's English, BBC Standard, or about 1,000 regional accents?
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
eating food I'd otherwise be ashamed to give away
I don't know how to tell you this, but the UK boasts of some quite good restaurants, and they did it without taking advice from Americans. Fancy that!
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
bad teeth
You're a few decades out of date.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
stuck with "The Royals".
With the exception of the Queen, I'll give you that one.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
Fortunate for them...
The British Isles have somehow survived at least three millennia without your shining example, and will probably stumble on without it for a few more.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
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You're not alone. Some of the Monty Python stuff didn't resonate with me, either. I really enjoy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, to the point I bought a copy several years ago. Now, where'd I put that holy hand grenade?
I find "The Holy Grail" to be terrible to watch, but funny to quote afterward.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
I didn't get that horrid accent
Which horrid accent - the Queen's English, BBC Standard, or about 1,000 regional accents?
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
eating food I'd otherwise be ashamed to give away
I don't know how to tell you this, but the UK boasts of some quite good restaurants, and they did it without taking advice from Americans. Fancy that!
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
bad teeth
You're a few decades out of date.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
stuck with "The Royals".
With the exception of the Queen, I'll give you that one.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
Fortunate for them...
The British Isles have somehow survived at least three millennia without your shining example, and will probably stumble on without it for a few more.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.
I expect no less from an Anglophile. Looking at them through a rose-colored monocle.* * OK - I'll give you that they got out of the EU as a plus, but they still have their islands way to close to Europe.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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I've told you once!
Stupid Git!
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
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Well, in the IT world the entire name of unwanted mail became named SPAM because of a Monty Python sketch... Spam stems from Monty Python sketch - YouTube[^] But, I believe, the reason Monty Python was (seemed) so great was because we did not have any forms of humor back then. Well, there was less that was funny and especially less that was avant-garde at that time. Monty Python did things to do them and that is how a lot of technology starts out too. "Let's just see if we can do this thing." This is what made me laugh when I saw it when I was 10 on PBS (public broadcasting system): How Not To Be Seen Monty Python's Flying Circus - YouTube[^]
I think you hit on at least two explanations. We aren't teens or pre-teens anymore. Things that are funny change. Swirlies aren't nearly as entertaining when you are 40 vs when you are 13. The other thing to remember is that TV was still *NEW* in the late 60's and early 70's. These guys were experimenting with things they could do in colour as well as a bunch of other new things. We had only had TV for about 10 or 12 years in 1965 in the Texas panhandle and we didn't have PBS. I had to move east for college before I saw them on TV. In the US, comedy was changing over from Joey Bishop and others to newer stuff like the Smothers Brothers and George Carlin. Jonathan Winters was probably a good US equivalent to what Monty Python was doing. A lot is also generational. Can you imagine someone trying to pitch Blazing Saddles to a movie company today? I guess if you fight to understand what they are saying because of their accents, it is hard to find things funny. I never got some of the British drama. The Prisoner and Space 1999 always seemed surreal to me. Maybe that is what they were going for? BTW, to the guy who said "UKers": Ooooh. *NO ONE* says that. Brits is a good common name. Most folks don't know that Great Britain is an island and not a country! There are 3 countries on Great Britain.
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I've told you once!
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
My experience watching Monty Python episodes is that each episode contained about 15 minutes of dreck and one skit that was incandescently humorous. Looking backward, people remember the same dozen skits that were hysterically funny, and dismiss all the others. This makes Monty Python similar to pretty much any skit-based comedy show. Like any kind of humor, not everyone "gets" Monty Python. That doesn't make it non-funny.
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A lot of programmers say they are into Monty Python books and films. I really can't figure why. I once tried watching a Monty Python sketch, it was unbearable!. Someone enlighten me, what's the big deal with Monty Python?
Having dealt with having to be exceedingly literal and logical (programming all day). I find the satirical, absurdist, and dry humor to be very much my liking. In the Holy Grail for instance when Arthur, King of the Britons, meets Dennis the Anarcho-Syndicalist... it is pure gold. Quite possibly the best takedown of the Monarchy and people given to AS at the same time.
