It's... Monty Python's Flying Circus

     I have some comedy albums in my collection ranging from Bob Newhart to Robin Williams to Bill Cosby to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. However, most of my comedy albums are by Monty Python's Flying Circus. Monty Python was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam (director of my favorite movie, The Fisher King), Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin ( no relation to Sarah). When I was in high school, living in the middle of nowhere Michigan, we only had 4 tv channels; CBS, NBC, ABC and local PBS. I always noticed in the TV Guide (a weekly staple of my existence) a show called Monty Python's Flying Circus. Now, I HATE circi(?) so I never turned it on. Oddly enough, my grandparents introduced me to Benny Hill which was on PBS right before MPFC. One night, I was watching Benny Hill and fell asleep in the middle of the episode. When I woke, I was introduced to the world of Monty Python. I had never seen anything like it. There were guys dressed as women, crazy collage animations, no punchlines or conclusions to sketches and British accents. There were dead parrots, spam, a cheese shop with no cheese, flying sheep and the Spanish Inquisition. Then I discovered that they made movies, as well. I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail in my college dorm on a movie night. I loved it right away when King Arthur comes out of the mist pretending to ride a horse while his squire is banging two halves of an empty coconut together to make a clomping noise. Then King Arthur has to explain how he came into possession of a coconut when Mercia is a temperate zone. I have the album soundtrack of the Holy Grail and I've owned it on VHS and two different DVD editions. If you've never seen it, it's classic. I also have the soundtrack for The Life of Brian, The Final Rip Off and Previous Record. I used to have Instant Record Collection and Matching Tie and Jacket, but I loaned them and never got them back. I recommend all of this to my kids. Most of their material is timeless, with only the occasional reference to 70's Britain.
     When I started to write this post, I intended to list classic lines or recount classic sketches but that could go on forever. It would also be boring if you're already a fan and have the whole canon memorized. If you're not familiar with Monty Python I would recommend spending a day on Youtube watching videos. I would start by searching dead parrot or French taunting or argument clinic or nudge nudge and going from there. Well, since I said this blog would have lots of lists I'll give you a list of my favorite sketches and you can search those too. Peace.

* Upper-class Twit of the Year
* Restaurant Sketch
* Most Horrible Family in Britain
* Self Defense
* Travel Agent
* Undertaker Sketch
*Cheese Shop
* Dead parrot
* Spanish Inquisition
*Spam
* Book Shop
* All England Summarize Proust Competition
* And my favorite one where the son who's a miner comes home to visit his father who is a playwright, but I don't know what it's called. Sorry.