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I used to think so. In fact, I knew pretty much the entire Holy Grail off by heart when I was young, and had worked through The Meaning of Life so many times, I lost count.
Watched Grail with a friend later in life, though, and just stared at the screen. Afterward, he asked me if it was perhaps funnier with the ganje.
So, was it actually all that funny? Or does it dis-improve with age?
We probably become desensitised after hearing the same jokes and sketches over and over. These days, [i]everyone [/i]expects the Spanish Inquisition.
The prize for the most subjective thread of the day goes to....
Some of it was very funny, but a lot wasn't. And it looks very dated today.
It's weird when forriners quote MP at you and expect you to fall about laughing.
Things are definitely funnier with the right kind of mind-bending mary-jane. I once watched Notting Hill after eating some homemade hash cherry fudge and thought it was the funniest film I'd ever seen. However watching it straight a few months after confirmed it was just the drugs talking.
More on topic I still find Life of Brian hilarious, sober as a judge, after watching it god-knows-how many times.
And here is a massage from the Swedish Prime Minister...
Life of Brian remains one of the funniest films ever made, and I haven't got bored with it despite watching it loads. Holy Grail and Meaning of Life, much less so IMO.
Thanks Jamie. Will the prize include some free GIF or photoshop work from you?
Dates very much. If you watch some of the stuff that wasn't the ' funny bits' now you do end up just going wtf
I actually forgot about Life of Brian. Time to revisit I think.
I came across this again through a link on faceache earlier today and genuinely laughed out loud at parts.
Some of it was very funny, but a lot wasn't. And it looks very dated today.
Yeah, that's the other thing everyone forgets.
I picked up the complete DVD box set (and it's a bloody big box) for not much money on offer a good few years ago. Watching them back, there is obviously some absolutely legendary sketches in there, truly inspired comedy gold. But my god there's a lot of crap in there as well. I think their approach was just to throw everything out there and hope that some of it sticks.
I came across this again through a link on faceache earlier today and genuinely laughed out loud at parts.
Aye, that's one of my favourites an' all.
Ground breaking at the time, but done to death since.
A lot of early 70's rock doesn't sound that hot now, because it has been recycled x 1000. If you remind yourself that pretty much nothing was like that before it........then it makes sense.
also back to MP, time and money. Grail had time but no money (Led Zep and others bailed them half way through) Brian - fair bit of time fair bit of money. MofL no time lots of money.
Why was Brian the best?
Is this thread going to turn in to an argument?
As above (DrJ) - some of it is very funny still, some of it was funny but is dated now and some wasn't that funny in the first place. The 4 Yorkshireman is still funny today IMO for example.
Not to my taste, I think Life Of Brian was probably their peak IMO, but it's not really as good as I remember it being - whenever I watch it now (4-5 years since the last time usually) I rarely watch more than half an hour of it.
I always thought the TV series was crap, Holy Grail wasn't much better.
I couldn't stand Fawlty Towers either.
Perhaps my taste is more mainstream, if I'm in the mood for a bit of 70's comedy nostalgia I always enjoy the Two Ronnie's, Morecombe and Wise or Porridge / Open all hours. Those sorts of things, are so obviously 'of their time' but timeless at the same time.
Is this thread going to turn in to an argument?
this isn't an argument it's contradiction.
I think the films were good, but the average Fast Show sketch was ten times funnier than any of the Monty Python TV stuff.
No it's not.
run away!
But would we have had the Fast Show without the Pythons??
But would we have had the Fast Show without the Pythons??
yes, why wouldn't we? I think at the time there wasn't else much around, so they were ground breaking in that respect. But I don't believe that if they hadn't existed, nothing else would have followed. I guess comedy evolves though, like anything else.
Monty Python remains very funny as far as I am concerned. Having them regurgitate it on stage in their 60s/70s is not.
On a related note, I watched some Fawlty Towers last night – equally funny.
But would we have had the Fast Show without the Pythons??
Yes, Star witness's Spike Milligan and peter Sellers
My take on it is that when the Pythons made their sketches / told their jokes it was ground breaking stuff. It was all so new and fresh.
There is so much of it regurgitated and *plagerised by kids TV and lesser comedy script writer that a lot of the Python stuff has been done to death even if you haven't watched Python for some time.
*I can't spell that
They are all still legends to me.
Is this the five-minute argument?
When I was 14yrs old couldn't watch it without being in physical pain from helpless retching laughter. Now it just makes me smile. Some of the sketches were and are persistently annoying to me, but the HG and LoB films pure class. It just gets familiar on repeat viewings I spose , as do I. Rarely die with laughter at recent comedy so must be my inner Grumplestiltskin asleep at the wheel.
[i]But would we have had the Fast Show without the Pythons??
Yes, Star witness's Spike Milligan and peter Sellers
[/i]
Can I add Peter Cook and Duds to this line up?
The Holy Grail and Life of Brian are ****ing ace you miserable humourless sods 🙂
I still love it!
The life of Brian stands apart as a true work of genius, the rest of their output is patchy at best.
I still love Life of Brian, love most of Holy Grail and think the opening animation was the best part of the TV series.
As above a lot of it is hit and miss, and pretty dated now, but the lumberjack song still cracks me up.
and for some reason I think of it whenever I hear opera and imagine the words being sung have no relation to the gusto and passion with which it is sung,
As others said the sketch show was very hit and miss IME
The films are OK
Life of Brian is one of the best films of all time
Can I just say that this is the first time I've been on the internet?
These days, everyone expects the Spanish Inquisition.
According to QI it was ever thus as the inquisitors wrote to those they wished to inquire of in advance.
While I can appreciate that it was ground breaking, I've never found anything they ever did even remotely funny. I've tried to find it funny but totally failed!
Re-watch Yes Minister. Nothing has changed except the decor, suits and haircuts. Still very funny.
Similarly Porridge and perhaps The Goodies.
Most stuff dates, simply because it looks normal - no surprise, no tweaking of sensibilities.
Life of Brian is their only properly clever witty film. There are a few gold sketches in there like the argument one for example or the northern playwright. But a lot of it is just stupid and when it came out this was genius. But 30 years of being quoted by students and ripped off in revues has left it worse for wear.
Re-watch Yes Minister. Nothing has changed except the decor, suits and haircuts. Still very funny.
Yes (prime)minister is just class, and a reminder that despite the march of technology the world is still the same as it ever was.
🙂 (some of these sketches also pretty dated)
I saw the Life of Brian recently on a flight and genuinely laughed out loud. Hadn't seen it in years. I also saw their live show at the O2 on a subsequent flight and thought it was pants.
You have to view it in context to get it. Whats most people now fail to appreciate is that this was an era when the black and white minstrels were acceptable light entertainment. The parody and satire was ruthless and unprecedented. It was a product of the time, not of now.
I never found the Young Ones remotely funny either, despite being "told" I should find it funny. I do laugh my head off at other things but I have a total sense of humour failure at both MP and the Young Ones. I can't even claim to be too young 😛
I agree...LofB one of the funniest films ever made, and must have the most gags of any film ever. There hasn't been another comedy made that comes close.
Don't forget Life of Brian was cutting edge at the time. Banned by 39 local authorities.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8126490.stm
+1 on the hard to understand now how ground-breaking and limit-pushing it was for its time and how MP has suffered from its own success to some extent - being endlessly over-quoted or being set up as genius always makes stuff harder to appreciate...
What did Monty Python ever do for us?
I just watched the return live show (1 down 4 to go) thought it was good, laughed like meeting old friends and I didn't expect the Spanish inquisition... Few little updates and links but a great show. I don't think anyone can dispute where it stands in the history of comedy, the people who joined at the end show that to you. They also had the first series on the plane it was still funny, parts were not. What you could see is where the last 40 years of comedian's have got a lot of material from.
it's still very good - but a lot of the references are dated. consider it a museum piece.
it never resorts to the casual racism or sexism of the time, either.
Derek and Clive FTW
Some of it has dated, other stuff, like Life of Brian, is still superb. In fact I'd say LoB is easily the funniest film ever made.
The thing to remember though is to try and judge it by the standards of when it was made and don't judge them against modern comedy. They broke all sorts of new ground with much of their material.
I saw them at the O2 in the summer and thought they were brilliant, not because they were funny per se, but because they were Monty Python. I never thought I'd get to see my childhood comedy heroes playing live, so for me it was almost as much emotional as anything else. I'm quite aware they said they were doing it for the money, but I suspect they were being somewhat disingenuous in that brilliant Python way. The amount of thought and effort that went into the O2 show was not just about five guys making a quick buck.
And if you need a simpler explanation of why they were comedy gods, it's the simple fact that the line "I fart in your general direction" still makes me laugh out loud.
I told them we already had one
That's was never five minutes
You didn't pay for the full half hour.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. If I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had thrown a scimitar at me they'd lock me away.
I remember one Sunday night in 69 and my dad said "there's something on you might like". Lo and behold, the first episode of Python. I was a firm fan for years. This came after previous good stuff like Do Not Adjust Your Set, where the funny members of the Pythons started.
Is it just me or is John Cleese the dullest, most unfunny person ever to have walked a pair of legs? I'll admit he was sometimes amusing on I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again but never since.
As others have said, Monty Python has got to be taken in context.
At a time when when people genuinely thought that Elvis Presley swivelling his hips was the end of civilisation as we know it, or John & Yoko spending a week in bed would bring about the downfall of Western Democracy, Monty Python was truly revolutionary.
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are still pretty funny.
I never found it any more than occasionally mildly amusing. Which is odd because it's daft, stupid and slapstick and that is the sort of thing I generally like.
To be honest I've always found it a bit lame and forced.
For years I've carried this dark dirty secret alone. But it seems I am not alone. I've never really found MP very funny.
Thought Holy Grail was gash when I was younger but I loved the episodes.
About 3yrs ago I woke up to the Holy Grail.
My word. 🙂
You need to 'click' with its form of comedy. I loved league of gentleman whereas mrshora couldnt relax to it. She just searched for punchlines in it. Its dark comedy with silly moments. MPs holy grail is silly comedy with dark references?
I've always thought Holy Grail was funnier that Life of Brian TBH.
It's got the French knights, constitutional peasants, coconuts, Tim the Enchanter, Holy hand grenades, European swallows, Swamp castle...
Watched it with my son and daughter, and genuinely thought they would die from laughing too hard
The Fast show was great when it was fresh. The new ones made for Beeb 2's 50th were awful; free from any laughs.
Comedy ages; some better than others. I was watching 'The General' with Buster Keaton last week and it's still a hoot; and that was made in the 1920's.
Monty Python is still brilliant, but I wouldn't watch everything they ever made, you need to apply a bit of Quality Control.
"...are you suggesting coconuts migrate "
I think the pythons openly admit that at least 40% of each episode was rubbish and they knew it. Just padding. Most of them had toured and were used to what would work with a live audience but I think TV allowed them to be a bit more experimental, exploring the medium.
I've never found the parrot sketch funny but there are some absolute classics. The architects sketch for example - "Ah, I don't think I'd correctly divined your attitude towards your clients......". And some of the bizarre fillers and running jokes were just so obscure but brilliant - the archbishop practising his lines "OOO Mr Belpit my big legs are all swollen".
My children think the Holy Grail is best too!
Python can be very funny but not in the same league as Derek and Clive.
"[i]This bloke came up to me[/i]" I'll leave it at that.
Bloody Greta Garbo!
Pete and Dud. A bit more acceptable.
Sometime funny sometime not.
🙄
Teach us how to f uck off o Lord !
Look there goes the king... How do you know he's the king? He's the only one not covered in sh1t