Because I am so Monty'ed

[ericcoleman]

What is your favorite Monty Python bit?

And what is your favorite ex-Python moment?

For me ... it's tricky. For the former I would have to go pre-Python and say that Cleese's Ferret Song is my favorite bit, but I think his best work was in Fawlty Towers. Still, the Ferret Song makes me giggle no matter how many times I hear it.

Python, The Philosophers Song I think ... but that could change a dozen times before the weekend is out.

Comments

[geekymary.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a tough one.

I'm partial to the Penguin on the Television, the Barbershop sketch (just because of Michael Palin's performance), and the Black Knight in Holy Grail. However, I also love the Cheese Shop sketch for its rhythm, The world's funniest joke, the marriage counselor, the whole show with the Spanish Inquisition..

oh never mind.

Lemon curry?

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I'm still fond of The Argument Clinic. It's part of one of the best shows they did, and should be seen in that context. I love the opening bit that you don't understand the first time through ("Mr. Dubakey's free, but he's a little bit conciliatory") and the end with the recursive policemen.

Ex-Python? I dunno. I'm not a big Fawlty Towers fan: Unpleasant people doing unpleasant things just isn't my idea of a good time. Perhaps A Fish Called Wanda, though I'd have to see it again to pick out a moment. On SNL, Eric Idle and Jane Curtain spend some time obviously ad-libbing various nonsense phrases. It doesn't always work, but it's fun anyway. Indeed, Eric's opening for his segment of the latest Monty Python retrospective (on tv earlier this year) as he wanders through the seats at the empty Hollywood Bowl was great.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of John Cleese's pre-Python Book Shop sketch (which for years I thought was Python, but was really Cleese and Marty Feldman, but written by Cleese and Graham Chapman. It premiered in 1967 on "At Last the 1948 Show." It was later included (revised) on the Contractual Obligation Album and Live at the Hollywood Bowl.

For Python, I've always been partial to the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro for its Chaos and silliness.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

So, so many possibilities, including all of the ones mentioned so far -- I love the Argument Clinic, and the Cheese Shop, and the man who can't say the letter "B" ("You mean 'C'?" "Yes, that's right....") and the Philosopher's Song and the Money Song and of course Dead Parrot and all of Holy Grail and Life of Brian and Miss Anne Elk and her theory (that which is hers and which belongs to her) about the brontosaurus and and and....

Ex-Python? Again, very tough. A Fish Called Wanda is fabulous; so is Idle as the narrator of The Frog Prince on Faerie Tale Theater and in Ella Enchanted. Michael Palin's travelogues. Cleese as Robin Hood in Time Bandits (and Palin's star-crossed romance with Shelly Duvall). Terry Jones's script for Labyrinth. And I suppose I could count Spamalot. But I think my favorite ex-Python moment is the eulogy for Graham Chapman.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, and, Happy Birthday! :)

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

Python moment: Pet Shop, the Piranha brothers, Holy Grail

ex-Python: Sit On my Face and The Lumberjack song from the Concert for George
John Cleese as Q, and in Silverado

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

My favorite Python bit is probably the scene with Arthur and the peasant in Holy Grail. Help, help, I'm bein' repressed!

I'm not familiar with much of the ex-Python stuff, but I really love John Cleese's apology in A Fish Called Wanda. When the camera zooms out and you see that he's hanging upside down out the window is one of the best visual gags in the history of cinema.

[jermynsavile.livejournal.com]

The two blokes in khakis and pith helmets dancing on the quayside while slapping each other round the face with fish! Makes me laugh every time.