And Now For Something Completely Different: Enter Monty Python To Make Our American Brains Explode

 

I remember my brother and I sitting in the kitchen watching our 10 inch black and white tv.  I know what you're thinking, pretty small for a tv, and pretty colorless.  But in fairness, way bigger than watching tv on my phone. It was New Years Eve and PBS was showing Monty Python and The Holy Grail.  This would have been sometime in the mid to late Seventies. I'm not sure if we had seen the series before seeing this movie. I want to say my brother knew what the movie was. That he knew it would be on.  It's a little muddled. It was a long time ago. 

If you've never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail it is loosely based on the legend of King Arthur.  But the knights don't ride horses they are accompanied by man servants who clap together 2 halves of a coconut to simulate the sound of hoofbeats.  There is a witch trial where the witch has a carrot tied to her face for a nose. There are knights who say "ni" and French knights who threaten to, "fart in your general direction".  When the knights are deciding whether or not to go to Camelot Arthur famously remarks, "tis a silly place." And it is. Holy Grail is a very silly place.  But there are also some very serious discussions about the airspeed of an unladen swallow.  There is a blistering indictment of monarchy as a system of government, especially if that title is bestowed upon you by a supernatural being.  A lot of these discussions went right over my head.  And rhyming knights of the round table with indefatigable. But they certainly weren't talking down to me. I had to look some things up. Which is a good thing. 

I didn't really understand that Holy Grail was slightly blasphemous. And Monty Python decided to be more direct in their next film "Life of Brian" which tells the story of a prophet who's lives at the time of Jesus and who has strong parallels in his life story.  People were not amused. But we were. So, smart, and yet so silly.  Also, and just as life changing: full frontal nudity.  I'll never forget my father leaning over to us in the theater and whispering, "Don't tell your mother." Terry Jones calls the naked woman a "Welsh tart" which I assumed referred to some type of pastry. My only knowledge of Tarts being those of the Pop variety we toasted for breakfast. 

We were fortunate that our PBS station had a lot of British television shows. Not just Monty Python, but The Goodies, and Dr. Who.  Later on Fawlty Towers. These shows were really different from American sitcoms like Three's Company (ironically based on a British sitcom) and Different Strokes. I don't think I was aware of Saturday Night Live, yet. And while Saturday Night Live was, funny, and irreverent; it wasn't nearly as smart or as silly. I loved the extremes. I loved the dichotomy.  

This is some of the types of things I try to emulate in my own work. Like when the girls are preparing for the titular "Sexy Date with Bigfoot" 

“Do you think I’m an idiot for thinking Bigfoot is real?” Peggy said to Megan. Megan glanced down, but just for a second. She smoothed her skirt. 

“No,” Megan said emphatically. She looked Peggy square in the eye. “Absolutely not. Grover Krantz was a professor of physical anthropology at Washington State University.  In addition to his formal studies in evolutionary anthropology and primatology he was a firm believer in Bigfoot.”

“That’s right,” said Denise. “And don’t forget British primatologist John Napier. He was the Director of the Primate Biology Program for the Smithsonian Institution.”

“He believed in Bigfoot, too?” Peggy said. She looked at Denise searching her eyes. 

Denise pursed her lips. “Well, I’m not sure if I would say he ‘believed’, but he certainly found the evidence compelling.”

Peggy looked at Megan. “Compelling is good, right?” Megan smiled and clapped her on the shoulders. 

“Compelling is very, very good,” she replied. “Now let’s get you ready for your date with Bigfoot.”

“My sexy date,” said Peggy.