M is For Monty Python

Monty Python’s Flying Circus – a surreal English comedy group, comprised of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

I was going to go with MumpsimusAn outdated and unreasonable position on an issue, but there are just too many positions on issues I find outdated and unreasonable that I’m afraid my examples would just be rants.

So I’m going with one of my all-time favorite groups: The Pythons. Funny, funny guys. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam’s animation), the group pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. They decided that they would simply not bother to “cap” their sketches in the traditional manner, and early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline. One scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that “This is the silliest sketch I’ve ever been in”—they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set.

One of my favorite skits was in the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail when King Arthur takes on the Black Knight who’s guarding a “bridge” (in reality a short plank of wood) over a small stream, (which could have been easily stepped over by King Arthur) for unknown reasons. Although supremely skilled in swordplay, the knight suffers from unchecked overconfidence and a staunch refusal ever to give up.  Hilarious. http://youtu.be/dhRUe-gz690

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Beulah

I just have to share this. This is my neighborhood, full of characters and quirks.  I love it. Check out the photo. Too damn funny.

That’s Beulah.  That little head sticking out through the hole in the gate to the right of the Christmas wreath.  Can you see the broken ornament on the step?  That was Fergie slamming into the wreath at the sound of Beulah’s bark before she emerged.

Beulah is some kind of terrier mutt, a little smaller than Fergie from what I can tell.  She barks like mad every time we pass by on our way to hike The Hill.  Short aside here, I haven’t done my main hill since my experience with the law, instead I’m hiking the “other” hill and not liking it.  Has our little pocket of individuality, funkiness and creativity (former headquarters of Timothy Leary and The Brotherhood) been compromised?  Back to Beulah.  I’m pretty sure she reserves her mad dog frenzy just for us.  Jake does a kind of stiff-legged I can kick your ass if I wanted to kind of bounce, but he doesn’t need a face-off like Fergie does.  Well, she’s still young and curious.  And submissive if it comes to the real thing.  Funny thing, for all this Cujo-type fury, Fergie and Beulah never actually “engage.”  That’s the key, isn’t it?  State your case and let it go.