Monty Python is an overrated, fudamentally unfunny sacred cow. Discuss.?

Question

I mean, okay, occasionally it's funny, but mostly, it's incomprehensible, embarressing, puerile drivel, that has somehow hoodwinked an entire generation into finding (or pretending to find it) hilarious.
Really, is it just me?
I have silenced dinner tables before with this question. As though I had indeed shot a cow in Delhi's main throughfare.At noon.With a bazooka. In a dayglo T-shirt. And then micturated on an image of Ghandi.
Really, people, I know they're part of childhood/adolescence for many of us, but please,take a step back, be objective. They. Just. Aren't.That.Funny.
Or is it just me?

Answer 1

It is just you. Yes.

Answer 2

Hmm. Yes, yes they are funny most of the time.

I can recall a sketch about an Olympic "hide-and-seek" competition. The two final competitors were from England and some Mediterranean state (maybe it was Albania).

Anyways, first the Albanian hid and the Englishman sought. They showed the Englishman counting to some astronomical number followed immediately by him looking everywhere in the immediate vicinity (while the entire world was open for hiding and he was intensely investigating London).

The Albanian is shown trying to find an adequate hiding spot (and he eventually just stops and stands behind a pillar of some sort). The Englishman continues to seek and seems distressed; he cannot find the Albanian. He essentially has random ideas of where the Albanian might be and compulsively hops around the globe in search of him.

After 27 years (or some amazing number), 8 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 11 minutes and 55 seconds, the Englishman has an epiphany, he runs to the very spot where the Albanian says and exclaims, "I found you!" While standing together, both their beards have grown considerably longer.

Next it is the Albanian's turn to seek while the Englishman hides. The Englishman searches out his spot and ends up in an abandoned ruin in Spain (or something like that). The Albanian seeks him all around the globe and the Englishman is shown intermittently standing in one spot and doing various odd things. Years later, the Albanian thinks to himself--the abandoned ruin in Spain and immediately gets on a plane and flies to the exact spot where the Englishman is hiding.

He retraces the exact route that the Englishman took to find his spot. He enters the ruins and points directly at the Englishman. The Albanian celebrates in a wonderfully Slavic accent.

The two men (with beards down to the floor) are joined by the announcer that started the whole thing (who hasn’t seemed to have aged at all).

The announcer reads the number of years, months, days, etc. for the two together. Number after number is identical and the competition comes down to the seconds. The announcer remarks of how fine the competitors are while the two nervously await the outcome. As he reads the number of seconds, both Englishman and Albanian are doing some sort of nervous tick.

The two had the exact same time (to the second). Both competitors are shocked and look ultimately heartbroken.

The announcer exclaims: This match has ended in a tie. Please join us tomorrow at noon Greenwich Mean Time for the runoff. Good night.

Answer 3

For someone who seems so serious, who likes to use big words and seem self-important (seemingly), the slapstick and sometimes vulgar humor of the Monty Python troupe would indeed be lost on you.

Their humor is also one that builds over time. Some people may watch their first Flying Circus skit or Monty Python movie, and find it entertaining, but maybe not so much that they laugh hysterically, and quote lines like their friend did who asked them to watch with them. But their repetitive character types and quirky humor become recognizable and familiar even though a new skit or movie may be playing, and this sort of identity creates a closer bond with the humor.

If what I just makes sense, you are indeed a clever fellow. I tried not to sound to dry, as the process of trying to explain to a person why something is funny, usually results in said item being quite *un* funny.

My advice to you? If it's not funny to you, and you don't understand it, do not watch it yourself and just understand that there are those that do enjoy it - and be accepting of them.

Answer 4

IIs it ironic that your description, "As though I had indeed shot a cow in Delhi's main throughfare.At noon.With a bazooka. In a dayglo T-shirt. And then micturated on an image of Ghandi." sounds distinctly Pythonian?

Answer 5

I agree with you. There are one or two sketches that are funny then the rest is yawningly boring. Very overrated. I didn't think Spike Milligan was very funny either but everyone I know call him a genius. What tosh. Now the Goons were funny but even those were pathetic a couple of times. Still, I'd rather hear them than watch the rubbish that's Monty Python.

Answer 6

We wanted and expected them to be funny and when they were firing on all cylinders, the scaled the heights and this is how they achieved cult status. Like all forms of entertainment, there are gaps and fillers i.e. your favourite band have just released their latest CD and there are ten tracks on it and three of them are rubbish. This is compensated for by the one or two outstanding tracks that become classics and remain in your memory forever.
As others have said, they are part of the evolution of comedy and the BBC were very brave to let them do it, but the BBC were pioneers in many forms of programming then and there was just nothing else like it at the time..........

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Monty Python is the funniest Comedy sketch show ever to be shown on TV they were the forerunners of alternative comedy. The best two sketches are The Dead Parrot Sketch and The Spam Song sketch. Bring them back.

Answer 9

I oppose the motion. Certainly some of the animations are a bit off, but I dare anyone not to laugh at "The Stolen News Reader", "Nobody expects the Spainish Inquistion", "Man turns into Scotsman" and the classic "Lumberjack Song"

Answer 10

Like most sketch-based comedy it is a bit hit or miss. But if you find the humour lacking in general, then I say to you what sargeloda2001 and leah said. You'll be telling us next the four Yorkshiremen sketch isn't funny.

Answer 11

Whew, big balls calling out Monty Python like that.

Actually, I agree. There are some funny parts, but I'm not sure it's worthy of its legendary status. I guess part of it is that British humor is a little weird.