I was watching Monty Python the other night when my eight your old came in the living room. He sat down next to me and we watched together. It's the first time he's ever seen it, but he liked it right away. He laughed at all the right times, and for the most part understood the British accents and the concepts. He roared at some of Terry Gilliam's cartoons. Yesterday he was humming "The Lumberjack Song" to himself. Tonight I'm going to show him the "Silly Walks" sketch.
For some parents, there's relief to find out that their kid is straight, or good at athletics or whatever. For me, it's finding out he "gets" Python.
Glee.
9 comments:
I can understand how Americans never seemed to be able to understand where the Pythons were coming from.
British humour always has an element of having to be thought about whereas American humour seems more "dumbed down" to suit the lowest common denominator viewer and relies more on recycling various situations and jokes than being original.
Certainly, there have been some instances of brilliance in American comedy, but they soon run out of originality and revert to the status quo.
Anyone who "gets" Monty Python has been blessed with a sophisticated sense of humour and an appreciation of utter silliness.
I was in Target a few weeks ago, looking at the t-shirts. There were two kids standing there, probably about 14 years old. One was looking at a shirt with a picture of the French guard from Holy Grail which said "I fart in your general direction!" He didn't get it at all. Neither did his friend. I wanted to cry, then I wanted to punch them in the face, then I seriously considered buying them the DVD.
Of course, instead of all that, I just left.
Monty Python... the whole group has more collective brain power than probably the amassed scientists of the known world... and they wisely spend their time writing silly skits that thumb their noses at stuffy people :)... I LOVE it!! Monty Python... *sigh* one of the few absolutely undisputable great miracles of this life... right, back to fighting evil... --the Iraq-locked minion...
I wondered where you'd amassed your knowledge of British words and concepts (particularly evident in Nippleshine Manor).
One does not expect these sorts of things from an all-American.
It's a good thing I suppose... we have much better senses of humour (humour, not humor :P) this side of The Pond. As you well know.
And I am proud of my stiff upper lip, and Scottish accent.
Well, truth be told, I'm particularly proud of my Scottish accent because I happen to fancy (ie. have a crush on) an Englishman with a penchant for the Scottish accent... but that's slightly tangential.
Glad to hear that you have such a lovely bunch of kids showing great potential and that. Perhaps you should introduce them all to Shakespeare soon? :P
I'm too young to have experienced parenthood first hand, but I reckon you must be doing a good job, and that it's great to be seeing these little signs in your kids.
Keep up the good work. Etc. And I sure hope my kids are like that.
You've just become a personal hero of mine. If n' when I have young'uns, I'll be sure to follow your example.
I haven't tried Monty Python with my brood yet (all under 8)...but as an aside, check out Mr Show on HBO if ya haven't already...its the closest to modern Python that I've seen.
I bonded with my dad watching Python, and years later my son and I did the same. I'm getting all choked up.
I'll just visualize the Fish Slapping Dance, and I'll be OK.
my son is 18 now and i turned him on to the holy grail at an early age now he knows all the lines from all the phythons, our fav. is im gettin better or if it layed an egg it would roll down the back of the tellie wouldnt it LONG LIVE THE TWITS KENNY HORNBECK MINERAL WELLS TX
my son is 18 now and i turned him on to the holy grail at an early age now he knows all the lines from all the phythons, our fav. is im gettin better or if it layed an egg it would roll down the back of the tellie wouldnt it LONG LIVE THE TWITS KENNY HORNBECK MINERAL WELLS TX
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