For those of you lucky enough to have access to IFC, last week featured the six part Monty Python documentary series, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut). As I do not have access to this calibre of cable programming (not to denigrate the quality programming provided by public access stations), I am hoping that some enterprising MP fan will post the full footage online (wink wink, nudge nudge). Either that or I’ll have to befriend someone who actually owns it (I know you are out there, and I WILL FIND YOU).
And now for something completely different . . .
As a documentarian, I’d love to ask the surviving members (Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones) why they think Monty Python is still funny, despite the fact that their sketches are now 40 years old. This led me to contemplate all the other sorts of questions I would like to ask, such as “How many characters were based on real people (and what are their names and current addresses)” and “Why does Terry Gilliam occasionally look like a cross between Gollum and Brad Dourif?” (Seriously, he does.)
It also made me wonder why there aren’t many funny Salt stories. We have loads of serious and informative pieces, but not a great deal of funny ones. Humor and pathos. Aren’t these qualities the stuff of which good stories are made? Are humorous moments inherently too trivial to include in the “Salt repertoire” or is it just extremely difficult to document someone being funny? Could it be that things we find funny are rarely intentional, and thus impossible to predict (or retell)? I don’t know. Like Justice Stewart, I can’t define humor, but I know it when I see it.
With that in mind, I’m looking forward to seeing if Almost the Truth will be as funny as its subject matter. If nothing else, It will be a welcome distraction from public access television (say no more, say no more).
Too go back in time and ask them if they think thier skits are still funny would be great, I feel they would say over all for the most part yes. To be able to go back in time and ask Van Gogh what he thinks about his art. I know it is not the same, but I would love to see how the past feels about the present…it would be quite interesting to see.
“As a documentarian, I’d love to ask the surviving members (Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones) why they think Monty Python is still funny, despite the fact that their sketches are now 40 years old. This led me to contemplate all the other sorts of questions I would like to ask, such as “How many characters were based on real people (and what are their names and current addresses)” and “Why does Terry Gilliam occasionally look like a cross between Gollum and Brad Dourif?” (Seriously, he does.)”
Monty Python is timeless…they were just weird, and I guess weirdness never goes out of style. I love the sketch about the “Ministry of Silly Walks”…if you’ve never seen that one, do yourself a favor and find it online…completely ridiculous.
Lol, I love that skit Ministry or Silly Walks. Monty Python is timeless.