Which the best Monty Python routine? Please nominate, and I will find one of those programs for putting up a poll, for those who are shy but still want their voice to be heard here. I have not included any movie scenes, but I could get talked into it. Or perhaps we should do separate categories there.
The obvious choices are
The Cheese Shop. To which I will add the lesser-known
My off-the-cuff vote is for Bruce's Philosophers Song. There is also The Lumberjack Song.
ReplyDeleteNot so much for being the best, but for what I remember.
Ah, so you're one of those cultured people who likes the music, then.
ReplyDeleteAh, so you're one of those cultured people who likes the music, then.
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up on Gilbert & Sullivan (I still know many of the lyrics by heart), Tom Lehrer (know all the lyrics but The Elements), and Allan Sherman, I am partial to satire in song.
of the four given, the Argument sketch, hands down. But The Holy Grail will always remain my first love.
ReplyDeleteMinistry of Silly Walks!
ReplyDeleteNoted
ReplyDeleteI always liked the Bookshop sketch, in which John Cleese gives a excellent performance of increasing exasperation.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCM2nEBE0RY
Slightly different, with visuals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPouuA0KMO4
ReplyDeleteMinistry of Silly Walks and the Lumberjack Song, certainly. If we're including the movies, then the Constitutional Peasants, or the Knights Who Say Nih, among many, many Holy Grail favorites.
ReplyDeleteI may be drummed off the internet for admitting this, but my introduction to M.P. was Holy Grail (the bridge, the vorpal bunny, the constitutional peasants, and the witch all come to mind), and I've never seen much of their show.
ReplyDeleteLocal TV didn't have it during its heyday. I've liked some of what _others_ have called the best clips (silly walks, spam, dead parrot, inquisition), but when I sat down with a regular episode I was startled at how much didn't work, or went on too long. "How not to be seen" was one that was good but went a bit too long.
TLDR: I can say what I like from what -other people- have liked, which isn't the same thing as what I might have liked from the show.