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It's funny.  Laugh. Television United Kingdom

Monty Python's 50th Anniversary Celebrated With 'Extremely Silly' Event (reuters.com) 51

The Monty Python character known as the Gumby would often be found saying "My brain hurts". Now Reuters reports: In what is billed as an "extremely silly" event, hordes of Monty Python fans will gather in full Gumby attire in London on Saturday to celebrate the British comedy troupe's 50th anniversary. Kitted out in rubber boots, sleeveless sweaters, rolled-up trousers and with knotted handkerchiefs on their heads, they will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Gumbys. "It's all so excitingly pointless," said Python Terry Gilliam, who will host the event.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reports on recently-rediscovered documents from the BBC's archives about the show's launch in 1969: The BBC response, the archives make clear, was far less positive. At the weekly meeting where senior managers discussed the output, the head of factual had found Python "disgusting", arts had thought it "nihilistic and cruel", while religion objected to a Gilliam animation in which "Jesus... had swung his arm". The BBC One controller sensed the makers "continually going over the edge of what is acceptable".
The Guardian also tracked down 69-year-old Doug Holman who remembers John Cleese giving him tickets to watch a filming of the show when he was 19. ("Doug, boldly, writes back, saying he is part of a large group of friends who want to go. Cleese contacts the BBC to request a further 14 tickets...")

50 years later, Holman seems to remember the filming as being wonderfully chaotic. "There was a restaurant scene but I think the producer abandoned it when Cleese -- seemingly unhappy about having no lines -- disrupted each take by performing random Tourette-like impressions of a mouse being strangled by a psychotic cat. I remember it being total anarchy yet excruciatingly funny, in the literal sense. We all experienced genuine pain from extended bouts of uncontrollable laughter."
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Monty Python's 50th Anniversary Celebrated With 'Extremely Silly' Event

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  • Watch out for any of those "Life of Christ" satirists trying to co-opt genuine Pythonists into their distorted, a-historical cult. We genuine, faithful Pythonists are offended by this disgraceful nonsense! ;P https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
    • The Life of Brian was a great movie. Malcolm Muggeridge decided that it was lampooning Christ himself because he missed the first part of the movie that showed how Brian was mistaken as the messiah and ended up being pursued as a consequence. It was all a very unfair attack on a brilliant piece of satire.

      • by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Saturday October 05, 2019 @04:03AM (#59272394) Journal

        It was all a very unfair attack on a brilliant piece of satire.

        Not that unfair... The movie wasn't so much a dig at Christ, but at christianity or religion in general. Pretty controversial stuff back then... and again so today. Can you imagine "The Life of Achmed" being filmed or screened in today's society?

        • by Calydor ( 739835 )

          Do you want to start World War 3? Because this is how you start World War 3!

          • by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Saturday October 05, 2019 @06:54AM (#59272652) Homepage

            Can you imagine "The Life of Achmed" being filmed or screened in today's society?

            Do you want to start World War 3? Because this is how you start World War 3!

            If white Christians poked fun at Islam and Mohammed then yes maybe, it's like us mocking them. But Monthy Python was solidly established as native British comedy long before they made Life of Brian, they had been on BBC for years. To have the equivalent effect it'd have to be an Arab group popular in Arab countries poking fun at Arab culture, they'd probably get accused of having been corrupted by our hedonistic and godless ways but it would be more of an internal strife.

            I'm not saying the situation is great but the mainstream Muslim culture is under a lot of pressure from the inside too, far from everyone agrees with the stuff coming out from Riyadh and Tehran, much less Taliban and IS. The focus is often on Yazidis or Kurds because they're treated the worst, but a lot of it is Muslim-on-Muslim hate and violence like when they tried to assassinate Malala. I hope we're making progress but I agree it'll be a long time before we see "The life of Achmed" in Saudi theaters.

        • The gourd! Follow the gourd!

          No, we should all follow his example and wear one shoe!

          (unison) Heresy! (... melee ...)

    • âoeOh.... piss off!â

  • Free-to-air broadcaster in Australia, SBS2 aka Viceland had 5 episodes of the series this afternoon. Tonight they're airing Grail, Brian and Meaning of Life from 19:30 until 12:50am. I'll be watching with the rugby world cup on a second screen. Good times.
  • And now (Score:4, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday October 05, 2019 @04:23AM (#59272430)

    For something completely different.

  • Is it the guy who was in the Bond films or one of the other ones?
  • by Chas ( 5144 ) on Saturday October 05, 2019 @04:26AM (#59272440) Homepage Journal

    The BBC response, the archives make clear, was far less positive. At the weekly meeting where senior managers discussed the output, the head of factual had found Python "disgusting", arts had thought it "nihilistic and cruel", while religion objected to a Gilliam animation in which "Jesus... had swung his arm". The BBC One controller sensed the makers "continually going over the edge of what is acceptable".

    And "Auntie Beeb" is an even prissier bitch these days...

  • I can't think of a better word for it.

    I can't believe it's been 50 years. I think I first saw it in 1971 so it's not quite 50 years for me.

    Many happy memories watching the shows with friends and family.

    For a really interesting role - watch Michael Palin in "The Death of Stalin" as Molotov. Quite subdued and dryly funny.

  • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) on Saturday October 05, 2019 @09:08AM (#59272820)

    It's just pining for the fjords.

  • blu ray box?
  • I mean, when I hear about a character that is called the Gumby, my brain immediately goes to this guy [wikipedia.org].
  • What we need is something decent and military.

  • But Monthy Python was solidly established as native British comedy long before they made Life of Brian, they had been on BBC for years. To have the equivalent effect it'd have to be an Arab group popular in Arab countries poking fun at Arab culture, they'd probably get accused of having been corrupted by our hedonistic and godless ways but it would be more of internal strife. https://iproductkeys.com/windo... [iproductkeys.com]

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