I'm not dead yet!!

[ronmac]

Forty years ago today, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" had it's world premier.

[Obscured]

Special screening with 5 remaining Python's at Tribeca Film Festival -
http://www.montypython.com/news_TFF2015/103
http://tribecafilm.com/stories/tribe...5-monty-python

[Jimmy Giant]

Happy Birthday Pythons!
Landmark film. My earliest memories of HBO, showing it constantly.

[bob_32_116]

I was always astonished, and pleased, that the Americans seemed to "get" Monty Python. The humour seemed so different from typical American humour,

In honour of the occasion, I intend to fart in someone's general direction.

[Fracktured]

I remember going to see this in the theaters when it came out. There was probably some people who didn't get the humor though. Great film. I can't believe it's been 40 years though, doesn't seem possible.

[bob_32_116]

I remember going to see this in the theaters when it came out. There was probably some people who didn't get the humor though. Great film. I can't believe it's been 40 years though, doesn't seem possible.

Aye. Who'd have thought 40 years ago we'd be here sitting watching and discussing Monty Python?

[JKL2000]

My dad took me and my brothers to see Holy Grail on opening day - they were giving away coconuts to the first 100 entrants at the theater. But there was a HUGE line and he realized we'd never get in, so we went to see Blazing Saddles instead, and saw Holy Grail another day.

Another funny similar memory - One day my dad rented a car to take me and my brothers to the Bronx Zoo. He stopped at a gas station for some reason, and when we were going to leave the car wouldn't start. He called the rental agency, told them to pick it up, and instead took us to see Enter the Dragon.

My dad was pretty cool!

One to put our Monty Python fandom into perspective: the first summer after they started airing Python in the US, my brothers and I went to sleep-away camp. We were bummed we were going to miss eight weeks of Python, so my father wrote, typed, and laid out the Monty Python News, a fun summary of the week's show with descriptions of each skit, animation, etc. Also some notes about what was up at home. I still have them, and they're a great memento.

Also, he took us to see Monty Python Live at City Center in 1976 - they made the record from one of those shows. It was so exciting. My mother even took us to see And Now For Something Completely Different and Jabberwocky.

Where's PeterG to tell us he doesn't think Monty Python is funny?

[arturs]

I was always astonished, and pleased, that the Americans seemed to "get" Monty Python. The humour seemed so different from typical American humour,

In my experience it is about 50/50. I remember watching the shows or Holy Grail with friends and half of us would be laughing our asses off and the other half would be blankly staring at the screen saying "is this supposed to be funny?"

[ronmac]

My earliest memories of HBO, showing it constantly.

Almost the same for me. I had HBO back then. This movie, "Oh, Lucky Man," "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" and some others were all played to death.

The reason I stated that it was "almost the same for me," is because I had HBO before it was HBO. It was called Channel 100. Home Box Office was the parent name, but that's what they used then. It started in the Scranton, PA area, about 100 miles from where I lived. Back then, you could pick it up on certain TVs. You would go to channel 7, turn the tuning dial until you got to another channel and then keep turning it until you can to a second. That was Channel 100.

[ronmac]

In my experience it is about 50/50. I remember watching the shows or Holy Grail with friends and half of us would be laughing our asses off and the other half would be blankly staring at the screen saying "is this supposed to be funny?"

Definitely an acquired taste. Typically, with us, getting over the accents was more difficult.

[Dave (in MA)]

Definitely an acquired taste. Typically, with us, getting over the accents was more difficult.

I remember being unable to convince a guy I hung around with back then that Chapman wasn't saying "and of course the penguin" in the exploding penguin sketch.

[SteveSly]

In my experience it is about 50/50. I remember watching the shows or Holy Grail with friends and half of us would be laughing our asses off and the other half would be blankly staring at the screen saying "is this supposed to be funny?"

No doubt. From my experience Python is totally polarizing. People either really love it or don’t get it at all. I know people who do not think Python is funny at all. I remember when it first came out, for those of us who “got it”; it was almost like prog in that we had found something special that the masses did not necessarily understand.

I happen to be reading Michael Pailin’s diaries from the Python years right now. Pretty interesting stuff.

[notallwhowander]

Arguably the funniest movie ever made, IMO.

Fun facts:

The only movie that literally had me falling off the couch and rolling on the floor laughing and gasping for breath. (When the rabbit bit Bors head off - I really didn't see that coming.)

The only film of which I own the screenplay.

Watching it once, as a teen, at a friend's house: his dad just didn't get it. When I asked why he didn't like it, he replied, "That's stupid." He gestured toward the knights running around with their servant's banging coconut shells close behind. I was at a complete loss to respond. Clearly it was, and yet clearly it wasn't. That gap in experience is something I ponder to this day.

Throughout high school, loving this film became a de facto shibboleth, allowing me to determine those with whom I could be friends, and those whom I had very little in common.

[Progatron]

Aye. Who'd have thought 40 years ago we'd be here sitting watching and discussing Monty Python?

Back then, we were happy to have the price of a cup of tea.

[Dave (in MA)]

A cup o' cold tea.

[Dave (in MA)]

... it's ...

[Supersonic Scientist]

In honour of the occasion, I intend to fart in someone's general direction.

I do that every day!

[Progatron]

A cup o' cold tea.

Without milk or sugar...

[notallwhowander]

Cup!? We would dream about a cup.

We had to lick the cold tea off our dirty fingers before going off to the mill in the morning....

[Plasmatopia]

You tell young people that today and they won't believe you.

[Yodelgoat]

I must be one of the older guys here who remembers Python when it was freshly released in the US '72-ish? I still pee myself when I see Ministry of silly walks.

Seems to me watching any news, its like the entire world today is like a Monty Python skit gone wrong. they would NEVER be considered funny today. Lunacy hits far too close to home.

[Fracktured]

It's just a flesh wound! I used to watch Python on channel 12 in Philly when they started showing them in the USA. Me and my friends would talk all day about last nights episode. My brother hated them, but when he saw Thee Holy Grail, he was cracking up just like me.

[ronmac]

The only film of which I own the screenplay.

http://sfy.ru/?script=mp_holygrail

[Obscured]

A Møøse once bit my sister... No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink"...

[SteveSly]

I must be one of the older guys here who remembers Python when it was freshly released in the US '72-ish? I still pee myself when I see Ministry of silly walks.

.

According to Pailin's book a guy who owned a PBS station in Dallas Texas was the first to bring the show to the U.S. and show it on his station. Everything blew up from there, but if this guy had not taken a chance on the show, they may have never broken here.