Posted April 10, 200718 yr i used to love this show, it was so bizarre, so looney, hilarious.. but ive seen some episodes recently and tbh.... its c**p! its just sooo NOT funny... maybe those silly schoolboy gags just dont cut it after 30 years of comedic development.. it might have been cutting edge and influencial back in the early 70's but the tv show sketches are very very lame now. the films arnt bad though..'brian' in particular is still enjoyable.
April 10, 200718 yr I see where your coming from, when it first came out it was cutting edge, I think only the young understood it, I know my parents hated it :lol: . But today it does seem a bit dated, (maybe thats cause we're nearly as old as our parents were then :rofl: ),only a few sketches are still funny today, I like to remember it fondly though and wouldn't buy the Dvd of the series.
April 11, 200718 yr I think they were aware of which sketches were funny and which were drivelly filler. The good ones they put into 'And Now For Something Completely Different', the c**p ones they forgot about...
April 11, 200718 yr It's so easy to slag it off now, but frankly I think it's a bit like slagging off an old Hammer Horror film or Sci-Fi B-movie just cos the "effects are a bit c**p" compared to whatever CGI-fest is playing in the local cinema at the moment; or, it's a "bit cheesy" in this day and age and that "cinema has moved on and developed"....... I dont go along with it, Monty Python is called a classic for a bloody good reason, you're not looking at it in its early 70s context when there was really nothing around remotely like it.... Monty Python, like all those hoary old Hammer films and B-Movies, had character and are still enjoyable for the most part... I seriously doubt we'll all still be talking about "Little Britain" or "Catherine Tate" 30-odd years from now..... I will concede, however, that the films were probably the best things the Pythons did....
April 11, 200718 yr Author i thought i made the point that i found python funny in the 70's... it was a necessary foundation for the 'alternative' comedians that altered the face of british comedy, but that in itself doesnt make it still funny. it isnt.
April 11, 200718 yr i thought i made the point that i found python funny in the 70's... it was a necessary foundation for the 'alternative' comedians that altered the face of british comedy, but that in itself doesnt make it still funny. it isnt. Well, I still take pleasure in "Spanish Inquisition", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Ministry of Silly Walks", "The Lumberjack Song" and many, many others... And I reckon I always will.... I didn't even see any of "Flying Circus" until round about the late-80s when BBC2 started repeating them, so I didn't have any baggage to bring, I was seeing it with fresh eyes and an open mind, and I just knew exactly where all my 80s comedy faves (like the two guys in my sig..) got their inspiration from.... Of course seeing stuff like "Fawltey Towers" and "Ripping Yarns" beforehand certainly helped... And then I saw the films.... Brilliant, just sheer comedy genius... "Life of Brian" is, for me, the greatest comedy film of all time.. "He's not the Messiah..He's a VERY NAUGHTY BOY" is one of the greatest lines in a film, ever.... :lol: :lol: :lol:
April 12, 200718 yr Author those sketches are just no longer funny... though they were class in their time. agreed about the life of brian though... anything that riddicules jc is funny!
April 12, 200718 yr I've only seen Life of Brian, it's funny in places but I find Fawlty Towers far more amazing. :wub:
April 12, 200718 yr i thought i made the point that i found python funny in the 70's... it was a necessary foundation for the 'alternative' comedians that altered the face of british comedy, but that in itself doesnt make it still funny. it isnt. like all shows there are gonna be parts that are hit and miss, however watching this and the young ones back to back on bbc 4* (ITCA!!!!) i would say that I like Monty Python better as a lot of the jokes are just universal not locked into one political timeframe that date it even more (same with Spitting Image). Ben Elton is supposed to be some great 'alternative comedian' to all 80s students but he's just obv a comedy vacuum (and Get A Grip, Get a Decent show ITV1!!!! this even with Alexa!!!! :wub: ). The Goon show on the other hand, now that was like made from 1951 to 1960 and the stuff i've heard by them (on the whole) its still funny and funnier than anything Get A Grip will come up with!!!! Yeah think I'd rather listen to the Goons on BBC 7 than get the Saturday Night Live DVD (coming out soon) http://www.rocknroll.freeserve.co.uk/Goons.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/BBC_Four_logo.png http://66.165.119.245/images/9062/11803/large/001.JPG nb: ITCA = as in ITMA!!!! :lol: :lol: btw good that more classic tv being discused!!!
April 12, 200718 yr Author saturday night live though was always patchy... many sketches just werent funny.. but it was good for what it was at the time.. i still find the young ones funny, and blackadder, as there were very intelligent scripts dispite it being firmly set in thatchers britain. i dont get any enjoyment now out of mpfc (the tv show). i never quite got the goons.... though spike milligan is imho our greatest ever comedian and without him and the goons its doubful if mpfc and everything since would have happend..
April 12, 200718 yr i never quite got the goons.... though spike milligan is imho our greatest ever comedian and without him and the goons its doubful if mpfc and everything since would have happend.. and your opinion on the goodies (seeing as they are around the country at the mo and loads of people say they dont get the respect that they should have in comparison with MPFC who they are interlinked with)
April 12, 200718 yr Author thought the goodies were.... well... funny at first, i did like them but in a lighter way then mpfc. fawlty towers, ripping yarns and spike milligans 'q' seriese though were the dogs bollox, and by the time these came out in the mid 70's the goodies had had their day. ive always thought that a good comedy knows when to finish... young ones, fawlty, etc... the goodies carried on their jokes way too far, as did benny hill, fools n horses, hi de hi, are you being served... all very good early on, but imho over told the joke. the exception to this i reckon would be dads army, whos seriese got better as the characters became stronger.. (except corp jones... he wasnt funny).
April 12, 200718 yr the exception to this i reckon would be dads army, whos seriese got better as the characters became stronger.. (except corp jones... he wasnt funny). "Dad's Army" certainly still works, far better than "Allo Allo" IMO.... You're right about Jones, I just found his whole "fuzzy wuzzies/they dont like it up em" schtick to be incredibly irritating... The interplay between Mannering and Wilson was fantastic, Lowe and Le Measurier just fed off each other to wonderful effect... And Fraser with his whole "we're doomed" thing was just brilliant.... His tale of the "Auld Empty Barn" is probably one of the funniest moments in a British comedy series....
April 12, 200718 yr Author pmsl... the auld empty barn.... still the 'dont tell them pike' episode was executed brilliantly and still makes me chuckle! wilson was superb.... no listening, sunning himself.. mainwareing being pompous 'im a pretty shrewd judge of things'... only to be wrong. my sister dolly..... lol... hi-de-hi was funny for the first two seriese....
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