Seriously, you know you have made it big when even the Prime Minister uses catch phrases and entire passages from your sketches which were made 20 years ago and still get a resounding response from all levels of society nevertheless!

Such was the impact of Monty Python.

Margaret Thatcher's speech in 1990 about the Liberal Party's new symbol - "a bird of some kind". While the catchphrase "and now for something completely different" did not come from the Dead Parrot sketch specifically, it is also a uniquely Python creation used mainly in Monty Python's Flying Circus to link various sketches together without resorting to the use of puns and punchlines.


Monty Python's evergreen sketch, The Dead Parrot Sketch, which made its debut in 1969.

" 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!"


John Cleese also used this in his rather unusual eulogy at Graham Chapman's memorial service.


Another famous Monty Python creation which entered popular culture was the use of Spam (ie. luncheon meat) in their sketch. Thanks to this sketch, "spam" is now used to refer to repetitive and unwanted junk email. Read all about it here.

Mind Your Language



Monty Python was not my first introduction into British 70s comedies - Mind Your Language takes the cake on that. According to Wiki, The series focuses on the adult students of the English as a Foreign Language class in a London school. The classes take place in the early evening, and are taught by Mr. Brown (Barry Evans), though on occasion other individuals take over the class if he is not available. The class consists of foreigners with varying degrees of English proficiency. The humour of the show is derived from the students misunderstanding English words or terms, and plays up to the cultural stereotypes of their individual nation of origin.

Barry Evans as the hapless English teacher.

Stereotyping it may be, but MYL somehow manages to be incredibly funny without being too offensive. I do consider myself to be extemely sensitive towards cultural stereotyping and discrimination, and often feel uncomfortable when I find the media making rude remarks about different cultures. However, this has not happened with MYL, from the first time I watched it as a child till today. Perhaps I am also aware that in the 70s, such stereotyping has been a staple of Western media, which is why I seem to be particularly forgiving. Haven't we Asians like to stereotype our Western counterparts in our media as well? Then again, it appears to me that these stereotypes are done in good fun. In addition, the characters are likeable, and the misunderstandings which revolve around the absurdity of English grammatic structures and vocabulary are genuinely funny.

However, admittedly, the jokes seem to wane by the last season, so it was probably a good thing that it ceased after 4 seasons.

A clip from the very first episode:


Mr Brown trying to teach the conjugation of "to be", with hilarious results!


And this is my favourite! Mr Brown and his students are accidently locked up in the class. To help pass time till Monday (they were locked on a Friday night, poor things!), Mr Brown asks his students to tell jokes. So Juan Cervantes from Spain gallantly offers one.

"Yes, I sure that was extremely hilarious if only we knew what it was about!"



Truth be told, Mr Brown isn't a very good English teacher. I would expect English teachers to not only correct his student's mistake but also explain why it was wrong. But he sure is a very likeable teacher indeed!

Barry Evans, who played Mr Brown, died in his early 50s alone at home, unfortunately. Many speculated that this was due to an increasing alcoholism as he was unable to find work as he aged because of his youthful looks. A very sad life, I must say. Barry Evans was in fact an orphan who was abandoned as an infant, which was thought to have led to his issues with rejection, as some of his peers have found, leading to some difficult behaviour as he worked on various projects. Such a pity.

Are You Being Served?

According to Wiki, Are You Being Served? was a long-running British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the men's and women's departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It featured humour based on sexual innuendo, misunderstandings, mistaken identity and occasional slapstick. In addition, there were sight gags generated by outrageous costumes the characters were sometimes required to wear for store promotions, and gaudy store displays frequently featuring malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show is remembered for its prolific use of double entendres.



From the fifth season, when the department store Grace Brothers is trying an advertising campaign to boost sales, with hilarious results!

"Captain Peacock, stop him at once! I will not have rough workman's hands inside my bra!"

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

For some reason, since I was introduced to Monty Python, I have become a big fan of British sitcoms from the 60s to the 70s. Maybe it's the words they use, or the creative genius in its comedy style that drew me to them. Here are some of these other gems which I have recently dicovered and have thoroughly enjoyed thanks to the magic of DVDs and good old Youtube.

At Last, The 1948 Show

No, this show was not really broadcast in 1948. It made its debut on BBC in 1967 in glorious black-and-white. Its title was really a satarical reference to BBC's habit of letting shows sit for months before broadcasting the during that time. Core members of this team included John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman.


From left to right: Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman.

To me, this sitcom was really the starting point for the immensely popular comedies that were to come, mainly in the form of Monty Python (which John Cleese and Graham Chapman were part of) and The Goodies (with Tim Brooke-Taylor), of which I will talk about later on. In fact, it was once assumed that in the forming of Monty Python, Tim Brooke-Taylor would be the natural choice to become one of the Pythons because he had very close connections with both Cleese and Chapman (according to him though, he declined cos he felt he wasn't a good enough writer as the rest). The sketches in this sitcom were very much reminiscent of the later Pythonesque humor and Goodies' physical comedy, only being much earlier were perhaps just a little less extreme and a little more mainstream. While a little less polished than Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Goodies, it is rather enjoyable to watch its predecessor in its raw form.

"I suppose Hawkins you would like to change your name?"
"No sir, I'm quite happy with my name, sir. I think Samantha is me, sir. I think with my English rose complexion, I think... Samantha is definitely me, sir."


All the cliches of thriller movies!
"You are all fools, you hear me? Fools!" "What are you?"
(in unison) "Fools!"


The sad thing about At Last, The 1948 Show, however, is that 13 episodes were made and broadcast in total. However, after the production company which produced the series was bought over by Thames Television, it made the shocking decision at that time to erase all the tapes of the sitcom. By the time John Cleese found out what was happening he had only managed to salvage 2 episodes, with another 3 which survived at a foreign television station, thus leaving us younger generations with only these 5 gems of a sitcom left.

The following is the famous Four Yorkshiremen sketch, parody of nostalgic conversations about humble beginnings or difficult childhoods. Four Yorkshiremen reminisce about their upbringing, and as the conversation progresses, they try to outdo one another, their accounts of deprived childhoods becoming increasingly absurd. This skecth is often credited to Monty Python but it in fact originated from At Last, The 1948 Show, co-written by all its 4 performers.

"Aye, you try and tell that to the young people of today. Would they believe you?"
"Nooo..."

Monty Python's version in 1982


At Last, The 1948 Show's version in 1967


The Goodies

The Goodies ran for a much longer period than Monty Python's Flying Circus, clocking an impressive 12-year run from 1970 to 1982, with 72 episodes in total, in comparison to Flying Circus which only had 4 seasons. Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.




The Goodies then and now...

According to the description on Wikipedia, the series' basic structure revolved around the trio offering themselves for hire — with the tagline "We Do Anything, Anytime" — to perform all sorts of ridiculous but benevolent tasks. Under this pretext, the show explored all sorts of off-the-wall scenarios for comedic potential. Many episodes parodied current events,while others were more abstractly philosophical. All the characters are based around the personae of Garden (a "mad scientist"), Brooke-Taylor (a conservative, fashionable, sexually-repressed, Tory-voting royalist), and Oddie (a scruffy, occasionally violent, far left-leaning anarchist from Lancashire). The group have suggested that the characters of Graeme, Tim, and Bill represent the Liberal, Conservative and Labour wings of British politics or middle-class, upper-class and working-class stereotypes respectively. The characters played up to their stereotypes, but were not necessarily based on the actor playing the character. This is not immediately obvious as they were called by their own names, and had some minor characteristics in common. In reality, Garden is a medical doctor, Brooke-Taylor is not really conservative ("But I had the double-barrelled name so I was always going to play the Tory") and Oddie is a pacifist, ornithologist and active environmentalist.

Personally, The Goodies may appear to be childish and absurb sometimes, but it really is very enjoyable to watch. Upon closer inspection, The Goodies really is a nod to those stunt-packed silent movies and old cartoons where everything was possible. And who can resist the 1970s special effects that were so raw but so brilliantly and creatively done! And oh yes, I do love the language of these old British comedies, like in this clip below, where Graeme ticks off Tim by saying sternly "Tim, you are being very very silly!" I mean, in modern day I am sure that this same phrase would most likely be replaced by something vulgar! The Goodies was also lauded for its musical influence, wherein many of its soundtrack were original compositions of Bill Oddie. In fact, some of these songs even attained commercial success, appearing in British pop charts!

The famous Kitten Kong episode from 1972, in which the special effects reminiscent of silent movies are what makes The Goodies one of its kind!

Goodies Goodies yum yum...

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



And this is one of my favourite episodes, The End, broadcast in 1975 in its 5th season. This episode was one of the two which was filmed entirely in one location (the other being Earthanasia). These episodes were made mainly because the entire location budget for the season had been spent, which forced the trio to come up with a script that relied entirely on character interaction.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:



Interesting trivia (from Wiki):

Most of the members from Monty Python and The Goodies were members of the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights,. It is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, run by the students of Cambridge University and now also the Anglia Ruskin University. In fact, some for the Pythons and Goodies had become presidents of the Footlights, with Tim Brooke-Taylor in 1963, Graeme Garden in 1964 and Eric Idle of Monty Python in 1965.

Even Dr House Hugh Laurie was a president of the Footlights in 1981!

In fact, like the Pythons, the Goodies were all high-achievers - Brooke-Taylor was a law student who swopped notes with John Cleese while at Cambridge. Graeme Garden, like Graham Chapman, was trained as a doctor, while Bill Oddie studied English literature in Cambridge.

To find out more of this interesting connection, here's Comedy Connection by BBC:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14wUiDciR08
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDu2kNvjCjk
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKWaLs8Oy94

I'm home again! Yay!! It's just for a short 5-week holiday but it's better than nothing!

Woo-hoo!!

I'm not sure if you have heard about Russell Peters, but he has been one of my favourite stand-up comedians since my friend introduced me to his comedy last year. Don't be fooled by the name though... Russell Peters is in fact an Indian-Canadian, whose parents were born and bred in India but adopted Anglo names. Because of this heritage, Russell Peter's claim to fame was often his insightful and very funny observations of cultural differences and stereotypes. One of his most famous jokes is this:

Somebody gonna get hurt real bad.... Somebody.


Recently found this political satire with him which was brilliant! Most likely from years ago with the devastating tsunami and frustrating politcal agendas regarding aid relief.

That must be one helluva wave...

This is bloody brilliant!

Just like a Bollywood movie where everyone gets up and dance at the same time. Love the concept! Wish I was there to experience the chaos and fun!

Never fails to bring a smile :)

Yay! Finally some sense into these TV producers! After its very short first and second season, the network has finally agreed to air the last 3 epsidoes of Pushing Daisies!

Read the story HERE.

Lee Pace is really one extremely talented but sadly quite an unlucky actor. Soldier's Girl was a small production, The Fall did not receive wide release, Pushing Daisies had such an unlucky streak with the ratings and the TV network. Now, Possession, in which he plays the lead was supposed to be slated for wide release in theatres but is now straight-to-video due to the production company's bankruptcy.

This guy deserves much more recognition than that!!

Seriously now... Hollywood has to stop bastardizing timeless classics. Classics such as this wonderful children's picture book...



Now, how the scriptwriters think that they can drag a 10-sentence long picture book with probably less than 100 words into a full length movie is completely beyond me. It's a picture book, for crying out loud! Watching the trailer suggests that lots of unneccessary story was added in, like Max seeing his mother kissing someone, for example. Problem is, all these adding on just destroys the whole point of the story and the entire magic of it all. The book is just about a boy who gets angry for being scolded as he had been mischievous, so he imagines a travelling to a world where he gets the power to control wild things. Frankly, I don't need explanations as to how he actually found his way there and all the psychodynamic theories of where he may have gotten his anger from. The story is simple for very good reasons - it is a children's picture book made for children. It teaches children that you may be angry at your loved ones for disciplining you, but at the end of the day these are the people who continue to love you the most. Period. End of story.

Apparently author Maurice Sendak actually endorsed the film. That is just S A D.

The beauty of picture books for children is that it fuels the imagination. I loved using Where The Wild Things Are with clients as they found great enjoyment in re-enacting the scenes as they imagined them to be while learning important values at the same time. But now, where is that room for imagination now that some people have chosen to make a 90min long story out of this simple, innocent book.

Sigh... Tragedy! What tragedy!