Tag Archives: Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Sing Sing Sing

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Wow. Just had an almost 3 hour nap. The thing is I did not sleep well at all last night and was dragging my ass most of the morning. So I closed my eyes for what I thought would be an hour, tops.

What I usually do when I nap is have the TV on in another room. In my mind it acts as a boat tethered to a dock. Well I am the boat and the TV is the dock. And the sound of the TV keeps me from drifting away.

But since there was no TV on, and no dock to speak of, I drifted far away from the shore. It felt good but still there was no need.

It used to be that at least once a year I would come home from work, and maybe go to sleep for 12 hours. I would have done that today but that meant I would be waking up at 3:00AM. Didn’t dream of anything in particular, not that I could remember anyway.

I had lunch with Rand at the Malibu diner. They sat us in the big back room, which neither Rand nor I liked very much. He had a veggie burger with very mediocre onion rings. I had a BLT with fries.

Where I used to removed the tomatoes from the sandwich today I ate the whole thing. I should have had it on toasted whole wheat bread but I didn’t which caused the sandwich to fall apart. Still I ate it all.

Lately I eat just about everything put in front of me. Not such a finicky eater like I used to be. Still, I’m not running out to buy turnips.

I am happy to be able to drop off my computer at Rand’s apartment tomorrow, so perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Then we will go for drinks at McSwells. I was supposed to see the Bongos with the funniest girl alive, Meghan Taylor, but she seems to have the flu.

At least that’s what she posted yesterday on Facebook and today she is incommunicado. She certainly seemed her usual self on Saturday when I walked around Hoboken with her and here freshly shorn daughter Ruby.

I guess even if I don’t see the Bongos, I will have a pint with Rand in the front room. The whole thing about seeing the Bongos revolved around being Meghan’s guest, her plus one on the guest list. And of course I do wish her well.

Last night I watched the latest installment of the Monty Python documentary. It was mainly about Graham Chapman. He was funny and also a pain in the ass to deal with, mainly because of his alcoholism.

It was interesting, that when Graham came out of the closet, John Cleese was surprised since he thought he knew Graham so well. That’s the thing about the closet.

No one knows of the double life that is being led out of fear or self-loathing.

When I was outed at HBJ, a good friend of mine from High School (Kevin Wagner) that I worked with was greatly disappointed that I never told him. Not so much that I was gay, but because of the secret.

Cleese likened it to Michael Palin saying that he was Chinese. It was just a surprising fact about Chapman that Cleese didn’t know.

Still groggy from the nappage so that’s it for today.

The Lumberjack Song

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Back in the 1970’s on Sunday nights, my sister and I would watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus at 10:30 on Channel 13 on a small black & white TV in my parent’s bedroom.

My parents were watching something on the color TV in the living room so we had no other choice but to watch it in black & white. That was fine.

I remember before we started watching the show, asking Annemarie what Monty Python’s Flying Circus was, having seen it in the TV Guide listings. She didn’t have much of an idea but suggested we watch it.

So we started watching what would soon be a Sunday night ritual. I remember howling with laughter at Sam Peckinpah’s ‘Salad Days’. Who knew dismemberment and wide scale bloodletting would be so hilarious?

My parents probably thought we were insane with the peals of laughter. It was then I became a Python devotee. Not many people knew about Python then, and I’m sure it had a definite influence on my view of life.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was when a lot of my friends caught up. Routines of yelling ‘Ni’ at each other. Mock battles between imaginary knights, killer rabbits were the rage for a time in the playground across the street from my house.

Annemarie & I did see Jabberwocky at the Bergen Mall movie theater but that went over our heads somewhat. Probably was an accurate depiction of life in the middle ages, but for the 2 of us, we just didn’t get it. It’s probably worth a look see again.

Never saw them live, but I did see the movies. I had the Live at City Center album, which was enjoyable, but nothing compared to the TV show.

Lately there is a series on the IFC about Monty Python. An authorized biography. I DVR’d it last night since I was in the midst of writing 1880 words. I looked forward to watching it when I was done writing and about an hour after, I watched it.

It seemed a bit odd, and I thought it was a surrealist gag. The sound was a few seconds behind the video and I hoped it would clear itself up. It didn’t. In fact there were some gaps in the program where the screen went dark.

Very disappointing.

I wound up reading while it was on since it was so annoying to try to watch it. It felt like a radio documentary while reading. I did eventually watch it at midnight and the IFC situation seemed to have cleared up.

I also posted on the IFC website but I don’t think anyone else had the same problem as I did. It was informative. Some footage of The Goon Show with Spike Mulligan and Peter Sellers as well as Beyond the Fringe with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller.

And I just placed both Jabberwocky and Beyond the Fringe in my Netflix queue. Once I view Gran Casino by Luis Bunuel I’ll be able to see Beyond the Fringe.

Had that one for a few weeks but haven’t found the time or frame of mind to sit down and watch the surrealist master.

Funnily enough, it’s because of Monty Python that I first heard of Luis Bunuel. Back in the day when I used to read Rolling Stine and take it seriously, there was an obituary of Luis Bunuel, written by Eric Idle in the pages.

Eric Idle basically said, or from what I can remember that if it wasn’t for Luis Bunuel, Monty Python probably wouldn’t have existed.

That was high praise indeed for me and soon after that I traveled to the Public Theater, when they used to show films and watched my first Bunuel film, El Bruto with Stan Bogdansky.

I think a documentary on Luis Bunuel is way over due and I’m sure the Pythons would agree.

A very happy birthday to my brother Frank!