Graham Chapman's Personal Best (and a confession)

[yesthattom]

PBS is running a series of 1-hour specials spotlighting each member of Monty Python. Check local listings.

Tonight I watched the (tivo'ed) episode about Graham.

Many people don't know that Graham was gay. They go into detail about his coming out and how his orientation related to his wild comedy writing. Unlike the "Where are they now" special about The Brady Bunch cast that glossed over the fact that Robert Reed died of AIDS, this special didn't gloss over Graham's homosexuality and actually had people saying interesting things about that aspect of his life. Go PBS!

I first discovered Monty Python on vinyl. My older brothers and sisters had "Another Monty Python Record". I listened to it and laughed and laughed and honestly didn't understand half of it. I was very young. In fact, I was so young that it was a while before I realized that the record cover wasn't what it pretended to be. (The cover was the cover of a Mozart record [TITIIMRTSWCM] with the title crosssed out and written in crayon, "Another Monty Python Record"; as if someone lost the actual cover and recycled this Mozart cover.)

I never saw much of the TV show, but I've seen all the movies.

Which brings me to the confession. That album had many classic routines such as "Spam" and "I'd like to buy an argument". Until watching the PBS special, I had never actually seen those sketches, just heard them. (That's the confession part.) In fact, I never realized the people singing "spam! spam! spam! spam!" were on-stage actors, and were dressed as Vikings!

For now one when someone starts singing "spam! spam! spam! spam!" I'm going to make a reference to feeling like I should be dressed as a Viking and see if they understand what I'm talking about.

Glossary:

[TITIIMRTSWCM] -- This Is The Internet. If I Mis-Remembered Then someone Will Correct Me.

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

For now one when someone starts singing "spam! spam! spam! spam!" I'm going to make a reference to feeling like I should be dressed as a Viking and see if they understand what I'm talking about.

Why? Why not just retell this story about how you'd never seen it before? Seems like that's a test....why not just ask if they'd seen it, not just heard it, or relate this story. That's a much more personable, much less "here's a nickel, go buy yourself a real operating system" approach to it.

[lilbjorn.livejournal.com]

When I was writing my book, I had the distinct impression that Chapman was bi, not gay. That certainly wasn't the impression I got from last night's show. I'll have to do a little archaeology on my notes.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

He called himself gay, fwiw. I had a lovely talk with him after one of his shows at the University of Chicago, where he wrote a note to a (then-)friend of mine who was a fellow alcoholic.

I cried when he died.

[lilbjorn.livejournal.com]

I still remember the night in 1974 (or perhaps early 75) when I first saw a Monty Python show. The sketch that had me in tears of laughter was Flying Sheep. Not even one of their more famous ones. Around the same time, a few episodes of a Marty Feldman show were aired, but I've never seen them since.

Having actually seen some of the Python sketches, you're still only part way into your education. The sketches are hilarious, but they're necessarily shown out of context. You have to see the whole show to know why the Vikings are there.

Marty Feldman

[dmk.livejournal.com]

Around the same time, a few episodes of a Marty Feldman show were aired, but I've never seen them since.<.blockquote>

Perhaps you're thinking of "At Last the 1948 Show", from 1967? NetFlix has the two-disc set.

Re: Marty Feldman

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

No, I too remember something like "The Marty Feldman Comedy Hour" or "The Marty Feldman Show." My exposure tho that and Monty Python were sufficiently simultaneous that I'm still not sure where some bits come from. I think the occasional animations in Fledman were similar to the MP theme.

Re: Marty Feldman

[lilbjorn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that NetFlix has At Last the 1948 Show. I'll put it on my list. Do you know if the original "Four Yorkshiremen" was one of the sketches that survived?

On doing a little research, I think that what I saw was The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine. I know his name was in the title of the show.

Vikings

[mrfantasy.livejournal.com]

I hate to be the one to tell you, but in the circles in which you travel, the viking joke would be far too obvious to actually be funny.

You had never seen the skit before now? Wow. I remember it from high school, and the first time I saw the term "spam" used for email, I instantly understood what they were talking about.

Now if you made some comment about most email coming from Scandinavia, that would be funny. . .

hmm late summer nights...

[jenderqueer.livejournal.com]

Monty Python brings back memories. One of the things that I always loved about my grandfather was that he was utterly opposed to bedtimes... When I was a child, I would visit my grandparents in FL, and would get alone time with grandpa in front of the TV. We would stay up till all hours, watching Benny Hill, then Monty Python, then whatever over-sized monster flick was being badly translated that night. I liked ultra-man best, but remember being vaguely titilated by all the girls in short skirts on BH, and laughing along with my grandpa, even though I was too young to really get it watching MP.

The sweet bit is that sometimes, when I see a skit again, I'll have some viceral memory of lying on their vinyl couch with a pillow and blanket from my scandalized grandmother, smelling my grandfather's pipe... Then waking up as he carried me to my grandmother's bed...

Her protest was usually to wake me up when the paper arrived the next morning, ostensibly to give me the funnies, and a proper breakfast. Repeat, and come again next year...

[dmk.livejournal.com]

PBS is running a series of 1-hour specials spotlighting each member of Monty Python. Check local listings.

I don't see it locally. Is the name of the series "Personal Best"? Got a URL?

[yesthattom.livejournal.com]

Monty Python's Personal Best

[scherzoid.livejournal.com]

Public television schedules are set by each individual station, and can vary wildly from city to city. But the Web site for the series has a page where you can look up broadcast times in your area based on state or Zip code. Unfortunately (assuming the location in your userinfo is correct), it looks like UNC-TV isn't airing the show... or at least not within the next two weeks.