one, two, five
Last Sunday on Family Guy, Meg Griffin was briefly tied up in front of the TV and forced to watch the “bad Monty Python sketches”, at which point she yelled, “I’m a girl! I don’t even like the good Monty Python sketches!”
I feel the need to comment.
First of all: Heresy. How dare the Family Guy writers suggest there exists such a thing as a bad Monty Python sketch. Everything the Blessed Six ever produced together was a work of pure genius and deserves to hang forever in the sacred halls of Comedy Valhalla. End of story.
Now, I concede that some Monty Python sketches are less funny than others, simply because it is the logical corollary of the obviously true statement that some Monty Python sketches are funnier than others. But that does not imply that the less funny sketches are bad. That would be like saying butter pecan ice cream is bad because it tastes slightly less good than cookies and cream ice cream. It would be insane.
Secondly: This line of mildly outraged thinking reminded me that, about three years ago, I tried to answer the question of Which Monty Python Sketches Are The Best? by systematically watching every episode and making a list of my favorites. I’m appending that list here in reverse chronological order, with each sketch denoted by name and, in parentheses, the season number and the episode number (e.g., “Bruces (2 9)” is from season 2, episode 9).
Looking over the list now, I find it interesting that it is strongly weighted toward the earlier episodes. Only one sketch from the fourth season (out of four) and only seven from the third season, for example, made the cut into the final 36. I also find it interesting that there are 36 sketches in this list, because I remember starting the project with the intention of narrowing it down to a Top 10, but that was apparently too constrictive a constraint because the list is titled “Absolutely definitely in the final list” and because these 36 had been culled from an another list titled “Possibilities” consisting of about 90 sketches. It was just too painful to leave any of these 36 out.
Anyway, that’s enough of that. Here’s the list.
Absolutely definitely in the final list:
- Live from Epsom - Jockey interviews - Queen Victoria Handicap (4 4)
- Dennis Moore (3 11)
- Bomb on Plane (3 9)
- Cheese Shop (3 7)
- Summarize Proust Competition (3 5)
- The Argument skit (3 3)
- The Fish-Slapping Dance (3 2)
- Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion - Sartre (3 1)
- Toothy film director (2 11)
- How not to be seen (2 11)
- Fish license (2 10)
- Long John Silver Impersonators vs. Bournemouth Gynecologists (2 10)
- Bruces (2 9)
- Death of Mary Queen of Scots (2 9)
- judges - Mrs. Being and Mrs. Entity - Beethoven (2 8)
- Secretary of State striptease (2 7)
- Spanish Inquisition (2 2) (parts 1 and 2 and 3)
- The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights (2 2) and more
- Ministry of Silly Walks (2 1)
- Albatross (1 13)
- Mr. Birkenshaw (1 13)
- little twins I want to have Raquel Welch (1 13)
- Upper class twit of the year (1 12)
- Cross-channel jump (1 10)
- A man with a tape recorder up his nose (1 9) and brother’s nose
- Murderous barber into lumberjack sketch (1 9)
- Dead parrot sketch (1 8)
- Flasher (1 8)
- Gangs of old ladies (1 8)
- Everyone turns into Scotsman (1 7) (got to include at least the first scene with Angus and his wife)
- How to defend yourself against a man armed with a piece of fruit (1 4)
- Sheep nesting in trees (1 2)
- Arthur Ewing and his musical mice (1 2)
- Being mice (1 2)
- Picasso paints on a bicycle (1 1)
- Funniest joke in the world (1 1)