How Not To Be Seen

My pal Kim "Howard" Johnson is the go-to guy for all things Python. He works with the Monty Python guys and knows so much about them that they call him with questions about themselves. He's also a fine author and an expert on other nodes of comedy. Today on his blog, he writes about the upcoming Python Reunion…

Several people have also asked me about the Pythons getting up there "at their age" and doing their old sketches. My feeling is that is if a championship pole vaulter decided to make a comeback at age 70, he may be missing a step or two. But with comedy, particularly the Python style of comedy, they can perform as well as ever. I saw John Cleese perform a couple of months ago, and believe me, he hasn't lost his sense of timing, and the others are every bit as sharp. This is going to be fun.

I don't disagree with any of that…and by the way, I suspect the Pythons will take the opportunity to parody the occasion by having, say, Cleese come out to do the Silly Walks sketch with a walker…or doing a sketch that once featured Graham Chapman with his role played by a funereal urn.

montypython03

The point I want to make though is that an event like this isn't really about comedy. It's about devout fans paying money to be there and cheer them and love them, and then to be able for the rest of their lives to say, "I saw John Cleese and Michael Palin do the Parrot Sketch!"

I saw all the Pythons perform together in 1981 (Kim will let me know if I have the year wrong) at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a great evening and it wasn't about comedy, either. Everyone in the audience knew 90% of the material as well as anyone on stage. In fact, a few times, Cleese or someone went up on a line and hundreds of voices rang out with the missing wordage. None of us cared if they were funny or not. We laughed at the fact that they were there, period. The biggest reaction most sketches got came when we realized which one they were doing: It's the Whizzo Chocolate sketch! It's The Argument Clinic! The first time a Gumby came on, he practically got a standing ovation.

I think it's great that these guys are doing this reunion show, which will apparently be in London, at least at first. They ought to tour everywhere they're known and loved, and give everyone a chance to go see them and cheer them and join them in a rousing chorus of "The Lumberjack Song." When Eric Idle gets up there and starts doing "Nudge, Nudge" (and he'd better), it'll be like Tony Bennett singing "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" or Sinatra doing "My Way." You don't go to a show like that for the entertainment. You go for the history.