A brief introduction to the world of humor.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python is considered to be the pinnacle of British humor, but often many of the jokes are hard or even impossible to understand without careful study of British culture. Sometimes their humor is drenched with political or social satire, but often it is just plain silly. This brief introduction does not aim to familiarize you with all of the intricate aspects of puns, satirical devices, or irony, but to offer you a broad view of the comic style of the Pythons. You will be introduced to three scenes from the famous film Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python in a nutshell

Monty Python is a comedy group which was founded by (from top row, left to right) Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese, and Michael Palin.

 Who are the Pythons?

Their comedy series, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was first aired in 5th October 1969 and the last episode was shown on BBC1 in 5th of December 1974. They have also produced three movies (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life) and numerous albums.

To this date the Pythons have made three motion pictures and we’ll be looking at the first: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It tells the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, who are all on a quest to find the Holy Grail. We will be looking at three specific scenes, and each section will contain information, a video clip, and an exercise linked to that particular section

The movie

Perhaps one of the best known scenes, the Bridge of Death (scene 23), represents a more traditional style of humor. In this scene the pythons play with the expectations of their audience. Consider the questions that the bridgekeeper asks from the knights in relation to the characters.

The Bridge of Death

The Bridge of Death - video

In this scene the knights arrive at the bridge of death only to find that it is guarded by a bridge keeper. The humor arises from both the bridge keeper’s questions and from the answers that the knights give. The first questions are very easy and Sir Lancelot is allowed to pass. the second set of questions are also similarly easy, except for the last question, which requires expert knowledge that Sir Robin doesn’t have. The third set of questions is identical to the first, but Sir Galahad manages to fail it by remembering his own favorite color wrong. The last set of questions is similar to the second set, but this time Arthur manages to outwit the bridge keeper by making a counter question. In this next exercise you will have multiple choices from which to choose the right alternative.

Exercise 1

The use of contrast in humor is best represented in the scene with Tim the Enchanter. This powerful mage has the ability to summon fire and causing explosions by simply pointing at objects, and he has a staff which shoots flames and missiles. As you can see from this next clip, the character portrayed by John Cleese is at first quite reluctant to speak with Arthur, but as the scene progresses he goes on a long monologue concerning the Holy Grail. Consider the end of this monologue and contrast it with the rest of the scene

Tim the Enchanter

Tim the Enchanter - Video

As we can see from the clip, Tim’s disposition to Arthur and his knights is somewhere from indifferent to hostile. This attitude is illuminated in the way Tim speaks to them in the scene. The device which the pythons employ at the end of Tim’s dialogue is called ‘bathos’ or ‘sinking’: Tim’s dialogue is very poetic until the end where this high register falls to almost childlike babble. The following exercise incorporates both high and low register words. Place the words in a crossword puzzle.

Exercise 2

The final scene that we will be looking at is the scene where the villagers have captured a witch. Consider who is being ridiculed and for what reason?

Burn the witch

Burn the witch - video

Many of the aspects of the scene make fun of such themes as superstition and bigotry, but other aspects are also evident. For example, group mentality is shown in all its infinite stupidity, and so is blind faith to authority. On the one hand, the villagers do not have a shred of evidence when it comes to their accusations, but on the other hand neither is there any basis on Sir Bedevere’s logical deduction.

In this next exercise you must arrange words in a correct manner to produce coherent and correct parts of dialogue found in the previous video clip.

Exercise 3

This concludes our brief look at the world of Monty Python. I hope that you have enjoyed it and that you have learned something useful.

Final words