And now for something completely different

Monty Python has been on my mind a lot lately.

I heard in September that Terry Gilliam is to "godfather" 1884, an animated steampunk parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (another banned book!), with several former Pythons lending their voices to the project.

"Nudge, Nudge, wink wink, Say no more."

Then I realized Monty Python's Flying Circus first aired on Oct. 5, 1969.

I have to tip my tiny top hat to those comic geniuses now!

Monty Python was a British comedy group who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired from 1969 to 1974 on the British Broadcasting Corporation. The television series was conceived, written and performed by members Gilliam, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. 

Their innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. Forty-five episodes were made over four years, but spawned touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom.

Dead Parrot Society

All are still alive except for Chapman, who died on Oct. 4, 1989 - the eve of the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus. Jones jokingly called it "the worst case of party-pooping in all history."

The five surviving Python members stayed away from Chapman's private funeral, to prevent a media circus and to give his family privacy. (They sent a wreath in the shape of the famous Python foot.) They held a private memorial service on Dec. 6, 1989. Cleese's eulogy began as follows: 

“Graham Chapman, co-author of the Parrot Sketch, is no more. He has ceased to be. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. He's kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky...."

Cleese later said that Chapman would never have forgiven him if he had not taken the opportunity to reference the sketch.

In June 2011 it was announced that most of the surviving Monty Python members will perform in a 3-D animated version of Chapman's memoir A Liar’s Autobiography: Volume VI. The voices of Cleese, Gilliam, Jones and Palin will be spliced into commentary recorded by Chapman reading from his memoir and taped shortly before his death. The film is expected to be released in 2012 with a running time of approximately 85 minutes.

Not to be irrelevant, but I always wanted to be a Lumberjack, and you know what? Momma is!

"She's a lumberjack, and she's okay.
She sleeps all night and she works all day."