prolific.org

Apparently Python’s out of fash’, Mr Hg informs me. No longer part of every day conversation and considered passed on, no more, ceased to be, expired and gone to meet its maker in its country of origin. Fortunately we’ve been spared John Cleese’s corporate training videos and the larger part of Palin’s awful travel shows in my country so they haven’t had a chance to tarnish the memory. Unlike Polly, Python’s quite alive to me and a day after I had my Python talk with Mr Hg, a Python quote (‘… and now for something completely different.’) did pop up in conversation at work. Proof it’s still part of our Dutch collective concience.

Elvis Presley was a fan, apparently, and would quote the ‘Knights that say NI’ scene from The Holy Grail. My own Python-years came twice. Once during their first run on Dutch television. (Early Seventies?) The second time was when I went to college and a lot of the series were repeated on the BBC. I bought the transcript books then, which I’ve since sold since you can find everything online anyway.

These last two weeks I’ve been enjoying this their back catalogue whot I acquired both legally and illegally. Their DVD’s are filled to the brim with extra-funny, extra-unseen footage. The sketches still make me laugh and I’ve become quite fond of Gilliam’s animation. I didn’t like them much as a child. Too creepy, I think. Back then, ‘The Ministry of Silly walks’ and Cleese were my favourites, now I am quite keen on Terry Jones’s female impersonations (and his marvelously toff self) and Chapman’s mad genius.

If I could, I’d buy the 14 disc ‘The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus Megaset’, but that’s a USA release only and I reckon Dutch customs would make me pay through the neck, so I made do with sharply priced (57 euro) The Best of Monty Python’s Flying Circus Volumes 1-3 which features all the ‘best’ sketches.

Quotes I still use or hear used:

‘She’s a witch, she’s made of wood!’
‘… and now for something completely different.’
‘NI!’
‘I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition!’
‘I’ve had a terrible feeling fo déjà vu!’
‘SPAM, SPAM, SPAM’
‘Mind if I call you Bruce?’

Some of my favourite sketches are: ‘The Bishop’, ‘Crunchy Frog’, ‘Dead Indian’, ‘The Masons’, ‘Northern Playwright’ and ‘Spanish Inquisition’. How about yours? (Look ‘em up.)

[Read more]

Remember a year ago I said I was sitting on a major scoop? This is it.

In 1981, someone stole a briefcase from Bono when U2 played a gig in Portland. Since then, the briefcase has become the Holy Grail of U2 mythology. It contained lyric drafts for U2’s second album, ‘October’. Without the drafts, Bono had to start from scratch.

A year ago, we were contacted by someone who claimed to have the contents of the briefcase. We were sceptical at first, and asked for photographic evidence. Once given, we no longer doubted. This was it. We helped the finder get in touch with U2’s management. It took a long time for schedules to match, but Bono now has his stuff back.

U2log.com finally got to publish the story a few minutes ago. Not in the way we would have liked, but we’re happy to have played our small part anyway.