Monty Python's Flying Circus on Netflix

Netflix has dumped a ton of Monty Python related material recently - best of shows, clip reels, live performances, remembrances, biographies.

I've decided to go back to the source material: 4 series, 45 episodes, aired in Britain from 1969-1974. Python has been kind of ubiquitous in my life (although the Marx Brothers were much earlier and more formative), but I'm not sure I've ever done a canonical viewing of the show. The ensemble became known for stand-alone sketch / bit comedy that fans have come to know by heart, but many of the belly laughs of viewing the original shows come from the way sketches bleed over into each other, or show up again later in the show.

My most recent watch (Series 2, Episode 1) features the "New Cooker" sketch, and the long line of service techs patiently waiting to enter the sketch pop up several times later in the show; the classic "Ministry of Silly Walks" (Cleese silly walks through the following sketch at least once), and "Ethel the Frog / Piranha Brothers" which I remembered mostly from a record album compilation, so there is a soundless bit in the middle I did not recall, as well as an addendum tacked on for the recording "...sorry squire, I've scratched the record....sorry squire, I've scratched the record....sorry squire, I've scratched the record....". And Spiny Norman's animated appearance during the credits is sort of the icing on the cake. "Dinsdale...."

My earliest Python memories were of my dad watching and laughing in our family room in PA, over the air via the local public station, quite possibly in black & white. I think we were both a little embarrassed about the occasional nudity (most often in Terry Gilliam's animated pastiches). I was a little too young for it to be appropriate (but was curious) and he seemed a little embarrassed for enjoying it as much as he did. I think he was looking for someone to share it with and I was not quite there yet.

Later on in high school, where the sketches bounced around pretty wildly in lunchroom banter and classroom cut-ups. I probably picked up a lot of it second hand, or through records - in those pre-internet, pre-DVD, pre-VCR, even pre-cable days (we were late acquirers) it was catch as catch can in terms of actually seeing the shows. And when I was able to watch a show, it was difficult to put some of the humor in context the way a serial viewing of the series provides, both in terms of repetitive themes as well as the evolution of the humor and the acting / comedy skills.

Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979) neatly bookended my high school career - I'm sure I saw both in the theaters. But again, a different experience when one needs to pay and screen multiple times, rather than watching the film over and over the way a VCR, DVD or stream permits.

So...a nice little break from reality that I am savoring (rather than binge watching) and a chance to revisit a more innocent era, personally and culturally.

Mike Birbiglia in Boston

Traveled up the the Wilbur Theater last evening to see Mike Birbiglia in concert.

 Not my usual stomping grounds, but a friend from a long-ago mindfulness series, who has remained a connection through the magic of a few common friends and Facebook, had picked up tickets before she realized it was Valentine's Day and her usual concert buddies would be doing coupled things. So she reached out, and I am so glad she did.

Not sure I've ever been to a large venue "comedian" concert - the CT Forum does not quite count, perhaps some comic nights at a bar. In some ways very much like a concert (I could swear I've been to the Wilbur in my youth, maybe to see Pretenders or Cheap Trick or somebody back in the day, although a lot of these halls look the same) in some ways a bit less crazy and loud. Lot of women in the crowd, I think a tribute to Mr. Birbiglia's audience as well as the date.

I got familiar with Mike Birbiglia mostly through This American Life (follow the link for a page of all his contributions), his book and movie Sleepwalk with Me, and the 2009 TAL livecast Return to the Scene of the Crime. Last night, I realized our roots are similar (Catholic school, he grew up in Shrewsbury MA, near my alma mater Worcester Polytechnic Institute). Topics included yoga(!), laties vs. earlies, religion. Mike brought forth a few self-effacing "inappropriate performance" stories, including a Muppet TV show (his first word was a swear), a baseball writer's dinner (he failed to notice the honoree was blind and tried to shake his hand, then got an attitude when the guy ignored him), a christian school (he riffed on Jesus, the socialist Jew, returning, who, as he noted "are not high up on most Christians' list of favorite people")

It was a great evening, although I was not perhaps laughing hysterically, my face hurt from smiling. Opening up form Mr. Birbiglia was comedian Jon Fisch who did a good job, mining the "single guy" thing with funny stories abouttoo many meals at his favorite sushi place, his nieces, his lack of hair.

And so nice to get out of my "rut" - Thea, my friend, is lovely, creative, and engaged in life (singing, art, etc.) - and it was fun to just hang out, chat, ride the "T" in from Riverside, and hit the big(ger) city.