Zack Handlen - If You Like Monty Python...: Here Are Over 200 Movies, TV Shows and Other Oddities That You Will Love

Copyright 2012 by Zack Handlen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, without written permission, except by a newspaper or magazine reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review.

Published in 2012 by Limelight Editions

An Imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation

7777 West Bluemound Road

Milwaukee, WI 53213

Trade Book Division Editorial Offices

33 Plymouth St., Montclair, NJ 07042

Book design by Michael Kellner

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Handlen, Zack.

If you like Monty Python: here are over 200 movies, tv shows, and other oddities that you will love / Zack Handlen. 1st paperback ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-87910-393-4

1. Monty Python (Comedy troupe) 2. Monty Pythons flying circus (Television program) 3. Comedy films--Miscellanea. 4. Television comedies--Miscellanea. I. Title.

PN2599.5.T54H36 2012

791.43617--dc23

2011047192

www.limelighteditions.com

For Ally

Contents

Its simple: theres a finite supply of Monty Python in the world. And once youve finished going through that supplyonce youve watched the entire run of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, seen each of the four movies a dozen times over, wasted hours reciting dialogue and gags to your like-minded friends, played the computer games, even played the short-lived collectible card gamewell, what happens next? Great art of any kind should be satisfying, but it rarely feels like enough, especially not when the art in question is some of the greatest comedy ever put to screen.

So, once youve exhausted the work of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, its time to try something new. To that end, weve constructed the book you now hold in your hands. If You Like Monty Python aims to give the erstwhile Pythonite a map forward through the confusing territory. In the following chapters (separated by general subject and/or medium), youll find suggested additional material that should keep you busy watching, listening, reading, and laughing for however long it takes science to write a program that will give us more Python sketches.

This is not intended as a definitive list of, well, anything. Nor is it a history of the troupe, nor a precisely calculated lineup of every comedian, writer, or lunatic who ever claimed to be influenced by the Superlative Six. Think of it, instead, as a collection of new directions, with the hope that some few may lead you, the reader, to other, equally fervent fandoms. Who knowsmaybe buried here is the name of an artist who will affect you so powerfully that in some not-so-distant future, youll find yourself writing about them in a book much like this one. And then youll show us. Youll show us all!

Anyway. Video stores are scarce these days, and condescending-yet-instructive video store clerks are still scarcer, so consider us your assistant in the process of selecting an evenings entertainment. The only drawback being, there are 200 or so items mentioned in this volume, and youll probably work through all of those eventually, much as you did with Pythons oeuvre, given your apparently insatiable lust for killing time. But if that does happen, well, youll be dead anyway soon enough, so maybe you should consider going outside for a walk or something, before someone nails you to a tree. Always look on the bright side, thats what we say.

NOTE: In America, different years of a television show are called seasons. In Britain, different years of a television show are called series. Throughout this book, Ive endeavored to refer to each show by the nomenclature of its homeland.

Authors Note: Throughout this book, certain names and titles have been listed in boldface. This occurs only at the first, or primary, reference to each item, and this is done to indicate that the name or title is considered essential.