Monty Python

And now for something completely different.

Being a "Python" is a bit like being a "Trekkie" -- though we do not have the universally-agreed-upon cool nickname.

Fans of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" share a unique world.

I stumbled upon the "Monty Python" television show late one evening in the early 1970s. (Incidentally, for those with knowledge of Monty Python, the FIRST sketch I saw was the "killer joke" sketch.) I had seen "Flying Circus" listed in the TV schedule (which at that time omitted the "Monty Python's"), but never tuned it in, and assumed it had something to do with flying or at least a circus. I had not heard it mentioned by any of my friends, but I believe several of them were stumbling upon it at about the same time. Eventually, word or mouth kicked in, but I honestly believe several of us just happened upon it independently.

I could spend paragraphs or pages describing how the television show spread through and permeated our lives. Suffice it to say that it became a sort of language, shared by a growing fraternity of fans. A single phrase, or even a single word, could elicit chortles from those who were "in the know." Perhaps the most curious part is that the single phrase or word may have appeared only once in the television show, yet lives on to this day in the minds of Monty Python fans, and even beyond the minds of Monty Python fans. It is generally believed that the use of the term "spam" in regard to e-mail originated with a Monty Python sketch involving the "Spam" meat product. Climbers on Everest have greeted each other as "Bruce", possibly not even realizing they are referencing a Monty Python sketch in which everyone was named "Bruce."

Even now, decades since the filming of the television show, phrases from Monty Python sketches routinely pop into my head, and I sometimes say them out loud, and often those around me are simply puzzled, though occasionally there is a flash of recognition, and perhaps an appropriate reply.

My point, though, is not to discuss how experiences leave permanent "marks" on our thinking, and how shared experiences -- even shared across continents -- may result in mutual reference points for future communication and bonding. My POINT is to confess and acknowledge that my own thinking has been forever influenced, to an unknown extent, by "Monty Python's Flying Circus". I have no regrets about this, and in fact recommend it to those who have not immersed themselves in that world.

I suppose that legally I should point out that no one from Monty Python is paying me or otherwise rewarding me for recommending them.

Since I have no particular way to conclude these comments, I will mention that often when the Monty Python television show had no way to conclude a sketch, they would have a knight in armor trot out and hit someone with a rubber chicken. When I have no way to conclude a blog posting, I write "Truth is complicated."

Truth is complicated. (Visualize a knight in armor striking someone with a rubber chicken ... feel free to do that anytime I write "Truth is complicated.")