Falling in love with 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' all over again

Monty Python

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of those movies that I vividly remember seeing for the first time. I was 10 years old, and like any precocious history buff I had rented All The President's Men from the video store and was eager to watch it.

At the time we only had one VCR in our house that was connected to all the TV sets (not ideal for trying to watch R-rated movies when my parents were around).

My older brother had rented Holy Grail on the recommendation of some school-friends -- as per usual he pulled rank, insisting that we had to watch his choice first. Needless to say I was a real grump about it. I was trying not to like the movie. But after the movie's opening wacky credits and the reveal of King Arthur riding a non-existent horse with sound effects provided by coconuts, I was hooked and in stitches.

The movie was a mind-blowing, eye-opening comedy experience for me. Prior to viewing Monty Python and the Holy Grail, my humor touchstone was largely Saturday Night Live and the work of the movie stars it produced.

Little did I know at the time that SNL was directly inspired by the antics of the Monty Python television show which proceeded it. In fact, a young Chevy Chase met SNL producer Lorne Michaels for the first time while they were both in line to see Holy Grail in NYC.

The beginning of SNL's first and most celebrated period was about to begin.

But I digress, from Holy Grail I found Life of Brian, and the underrated Meaning of Life. I am now the proud owner of the entire Flying Circus TV series, as well as albums of their greatest sketches and more infectious songs.

Last night I had the wonderful pleasure of experiencing the movie again with a huge outdoor audience at Brooklyn Bridge Park. It took all my willpower not to shout out my favorite lines and it was such a delight seeing people of all different ages and background guffawing at the sheer silliness on display.

Even my darling girlfriend, who so patiently endures my movie obsession and literally edits all of my columns, has started to come around to the charms of Python.

She was initially unimpressed and unamused by Python humor, but for whatever reason -- perhaps it was the spirit of the crowd -- she bought in.

I've always maintained that as big a fan as I am, Monty Python is not for all tastes. Their humor tends to lend itself to intense nerd-dom, and their best bits have in some cases been so oft-quoted and mimicked that their power is almost diminished -- almost. The strength of Python is in their sheer silliness, their willingness to be crude and cruel, while never losing a light anarchic spirit,

Take for instance one of my favorite bits in the movie -- the black knight -- here's a sequence that a person of any age can be amused by. And yet it portrays, in uproariously gory fashion, the dismemberment of a man. The brilliance of the scene though is the buoyant denial of the black knight, his dogged intensity and almost good cheer in the face of almost certain death.

Big screen comedies now are so premise-driven and preoccupied with being clever that they sometimes lose that childlike sense of play. We need more films like Python's now more than ever. As the world has grown into a grimmer, more demoralizing place, it's a treat to take a moment to laugh at something so stupid it's smart.

And if you don't agree, I fart in your general direction.