h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(in reply to Danny B) Oh sorry, I must have remembered that wrong. I didn't mean to belittle their efforts. There was something about the show only being ready at the last minute, though, I'm sure. Unless I'm confusing it completely with the Hitchhiker's. In which case, ignore me and carry on. Trying to get a lot of work done here, shouldn't really be on hootoo!

Sounds like Hitchhiker's... They were notorioulsy late with their scripts.

According to the various books about DNA/Hitchikers, it got to the point where Douglas was writing the ends of shows as the start of them was being recorded

I love it when post 42 is Hitchhikercentric.

I can't remember what the question was, but never rubbish, and at times quite brilliant, although I think I share TC's reservations about women - real ones, that is; it seems as though the Pythons didn't quite know what to do with them (until the "Welsh tart" in Brian). The pepperpots, however, are regularly quoted in this house whenever I come home from the supermarket with a short-coded delicacy ("Piston-engine! - bargain!").

Mol

Never thought much of the TV series, not even for it's day. The Python films are quite funny and what the 'python people' have done for Amnesty International, worth remembering.



I doubt any intent toward elitist.



Brilliant, as an work ethic for progressive comedy, yes. Not a fan of the TV shows, though some brilliant moments, that get *polled* from the series, the parrot sketch; the symbolism transfers to any branch of Dixons.



Put me down for *one and five eighths.*

Option 1, I am afraid...

The reason I have always thought they were elitist, is the large number of sketches with working and lower middle class people with handkerchiefs on their heads, and saying dopy thing such as "Doctor, my head hurts".

One thing I noticed as a teenage girl (which is when it was shown here) was the lack of women. (Not men in unconvincing drag - women.) When Monty Python was on, my Dad and I would retreat to another room, my mother and sisters watched it, and my brother was too little at the time to have an opinion.

To me, they were like DNA often was - full of their own brilliance, too much so to actually bother with being funny! Alexei Sayle, Hale and Pace, Fry and Laurie - now, *they're* funny!

OK, but the sketches also had their fair share of bureaucrats so infuriating you'd rather jump off a cliff than have to deal with them and insane upper class old fools, too. I don't think the working/lower middle classes were targeted any more frequently.

Della has a wonderful way of only seeing what she wants to see.

The rest of us can see that Python made all social groups and their idosyncracies targets for exaggeration and comedy. Not only that most of you who have looked at the breadth of their later work have realised that once the team had seen more of life they treated different people more equally if not more reverently.

Anyone who doesnt like Python has the right to their opinion based on their taste but to say they were elitist is just rubbish. lets remember the woman who told us they are elitist rubbish is the same woman who said "No one likes romantic comedies". There followed a similar thread to this one where people said they did. She is an [removed by me to save everyone else the bother].

No need to get personal - it's only a TV comedy programme..!

Going back to the 'elitist' argument, I agree with King-Bomba that most socio-econommic groups were fair game. Yes, there were some working-class or lower-middle class characters (because these were similar to the Python's backgrounds, before they went to University and became elitist...), but there were also plenty of lawyers, judges, doctors, politicians, police officers etc., as well as the upper-class twits.

The whole class issue was turned on its head by the Pythons themselves in the 'Working-class Poet' sketch, in which the father with the strong Yorkshire accent is disgusted by his 'posh' son leaving home to go to University, with the twist that the father is a poet and the son is leaving to study coal mining.

As for women, the Pythons themselves admit they couldn't write for 'real' women. Going straight from school to University to the BBC, they'd never *met* any real women, apart from their mothers, on whom they based the old women 'pepperpot' characters.

Will stop rambling now...

I like the Python shows - gotta be honest, wasn't around to see em the first time round, and really only started to catch em in the last few years. But the "Exploding Blue Danube" sketch has rapidly become one of my favourite sketches of all time.

Now I do have to wonder what the inspiration behind the name 'Black & Decker' is? Closet DIY enthusiast?

Hale and Pace? Funny?
Now you *are* having a laugh


I'll have the brilliant option please

Bloomin 'eck Della, changing your name at this pace makes it pretty difficult to follow convos.

yeah i'm for (2) also..

life of brian has gotta be the funniest one,,,,with the holy grail a close second
they make me laugh me s off each time i watch them..

"he's not the messiah,he's a very naughty boy"

OK Bomba without giving in to my penchant for attacking the opinion and the person sometimes> Iwill just focus on the opinion here.

It was given us froma perspective of:
"When Monty Python was on, my Dad and I would retreat to another room,

Humour is subjective, I found I liked python when I was younger, but mostly the movies and the records, the episodes were a bit hard going, excellent bits interspersed with absolute crapola. As to the elitist tag - if this is meant to mean you couldn't enjoy a sketch if you didn't 'get' all of the references, I beg to differ, the humour was multi-levelled, you could enjoy the sillyness as well as the deeper references.

Just for the record my fav movie is MOL - actually the first bit about the pirates of the crimson permanent assurance company...the rest of 'the meaning of life' goes down hill from there, until the siege in the middle of course.

AND I like Little Britain - especially Tom Baker's mad voiceovers.

I'm the only person I know who prefers Palin and Jones Ripping Yarns to Python. Not because I think Python was elitist (a nonsense charge), but because out of any half hour segment, about ten minutes of it would be utterly, gut-bustingly hilarious and the other 20 just mind numbing.

Little Britain deserves every bit of praise it gets for accurately and hilariously lancing the festering boil that is present day Britain. It is the only comedy show presently on our screens that accurately reflects just what an appalling pit Britain has become.

Too bad it's not funny.