Just smart enough to be into Monty Python

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I kind of suspect that everyone here knows exactly what I mean.

It takes a bit of above-average, for the most part, to appreciate the humor in Monty Python. I'd be a lying asshole if I said I didn't find that shit mostly pretty funny.

But we all know (especially since we are almost universally from nerd-ass backgrounds) people for whom that is the pinnacle of humor and intellect.

Is it elitist? We all know that one guy, or five or ten of them, who love to advertise how much they love Monty Python, and who quote the shit out of them endlessly.

My question is this: is it wrong, is it elitist, to judge those people as being not smart enough, not independent enough, not jailbroken enough?

[Pæs]

What are they not smart/independent/jailbroken enough for?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What are they not smart/independent/jailbroken enough for?

To move into humor and thinking and trailforging of their own making. It's like they're stuck.

[Nast]

Oh gosh I think I've met people like that.

Somehow I feel that quoting Monty Python is the humor equivalent of talking about the weather - everybody does it, because everyone has been exposed to it and finds it titillating, while not being too dangerous.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh gosh I think I've met people like that.

Somehow I feel that quoting Monty Python is the humor equivalent of talking about the weather - everybody does it, because everyone has been exposed to it and finds it titillating, while not being too dangerous.

A SHRUBBERY!

Yes. It seems to me like displaying a particular plumage of pride without a willingness to venture into any dangerous territory at all.

[Pæs]

Seems like elitism to me. Then you've got to decide whether that's a bad thing or not.

Should these people want to move into humour/thinking/trailforging of their own, when repeating Monty Python jokes (which I assume gets mostly positive reactions from their peers, otherwise why would they continue) to bond with others over their common familiarity with those jokes, gives them the rewards they want?

Saying that they're not independent enough to do thinking of their own feels somewhat circular. TYFS is a value that we have here that isn't necessarily important to others. I feel like we're using it here to determine how much respect these people. When I asked "what are they not smart/independent/jailbroken enough for?" my immediate thought was "for my respect."

Do you feel like there's any truth to that?

[Elder Iptuous]

i've met some people like you've mentioned that seem to be 'stuck' in some way with MP.
but i've also met many that will set of MP induced groan that are perfectly unharmed by the habit in regards to their development beyond it.
i think it's just a cultural touchstone that is inherently quotable, so it's easy to fall into it as an outside in joke.
i've met some people that are into, say, Mitch Hedberg like that.  they think his quotable one liners are genius and when they are around someone else of that conviction, they endlessly quoted him.  (of course, that doesn't stand out as much as the slapsticky MP material)  I think i've only seen that twice though, as far as i know, and i would assume that's simply due to numbers...

so, i would say that it's eletist only if you don't recognize that it is a generalization that, while pretty darned general, can still not be applied to the individual.  Some people act in a behaviorally identical way as those that are 'stuck' when placed in a group of them.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Seems like elitism to me. Then you've got to decide whether that's a bad thing or not.

Should these people want to move into humour/thinking/trailforging of their own, when repeating Monty Python jokes (which I assume gets mostly positive reactions from their peers, otherwise why would they continue) to bond with others over their common familiarity with those jokes, gives them the rewards they want?

Saying that they're not independent enough to do thinking of their own feels somewhat circular. TYFS is a value that we have here that isn't necessarily important to others. I feel like we're using it here to determine how much respect these people. When I asked "what are they not smart/independent/jailbroken enough for?" my immediate thought was "for my respect."

Do you feel like there's any truth to that?

Yes, I absolutely think you're on to something. Because my reaction to a person who merely recites re-used intellectual jokes rather than exciting my novelty zone with their own original thoughts is definitely one of boredom and condescention... but only after a certain point. Initially, it is a balance of shared culture... oh, this person is into the same things I get! But after that, without novelty, it becomes recitation, at which point my interest is lost. So sure, that moves into an area of elitism.

[Freeky]

i've met some people like you've mentioned that seem to be 'stuck' in some way with MP.
but i've also met many that will set of MP induced groan that are perfectly unharmed by the habit in regards to their development beyond it.
i think it's just a cultural touchstone that is inherently quotable, so it's easy to fall into it as an outside in joke.
i've met some people that are into, say, Mitch Hedberg like that.  they think his quotable one liners are genius and when they are around someone else of that conviction, they endlessly quoted him.  (of course, that doesn't stand out as much as the slapsticky MP material)  I think i've only seen that twice though, as far as i know, and i would assume that's simply due to numbers...

so, i would say that it's eletist only if you don't recognize that it is a generalization that, while pretty darned general, can still not be applied to the individual.  Some people act in a behaviorally identical way as those that are 'stuck' when placed in a group of them.

Hey, maybe Bigfoot IS blurry.  That would make him all the more terrifying!

[Telarus]

  Bigfoot has evolved some combo censor-blur/SEP-field*, eh? Hilarious.




*Somebody Else's Problem, for anyone here who hasn't read Hitchicker's Guide to the Galaxy (wtf?!)

[Scribbly]

Weirdly enough, we don't really get that over in the UK.

I've met precisely one person to whom Monty Python was the height of wit. Everyone thinks he is a total jackass. Rabid Monty Python fans are somewhere below Trainspotters on the totem pole, because at least Trainspotters go outside and brave the horrendous British weather for their bizarre hobby nobody else cares about.

Sure, Monty Python is funny, and most people here will watch it and enjoy it. But quietly, behind closed doors, where it doesn't bother anyone else.

They aren't jailbroken if they constantly just rehash old humour. It is like rabidly repeating the Principia at Discordians. We get it; we all got it. It was funny and useful at the time. But you're missing the point if you think repeating that stuff over and over is a replacement for innovation! What made Monty Python great was that it was something entirely new. That's what made it great and that's the sort of thing people should be looking for.

[Faust]

People who quote monty python generally have a lot in common with furries

[P3nT4gR4m]

We made a consensus decision to stop doing it at college it was funny for about a week and annoying thereafter. Quoting anything is fine in moderation. Like someone says something and you hit them with an obscure movie reference that they just might get. It's a bonding thing. It's a pop quiz but once in a blue moon is more than enough.

What's worse in my mind isn't quoting python or pop culture it's quoting highbrow shit like Keats or Tennyson. Those fuckers are invariably ten or fifteen times more annoying to me than python or star wars nerds.

[Rumckle]

I'm with P3nt on this one, it is when people continually quote things or quote in a non sequitur way that is annoying.

Also, I find the thing with Monty Python, is that a lot of their jokes, especially the most quoted ones, were mainly funny because they were unexpected, and thus repetition is even worse for those jokes.

[Faust]

If you are ever feeling lazy though it is a very easy way to troll a forum. Just post a MP quote that is tangentially referrential to the thread at hand and people will go with it. Generally killing the thread outright.