The Funny Revisited

A friend and I recently had a discussion about truth in comedy and he brought up an interesting point. He said, "Monty Python is dastardly funny and no one in their right mind actually behaves that way. How is that truthful?"

Ah. You have not stumped me. Absurd they may be, but they are still truthful about human behavior. They simply toy with our expectations.

John Cleese said that you can have 15 people doing something, anything, and you don't have to explain it. It's the one guy who isn't doing it that requires explanation. Take the Ministry of Silly Walks for an example. John Cleese's deadpan delivery is the perfect compliment to his surprisingly stupid walk. In this instance, the walk itself is funny because it is unexpected. Even though the audience knows why these men are here they cannot possibly anticipate the impossibility of living life with that particular walk. They would not be able to sustain our interest or our laughter without a very human dilemma. This other poor schmuck wants to develop his silly walk but he clearly has no aptitude. He is the one that is not like the others and, as absurd as the circumstances may be, that is a truth to which we can all relate.

What Monty Python was so bloody good at was the "Magic If". They always started with a question and sought to answer it. What if old ladies behaved like teenage hoodlums? What if everything a guy said was some sort of innuendo? What if someone bought a dead parrot and the shopkeep refused to admit it? They play with our expectations, have considerable wit, but they do not really leave the stratosphere. They are keenly aware of human behavior and never stray from it. That's why Python is funny they set up bizarre circumstances but set mere mortals in the middle to deal with them.

In good comedy the truth about who and what we are is always there, regardless of how outlandish it may seem.

It's funny 'cuz it's true.