The 2011 Summer Re-Watch: Monty Python's Flying Circus "It's The Arts" Review

Episode six marks the return of the "It's The Arts" sketch--the first time the troupe returned any sketchy they previously done. Is it significant? Not particularly as it differs from the first sketch. I just had nothing else to open the post with. In the first "It's The Arts," I argued that the Pythons sought to "take the piss" out of artist pretension through the interviewer's interaction with Sir Edward Ross. The second "It's The Arts" sketch introduces a forgotten European composer with a very, very long name--a name so long that one interview subject perishes before the interviewer finishes saying the name. The name, you ask? It's Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern -schplenden -schlitter -crasscrenbon -fried -digger -dangle -dungle -burstein -von -knacker -thrasher -apple -banger -horowitz -ticolensic -grander -knotty -spelltinkle -grandlich -grumblemeyer -spelterwasser -kürstlich -himbleeisen -bahnwagen -gutenabend -bitte -eine -nürnburger -bratwustle -gerspurten -mit -zweimache -luber -hundsfut -gumberaber -shönendanker -kalbsfleisch -mittler -raucher von Hautkopft of Ulm. Nothing happens in the sketch besides various Pythons saying the name on screen. Of course, the name is awfully hard to read in one take without pauses so the boys deserve credit for saying it as many times as they do.

As a whole episode, "It's The Arts" mixes animation with live-action more successfully than the previous five episodes. The animations continue to befuddle me upon each re-watch. The animation sequences in episode six, at least, comment directly on the preceding sketch or sets up the sketch-to-come. For example, the Scotsman on a Horse sketch follows a scots man on a horse traveling to a wedding. The sketch cuts between the ride and the wedding. The wedding is between a handsome male and a beautiful female. Usually, in movies or TV, the scots man would carry the woman from the wedding in an act of true love; however, the scots man carries the male out. The episode cuts to animation where a man in a stroller comments on how taking men is a good idea, so the man uses the stroller to kidnap men. The stroller-man's eventually stopped by a 16 ton weight. There's nothing new to glean from the sketch or the animation sequence because both subvert expectations in the Python way (and I wrote about all that last week). As I said already, the other animation sequences comment on sketches or set them up. The animation sequences won't be so easy to define or classify in other episodes. The episode six animations are rare in the series.

The episode features two of my favorite Monty Python sketches. Every week, I write about a sketch or two as being among my favorites in Monty Python and I mean it every week. I adore the 'non-illegal robbery' sketch because of its absurdity in concept, the escalation of the concept and Michael Palin's acting as the leader who freaks out when he learns their car might have a ticket for late payment on the parking meter. The sketch includes Cleese, Chapman, Palin, Jones and Idle dressed as 1920s era gangsters. Palin's character goes through an elaborate plan that leads to buying a watch (not stealing it). Everything Palin says leads one to believe that he and his boys are pulling a heist but, no, Palin's leader has no idea how he'd get the watch if he didn't pay for it. Jones plays the character who WANTS to do something illegal; however, when presented with the opportunity to blow up a building, he reminds Palin that arson's illegal.

The other sketch I love is '20th century vole,' which is about an American Hollywood producer sharing an idea with a collection of yes-men screenwriters. The mere mention of 'idea' causes the writers to shout their support. I love the send-up of Hollywood culture, the powerful producer and his collection of parrots. The sketch works in 2011 because the Hollywood feature film landscape is atrocious, and I imagine 20th century vole happens all the time in the many expensive offices in Los Angeles as executives continue to kill any chance for quality storytelling in mainstream cinema. Chapman's American producer, Irving C. Saltzburg, eventually fires every one of his writers for being yes men, for disagreeing with him and for being indecisive. I'll always be a fan of any sketch in which Chapman uses his American accent.

"It's The Arts" is a fairly ordinary episode of the series. The actual 'It's The Arts' sketch actually hurts the episode because the Johann name is too long, it causes the sketch to drag as well as the first half of the episode until the 'non-robbery' sketch. The episode has two great sketches, though, and plenty of laughs. Also, it marks the first time a woman appeared topless on the show (and it won't be the last).

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