The first time I ever saw a Monty Python sketch was the Mr Creosote scene from the 1983 film The Meaning of Life, featuring a very large wealthy man played by Terry Jones who is doted on by John Cleese, the maître d’. It was one of the most hilarious, shocking things I’d ever seen, exemplifying the Pythons’ physical comedy in the most gruesome way possible.
If you’re unfamiliar with it I implore you to watch it, but with caution. It’s famously the only film sequence that has ever disturbed director Quentin Tarantino, who admitted this when probed on the violence in his films.
The legacy of Monty Python is just accepted rather than theorised these days. Their contribution to popular culture is tantamount to The Beatles, with the lines from ‘The Spanish Inquisition’, ‘The Lumberjack Song’ and scenes from Holy Grail recited verbatim like lyrics.
