There was no The Tuesday Diversion last week because it was the final primary day, and on that day we didn't need a diversion. Well, yes, that, of course, and also it was Mrs. Centerfielder's birthday, and I was busy.
I first saw Monty Python on TV a little over 30 years ago:
In 1975 the series was first broadcast in the United States, and soon gained a cult following. Ron Deveiller, an executive from PBS television station KERA in Dallas, Texas, found Monty Python episodes on a shelf when searching for programming for his station. He watched one episode, then another, and before he was done he had acquired the entire series to put on the air. The series was eventually aired on PBS stations across the country, and by this chance event Python invaded America.
I don't know when the Detroit PBS station started showing Python, but it was probably 1976. At that time I had a friend at the University of Michigan named Thomas Thomas.
Thomas was hirsute, slight of build, and had a mane of curly black hair and long black sideburns. He looked like a short, more handsome Joe Cocker. Thomas was a Creative Writing major, a poet and protege of Donald Hall, later Poet Laureate of the United States. Thomas always had a Camel unfiltered in his hand, ready access to some of the best pot in the midwest, and was always either coming from, or going to, a liaison with some absolutely gorgeous woman. They seemed to swarm around him like first graders chasing a soccer ball.
One afternoon I met Thomas outside Pinball Pete's, over which he had a one-bedroom apartment. Or maybe the apartment belonged to some girl he was seeing, I don't know. Anyway, he said this new TV show was about to come on and asked if I wanted to smoke a bowl and see it. I said sure. It was "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and the episode we saw included the "Confuse-A-Cat" bit.
i was blown away. It was absolutely brilliant. It didn't take long for a group of us to discover the show and we eagerly awaited each episode during that summer. "How Not To Be Seen," "Nudge Nudge," "Blancmanges Playing Tennis," and of course "The Funniest joke in the World."
Has there been as tightly written a comedic dialogue as "The Argument?" Can anyone see a can of SPAM and not start chanting "spam spam spam spam...?" Just this past weekend I was in Zingerman's creamery, looking over the cheeses, and expected to hear bouzouki music.
And that was just the TV show...
I could go on and on and on ("Can you say the letter 'k'"), but I won't. Instead, I'll ask, what are your favorite Monty Python bits?