Top Ten Monty Python Clips

 This year for Thanksgiving we are doing an activity with H/F cousins and everyone is supposed to come up with a Top Ten list. I decided to do Top Ten Monty Python skits. This has been tricky to rank them, but here they are:

#10 I'd Like to Buy a Hearing Aid

#9 Roman Graffiti Scene:

#8 Bridge of Death:

#7 French Tower Scene

#6 Knights Who Say Ni (both shrubbery and herring):

#5 Black Knight:

#4 Constitutional Peasants:

#3 Witch Burning Scene:

#2 Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and the Book of Armaments:

#1 Ministry of Silly Walks:

And an Honorable Mention to this 1998 interview which was done after Graham Chapman's death (with his ashes brought to the interview, so he could "participate"):

Monty Python bits that are also great but didn't make the top ten:

• Why Michelangelo Didn't Paint the Last Supper
• I'd Like to Have an Argument
• Philosopher Soccer Match
• Salad Days
• Working Class Playwright
• Killer Rabbit
• Dead Parrot Pet Shop and Lumberjack Song
• Cheese Shop
• I'd Rather Just Sing

Picasso's "Harlequin" and Eddie Redmayne

A handful of days ago, I became familiar with Picasso's "Harlequin Leaning" (1901), and I've left an image of it open on my browser so I could look at it periodically. The affected gesture of the two fingers raised up to the cheek is so amusing to me. It reminds me a little bit of something that the Scarlet Pimpernel would do, or an exaggerated gesture that my former student Chris J would do for comedic effect. (I remember attending a tour that Chris J led at the Frye probably about ten years ago, and he raised his palm to his hand and said "Woe is me!" to describe the emotional state of Bouguereau's shepherdess, and it was so amusing that it stuck with me, so I guess that is where the association with him and harlequin's gesture is coming from.)

But then today I saw this video clip of Eddie Redmayne promoting his Cabaret Broadway production on the Jimmy Fallon show, and his affected gestures and hunched-over posture (particularly at 8:14) remind me of this painting too. So now I like this painting for another reason, because of makes me think of Eddie Redmayne and his endearingly gangly and charming self.