I've been a big Monty Python fan for years and I'd watched it late at night by myself. It was always just wonderful and so funny. For comedy to last more than 50 years is actually very, very rare. We were the first people to do that sort of comedy on television in color in our country anyway. The references haven't dated. And also the other thing I think is quite strange and unique. There was no writing team. You know, it was just by us just what we wanted to say. So we made it up and did it.
Should anything be off-limits in comedy? Kara and Nayeema discuss this question, and the recent Dave Chappelle SNL monologue, before Kara’s interview with our guest today: writer-comedian Eric Idle who is an OG in the craft. When he and his fellow sketch artists launched Monty Python on the BBC in 1969, it was unclear whether anyone would even watch. Now there are generations of Python fans. Today, Idle talks about what made Monty Python unique and how they pushed the line and the social conversation with their unique brand of humor.
Both avid Twitterers, Kara and Idle also discuss their frustrations with Elon Musk (he’s a noted fan of Monty Python, though Idle is not a fan of Musk). And Idle describes how his recent bout with pancreatic cancer has made him a more accepting person.
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
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