To many in the English-speaking world, the British comedy sketch group Monty Python may be a household name. But Finns, too, appreciate the wacky and perplexing style of the group’s comedic antics, according to professor emeritus Seppo Knuuttila.
“There are so many layers to their humour that you don’t necessarily need to understand the language to laugh along,” says Knuuttila, who has studied humour in folklore. “They do simple physical humour, more complex jokes that rely on cultural understanding, and gags based on the English language. There’s something for everyone, and you can come back to the sketches time and again.”
Heritage of humour
Knuuttila says that one of the most important tasks of parents bringing up children is to introduce them to different forms of humour because it influences so much of everyday life.
“It’s about transferring imagination, delight, insight and historical comprehension to the next generation,” he says, and adds that lines between good and offensive humour can sometimes be blurred.
“Monty Python was able to straddle that border expertly,” he says, “and one of the best things about their work is that they left those value judgments up to the audience.”
"Monty Python is the Beatles of comedy"
On Sunday today the five-man comedy crew will perform their last ever stage show together – and first ever live streamed performance – at 9pm Finnish time. The event will be streamed live in more than 1,500 cinemas all over the world including at some twenty locations in Finland – and several tiny movie theatres in Southern Ostrobothnia, such as in Kauhava and Seinäjoki.
The main movie house in the western municipality of Jalasjärvi is expected by organizer Mikko Jokipii to fill up completely by the evening.
“This started out as a great joke first and foremost,” Jokipii said. “We were like, ‘Let’s screen a live broadcast from London in little old Jalasjärvi!’”
Initially, Jokipii expected a handful of Python fanatics to show up, but about 80 tickets have already been pre-ordered, so the 130-seat theatre could very well fill up to the brim. Jokipii himself is a Pythonhead, who owns the supergroup’s entire collected works.
“Monty Python is to comedy what the Beatles were to rock,” he summed up.