Monty Policy and the Holy Wail

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Leave it to Chief over at Freedom Dogs to sniff out the strong resemblence between would-be female suicide bomber Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi and former Monty Python drag diva Terry Jones.

Chief asked if the two might have been separated at birth, especially given the title of Jones’s latest book, “Terry Jones’s War on the War on Terror”, and left either a challenge or invitation for me (another Pythonophile) to offer my take.

It’s not surprising that Jones has written a book (several, actually) since he contributed to the troupe largely through writing and directing and took smaller but significant speaking roles (frequently in drag as one of the pepperpot housewives) when it came to performance. His characters aren’t as readily remembered as some of those created by John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin or Graham Chapman, but he had some good parts and good lines. As such, I think it’s best to review his book using some of his own words. Imagine the following promotional blurbs on the book jacket (like most of those who offer these mini-reviews in real life, I don’t feel as if I necessarily have to read the book itself; I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to summarize Proust or something).

As the Mom in the “Dead Bishop on the Landing sketch”: “Liberal rubbish! Whaddaya want with yer jugged fish?” (Alternatively, “Well, it’s got some rat in it.”)

As the peasant woman in “The Holy Grail”: “There’s some lovely filth over here!”

As Mr. Spreaders in the “Argument Clinic” sketch: “I’m sorry, it’s ‘being hit on the head lessons’ in here.”

As Mr. Creosote in “The Meaning of Life”: “BLEAUAARGHH!”

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