The most memorable comedy of all time

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2009)

Name another context where the line "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" is funny. If it's not John Cleese as the taunting Frenchman or said in that very same obnoxiously fake French accent, it's about as funny as missing tea time.
"The Holy Grail," far and away the greatest comedic work of the Monty Python gang of Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam is a masterful example of the power of improvisational humor and satire. It is also testament that nonsense, when executed properly, is brilliance.
No comedy can even touch what King Arthur and the knights of the round table's divinely charged quest for the Holy Grail does. Whether it is a rant about various forms of government, a tragically flawed scientific logic for burning witches or knights who keep sacred words like "Ni" and demand shrubberies, just about everything in the film is memorable, quotable or at least highly enjoyed by those with bad recall abilities.
The Middle Ages is perfect fodder for Monty Python, mixing a definite sense of history with tales of fantasy -- the ideal balance for satire and nonsensical fun. But truly, comedy is about timing and execution and no one does it better. The subtleties of "I'm not dead yet" and "i'm getting better" are examples. Delivered in another way they could miss the mark entirely, but the Python crew gets just about anything to be funny. A definite improvisational element keeps the scenes fresh and all the more hilarious.
"Holy Grail" nails joke after joke and only lacks a satisfying end. Still, the sheer comedic genius of the rest of the film is so good that the whole unit is meaningless. You don't walk away thinking it's a bad ending, you start quoting the taunting Frenchman, or the leader of the nights who say "Ni!" or the Black Knight. That's what makes the film a true classic.