Holy Grail has the Rabbit of Caerbannog.

Which is why it's my favorite.

Me too. I also loved the reading from the Book of Armaments for instructions on the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

This conversation made me think to my first exposure to those two movies. One thing I really loved as a kid was the religious parody aspects, and this was while I was still a Christian.

Montey Python--just one more stepping-stone to me becoming a Godless infidel.

Oh lord you are so big, so absolutely huge, gosh we're all really impressed down here I can tell you....

Oh, I have to post this as well:

Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."

I like Holy Grail better. It's more episodic, and some of the episodes do drag on, but the good bits are so very, very good.

I don't love the individual tales of Galahad and the virgin tower, or Lancelot saving the prince, but the rabbit, the "Nih!," the coconuts, the Swedish subtitles, the insulting Frenchman, the laden swallow...

Don't forget the watery tart discussion. Greatest thing ever in the history of ever!

Grail is more consistently quotable, I think, but I do toss out a "Follow the shoe!" occasionally. Followed of course by "Follow the gourd!" and "It's a test!"

Also, the anarchist commune refusing to recognize the authority of the king.

Although that went mostly over my head as a child.

eta: Momentarily forgot the watery tart was in this bit.

Don't forget the watery tart discussion. Greatest thing ever in the history of ever!

Believe it or not, you can even increase the hilarity of this scene by studying some medieval Russian history shortly before viewing. I speak from experience.

Oh, there you go bringing class into it again.

I love the watery tart discussion SO MUCH.

I had never seen Holy Grail when I went to college, just some Python repeats on the local PBS channel. So that first semester, we went to see it, because (of course) it was shown as part of the Cornell film series. (Cornell had an awesome film series--everything from Death Race 2000 to Astaire/Rogers flicks. You could see a different movie every night of the week, for $2. ::sigh::)

And the guy in the row in front of me said every line of dialog just before the actors did.

ARGH.

Death Race 2000 was oddly compelling.

And the guy in the row in front of me said every line of dialog just before the actors did.

I thought that was par for the course whenever anyone, anywhere, is watching a Monty Python film. Even if you're watching alone in a cave in the remote desert, That Guy will show up and recite each line before the actors do. I seriously don't think I've ever watched a Monty Python film where it wasn't a competition among the viewers to see who could quote the most lines, the fastest, with the most accuracy.

(I also have a friend who does this with Caddyshack. I just don't watch movies with him anymore. It saved the friendship.)