CSC111 And now, something completely different
Computer Science and Popular Culture
Python-Related Videos
-
More videos of Guido van Rossun, the creator of Python.
Monty Python
If you are a computer scientist, you must, repeat, must, know Monty Python. It is required knowledge.
- If you do not know about Monty Python, the links and videos below will help you get a sense of
- their humor
- their influence on the world of computer programming, computer technology, and computer jargon.
A Must See
- A must see: Monty Python: Almost the Truth, a 6-part British documentary available for Streaming on Netflix.
Random Facts
- Random facts taken fromthe Wikipedia entry on Monty Python
- Main culprits: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.
- created the Flying Circus, a BBC show broadcast between 1969 and 1974.
- In a 2005 UK poll, three of the six Pythons members were voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders to be among the top 50 greatest comedians ever: Cleese at #2, Idle at #21, and Palin at #30
- Terry Gilliam wrote: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Brazil, among many other movie scripts.
Meet Eric Idle
- Eric Idle on Wikipedia.
The Dead Parrot
- The Dead Parrot sketch, alternatively and originally known as the Pet Shop sketch or Parrot Sketch, is a popular sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus, one of the most famous in the history of British television comedy.[1][2] It was written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman and first performed in the eighth episode of the show's first series ("Full Frontal Nudity", 7 December 1969)...
Spam
- "Spam" is a popular Monty Python sketch, first televised in 1970. In the sketch, two customers are trying to order a breakfast from a menu that includes the processed meat product in almost every dish. The term spam (in electronic communication, and general slang) is derived from this sketch.[1]
- It features Terry Jones as The Waitress, Eric Idle as Mr. Bun and Graham Chapman as Mrs. Bun. The televised sketch also featured John Cleese as The Hungarian and Michael Palin as a historian, but this part was left out of audio recordings of the sketch.
- The phenomenon, some years later, of marketers drowning out discourse by flooding Usenet newsgroups and individuals' email with junk mail advertising messages was named spamming, due to some early internet users that flooded forums with the word "spam"[2] recounting the repetitive and unwanted presence of Spam in the sketch. This phenomenon has been reported in court decisions handed down in lawsuits against spammers - see, for example, CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., 962 F.Supp. 1015, n. 1 (S.D.Ohio 1997).
- The Python programming language, named after Monty Python, prefers to use spam and eggs as metasyntactic variables, instead of the traditional foo and bar.
Ministry of Silly Walks
- "The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode 14, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired in 1970. A shortened version of the sketch was performed for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. This sketch involves John Cleese as a bowler hatted civil servant in a fictitious British government ministry responsible for developing Silly Walks through grants. Cleese, throughout the sketch, walks in a variety of silly ways (including one that briefly imitates the scissor gait of spastic diplegia), and it is these various silly walks, more than the dialogue, that has earned the sketch its popularity. Cleese has cited the physical comedy of Max Wall, probably in character as Professor Wallofski, as important to its conception.
Finding a Witch
From Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this skit uses questionable logic to determine if someone is a witch. (Start 50 seconds in.)
Three Questions
From Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this skit introduces more entertaining questioning. (Start 1 minute in)
Silly Job Interview
From Monty Python's Flying Circus - Hopefully not related to any job interviews you will ever have
The Penguin on the Television Set
Some more interesting logic, (Start 2 minutes in, and end at 4:45)
