Exclusive interview with authors Brian Cogan and Jeff Massey, a review of their new book about the broad social impact of the Pythons
Rating: Three Stars
by Gabrielle Pantera
“As I recall, I was walking past a fruit stand and had just come off a binge watching Python and was thinking, hmmm, I’m getting a lot more of the jokes than I did when I was 13,” says Everything I Ever Needed to Know About co-author Brian Cogan, Ph.D.
“I actually discovered some new Python, including the German episodes, which I somehow had never actually seen…although I somehow knew many of the sketches,” says co-author Jeff Massey, Ph.D. “I also found out that my wife, Kristin, had never seen much Python…and yet she seems to understand me. No idea how that works, really.”
Monty Python’s Flying Circus ran on the BBC from 1969 to 1974, producing just forty-five episodes. The Pythons often linked different sketches together, juxtaposing them like thoughts in someone’s brain. They would take on history, sports and other subjects and by taking them too seriously make them into something that would make people laugh. Forty-five years later the popularity of their humor is in no danger of abating, is multi-generational and worldwide. The hit play Spamalot is based on a Monty Python sketch.
Authors Brian Cogan and Jeff Massey wanted to explore the impact of Monty Python in the areas of art, history, literature politic and religion that made up almost every sketch. They challenged what people thought, yet made them laugh at the same time. Cogan and Massey share lessons they learned and pose a theory of the Pythons. There were many inside jokes to the show. This book is a treat for fans and an introduction for those new to Monty Python.
Cogen says they did much of their writing and research took place at Massey’s home under the eye of his pregnant wife Kristen. “I never knew how tolerant Kristen was until we spent a whole day watching Python, taking notes, drinking beer and eating pizza,” says Cogan. “Kristen came home to find us sitting on the floor – in the TV room, mind you – she was great with child at that point, and asked us, ‘Have you two spent all day watching Python, eating pizza and drinking beer?’ We looked at each other, nodded the affirmative in our stupor, and she said, ‘Well, okay then, carry on.’”
Massey is a professor of English at Molloy College. He’s the vice president of Mearstapa (the society for the scholarly study of Medieval monsters), the co-editor of Heads Will Roll!: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination, and the author of many academic articles about Thomas Hardy, Chaucer and Beowulf. He has a book chapter on Star Trek and Neo-medievalism to be published later this year. He’s currently scripting for Zenescope Entertainment a few comic books, what he describes as weird takes on L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz.
Cogan is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication at Molloy College. He’s the author of The Encyclopedia of Punk (Sterling 2008) and has written numerous articles on punk rock, comic books, and the intersection of politics and popular culture. He’s written, co-written or edited eight books including his first novel Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (Ars Omina 2013).
Cogan was born and still lives in Brooklyn, New York. Massey was born in Long Island and lives in Rockville Centre, New York.
Everything I Ever Needed to Know About _____* I Learned from Monty Python: *History, Art, Poetry, Communism, Philosophy, the Media, Birth, Death, … Mythology, Fish Slapping, and Many More! by Brian Cogan Jeff Massey Hardcover: 336 pages. Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (March 18, 2014), Language: English, ISBN: 9781250004703 $20.62
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