Not the Messiah

If you are a man of a certain age, you were probably a monty python fan.  Oddly monty python tended to skew more towards male fans than women.  I think it's because they were based mostly on a bunch of men arguing with each other.  They'd argue over the existence of cheese or whether a parrot was a alive or dead but as a group they were clearly very confrontational. 

The thing about a sketch show is that you can trim the fat and go right to the meat.  No need to ease in and out of the good bits, just cut to the pet shop and start in on norwegian blues pining for the fjords.  This format translated to most of their films.  "The Meaning of Life," for example didn't have a plot but rather an over arching theme that the sketches could (sometimes vaguely) latch onto.  "The Life of Brian," was a very different affair.  It would wander a bit like a smart lad with ADD, but mostly it was the coherent story of how one jewish lad was mistaken for the Messiah and what happened to the poor bugger.

Well, it's been a while.  Quite a while.  People have grown older, and some have passed on.  Luckily, before the last members became ex parrots they started getting back together and doing things.  "Not the Messiah," is one of those things.  It is a live taping from Albert Hall of a musical rendition of "Life of Brian."  Eric Idol leads the show and is ably helped by some old members and fresh young voices.  The comedy is nowhere near as sharp as the movie, but the music is stirring and the crowd adds a lot of excitement and energy.  If you are a Python fan and want to see how the old boys are getting along, then please do give it a look.