Graham Chapman’s eulogy is almost inappropriately funny.
“I came back for my own purposes,” said the Time Traveler, looking around my booklined study. “I chose you to talk to because it was . . . convenient. And I don’t want you to do a goddamned thing. There’s nothing you can do. But relax . . . we’re not going to be talking about personal things. Such as, say, the year, day, and hour of your death. I don’t even know that sort of trivial information, although I could look it up quickly enough. You can release that white-knuckled grip you have on the edge of your desk.” I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said. “The Century War,” said the Time Traveler. I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .” “I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he ...
Thanks for putting that up... it's wonderful. I was just reading Eric Idle's tour journal "Fat Bastard" and he talks about how kind Chapman was. I hadn't known that he was a doctor first.
ReplyDeleteIdle also tells the story of how the Pythons would amuse themselves by speculating on who they would cannibalize first, if they were stranded at sea in a life raft. General consensus: Cleese. Because he was the biggest and meatiest.
I might be able to eat Cleese. Idle seems like his meat would be kind of stringy.
ReplyDeleteGilliam looks well-marbled, but I don't know if I could handle the dreams.
ReplyDeleteEat his heart!
ReplyDeleteCapture his power!
(Man, I wish they'd show that ritual on Pokémon.)