Text 255, 169 rader
Skriven 2005-04-25 16:37:40 av George Kincaid (1:379/45)
    Kommentar till text 254 av RW (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Graham Chapman's funeral speech
===========================================
From: "George Kincaid" <george.kincaid@worldnet.att.net>

I realized that. I was just commenting on how the other Pythons are keeping his
memory alive.
"RW" <AchterQuack@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a2a7601b.0504250224.59beb32a@posting.google.com...
> And they poured some tea in. But that 1998 reunion is not the thing I
> mean.
>
>
> "George Kincaid" <george.kincaid@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:<JQZae.118806$cg1.29512@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
>> Graham made an "appearance" in a cremation urn on an HBO special on
>> Python
>> Robert Klein hosted a few years ago. He was "telegraphing" a response
>> when
>> Terry Gilliam kicked his urn across the stage. A janitor came out with a
>> Dust Devil and swept him away! Classic stuff.
>> "RW" <AchterQuack@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:a2a7601b.0504231215.63dfaa13@posting.google.com...
>> > Cool, and I know a video fragment for the first half of his speech,
>> > but has anyone got the entire memorial service on tape??? Please?????
>> >
>> >
>> > "Heidi" <kill_ugly_radio@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> > news:<zrednTthPP6V2vffRVnyhQ@brightview.com>...
>> >> Just thought some people might like to see it, i thought it was VERY
>> >> john
>> >> cleese!
>> >>
>> >> Graham Chapman, co-author of the 'Parrot Sketch,' is no more.
>> >>
>> >> He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked
>> >> the
>> >> bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last,
>> >> and
>> >> gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky, and I
>> >> guess
>> >> that we're all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, such
>> >> capability and kindness, of such intelligence should now be so
>> >> suddenly
>> >> spirited away at the age of only forty-eight, before he'd achieved
>> >> many
>> >> of
>> >> the things of which he was capable, and before he'd had enough fun.
>> >>
>> >> Well, I feel that I should say, "Nonsense. Good riddance to him, the
>> >> freeloading bastard! I hope he fries. "
>> >>
>> >> And the reason I think I should say this is, he would never forgive me
>> >> if
>> >> I
>> >> didn't, if I threw away this opportunity to shock you all on his
>> >> behalf.
>> >> Anything for him but mindless good taste. I could hear him whispering
>> >> in
>> >> my
>> >> ear last night as I was writing this:
>> >>
>> >> "Alright, Cleese, you're very proud of being the first person to ever
>> >> say
>> >> 'shit' on television. If this service is really for me, just for
>> >> starters, I
>> >> want you to be the first person ever at a British memorial service to
>> >> say
>> >> 'fuck'!"
>> >>
>> >> You see, the trouble is, I can't. If he were here with me now I would
>> >> probably have the courage, because he always emboldened me. But the
>> >> truth
>> >> is, I lack his balls, his splendid defiance. And so I'll have to
>> >> content
>> >> myself instead with saying 'Betty Mardsen...'
>> >>
>> >> But bolder and less inhibited spirits than me follow today. Jones and
>> >> Idle,
>> >> Gilliam and Palin. Heaven knows what the next hour will bring in
>> >> Graham's
>> >> name. Trousers dropping, blasphemers on pogo sticks, spectacular
>> >> displays
>> >> of
>> >> high-speed farting, synchronised incest. One of the four is planning
>> >> to
>> >> stuff a dead ocelot and a 1922 Remington typewriter up his own arse to
>> >> the
>> >> sound of the second movement of Elgar's cello concerto. And that's in
>> >> the
>> >> first half.
>> >>
>> >> Because you see, Gray would have wanted it this way. Really. Anything
>> >> for
>> >> him but mindless good taste. And that's what I'll always remember
>> >> about
>> >> him---apart, of course, from his Olympian extravagance. He was the
>> >> prince
>> >> of
>> >> bad taste. He loved to shock. In fact, Gray, more than anyone I knew,
>> >> embodied and symbolised all that was most offensive and juvenile in
>> >> Monty
>> >> Python. And his delight in shocking people led him on to greater and
>> >> greater
>> >> feats. I like to think of him as the pioneering beacon that beat the
>> >> path
>> >> along which fainter spirits could follow.
>> >>
>> >> Some memories. I remember writing the undertaker speech with him, and
>> >> him
>> >> suggesting the punch line, 'All right, we'll eat her, but if you feel
>> >> bad
>> >> about it afterwards, we'll dig a grave and you can throw up into it.'
>> >> I
>> >> remember discovering in 1969, when we wrote every day at the flat
>> >> where
>> >> Connie Booth and I lived, that he'd recently discovered the game of
>> >> printing
>> >> four-letter words on neat little squares of paper, and then quietly
>> >> placing
>> >> them at strategic points around our flat, forcing Connie and me into
>> >> frantic
>> >> last minute paper chases whenever we were expecting important guests.
>> >>
>> >> I remember him at BBC parties crawling around on all fours, rubbing
>> >> himself
>> >> affectionately against the legs of gray-suited executives, and
>> >> delicately
>> >> nibbling the more appetizing female calves. Mrs. Eric Morecambe
>> >> remembers
>> >> that too.
>> >>
>> >> I remember his being invited to speak at the Oxford union, and
>> >> entering
>> >> the
>> >> chamber dressed as a carrot---a full length orange tapering costume
>> >> with
>> >> a
>> >> large, bright green sprig as a hat----and then, when his turn came to
>> >> speak,
>> >> refusing to do so. He just stood there, literally speechless, for
>> >> twenty
>> >> minutes, smiling beatifically. The only time in world history that a
>> >> totally
>> >> silent man has succeeded in inciting a riot.
>> >>
>> >> I remember Graham receiving a Sun newspaper TV award from Reggie
>> >> Maudling.
>> >> Who else! And taking the trophy falling to the ground and crawling all
>> >> the
>> >> way back to his table, screaming loudly, as loudly as he could. And if
>> >> you
>> >> remember Gray, that was very loud indeed.
>> >>
>> >> It is magnificent, isn't it? You see, the thing about shock... is not
>> >> that
>> >> it upsets some people, I think; I think that it gives others a
>> >> momentary
>> >> joy
>> >> of liberation, as we realised in that instant that the social rules
>> >> that
>> >> constrict our lives so terribly are not actually very important.
>> >>
>> >> Well, Gray can't do that for us anymore. He's gone. He is an
>> >> ex-Chapman.
>> >> All
>> >> we have of him now is our memories. But it will be some time before
>> >> they
>> >> fade.

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