Readers critique The Post: An unholy assessment of Monty Python
The May 4 Arts & Style essay ''Holy Grail' left more than a flesh wound' concluded that 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail,' now age 50, 'changed comedy forever.' Nope. British humor ranged from goofy to dry (think Noël Coward) for ages; 'Holy Grail' carried on a tradition of out-of-reality skit comedy started long before. Examples include 'The Benny Hill Show,' from 1955; 'The Goon Show' (radio), 1951; 'Life With the Lyons' (radio), 1950; 'Till Death Do Us Part' (the inspiration for 'All in the Family'), 1965; plus radio series that started in the 1930s. What the Pythons did, perhaps, is make that wacky approach to everyday goofiness available to world audiences.
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