Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think!: 19 (Popular Culture and Philosophy) - Softcover

This humorous guide looks at the deeper implications of Monty Python's sketches and films, which are among the best loved and most successful work in the history of comedy.

With its logical paradoxes, clever wordplay, and focus on the absurdities of life, the work of Monty Python appeals to everyone with a philosophical bent, the more bent the better. Twenty-one surprising chapters by professional philosophers and amateur Python fans celebrate the intersection of rigorous, profound TV comedy and zany, madcap metaphysics. Surprise is the chief quality of this book. Surprise, provocation, and a fanatical devotion to the enlightenment of the masses . . .

From the 1970s cult TV show, "Monty Python's Flying Circus," to the current hit musical "Spamalot, the Monty Python comedy troupe has been at the center of popular culture and entertainment. The Pythons John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam are increasingly recognized and honored for their creativity and enduring influence in the worlds of comedy and film. "Monty Python and Philosophy extends that recognition into the world of philosophy. Fifteen experts in topics like mythology, Buddhism, feminism, logic, ethics, and the philosophy of science bring their expertise to bear on Python movies such as "Monty Python's Life of Brian and Flying Circus mainstays such as the Argument Clinic, the Dead Parrot Sketch, and, of course, the Bruces, the Pythons' demented, song-filled vision of an Australian philosophy department. "Monty Python and Philosophy follows the same hit format as the other titles in this popular series and explains all the philosophical concepts discussed in laymen's terms.