McCartney Times

Pythonesque (adj) – denoting a kind of humour that is absurd and unpredictable; zany; surreal.

The relationship between rock and roll and cinema in the 1960s and ‘70s was symbiotic. The generation who popularised rock and roll was born in and around the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and created subversive cultures that challenged social mores and the status quo. Whilst rock and roll would be the main focal point of this cultural change; fashion, art and comedy would also do their bit.

This cultural shift, led by the generation now known as “baby boomers”, was not restricted to each element of society being individually developed. It was an all-encompassing time and the different disciplines would meet and develop together, creating a new forward-thinking world. This looked markedly different to the old world, whose long winding road to oblivion had been sealed in the aftermath of the Second World War, as the conflict had peeled back the mask, revealing the darkest depths of the human psyche.

One only has to note some of the most iconic faces of this new subversive generation to realise the gravitas of the power couplings that were taking place, particularly in “The Swinging Sixties”. Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground, Vidal Sassoon and Mary Quant, and latterly, British rock and comedy. It would be easy to concentrate on the hedonistic allure of the New York scene or the literal cutting edge of Sassoon, however, the relationship between British rock bands and Monty Python is one that has had far reaching consequences on the realms of cinema and comedy. It would be unjust to not tell this story.

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Source: George Harrison’s remarkable love affair with Monty Python