@avclub-a6c2f1d0e96d6d65d15d1d54eb0953c4:disqus Idle was known as a good one-liner writer (he wrote a lot of the monologue jokes on The Frost Report), but his specialty when he got to Python was the strictly verbal sketches, the ones heavy on the wordplay (like The Man Who Talks in Anagrams), the bits that…

On the contrary.  The space-time continuum's been asking for it, going out dressed like that.

On the contrary.  The space-time continuum's been asking for it, going out dressed like that.

Gosh, thanks, guys, really.

Gosh, thanks, guys, really.

@avclub-cfe912f5cb3aa572bd1c9ae2a9b82207:disqus , I sometimes get the feeling that if the two of us were ever in the same room together, our combined force-fields of comedy geekitude would rip a hole in the space-time continuum.

@avclub-cfe912f5cb3aa572bd1c9ae2a9b82207:disqus , I sometimes get the feeling that if the two of us were ever in the same room together, our combined force-fields of comedy geekitude would rip a hole in the space-time continuum.

He did do that, but the BBC ultimately left the tapes alone when the show was sold to America, which apparently conferred legitimacy upon it.

He did do that, but the BBC ultimately left the tapes alone when the show was sold to America, which apparently conferred legitimacy upon it.

@avclub-d7f43e1fb2d4977c86163d9b0cb07814:disqus All four of the 1948 Show cast co-wrote "Four Yorkshiremen" - Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor and Feldman*, and possibly also Barry Cryer, who was the waiter in the original sketch and has also had a ridiculous career as a comedy writer (check out the first paragraph of…

@avclub-d7f43e1fb2d4977c86163d9b0cb07814:disqus All four of the 1948 Show cast co-wrote "Four Yorkshiremen" - Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor and Feldman*, and possibly also Barry Cryer, who was the waiter in the original sketch and has also had a ridiculous career as a comedy writer (check out the first paragraph of…

(Removed and placed closer to where the actual conversation in question is going on)

(Removed and placed closer to where the actual conversation in question is going on)

Idle was so good at that sort of thing, wasn't he?  His endless monologue in the "Travel Agent" sketch always impressed me (particularly on stage, when he wrote an additional three or four pages of rant and delivered that with perfect precision as well).

Idle was so good at that sort of thing, wasn't he?  His endless monologue in the "Travel Agent" sketch always impressed me (particularly on stage, when he wrote an additional three or four pages of rant and delivered that with perfect precision as well).

Okay, cards on the table, people: name your Favorite Python Sketch Of All Time.  (And if you can't narrow it down that far, try a Top Five.)

Okay, cards on the table, people: name your Favorite Python Sketch Of All Time.  (And if you can't narrow it down that far, try a Top Five.)

It may well be.  I know several people who don't care for Python who still find that sketch hilarious.

It may well be.  I know several people who don't care for Python who still find that sketch hilarious.

Palin & Cleese also wrote the Dino & Luigi Vercotti sketch ("You've got a nice Army base here, Colonel…") from earlier in the season. Cleese & Idle's other major collaboration was the "Eric the Half a Bee" song, which never appeared on the show but bowed on Monty Python's Previous Record. Cleese often spoke of how he…