Nevile Davidson, Moderator of the Church of Scotland in 1962, was a dear family friend - we called him 'Uncle Nevile' - and whenever I see this skit I think of him, and what he was like (a very dear man), and laugh like crazy.

It didn't make the list because the good ship Lollipop was an airship. Fact!

Thanks, Sean. Glad to see the MPAA is on top of this sort of thing, which I guess they can use as an excuse of being 'too busy' when the whole 'maybe we could look at overhauling/rationalising movie ratings' question comes up.

I thought you couldn't copyright a title, which is why Michael Crichton got away with calling his 1995 novel about scientists and dinosaurs in a remote southern hemisphere locale 'The Lost World' (which could in no way be confused with Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel about scientists and dinosaurs in a remote southern…

Equally as good, if not better. Guy Green's Oscar-winning cinematography is stunning; the opening scenes on the Romney marshes, and on into the cemetery where Pip first meets Magwitch, are especially brilliant. A young Alec Guinness makes his first major film appearance, as does a 16-year-old Jean Simmons (who is…

Years later to the party, as usual, but I'm finally catching up with Deadwood after hearing how great it was. I am NOT disappointed; brilliantly written, acted, shot, and directed. The three-minute, almost wordless, scene showing Bill's death and the aftermath was as good as anything I've ever seen on film. Looking…

It's exceedingly dry - has someone said that already? - but very well acted by a great cast (Richard Griffiths, Denholm Elliott, Liz Smith, Alison Steadman, Tony Haygarth, Pete Postlethwaite, and of course Palin, with Maggie Smith as his wife, both excellent). And if you like Bennett then it's hard to see how you…

And litotes. Don't forget litotes.

@avclub-cfe912f5cb3aa572bd1c9ae2a9b82207:disqus The YouTube clips are from the 1972-73 British TV series 'Arthur of the Britons':

In J.R. Ackerley's fascinating auto/biography 'My Father and Myself' he talks about how members of the Household Cavalry were, in the middle decades of the last century, rather well known amongst a certain class of men as being very available for personal encounters.

The little pause before 'Mother' is what takes this from 'really funny' to 'hilarious'.

Kind of sad, I guess, that I thought this same thing while re-watching the episode yesterday.

Yes, that's some genuinely good acting from Palin.

Re-watching these episodes in light of what I've learned since first seeing them thirty-odd years ago, I think I catch a little reference to the camp characters Julian and Sandy in the classic BBC radio series 'Round the Horne' (1965 - 67) in Cleese's Sir Vincent in 'Face the Press'. We hear him say 'Hello Sailors!…

Next cat we have is going to be called 'Dinsdale', just so I can use that voice when calling him/her. 'Dinsdale? DINSDALE!"

'Doug was born in February 1929, and Dinsdale two weeks later; and again a week after that.'

Chapman's gestures and facial expressions, as the teacher describing the (presumably terrible) things the Piranha brothers did, really sell this bit, making what we can imagine way more funny than anything they could have written.

I live in British Columbia, and Roughriders pennants/car flags outnumber Lions ones by about two to one.

I knew you were a reasonable person. Cruel, but fair.

C'mon, at least let me nail your head to the floor before you confess.