You can start any 'Monty Python' routine and people finish it for you. Everyone knows it like shorthand.
Interpretation
The quote highlights how iconic Monty Python routines are deeply ingrained in popular culture, allowing people to complete them effortlessly.
Robin Williams points out that Monty Python's routines have achieved a cultural significance where they are so well-known that audiences can join in and complete the lines spontaneously. This shared familiarity reflects how comedy can create a unique bond among people, serving as a form of cultural shorthand that transcends individual experiences.
In practice
During a comedy workshop, someone might quote Robin Williams to illustrate how jokes can bond people.
It's that idea that you can have one drink - and no you can't. Within a week I was drinking heavily. It was so quick that even I was like, 'Wow.' Because you have that initial warm feeling going, 'Oh, I remember this'. And your body does, too. And your body goes, 'Yeah, so do I'. Then the demon voice comes, 'Yeah, so do I. You know what would be great? You know we bought a little bottle before? A full bottle would be wonderful'.
I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.
Sometimes over things that I did, movies that didn't turn out very well - you go, 'Why did you do that?' But in the end, I can't regret them because I met amazing people. There was always something that was worth it.
I've never been asked to appear on 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!,' so I guess I mustn't be on the professional skids just yet.
The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying, 'Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and yelling, 'You want a piece of me?'
I write on big yellow legal pads - ideas in outline form when I'm doing stand-up and stuff. It's vivid that way. I can't type it into an iPad - I think that would put a filter into the process.
Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments.
If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again.
That evening I rode downtown on an unaccountably empty bus, sitting in the last row. At the front I saw a thin cloud of smoke rising around the driverβs head. βHey, bus driver,β I said. βCan I smoke?β βMay I,β said the bus driver. βI love you,β I said.
What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.
A prig is a fellow who is always making you a present of his opinions.
Someone called all the newspapers in New York and told them I'd died. I've been told by almost everyone it was an ex-wife - I've had a few so it's hard to pinpoint which one - but who knows for sure?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.