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.
Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.
People think I'm a very serious actor, which I am. But you know, if you don't have a sense of humor doing what I do, you perish.
Now don't say you can't swear off drinking; it's easy. I've done it a thousand times.
I wouldnβt mind going to jail if I had three cellmates who played bridge
Mom claimed that I could carry a tune at 2 or 3 years of age. Maybe she was a little prejudiced.
No, my friend, I am not drunk. I have just been to the dentist, and need not return for another six months! Is it not the most beautiful thought? --Poirot
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