And Now for Something Pythonian

Monty Python devotees--as tenacious a group of fans as any--see little wrong in the British troupe’s satiric humor. What may seem like a small step above the whoopee cushion to some invariably comes across as divine comic intervention to Pythonians.

Followers of silly walks, the Dead Parrot and the rallying cry and now for something completely different will find much to celebrate in “Monty Python and the Meaning of Life,” being shown tonight at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center as part of a Monty Python Film Series.

This 1983 movie is irreverent, outrageous, silly, stupid and often in really bad taste--just what the initiated yearn for from the boys.

But those who don’t find the Pythons so charming should beware. They can get rough, as when the world’s fattest man explodes, food and body parts dousing everybody. In another pretty scene, the live organ police remove a guy’s liver as he screams and spurts blood like a fountain.

Anyway, this frenetic little number’s main concerns are the big worries that face us on our mortal path. Monty Python, of course, has all the answers to the questions that bedevil us, including Why Are We Here and What Can We Expect When We Die.

Regarding the latter question, the gang--Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Gilliam--thinks heaven amounts to a splashy-tacky restaurant where a smarmy lounge singer croons and foxy bare-breasted angels dance around in pseudo-Santa suits. The theme song here is “It’s Christmas in Heaven” and everyone “looks smart and wears a tie.”

Monty Python’s irreverent side gets further exercise in an earlier skit featuring Palin as a blue-collar sort who comes home to watch the stork dropping another baby down his chimney. He curses and opens the front door to reveal wall-to-wall kids.

The only solution: sell them to the local lab for scientific experiments. The youngsters squeal, “Get a vasectomy instead!” And Palin begins to sing about why, as a good Roman Catholic, he can’t.

By the second refrain, a giant production number has filled the screen and everyone from pregnant mom to starchy parishioner has joined in this dancing, singing goose of pedantry and dogma.

“Monty Python and the Meaning of Life” will be shown tonight at 7:30 at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. Tickets: $3 and $4. Information: (714) 738-6595. The Center’s Python series continues Oct. 26 with “Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl.” The series is being offered as part of the Orange County Festival of Britain, a combination arts festival/retail promotion.