Sketch O’The Week
July 30th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We continue our new “Classic Comedians” series with one of the greatest of all stand up comics, the late George Carlin! Any list of the top 10 stand up comics of all time that does not feature Carlin (and frankly in the top three) is not a legitimate list. He is constantly cited as one of the most influential comedians to ever pick up the mic. He was not only hilarious, but his humor addressed the human condition and social issues with razor sharp insight and understanding. He didn’t just make people laugh, he made them think. READ MORE
July 23rd, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We’re starting a new series for the “Sketch o’the Week”… classic comedians! We have a pretty good start already with our recent Monty Python run, and there will certainly be no shortage of fodder. This week we are going to go with The Lovely Anna‘s suggestion of one of the greatest of all female comics… Lily Tomlin! Ms. Tomlin has had a career that has spanned over 50 years, and she’s done significant things in all of those decades. She started out doing stand up and off-Broadway performing in the 60’s, became a household name in early 70’s on TV in “Martin and Rowan’s Laugh In”, and… READ MORE
July 16th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Superman Spoiler-Free Review: The short version is, I loved it. IMO it’s by far the best treatment of Superman in film since the Christopher Reeve/Richard Donner movies. Gunn really understands the Superman character, everyone was perfectly cast and did a fantastic job in their respective roles, and it was a fun ride to boot. I’m one of those people who can appreciate different takes on a character like a comic book superhero, even if they don’t match my idea of that character. That’s why I can enjoy the sixties “Batman” TV show and Christopher Nolan‘s “Dark Knight” trilogy in equal measure. The former is a… READ MORE
July 9th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I’ve run out of Pythons! Back to more random subjects, and this week I am generating absolutely no Good Vibrations at all with this sketch of a young Brian Wilson of “The Beach Boys” fame. Wilson of course, just recently passed away, leaving a truly enviable legacy in the world of popular music. READ MORE
July 3rd, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
Here’s the last of our “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” series, the lone American of the troupe Terry Gilliam! Gilliam was born right here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, so we get to claim him as “one of us”, although he and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 12 in 1952. You don’t survive twelve winters in Minnesota without it being frozen into your DNA. There is a huge MAD Magazine connection with Gilliam and his eventual work with Monty Python. Gilliam started out as an animator and strip cartoonist, and was heavily influenced by the early Harvey Kurtzman MADmagazines. Gilliam would eventually work with… READ MORE
June 25th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
THE BISHOP!! And now for something not so completely different… another in our series of sketches of the members of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus!” This week’s subject is the late, great Terry Jones. Terry was kind of an under appreciated member of the troupe in my opinion, at least in the sense that he wasn’t as much of a household name as John Cleese, Eric Idle, or Michael Palin. He did a lot more of his work behind the camera as a writer and director. He was instrumental in creating the structure of the “Flying Circus” TV show, where sketches would transition into one another… READ MORE
June 18th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We’re back with a new “Sketch o’the Week”, and another Python! A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? Or so says “Arthur Nudge” as portrayed by Eric Idle from classic Monty Python sketch “Candid Photography” (or as the rest of the world knows it, “Wink Wink Nudge Nudge.”) I had a tough time decided what character to draw Eric Idle as. He has so many that are key parts of Python lore… The “Door-to-Door Joke Salesman”? The “Dead Collector” from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”? The “Amorous Marriage Counselor?” How about “Sir Robin The Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot?” I decided on his… READ MORE
May 28th, 2025 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
We continue with our Monty Python series with the late, great Graham Chapman! Of all the Pythons, Chapman always seemed to me to be the “quiet one”. He always seemed to play the straight man in sketches, and rarely was the one to play the “over the top” crazy characters. The other Pythons often cited Chapman as the best actor of the group, which is probably one reason why he played the lead in both “The Life of Brian” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. I’m guessing he was also willing to be the straight man, while the others preferred to do the funnier,… READ MORE
