Cinematical and Canada.com report that Eric Idle is furious at the makers of Shrek the Third because they "stole" the coconut- clapping gag from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). But, um, wasn't Monty Python just referencing the fact that that was how Foley artists had been making hoofbeat sounds for years? And does not the relevant scene in Shrek the Third show people using other bits of old-fashioned Hollywood craft -- such as the moving scenery backdrop? Please tell me Idle's only joking.
MAY 28 UPDATE: It turns out the Globe and Mail ran an interview with Idle ten days ago, in which the reporter mentioned that Idle plays Merlin in Shrek the Third, and Idle interrupted: "I don't want to talk about that, for domestic and legal reasons." More dry humour? Or is Idle really serious about suing them? I can't tell.
yea, i think this is pretty "unshocking" who knows though, it's Idle.
ReplyDeleteI am tempted to say that it has been so long since Eric Idle was funny that it is hard to tell when he actually wants to be funny. But that would be snarky.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on how close they copied his skit. I know of which he speaks. It is a special feature on the dvd of The Holy Grail.
ReplyDeleteIf they copied it 70 to 90 percent, he's got a valid gripe.
I haven't seen Shrek, so I don't know. But, I would be interested to see it now.
-dayle
My last post was incomplete. I accidently deleted a paragraph, sorry.
ReplyDeleteHere it is:
But if they just did what the article says, then it is very short and the joke becomes an homage. Animated films do this often- they parody icons: That's why it's funny, because it's familiar. But maybe if they would have put Eric in as an animated character and let him do it, then proper reference credit would have been given.
-dayle
isn't having john cleese in the movie like flippin' close enough?
ReplyDeleteThe clapping of coconuts to imitate the clopping of horse hooves is a long-standing stage trick that was instantly picked up by radio in the 1920's and then film in the 1930's. It wasn't made immortal until the Holy Grail came out in the 1970's. But the Pythons had in no way "invented" coconut clapping. Merely agrandized it. So there was nothing to steal.
ReplyDeleteIdle either needs to educate himself on film history, or else he needs to realize that sometimes a joke told too dryly can make you look stupid. Or ....... he needs to stop trying for far-reaching publicity stunts and lame attempts at headlines.
Whichever one of the above three is his problem, he came across looking like an idiot no matter what.
To Jasdye:
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Cleese approved.
What a twit. I hope Idle reads this because he was just made an utter dick of himself.
ReplyDeleteI only found that part funny because of the fact I KNOW it's from the Holy Grail, and come on, it's not the funniest thing in the world anyway.
Obviously Idle hasn't realised that Shrek takes from everything - Grimm Brothers, brand names, other jokes.
I hope this is just a bad joke of Idle's. Somehow I don't think so.
I would just like to point out that the coconut gag that Idle is so angry about was itself stolen from the old British radio show 'The Goon Show'.
ReplyDeleteThis is a show that the Pythons themselves admit was an influence on their own humor. The forementioned coconut gag was originally performed around 20 years before Monty Python in a Goon Show episode entitled 'The Lost Year' (1955), the script goes:
FX:
Coconut shells advancing, getting louder.
SEAGOON:
Wait. Listen. Look. Here comes a man riding a pair of coconut shells.
FX:
Coconut shells slowing down.
MORIARTY:
Woah, woah back.
FX:
Coconut shells to a stop.
Although slightly different in format, it still gets the same gag from the fact that the horse is actually just coconut shells.
PYTHON STOLE THE COCONUT GAG IN THE FIRST PLACE!
The end.