An Open Letter To My Fellow Role Players

     Friends, the time has come for all of us to face a problem that has plagued our sessions for far too long (at least since about 1975). It is something you have no doubt experienced on countless occasions. You may have even engaged in this behavior (sad to say, but I have as well).
     I am of course talking about the non-stop quoting of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. No doubt your mind is instantly assailed with images of armor clad men, coconuts, oppressed peasants, and big sharp pointy teeth… but please, focus on the article for a few moments more. As a GM, it pains me to see my players completely ignoring my detailed description of a castle’s botanical garden, only to ask me suddenly how many shrubberies there are. I weep inwardly every time my 4th level bard goes to inspire his party-mates, only to be told (in a vaguely Scottish accent) that there will be no singing.
     One major problem is that once it’s started, it’s almost impossible to stop. One mention of a European Swallow elicits a comment about it being “only a model” at which the entire group will invariably break into song. But for as much time as it has wasted over the years, there is one far more egregious offence committed by constant quoting of Holy Grail:
     ITS NOT FUNNY ANYMORE
     Sadly, the jokes have become overused. This is not to say that the jokes were never funny, because indeed they were. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of the finest comedies of the 20th century. However, when people co-opt the lines Ad Nauseum because people are too lazy to come up with their own jokes, they lose their effectiveness. Part of humor lies in the unexpected (it holds that in common with fear), the best jokes are one’s you don’t see coming, or ones you haven’t heard over and over again.
     Keep in mind, however, I am not sitting here on some ivory tower ridiculing the plebs beneath me. This is something I have done myself (most notoriously, the witch trial), and I do not bring this forward without a proposed solution. My fellow Role Players, the time has come for us to stop quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail
     …and start quoting Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
     Join with me! Cast off your taunting Frenchmen impression and embrace Biggus Dickus. Call out “Ni” no longer, but instead declare that the halibut is good enough for Jehovah. Answer not these questions three, instead… consider the lily.
     So, go fourth and enjoy! Now you have a whole new movie to ruin due to overexposure! Come back in a few years and we can do Meaning of Life. Won’t that be fun?