> Is there anything even remotely comparable in quality to Monty Python right now?
I suspect that, like most things that we now recognise as classics, much of Monty Python wasn't recognized at the time as a classic. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grai... suggests that, while reception was generally positive, there wasn't the sense we'd now expect of a great treasure having just been unearthed.
All of which is to say that, whatever is comparable right now, we probably think of it as so-so, and will have to await retrospective critical appreciation to find out what we should have been treasuring.
>much of Monty Python wasn't recognized at the time as a classic
Monty Python was a huge success in its day - which is why it spawed multiple seasons, movies, comedy albums, books, and of course multiple careers (for all involved, even the mere non-speaking ...cartoonist), and even live shows. And that's just in the 70s and early 80s.
Its funs where younger demographics. Mainstream reviewers of the time were notoriously out of touch. Hardly anybody more square than Ebert (at least he did gave it 3/4).
There are lots of examples of comedy comparable to Monty Python over the years, but with so many media outlets you kind of have to seek it out or stumble across it. Here are a few random ones that immediately spring to mind:
Green Wing [1], Channel 4 television series (UK)
Aunty Donna, Australian comedy troupe that has a lot of surrealist humour. A good introduction is this sketch [2] and their Netflix show "Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun".
The Frantics, a Canadian sketch comedy troupe. They are most known for their sketch "Boot to the Head", but their CBC radio series which ran from 1981-84 was (to me) very reminiscent of Python.
I'd imagine fans of The Mighty Boosh and Python intersect quite a bit.
The Mischief Theatre Company - the ones behind the "Goes Wrong" theatre shows, e.g. "The Play That Goes Wrong", the "The Goes Wrong Show" on BBC, etc.
Bleak Expectations by Mark Evans, BBC Radio 4 pastiche on Dickens (2007-2012) - one of my favourite pieces of comedy in any medium. Here's the first episode [3] on YouTube.
I've seen a lot of live comedy that reminded me of Python at places like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Stand-up has been hegemonic lately, because it lends itself well to podcasts/streaming/short-form, but Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor) is a new thing that I think does a good job with alternative formats (sketch, improv, game show)
The best stuff I’ve seen lately has all been in person unrecorded. The room gets slap happy over anything and so there are no filters unlike stuff packaged for streaming
And possibly Australia, based on the precedent set by Eurovision.
EDIT:
> Taking second place is the majestic Portuguese Moreton Bay Fig.
> This tree was planted in the 19th Century in Coimbra's romantic Quinta das Lágrimas Gardens from seeds exchanged with Sydney's Botanical Garden and is a treasured landmark.
I do this for all services now, it requires more active management on my part, but the mindful spending is worth it - both for the wallet and as a market signal. I used it most recently for Claude which has had scaling issues, diminished quality, defaults to concise responses.
Not invariably. Some of those people are the ones who want to draw 7 red lines all perpendicular, some with green ink, some with transparent and one that looks like a kitten.
No, people who say "it's bullshit" and then do something to fix the bullshit are the ones that push technology forward. Most people who say "it's bullshit" instantly when something isn't perfect for exactly what they want right now are just whingers and will never contribute anything except unconstructive criticism.
Same, on every release from openai, anthropic I keep reading how the new model is so much better (insert hyperbole here) than the previous one yet when using it I feel like they are mostly the same as last year.
If I was in a market for minimalistic espresso machine I'd just get a manual espresso machine, something like the cafelat robot [1].
No plastic, standard professional 58mm group head (compared to the 51mm here), pressure gauge, no need for any hot water tubes, no electronics
Manual espresso machines are great and you would not be disappointed buying one! The main advantage of one with a pump is how much more repeatable the entire workflow is in terms of preheating and maintaining pressure - you don't need to repeatedly pour and purge water from it, and the pump will output exactly the same pressure every time.
In case you have 26 minutes to kill, here is an interesting video on the subject of group head diameters.
qntm recently wrote that he will do a "remastered" version 2 of the book next year v1 will remain freely accessible as it is now). Can't wait to reread it :)
