The various Monty Python box sets available have made it easy to be a fan of the greatest sketch comedy troupe of all time. But if you want to impress your friends with some ultra-hip proto-Python humor, check out How to Irritate People. Featuring Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, with John Cleese at the helm, this pre-Python mockumentary about how to piss everyone off is a lost gem. Cleese writes the material here, and without the off-the-wall wackiness of the other Pythons influencing and moderating his style, his legendary rage, bitterness, and misanthropy are almost completely unfettered, only thinly filtered by sketch comedy. Watch for the Car Salesman sketch; if you’re sick and tired of people quoting the Dead Parrot sketch at you, point them in the direction of the superior original version.
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