Eric Idle Not Happy About 'Shrek 3' Coconut Joke

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

*searches for a comfy chair*

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It does seem awfully odd that they would show up to do voice over work and nobody would even bother to tell them. Kinda like hanging out with an old buddy for a few hours, and then finding out three weeks later that he's dating your girlfriend from like 8 years ago. Yeah, it was a long time ago, so no hard feelings, but you could've f'ing mentioned something when were knocking back beers a little while ago.

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NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition, so you can be excused. I noticed the coconut gag and assumed since Eric and John were in the movie it was no big deal. Even if they didn't know, the use of coconuts to make hoofbeat sounds works so well, I'd expect to find out that foley artists have been using them for years, long before MP and the HG. However, I will gladly help Eric sue their asses if Dreamworks took delivery of said coconuts via swallow, African or European.

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It's still theft. If your boss pays you your regular salary and then takes some money out of your 401k or "borrowed" your car for a 1,000 mile family trip without recompense, that's not so different. I don't know why people don't see intellectual property the same as any other thing you own and worked your ass off to own.

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"It's still theft. If your boss pays you your regular salary and then takes some money out of your 401k or "borrowed" your car for a 1,000 mile family trip without recompense, that's not so different. I don't know why people don't see intellectual property the same as any other thing you own and worked your ass off to own."

Yeah, because embezzling money from someone's 401k or stealing somebody's car is JUST LIKE imitating a gag or joke you saw on tv or in the movies years ago -- total moral equivalency.

Intellectual property is something that rich people and corporations care very much about which has almost no effect on regular working-class people.

Eric Idle should stop bitching and be flattered that there are people who remember when he used to be funny and have paid homage to him. Wanker.


Copyright © 2007 Ogami Itto All rights reserved

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Easy paycheck? Why would Idle need a paycheck at all?

As for stealing--is anyone surprised that the post-modern mess that is the Shrek franchise would steal a gag from one of the most classic comedies of all time? I'm not.

Come on, guys--you can't parody comedies.

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Our chief weapon is surprise! Surprise and fear! Fear and surprise... oh well carry on with your comments the lot of you!

I think what Eric Idle is pissed about is the same thing that the filmmakers who watch Epic and Date and Scary Movie are scared about - it's slap-in-the-face-crap! parody. Shrek was funny, somewhat, but it has been dragged out and has turned in to Airplane 3: The One They Never Made! The jokes and parodies are stale and when a guy who their paying homage to sees that, well he gets pissed(angry, not drunk).

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"Kinda like hanging out with an old buddy for a few hours, and then finding out three weeks later that he's dating your girlfriend from like 8 years ago. Yeah, it was a long time ago, so no hard feelings, but you could've f'ing mentioned something when were knocking back beers a little while ago."

So you knew? I didn't realize you knew! Oh! Well this makes things awkward.

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I kept looking for the "let's pretend to take Eric seriously as he pretends to take offense" but... you guys are actually serious, aren't you?

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Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.

Come see the violence inherent in the system.

Help! Help! I'm being repressed!

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Like the joke was that funny to begin with. I never understood the sacredness of Monty Python--sure, they're funny in a light-chuckle kind of way, and yes, they have their place in comedy history, but there's no reason their jokes should be untouchable. I mean, the Three Stooges are a part of comedy history too, but no one throws a fit any time they're referenced. The saddest part is that Eric Idle believes his own work is sacred. Nothing about Monty Python--or any comedy group--should be taken that seriously.

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Maybe Idle should sue Eddie Izzard too...
Wait, Eddie is considered a 'Python' too.

Get over it, Idle.
SPAM-A-LOT made you Millions!

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So when he says "...so we'll be able to sue their asses." Does he mean that Donkey is directly responsible?

But really...
He should be happy, this will probably drum up more sales for "Holy Grail" videos...and when they release the aniversary addition, they can steal the shot from Shrek the Third!

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Films have ALWAYS taken from other films. One example is that the animated movie Cars is almost the exact same movie as Doc Hollywood. So please. One little thing like a coconut joke? Really? Get over yourselves. If anything it'll make people watch the MP again.

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It felt more like an homage to me. Then again, there wasn't much of anything in "Shrek the Third" that felt too original.

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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'.

This 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), it 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. IDLE IS A HYPOCTRITE!

The end.

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