Line #32 Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Monty_Python_meaning_of_life_158.jpg]]
2
3	->''Why are we here?''\
4	''What's life all about?''\
5	''Is God really real?''\
6	''Or is there some doubt?''\
7	''Well tonight-''\
8	''We're going-''\
9	''to sort it all out,''\
10	''For tonight it's the Meaning of Life!''
11
12	''Creator/MontyPython's The Meaning of Life'' arrived in 1983 as the last hurrah of the complete six-man troupe, directed by Creator/TerryJones. For the rest of the 1980’s, the Pythons grew apart, but it wasn’t until the death of Creator/GrahamChapman in 1989 that they officially went their separate ways. The film marked the troupe's return to sketch-based comedy after two films that followed a linear plot. The film's sketches are loosely connected and arranged by the stages of human life.
13
14	The movie opens with the unrelated[[note]](or so it seems)[[/note]] Creator/TerryGilliam-directed short film ''The Crimson Permanent Assurance'', the tale of accountant pirates who take on Wall Street. From there, we move on to the film proper, a series of sketches purporting to examine the Meaning of Life, arranged from "The Miracle of Birth" to "Death". But even this structure allows for stops examining "The Third World" and "Live Organ Transplants".
15
16	This is notable as ''by far'' the grossest Python film, via such highlights as the aforementioned "Live Organ Transplants" sketch and the restaurant scene featuring the projectile-vomiting Mr. Creosote, which is notably the only movie scene that has ever disgusted Creator/QuentinTarantino. That didn't stop it from receiving the Grand Prize of the Jury award at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, however.
17
18	----
19	!!''The Meaning of Life'', Part 1 - The Miracle of Tropes...
20
21	* AllMenArePerverts: The first sketch in the "Death" segment suggests that if men were allowed to choose how they could die, being chased by bare-breasted women is apparently the way to go.
22	** Subverted in that while the initial impression is that he is to [[spoiler:die while having lots of sex]], in fact his fate is to [[spoiler:dive off a cliff into his own open grave]].
23	* AnimalDisguise: The two men dressed as a tiger in the jungle. ''Why'' they are dressed as a tiger is never made clear.
24	* AnimatedCreditsOpening: By Creator/TerryGilliam, of course.
25	* AntiClimax: Intentional, as [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Queen Elizabeth II]] is handed an envelope with the answer to TheMeaningOfLife and reads in a bored voice: "Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."
26	* ArmourPiercingQuestion: When Death is telling a group of people they're dead, one of the Americans says ''"How can we all have died at the same time?"''. There's a long, silent beat as Death is seemingly stumped, until he dramatically points to a salmon mousse. Then the same American reveals that she didn't even eat the mousse right after her spirit is separated from her body.
27	* ArtisticLicenceSpace: Paul Kohlmiller [[https://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0312/b.html pointed out some of the minor errors]] in "The Galaxy Song", which was nearly accurate. As for the last two lines of the song?
28	-->''And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,''\
29	Hence my membership in Team SETI.\
30	'''Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.''\
31	An unassailable truth.
32	* AudienceParticipation: We are invited to "Find the Fish" at The Middle of the Film.
33	* BackForTheFinale: The "Christmas in Heaven" song, except for Mr. Creosote. Either he somehow didn't die, or even Heaven doesn't want him vomiting all over the place.
34	* BlatantLies: ''Oddly enough'', the two men dressed as a tiger have difficulty convincing anyone of their various stories about a) why they're dressed as a tiger and b) why they definitely ''didn't'' steal an officer's leg and run away with it.
35	-->'''Major:''' Right. Search the thicket.\
36	'''Man Dressed as the Front of a Tiger ([[MisplacedWildlife in Africa]])''': Oh, come on! I mean, do we look like [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial the sort of chaps who'd creep into a camp at night, steal into someone's tent, anaesthetise them, tissue-type them, amputate a leg and run away with it]]?\
37	'''Major:''' ... '''''Search the thicket'''''.
38	* BloodyHilarious: "Live Organ Transplants". The entire segment is just a man having his liver hacked out of his body while he's alive and thrashing about, plus a musical number.
39	* BoltOfDivineRetribution:
40	-->'''Sergeant Major:''' Don't stand there gawpin'! Like you've never seen the hand of God before!
41	* BookEnds: Not in the movie itself, but for Creator/MontyPython as a whole in hindsight -- what turned out to be the troupe's final film (as well as pretty much the final time they all worked together) ends with a TV set playing the original credits for ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
42	* BrickJoke:
43	** The movie opens with the "Meaning of Life" song, wherein the singer goes through all the big questions about the meaning of life that humanity tends to torture itself with, rather grandiosely boasting that "tonight, for a change, it will all be made clear!" Then, after all the surreality wherein these central questions are loosely touched on at best, the movie ends with a short scene wherein the Meaning of Life is, in fact, revealed -- and it turns out to be nothing that special.
44	** The "Crimson Permanent Assurance" short invades the main film.
45	** The hotel in the "Middle Age" chapter is revealed, in "Death", to be heaven. The American couple in the earlier segment have apparently managed to forget that they are dead.
46	** Before John Cleese the Headmaster gives a lesson on sex education, he begins with a LongList (see below) of instructions to the pupils about putting their clothes on a lower peg. During the review of the previous lesson he asks them to describe foreplay:
47	---> '''Pupil''': Was it taking your clothes off, sir?\
48	'''Headmaster''': And after that?\
49	'''Pupil''': Oh! Putting them on a lower peg, sir?\
50	(Headmaster throws a blackboard duster at him)
51	* BritishStuffiness: A huge target throughout the film, with the teacher's utterly emotionless and mundane demonstration of sex technique to his students, the soldier treating his leg being bitten off as a minor annoyance, and the dinner party host pronouncing herself "most dreadfully embarrassed" that her salmon mousse proved to be fatal.
52	* BusinessOfGenericImportance: {{Parodied}} in the short film ''The Crimson Permanent Assurance'', the Permanent Assurance Company is a small London firm that provides vaguely-defined financial services. The company has recently been bought by the Very Big Corporation of America, but the clerks hit a RageBreakingPoint when one is sacked and mount a revolt, overthrowing their corporate overlords and turning pirate.
53	* CallingYourNausea: From Mr. Creosote, who graphically follows up after calling his shot.
54	-->'''Maitre D':''' Ah, good afternoon, sir! And how are we today?\
55	'''Creosote:''' Better ...\
56	'''Maitre D':''' Better?\
57	'''Creosote:''' Better get a bucket for my throw-up.
58	* ChocolateBaby: Blink and you'll miss it, but one of the "Every Sperm is Sacred" children is very definitely Asian.
59	* CircularDrive: In the long line of children walking out of the house after "Every Sperm is Sacred", the same children appear more than once.
60	* CoitusUninterruptus: The sex ed teacher manages to keep fucking his wife (played by Creator/PatriciaQuinn of [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow Rocky Horror]] fame) even though he's bored and constantly narrating his actions to his students and reacting to them.
61	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment:
62	** One skit has a man executed by being chased through Dover and off a cliff by naked women (well, boxing helmets, thongs, kneesocks and cleats). It's mentioned that he was allowed to choose the method of his execution.
63	** As a punishment for laughing in class, the headmaster condemns a small boy to play in a rugby match of pupils against the masters. An OminousPipeOrgan plays Bach's Toccata in D minor during this match.
64	* CorporateWarfare: ''The Crimson Permanent Assurance'', where a group of elderly clerks dress up as pirates and convert their office building into a pirate ship to take on Wall Street.
65	* CowTools: The "machine that goes 'Ping.'" It supposedly tells whether the baby, during labour, is still alive, albeit without being connected to the mother. The hospital administrator and staff are very proud of it.
66	* CrowdSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk Every Sperm Is Sacred]]".
67	* CurtainCall: In the "Christmas in Heaven" scene, most (if not all) of the characters we've seen in the film appear in the Heaven nightclub.
68	* DarkerAndEdgier: Though the film is still very much a comedy, it focuses a good deal more on attempting to make its viewers uncomfortable than any of the Pythons' previous work did.
69	* DeathByIrony: Enforced. Arthur Jarrett, a man who apparently made a film so sexist it necessitated the death penalty dies by falling to his death after being chased by a bevy of near-naked women.
70	** In his directors' commentary Terry Jones gleefully points out the actual irony of Jarrett being played by Graham Chapman, who was openly gay.
71	* DisneyVillainDeath: In ''The Crimson Permanent Assurance'', two of the American executives kill themselves this way.
72	* DisproportionateRetribution: Played for laughs. A man is sentenced to death for the awful crime of...making sexist jokes.
73	* DrillSergeantNasty: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] with the sergeant major who ''talks'' (or, rather, [[NoIndoorVoice yells]]) like one, but proves remarkably lax about discipline.
74	* DumbassHasAPoint: The aforementioned Tiger-suit scene.
75	-->'''Major:''' We're just asking you if you got this man's leg.\
76	'''Man Dressed as the Front of a Tiger:''' ...A wooden leg?\
77	'''Major:''' No, no, a ''proper'' leg! Look, he was fast asleep, and someone, or something came in and removed it!\
78	'''Man Dressed as the Front of a Tiger:''' ...Without waking him up!?\
79	'''Major:''' ...Yes.\
80	'''Man Dressed as the Front of a Tiger:''' I don't believe you!
81	* EducationalSong: "The Galaxy Song" is surprisingly educational for a Monty Python film (although the science is [[ScienceMarchesOn a bit outdated]]; at the time the film was made the numbers used were considered [[http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0312/b.html fairly accurate]]).
82	** Notably, DUE to the fact the science IS outdated, The Galaxy Song is being constantly revised to try to keep to the tune while ALSO updating some of the more incorrect pieces of information, meaning that a version broadcast on a sketch show by [[Series/RutlandWeekendTelevision their successor]] is several times more accurate than the original Python version!
83	* ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask: The sex ed teacher not only instructs his class in a bored tone while screwing his wife in front of them, but has a mundane discussion about household chores to his wife as well.
84	* ExcusePlot: Why is the film about The Meaning Of Life? Because it was the broadest subject the Python's could come up with that would allow them to go back to random sketches.
85	* FakeBoobs: In the "Christmas in Heaven" number, all of the apparently-topless dancing girls are wearing fake plastic breasts. The plan was originally to have them be topless, but it was decided that plastic breasts would be [[BoobBasedGag a lot funnier]]. It was also out of necessity, as not all of the actresses had the same-sized breasts.
86	* FakePeriodExcuse: A diner, faced with the appalling prospect of having Mr. Creosote at the next table, uses the excuse of suddenly realizing she's having a ''really'' heavy period and consequently not wishing to bleed all over the carpet, as her excuse to get the hell out of the place quickly. Her husband looks noticeably uncomfortable hearing this, coming up with the much more plausible excuse that they have to catch the next train.
87	* FanserviceExtra: The thirty-odd topless women running in slo-mo, bouncing, sweating, which was the condemned man's LastRequest [[spoiler: and execution method - death by being chased by them off the edge of a tall cliff right into a preprepared grave]]. It's meta when you learn that [[spoiler: the crime he has been convicted of is "first-degree making of sexist jokes in a moving picture"]] and played by ''Creator/GrahamChapman.''
88	* FatBastard: Mr. Creosote (Creator/TerryJones), the rude, morbidly obese and incredibly messy restaurant patron.
89	* FluffyCloudHeaven: PlayedForLaughs, of course. Heaven is a garish Vegas-style resort, complete with an elaborate floor show emceed by a smarmy [[LoungeLizard lounge singer]]. Also, it's ChristmasEveryDay.
90	* FunWithAcronyms: The renegade accountants name their ship the '''C'''rimson '''P'''ermanent '''A'''ssurance.
91	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: After "Every Sperm is Sacred" is sung, and a Protestant snarks at Catholics being unable to use contraception, in the background a long, unending line of children keep marching from the Catholic home.
92	* FunnyForeigner:
93	** [[FakeAmerican American]]: [[EagleLand The exaggeratedly]] broad-accented couple eating dinner and their waiter in the "The Middle Age" sketch, the business executives discussing the meaning of life. Also, Howard Katzenberg, the loud, brash, pop-psychology-obsessed dinner party guest in the "Grim Reaper" sequence:
94	--->'''Grim Reaper:''' [I have come to] take you away. That is my purpose. I am Death.\
95	'''Host:''' Well, that's cast rather a gloom over the whole evening, hasn't it?\
96	'''[[Creator/TerryGilliam Howard]]:''' I don't see it that way, Geoff. Let me tell you what I think we're dealing with here: a potentially positive learning experience to get an--\
97	'''Grim Reaper:''' Shut up! Shut up, you American. [[LampshadeHanging You always talk, you Americans.]] You talk and you talk and say "let me tell you something" and "I just wanna say this". Well, you're dead now, so shut up!
98	** French: The comically-accented maître d' and waiter in the "Mr. Creosote" sketch and its aftermath.
99	--->'''Maître d':''' Anozzer bucket for monsieur... ''(Creosote vomits on his leg)'' and perhaps -- a khhhhose.
100	* GrandFinale: The third and final movie of the Python trilogy (not counting And Now For Something Completely Different as it was simply a [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Flying Circus]] sketch compilation), as well as the last major Python project featuring all six members.
101	* GratuitousFrench: The opening song is peppered with French phrases and sung in an [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail outrrrrageous]] accent.
102	--> Well, ça c'est le Meaning of Life!
103	* GreekChorus: The fish in the tank.
104	* TheGrimReaper: Appears near the end taking the lives away from some American and British guests.
105	* GrossOutShow: Mr. Creosote barfing and exploding his intestines out. A woman leaving the restaurant with the excuse that she has her period and doesn't want to be "bleeding all over the place". Creator/TerryJones playing a mother with many children, giving birth to one while standing in the kitchen. A man being given a live organ transplant, with all the gory body parts being cut out.
106	* TheHandIsGod: PlayedForLaughs. A British Army officer is opining about how "we'll always need a military, and may God strike me dead if it's ever otherwise." Cue BoltOfDivineRetribution doing just that, and a giant hand withdrawing into a cloudbank afterwards. Which is immediately followed by a [[DrillSergeantNasty sergeant major lambasting his troops]], "Don't stand there gawping, like you've never seen the hand of God before!"
107	* TheHedonist: Mr. Creosote's gluttony isn't just limited to food. Despite his upset stomach, he orders six bottles of wine, a double jeroboam of champagne (6 liters total), and six crates of brown ale.
108	* HighClassGlass: Livingstone (Creator/GrahamChapman), the military surgeon, uses a monocle in the Anglo-Zulu War sketch.
109	* HostileShowTakeover: The Crimson Permanent Assurance attempts to do this towards the end of the "Live Organ Transplants" chapter.
110	* HowWouldYouLikeToDie: A condemned criminal chooses to be chased off a cliff by a crowd of topless, helmeted women. Conveniently, he falls right into his coffin at the funeral already in progress.
111	* HumansAreMorons: As if the last line of "The Galaxy Song" doesn't make it clear enough:
112	-->"Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'cause there's [[StockBritishPhrases bugger all]] down here on Earth."[[note]][[http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0312/b.html An unassailable truth.]][[/note]]
113	* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: The [[Creator/NoelCoward Cowardesque]] "Penis Song".
114	* HurricaneOfExcuses: The two men dressed as a tiger trying to explain the reason behind their disguise. They are variously: undercover spies; actors starring in a commercial; performing an annual tradition started by Eric Idle's aunt; doing it for a bet; doing it because God told them to; and escapees from a mental asylum, who "fashioned this costume out of old cereal packets".
115	* HypocriticalHumour:
116	** Graham Chapman's character is executed by being chased off a cliff by a group of topless women. His crime? "First degree making of sexist jokes in a moving picture."
117	** Roman Catholics believe that "Every sperm is sacred", but see nothing wrong with selling their children to science.
118	** And the Protestants celebrate their access to contraception but are trapped in a SexlessMarriage anyway.
119	* InsaneTrollLogic: When the Liver Harvesters show up and demand that Mr. Brown hand over his liver, he protests that, not only is he still using said liver, he only agreed to donate it "in the event of death." The Harvesters reply that they can absolutely take a living man's liver on the grounds that no one has yet managed to survive having their liver removed by them, so therefore they haven't broken the "in the event of death" rule.
120	* JabbaTableManners: Mr. Creosote, who eats a grotesque amount of food. Just one bite more makes him actually ''explode''.
121	* JoblessParentDrama: "The Miracle of Birth: Part 2: The Third World": Dad comes home to his wife and massive numbered children. He has bad news. The mill's been closed, so they're destitute. Because they're Catholics, they can't use any birth control. After singing how every sperm is sacred, he tells the kids he can't afford to feed them and keep them, so he sends them off to be sold for medical experiments.
122	-->'''Dad:''' Children, I know you're trying to help, but, believe me, me mind's made up. I've given this long and careful thought. And it has to be medical experiments for the lot of you.
123	* JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites: Present in the "Growth and Learning" segment when schoolboys study quietly before their teacher arrives, whereupon they become rowdy and disruptive.
124	* TheLastStraw: The "wafer-thin mint" scene, in which a diner tops off a larger meal with a small cracker, resulting in his stomach exploding LudicrousGibs style. It achieves BrickJoke status when the waiter ''eats the cracker'' that is now exposed in Creosote's exposed body cavity.
125	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: "...And I'd like to sing a song for all...[[AsideGlance of]] ''[[AsideGlance you]]''.
126	* {{Leitmotif}}: The evil, ''{{Film/Jaws}}''-style string theme that accompanies Mr. Creosote's entrance and recurs right before he explodes.
127	* LittleNo: The student who is forced into the rugby match protests with an "Oh no, sir!" to his headmaster.
128	* LongList: At the start of a lesson, the headmaster recites a long list of instructions to the pupils, without pausing at all.
129	--> '''Headmaster''': Now before I begin the lesson will those of you who are playing in the match this afternoon move your clothes down on to the lower peg immediately after lunch before you write your letter home, if you're not getting your hair cut, unless you've got a younger brother who is going out this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case collect his note before lunch, put it in your letter after you've had your hair cut, and make sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you. Now...
130	--> '''Wymer''': Sir?
131	--> '''Headmaster''': Yes, Wymer?
132	--> '''Wymer''': My younger brother's going out with Dibble this weekend, sir, but I'm not having my hair cut today sir, so do I move my clothes down or...
133	--> '''Headmaster''': I do wish you'd listen, Wymer, it's perfectly simple. If you're not getting your hair cut, you don't have to move your brother's clothes down to the lower peg, you simply collect his note before lunch after you've done your scripture prep when you've written your letter home before rest, move your own clothes on to the lower peg, greet the visitors, and report to Mr Viney that you've had your chit signed.
134	* LyricalDissonance: "Every Sperm Is Sacred". A cheery, catchy CrowdSong about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin sperm]].
135	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction:
136	** A British army officer has a rather blasé attitude about waking up with a leg missing: "Stings a bit." So does the doctor examining him:
137	--->"Yes, well, this is nothing to worry about [...] Yes, there's a lot of it about. Probably a virus. Uh, keep warm, plenty of rest, and if you're playing football or anything, try and favour the other leg."
138	** Mr. Creosote is only a little inconvenienced by his stomach exploding and exposing his internal organs, which are still working.
139	* MassiveNumberedSiblings: The Catholic family has an absurd number of kids, because they're not allowed to use birth control.
140	* MauriceChevalierAccent: John Cleese's maitre d talks with one.
141	* TheMeaningOfLife: The film says this about the meaning of life.
142	--> It's nothing special. Try to be nice to people. Avoid eating fat. Read a good book now and then. Get some walking in. Try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.
143	* MeatgrinderSurgery: Two "surgeons" forcibly harvest organs from a man just because he's got an organ donor card. Mostly offscreen but obviously MeatgrinderSurgery.
144	* MisplacedWildlife:
145	** Invoked, lampshaded:
146	--->'''Pakenham (Michael Palin):''' A tiger? In Africa?\
147	'''Ainsworth (John Cleese):''' Well, it probably escaped from the zoo.\
148	'''Pakenham:''' Well, I don't think that's very likely-- ''(Ainsworth sshs him)''
149	** And ultimately subverted: it was really two guys in a tiger costume.
150	* ModularEpilogue: In the video game adaptation, a series of interludes between scenes ask "moral dilemma" questions with Multiple Choice answers. At the end of the game, a woman comes on to tell you your personal, individual Meaning of Life based on your answers.
151	* NeverMyFault: The Roman Catholic father in “The Third World” refuses to accept that his irresponsible sexuality has brought about a horde of children he's unable to look after. Instead, he claims that their religion is to blame because they’re forbidden to use contraception.
152	* NippleAndDimed: One sketch shows a man slated for execution, who chose to be chased off a cliff to his death by a thundering horde of models wearing nothing but boxing helmets, G-string panties, socks, and football cleats. Nothing is censored, either.
153	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
154	** Creator/GrahamChapman plays Music/TonyBennett in the "Christmas In Heaven" number.
155	** Creator/EricIdle plays Queen Elizabeth II and Creator/NoelCoward.
156	* NoIntelligentLifeHere: "Pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space 'cause it's bugger all down here on earth!"
157	* NoJustNoReaction: When the Crimson Permanent Assurance pirates invade the main film, the Narrator has this reaction and just kills the whole lot of them to get the movie going.
158	* NotDistractedByTheSexy: In the Private School segment, the students chat, fiddle about, and otherwise do bored teenager stuff despite the teacher's naked wife standing in front of the class and the sex that follows.
159	* OhCrap:
160	-->'''Fish:''' Oh ''shit'', it's Mr. Creosote!
161	* OnlySaneMan: The Grim Reaper. It takes him several minutes to impress upon the hosts and guests of a dinner party that he's not there to trim the hedge, doesn't want wine and won't discuss philosophy with them. When they finally die and follow him to the great beyond, they decide to take their cars (their ''ghost'' cars, which, like them, leave behind the original forms), causing the Reaper to do a hilarious double-take before shrugging it off and beckoning them on.
162	* TheOner: The scene with Gaston the waiter.
163	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: The Python's American accents are either [[SoBadItsGood hilariously bad]] or painfully bad.
164	* OopNorth: Parodied with the portrayal of Yorkshire.
165	* OrganTheft: Or at least very aggressive organ collection.
166	* APirate400YearsTooLate: ''The Crimson Permanent Assurance'', where a group of elderly accountants rebel against the American corporation who bought them by dressing up as pirates and turning their building into a pirate ship.
167	* ProlongedPrologue: "The Crimson Permanent Assurance" goes on for 15 minutes before the actual film starts.
168	* ProneToVomiting: Mr. Creosote vomits periodically and when he eats a mint, he explodes and covers everyone in vomit.
169	* RacistGrandma: "You see I feel that life's a game, you sometimes win or lose. And though I might be down right now, at least I don't work for Jews!" The horrified Maitre'd plunks his (very full) puke bucket on her head and apologises to the audience for hiring a racist.
170	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The Grim Reaper has two in very quick succession:
171	--> '''Grim Reaper:''' Shut up! Shut up, you American. [[{{Eagleland}} You always talk, you Americans]], you talk and you talk and say 'Let me tell you something' and 'I just wanna say this.' Well, you're dead now, so ''shut up''.
172	** and:
173	--->'''Grim Reaper:'''' Quiet! Englishman. You're all so fucking [[BritishStuffiness pompous]]. None of you have got any balls.
174	* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: When the Sergeant Major asks his men whether they would have better things to do than marching down the square. Turns out, one would rather spend time with his family, another one reading a book, a third one having piano lessons and every other one going to the movies. He ends up marching down the square alone.
175	* RidiculousRepossession: In a variant, the "Live Organ Transplants" sketch involves two men arriving to a house to retrieve one Mr. Brown's liver for donation. The fact that Mr. Brown is still using his liver doesn't enter into it.
176	* RogerRabbitEffect: In "The Miracle of Birth Part II: The Third World", when the Protestant neighbour next door takes a walk in Yorkshire, he sees an animated stork that drops a human baby down the chimney, to which he quips, [[ThisIsGonnaSuck "Oh, bloody Hell!"]]
177	* RugbyIsSlaughter: A boarding school holds a rugby match pitting little boys against grown men. As if that weren't brutal enough, when a boy finally gets to make a try, a teacher trips him from the sidelines. To further underline the point, the scene segues directly into a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI segment.
178	* SelfDeprecation:
179	** An Englishman's attempt to upbraid the Grim Reaper for his poor manners is met with this response:
180	--->'''Grim Reaper:''' ''(poking him in the eye)'' Quiet! Englishmen, you're all so fucking [[BritishStuffiness pompous]]. None of you have got any balls.
181	** From "Fighting Each Other":
182	--->'''Narrator:''' Democracy and humanitarianism have always been trademarks of the British Army.\
183	'''Sergeant Major:''' Rubbish!\
184	'''Narrator:''' Shush!
185	* SexlessMarriage: The Protestants in "The Miracle of Birth".
186	-->'''Harry Blackitt:''' Look at them, bloody Catholics, filling the bloody world up with bloody people they can't afford to bloody feed!\
187	'''Mrs. Blackitt:''' What are we dear?\
188	'''Harry Blackitt:''' Protestant, and fiercely proud of it!\
189	'''Mrs. Blackitt:''' Hmm. Well, why do they have so many children?\
190	'''Harry Blackitt:''' Because... every time they have sexual intercourse, they have to have a baby.\
191	'''Mrs. Blackitt:''' But it's the same with us, Harry.\
192	'''Harry Blackitt:''' What do you mean?\
193	'''Mrs. Blackitt:''' Well, I mean, we've got two children, and we've had sexual intercourse twice.
194	* SexMiseducationClass: In the comedy sketch "Sex Education", an old-fashioned school teacher explains sex in a very technical, boring and highly unromantic way. The class includes a practical demonstration by the teacher and his wife, the students, however, have difficulties paying attention and need to be constantly reprimanded throughout.
195	* ShooOutTheClowns: When Mr. Creosote appears, the fish all swim away in terror and are never seen again. The succeeding segment is "Death".
196	* ShoutOut:
197	** "Every Sperm Is Sacred" is a parody of ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}''.
198	** The Grim Reaper scene is a parody of the end of [[Film/{{TheSeventhSeal}} The Seventh Seal.]]
199	* SillyPrayer: In the "Part II: Growth and Learning" part, the Chaplain at a British Boy's Academy leads the student body into prayer which can only be described as mindless flattery. After the prayer is done, the Dean tells everyone not to rub linseed oil into the school's cormorant (it MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext) and tells a student that their mother died before the Chaplain leads the students into a psalm begging God not to cook them all in various ways in Hell.
200	-->''O Lord, please don't burn us.\
201	Don't grill or toast your flock.\
202	Don't put us on the barbecue\
203	Or simmer us in stock.\
204	Don't braise or bake or boil us,\
205	Or stir-fry us in a wok.''
206	* SkewedPriorities:
207	** The Roman Catholic parents are so vehement in the church's rejection of contraceptives that they are absolutely swarmed with children they can't afford to raise (to the point of basing a song around it), yet they see no problem with selling those children for scientific experimentation when the dad loses his job at the mill. Considering we see those children in {{Heaven}} at the end, they likely died from it.
208	** The headmaster lectures the whole school at length over the importance of the school's cormorant, upbraiding them because boys have been rubbing linseed oil into it (ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext). He offhandedly adds, "Oh, and Jenkins, apparently your mother died this morning."
209	* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter:
210	** A military recruiter, after showing a war documentary, says, "That is why we will always need an army, and [[TemptingFate may God strike me down]] were it to be otherwise." [[BoltOfDivineRetribution Whereupon...]]
211	** Inverted in the Chapel segment when the song is essentially about how they don't want to be cooked by God.
212	* SoundtrackDissonance: The "Galaxy Song", a cheery, happy-go-lucky tune, with vaguely upbeat lyrics about the wondrous vastness of the universe, that ends on a big downer about the [[HumansAreMorons lack of intelligent life]] on Earth. It's sung right after a scene wherein a man has his liver harvested while he's still alive. Immediately after the song finishes, his wife agrees to undergo the process herself.
213	* StupidBoss: The hospital administrator in "The Miracle of Birth".
214	-->'''Administrator:''' And what are you doing this morning?\
215	'''Obstetrician:''' It's a birth.\
216	'''Administrator:''' Ah. And [[ArtisticLicenseBiology what sort of thing is that]]?\
217	'''Doctor Spenser:''' Well, that's when we take a new baby out of a lady's tummy.\
218	'''Administrator:''' Wonderful what we can do nowadays!
219	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The man in the front end of the tiger costume:
220	-->''Oh come on! I mean, do we look like the sort of chaps who'd creep into a camp at night, steal into someone's tent, anaesthetise them, tissue-type them, amputate a leg and run away with it?''
221	* TakeThat: The "Organ Harvesting" scene was a response to US critics stating the Black Knight scene in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' was too violent.
222	** And of course, calling [[OopNorth Yorkshire]] "The Third World".
223	* TheUnreveal: Although several theories as to the "meaning of life" are given throughout the film, when the "true" answer is finally revealed at the end it's [[{{Anticlimax}} not very life-changing.]] And this is only a segue into a totally unrelated and tangential joke.
224	** We never do find out why two men in a tiger costume stole a man's leg in the middle of the night.
225	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
226	** "Don't just stand there gawping, like you've never seen the hand of God before!"
227	** The British army are pretty nonchalant about a hundred of their own men getting slaughtered by the Zulus. A high-ranking officer losing a leg is given some pause, but even then it's not considered as shocking as it would be in real life.
228	** The schoolboys getting bored at the sight of their teacher having sex with his hot wife counts too.
229	* VisualPun: The "Middle Age" segment mostly takes place in a recreation of a Medieval dungeon.
230	* VomitIndiscretionShot: Mr. Creosote's entire scene consists of him [[OverlyLongGag repeatedly projectile vomiting on everything]]: the floor, the waiters, the menu... ''Every'' shot of him is a vomit indiscretion shot! You can also see several restaurant patrons vomiting (and reportedly [[EnforcedMethodActing not of their own free will]]) as they rush out following his [[spoiler:explosion]].
231	* VulgarHumour: So, so much:
232	** In "The Third World" segment, a slimy newborn baby drops like excrement out of a Yorkshire housewife while she's doing her chores, and hits the floor.
233	--->'''Housewife:''' [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight Get that for me, would you, Deidre?]]
234	** Young children sing, with their parents and the entire neighbourhood, about semen and masturbation.
235	** A teacher and his wife having sex in front of an entire classroom, shortly after the teacher rather curtly describes foreplay.
236	** The unfortunate organ donor who has his liver removed, in gory detail, while he's still alive.
237	** During the "Galaxy Song", the standard cosmic grid morphs into a pregnant woman with legs spread, impregnated by a beam of light as sperm.
238	** The Noel Cowardesque "Penis Song".
239	** And last but certainly not least, Mr. Creosote. "Better get the bucket..."
240	* WalkThePlank: The "Crimson Permanent Assurance" short.
241	* WhileRomeBurns: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in the "Zulu War" sketch. While British infantrymen are getting maimed and slaughtered left and right, the officers [[StrollingThroughTheChaos walk through the thick of battle completely unmolested and unfazed by the carnage]]. They even mutter curt excuse-mes as they pass by, and combatants on both sides make way for them.
242	----
243	->Well, that's the end of the page, now here's the Meaning of Life:\
244	[[spoiler:[[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife "Add more tropes"...?]]]]

Context Film / MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife