One for the Road: Into Hot Air

by Kelly Amabile on

Funny man Chris Elliott has taken his comedy to new heights in his third book, a comic spoof on a classic travel adventure that was released last month. Into Hot Air: Mounting Mount Everest is a novel that pokes fun at, well, just about everything, including the author himself. Elliott’s narrator, also named Elliott, wonders if it really was Sir Edmund Hillary who was the first to scale Everest. The discovery of a diary written by a crazy great uncle begins the questioning, and readers are dragged along on a mysterious and laugh-out-loud journey that includes a cast of all-star celebrities.

Elliott depicts epic adventure at its funniest, and ” …also takes aim at disaster movies, celebrity activism, and reality TV shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race.” As Chris explains in this recent Gothamist interview, CNN and the titles of other folks books did inspire some aspects of his own story: “It’s more or less using Everest and the action-adventure genre as a backdrop for my goofiness.”

Monty Python Day: Reenact the Holy Grail

by Jamie Rhein on

Neil wrote a post about the best swear words in various languages, some perfect for lobbing insults. How about this bit of dialogue? Sound familiar?

“ French Soldier: I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.”

“Sir Galahad: Is there someone else up there we can talk to?
French Soldier: No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.”

(Quotes from IMDb: Memorable Quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

The first time my friends and I saw the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, we recounted this particular scene afterwards just to laugh some more. I’m not quite sure why “I fart in your general direction,” is so funny, but the scene is still a hoot. And I’m not the only one who still thinks so.

Today, 500 lucky people who snagged a ticket are at Doune Castle in Scotland to reenact scenes from the movie as part of Monty Python Day. The 1300s castle is a real one and not just a set. The rest of the year, it’s open for people to tour the rooms and imagine life back in when it was occupied by Robert Stewart, the Duke of Albany. However, on Monty Python Day, it’s turned over to silliness.

The tickets are already sold out, so it’s too late to go this year’s event, but keep this in mind as a September thing to do next year. This year is the event’s third. Since the movie is what mostly brings tourists to this Scottish location, I bet that Monty Python Day will continue to flourish. To tide you over until you can get there, here’s the insult scene (starting before Sir Galahad and his men reach the castle) posted on You Tube. I wonder if at the event today any animals came hurling over the wall? Thanks to Marilyn Terrell at Intelligent Traveler for pointing out this fun and frolic happening.

Delayed Flights and Laugh-Worthy Excuses

by Jamie Rhein on

When I first read The Onion, I half-believed the articles. At the time, I was adjusting to teaching at a public school in Taiwan and sometimes got the feeling I was living an Onion article type of life. Having a good laugh over life’s absurdities and those things that sound true, but are not, can be sheer joy. That’s why I think Gadling’s April Fool’s posts are worth reading from beginning to end.

But, back to The Onion. Marilyn Terrell, who sent us the link to another priceless funny read, Brian Sack’s squat toilet story, just sent us the link to The Onion’s Infographic “Flight Delays.” This is a list of reasons for why flights have been so BAD AWFUL at showing up or leaving on time this summer. My favorite is: “Pilot not exactly in a hurry to get to Buffalo.”

Articles like this one won’t make planes arrive or depart when they are supposed to, but they sure make the bitter pill of airline travel a little more humorous. What else can you do sometimes, but laugh? Or rip someone’s head off.

One for the Road: ‘Three-Martini Family Vacation’

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s a smarmy tongue-in-cheek guide for parents that should offer up plenty of laughs, as well as some smart travel advice. The Three-Martini Family Vacation is a collection of wickedly funny essays that will serve as a reminder to parents that family vacations can truly be fun — regardless of how much gets shaken or stirred along the way!

Christine Mellor’s latest ‘Field Guide to Intrepid Parenting’ offers helpful advice on harnessing the energy of toddlers-gone-wild on vacation, out to dinner or even just when grandmother stops by for a visit. Parents will relearn the art of traveling and how it can be done (sometimes) with well-behaved children in tow. This is my favorite bit of practical advice: Get those kids reading books as soon as possible — it’ll pay dividends in countless waiting rooms, cars and airports. Nothing funny about that one, but it sure is true!

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Funny Air Traffic Controller Quotes

by Justin Glow on

I normally don’t post things that typically get sent around as email forwards, but this is pretty funny.

I ran across a collection of funny air traffic controller quotes, and they’re supposed to be real even though there’d be absolutely no way to prove their validity. Even so, let’s just pretend they are because they’re way funnier that way. Here’s my favorite:

Control tower to a 747: “United 239 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o’clock, three miles, eastbound.”
United 239: “Approach, I’ve always wanted to say this … I’ve got the little Fokker in sight.”