I enjoyed this nostalgic romp

Finally watched this last night and I had a warm, pleasant experience. Not necessarily the one I'd hoped for - different - and certainly not the one I was dreading.

This retirement tour had me worried that I'd be watching pathetic old men not quite live up to their reputations. I was worried I wouldn't laugh, most of all, from knowing all the jokes and not being surprised. But I didn't get that. I got something completely different.

First, I did laugh, and quite often. Some of this is surely due to the Python's sneaking in a few variations on the old formulae. The ending of the Argument Clinic and the transition to the next bit is a prime example of this (that I won't spoil). I did even laugh at the old jokes. The Mary Queen of Scots radio drama, for instance, or the Spanish Inquisition - still hilarious. And while I wasn't falling out of my chair the way I did when I first saw this stuff, I was amused and laughed frequently.

The biggest thing I didn't expect, though (no, not that!) was the warmth of the whole thing. The tender love that came through the "tasteless" jokes at Graham Chapman's expense, for example, or how weirdly moving it was seeing these guys take out all the old toys and play with them again. They all had a sense of fun, and they never played it for warmth (save at the end with the final number - but heck, they earned it!) which just made it better. It was like watching a band get back together knowing they'll never play these songs with these people again.

I was a little sad, but in a good way. Although it was a bit hard watching Terry Jones sometimes, knowing how he was struggling with dementia. When he would pause juuuuust a little too long before snapping off a comeback, I was both impressed by how well he was dealing with it all and a bit saddened by his deterioration.

But it was just this sense of fun and family and appreciation for fans that buoyed up and percolated all the comedy that made the special quite special, indeed.

The musical numbers were fun, too! I would have preferred more of the Pythons, but I imagine they needed some time to catch their breath between sketches (and do some costume changes into/out of their drag stuff). But the dancers were great, the songs were humorous, some of the remixes were fantastic, and Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink trotted out a lot of lingerie, so who can argue with that?

The only bum spot, for me, was Mike Meyers. He shows up and he immediately starts delivering a "This means so much to me" speech while Michael Palin is trying to do a funny blackmail riff with him. Meyers starts bubbling about how important this is to him, which - intentionally or not - makes the whole thing about Mike Meyers instead of the sketch. Meyers always seems to have a bit of a "look at me!" vibe to him, and this was just sour. Then doing his Wayne's World "we're not worthy!" bit at the end - again, just more attention-dragging nonsense. Everybody else stayed focused on the comedy. This guy's focused on himself.

I loved that Carol Cleveland was there. I also loved that she was still playing the sexy/romantic rolls (the lumberjack's girlfriend or delivering the "would you like a blowjob?" line). Age is just a number - Carol Cleveland deserved to do her old material just as much as the fellahs. I actually wish they'd put more of her bits in, but they had a LOT to do over two hours.