Mad About (All) the Men...

Is it just me, or does Mad Men seem more on the edge of unravelling than usual? One thing I've liked about the show is the tendacy to strike that disconsolate chord with life, with plots that keep you guessing about motive, but what, exactly, is going on with Ken and Barbie -- I mean, Don and Betty, lately? Even by her Ice Princess Bitch and his Machiavellian standards, things are getting just a bit too bizarre, what with her hissy fit 'want me!' attempt at a 'keep him guessing' fling with that poor dupe, and Don's (why?) schoolboy crush with that young teacher...and I need more exposition to Betty's character than just picking up a copy of The Group to reveal her stay-at-home-housewife angst...Getting disappointed----more Joan!

And Now for Something Completely Different...
Having grown up on a steady diet of Mad Magazines fueled by my weekly allowance, Monty Python's, week-long Python-athon is right up my alley. My parent's hooted at Beyond the Fringe; MP is our generation's answer to lunacy and da-da theater of the absurd -- that and the first two seasons of Saturday Night Live (the golden years) - revealed to me I like my comedy straight up with a twist....

The dead parrot routine:
A hapless man buys a parrot that the shopkeep convinces him 'is sleeping.' He returns to complain the bird is, in fact, dead.
Shopkeep: Maybe it's just pining.
Customer: It's not pining. It's passed. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot.
In frustration, he takes it out of the cage and pummels it.
Shopkeep: I can't take it now! You've killed it!
Say no more, say no more! Nudge nudge wink wink.....