Open Chaucer

Wow.
I've just been listening to BBC R4 "Open Book" - which is having a comic writing series.  They began this week with John Mullan and Terry Jones discussing Chaucer, with Mariella Frostrup.

TJ described Chaucer's humour as 'like Jane Austen's' - it is often about the stuff he doesn't tell you.  So you need context and you have to work it out.  That feels about right, at least where the General Prologue is concerned.

And then they discussed the bawdier humour, including the Miller's and Reeve's Tales (briefly), before a reading from the Merchant's Tale (the bit where May defends herself for 'struggling with a man up in a tree').  Mostly, they read the middle english version, so far as I could recall.  Brilliant, and funny.

TJ denied any Chaucerian influences on Monty Python (although I think he admitted to some parallels by implication), and I enjoyed it all immensely. 

Hear it on the i-Player before the BBC hides it...