If one's in the mood for some silliness at Penn State, the Monty Python Society might be the place to go.

The club started at the university in 1978, defining its purpose as promoting students' appreciation of British comedy.

This vision has shifted a bit though. Vice President Matt Rudy (junior-architectural engineering) said the society is there to "promote silliness and for students to be silly on campus."

Club member Jack Flicker (freshman-physics) said it is a group of "very silly people who get together."

In one annual activity, "The Mall Climb," members "climb" the lawn near Old Main, with the aid of cans of Spam and dental floss as a grappling hook, Rudy said.

This occurs in the Spring Semester, and it gives the club a chance to joke around.

The Monty Python Society also meets each week to watch satirical comedy.

Gatherings consist of viewing and reading scripts from classic Monty Python episodes and other British comedy videos.

Meetings can run from 30 to 90 minutes. "It depends on how funny we're being," Rudy said.

The club also writes and performs its own comedy sketches at meetings and for the public as well.

The society performed two times at Late Night-Penn State in the HUB-Robeson Center last year, and they will be performing again this year in the Spring Semester.

The group will be doing its own rendition of The Silence of the Lambs as a musical.

President Veronica Kalyna (sophomore-economics) said another annual activity for the group is the "Ides of October."

"The group protests about something absurd," she said of the activity.

The event does not necessarily occur in October, it is just the title for this event, she added.

This year's mock-protest took place on Sept. 22. Members stationed themselves in front of the HUB-Robeson Center and the gates in front of Old Main, protesting the neutering of the Lion Shrine.

The club is comprised of 25 to 30 official members, and more members are always welcome to join.

"We love to have new members," Kalyna said.

The Monty Python Society meets at 6:30 p.m. every Sunday evening in 106 Osmond.