Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail to destroy a killer rabbit. The instructions for its use are in the holy book of Armaments. Particularly important is the counting to three after the pulling of the pin (complicated by King Arthur's mental block on counting).

Geek culture impact

The Worms series of computer games features a weapon called the holy hand grenade, which looks rather like the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and is distinguished by the fact that - unlike the other types of grenade in the game, which have fuses that can be controlled by the player - it has is always set to detonate as soon as it has come to rest on the ground at least 3 seconds after it has been thrown. Other computer games to include a Holy Hand Grenade include many MUDs as well as Duke Nukem Time to Kill, Quenzar's Caverns and, of course, the Monty Python and the Holy Grail (computer game).

In American television series culture, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there are several humorous references to Monty Pythonesque holy hand grenades, which were usually bottles of holy water lobbed at vampires. This, in turn, spawned the Buffy-themed trading card game where the Holy Hand Grenade is card number 14 in the 1999 series.

External links