Episode 4 (Oct. 26, 1969)
Art Gallery; Undressing in Public; Self-Defense
Episode 5 (Nov. 16, 1969)
Confuse-A-Cat; The Smuggler; Police Raid; “Match of the Day”
Episode 6 (Nov. 23, 1969)
Johann Gambolputty…of Ulm; Whizzo Chocolate; The Dull Life of a City Stockbroker; 20th Century Vole
Episode 7 (Nov. 30, 1969)
The Blancmange from Andromeda
Episode 8 (Dec. 7, 1969)
Army Protection Racket; Buy a Bed; Hermits; The Dead Parrot; Hell’s Grannies
Episode 9 (Dec. 14, 1969)
A Man with a Tape Recorder Up His Nose; The Lumberjack Song; The Visitors
Episode 10 (Dec. 21, 1969)
Vocational Guidance Counselor; Pet Conversions
Episode 11 (Dec. 28, 1969)
Interesting People; The Batley Townswomen’s Guild Presents the Battle of Pearl Harbor
Episode 12 (Jan. 4, 1970)
Falling from a Building; Mr. Hilter and the North Minehead By-Election; Ken Shabby
Episode 13 (Jan. 11, 1970)
Cinema Advertisements; Albatross; Psychiatry (Hearing Folk Singers)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus—Series II
Episode 14 (Sept. 15, 1970)
Face the Press; New Cooker Sketch; The Ministry of Silly Walks; The Piranha Brothers
Episode 15 (Sept. 22, 1970)
Man-Powered Flight; The Spanish Inquisition; The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights; Court Charades
Episode 16 (Sept. 29, 1970)
Exploding Stuffed Animals; Flying Lessons; Hijacked Plane; Poet Ewan McTeagle; Psychiatrist Milkman; Déjà Vu
Episode 17 (Oct. 20, 1970)
Gumbys; Architect Sketch; How to Give Up Being a Mason; The Bishop; Poet Reader; Chemist Sketch; Police Constable Pan Am
Episode 18 (Oct. 27, 1970)
Live from the Grill-o-Mat Snack Bar, Paignton; Blackmail; Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things; A Man Alternately Rude and Polite; Ken Clean-Air Systems
Episode 19 (Nov. 3, 1970)
Eric Dibley’s If; Dung; Timmy William’s Coffee Time; Raymond Luxury Yacht; Election Night Special
Episode 20 (Nov. 10, 1970)
The Attila the Hun Show; Secretary of State Striptease; Killer Sheep; Village Idiots; Quiz Show
Episode 21 (Nov. 17, 1970)
Archaeology Today; Silly Vicar; Mr. and Mrs. Git; Mosquito Hunters; Judges’ Cloakroom; Beethoven’s Mynah Bird
Episode 22 (Nov. 24, 1970)
How to Recognize Different Parts of the Body; The Man Who Contradicts People; The Death of Mary Queen of Scots; Penguin on the Television
Episode 23 (Dec. 1, 1970)
French Film; Scott of the Antarctic; Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth; Fish License
Episode 24 (Dec. 8, 1970)
Conquistador Instant Coffee; “It All Happened on the 11.20 from Hainault c.”; Toothy Film Director; Crackpot Religions; How Not to Be Seen
Episode 25 (Dec. 15, 1970)
The Black Eagle; Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook; World Forum; Art Gallery Strike; World War I Sketch; Hospital for Over-Acting; Flower Arrangement; Spam
Episode 26 (Dec. 22, 1970)
Royal Episode 13; Coal Mine; The Man Who Says Things in a Very Roundabout Way; Lifeboat; Undertaker Sketch
Monty Python’s Flying Circus—Series III
Episode 27 (Oct. 19, 1972)
Njorl’s Saga; Court Scene; Police Pursuit Inside Body; Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion Visit Jean-Paul Sartre
Episode 28 (Oct. 26, 1972)
Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris’s Ford Popular; How to Do It; Mrs. Niggerbaiter; Farming Club; Fish Slapping Dance
Episode 29 (Nov. 2, 1972)
The Money Programme; Erizabeth L; Argument Clinic
Episode 30 (Nov. 9, 1972)
The Man Who Speaks in Anagrams; Merchant Banker; The House Hunters; The Man Who Makes People Laugh Uncontrollably; News Reader Gestures; BBC Announcers
Episode 31 (Nov. 16, 1972)
The All-England Summarize Proust Competition; Everest Climbed by Hairdressers; Fire Brigade; Travel Agent; (Miss) Anne Elk
Episode 32 (Nov. 23, 1972)
Gumby Brain Surgeon; Molluses
Episode 33 (Dec. 20, 1972)
Biggles Dictates a Letter; Climbing Uxbridge Road; Lifeboat; Why Television Is Bad For Your Eyes; The Show So Far; Cheese Shop; Sam Peckinpah’s Salad Days
Episode 34 (Dec. 7, 1972)
Gumby Brain Surgeon; Molluscs Biggles Dictates a Letter; Climbing Uxbridge Road; Lifeboat; Why Television Is Bad For Your Eyes; The Show So Far; Cheese Shop; Sam Peckinpah’s Salad Days
Episode 35 (Dec. 14, 1972)
English Literature Housing Project; Mortuary Hour; The Cheap-Laughs
Tudor Pornography; The Rev. Arthur Belling; The Free Repetition of Doubtful Words Thing; Is There?; Thripshaw’s Disease
Episode 37 (Jan. 4, 1973)
Boxing Tonight; Dennis Moore; Astrology Sketch; Ideal Loon Exposition; Poetry at the Off-License; Prejudice
Episode 38 (Jan. 11, 1973)
A Book at Bedtime; 2001: A Space Odyssey Bone; Penguins; Spot the Loony; Rival Documentaries
Episode 39 (Jan. 18, 1973)
Light Entertainment Awards; Oscar Wilde Sketch; Pasolini’s The Third Test Match; Curry’s Brains; International Wife-Swapping; The Dirty Vicar Sketch
Monty Python—Series IV
Episode 40 (Oct. 31, 1974)
The Golden Age of Ballooning; The Norwegian Party
Episode 41 (Nov. 7, 1974)
Michael Ellis; Ant Poetry Reading
Episode 42 (Nov. 14, 1974)
Light Entertainment War; Courtmartial; Program Planners; Woody and Tinny Words; Show Jumping
Episode 43 (Nov. 21, 1974)
Bogus Psychiatrists; Queen Victoria Handicap
Episode 44 (Nov. 28, 1974)
Postal Box Dedication; Mr. Neutron; Conjuring Today
Episode 45 (Dec. 5, 1974)
Most Awful Family in Britain; Waiting Room Stabbing; The Man Who Finishes Other People’s Sentences
Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus
Episode 1 (prod. 1971)
Little Red Riding Hood; Stake Your Claim; Silly Olympics; Colin “Bomber” Harris Wrestles Himself Bavarian Restaurant
Episode 2 (prod. 1972)
German vs. Greek Philosophers Football Match; Happy Valley
Films
And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)
Recordings
(except reissues, promotional samplers, and singles)
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1970)
Another Monty Python Record (1971)
Monty Python’s Previous Record (1972)
The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973)
Monty Python Live at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (1974)
The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python Live! at City Center (1976)
The Monty Python Instant Record Collection (1977)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Album (1980)
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983)
Monty Python’s The Final Rip-Off (1988)
Monty Python Sings (1989)
The Ultimate Monty Python Rip-Off (1994)
Books
(except repackagings and abridgements)
Monty Python’s Big Red Book (1971)
The Brand New Monty Python Bok (1973) (reissued as The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Book) «Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Grailen (Bøk)» (1977)
Monty Py
thon’s The Life of Brian (of Nazareth) I MontyPythonScrap-book (1979)
Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life (1983)
The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus: All the Words (1989) (a.k.a. Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Just the Words)
The Fairly Incomplete Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book (1994)
SOURCES
Interviews with the five surviving Pythons and their coconspirators were conducted by the author in the summer and fall of 1998. In addition, portions of earlier interviews have been included, as follows:
Terry Gilliam: author interviews dated September 1986, September and December 1987, June 1990, March 1991, and March 1996.
Michael Palin: author interview on May 9, 1996, originally conducted for the special-edition laserdisc of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. Excerpts used by permission of The Criterion Collection.
Quoted sources:
p. 19
“Once I had my little Bolex…” Gilliam at the American Museum of the Moving Image seminar, January 6, 1996.
p. 26
p. 71
“I had a friend…” Cleese, ibid.
p. 74
“You know when you do something…” Cleese, ibid.
p. 117
“As soon as you start to try and analyze…” Jones in Radio Times, October 24, 1974.
p. 181
“I remember when it was subtitled…” Gilliam, from the Criterion Collection laserdisc commentary track of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1993.
p. 249
“The offense is what a friend of mine…” Cleese, ibid.
p. 303
Script excerpt, Palin and Jones, More Ripping Yams, (Pantheon, New York, 1980).
Picture credits:
All photographs are copyright © Python (Monty) Pictures, Ltd., used by permission, except for the following:
Courtesy of John Cleese
Courtesy of Terry Gilliam
Courtesy of Terry Jones
Courtesy of Nancy Lewis
Courtesy of Ian MacNaughton
Copyright © BBC Photo Archives
Copyright © Neal Preston/HBO
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In addition to the original Python shows, books, and films, the following sources provided reference and background information:
Books:
Chapman, Graham. A Liar’s Autobiography, Vol. VII [sic]. New York: Methuen, 1980.
Gilliam, Terry. Animations of Mortality. London: Methuen, 1978.
Hewison, Robert. Monty Python: The Case Against. New York: Grove Press, 1981.
Johnson, Kim “Howard.” The First 200 Years of Monty Python. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
Perry, George. The Life of Python. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983.
Stephens, Frances. Theatre World Annual 1965. London: Iliffe Books, Ltd., 1964.
Wilmut, Roger. The Goon Show Companion. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.
Periodicals:
Berry, Charles. “Dead Parrots & Creosote: Monty Python Leads a Silly Invasion.” Rolling Stone, September 27, 1973.
Hertzberg, Hendrik. “Naughty Bits.” The New Yorker, March 29, 1976.
Jones, Jonathan. “And They Did Mention the War.” The Guardian, October 1, 1998.
Kreier, Beth Ann. “Curling Up With Monty Python.” Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1975.
Meehan, Thomas. “And Now for Something Completely Different.” New York Times Magazine, April 18, 1975.
Rawls, Wendell, Jr. “Python Film Stirs Controversy in Carolina.” New York Times, October 24, 1979.
Reynolds, Stanley. “Python.” Times of London, December 14, 1970.
Searchable Terms
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.
—A—
ABC Television, 200–206, 270–271
Acheson, Jim, 154
Adams, Douglas, 210–223; co-writing Goodnight Vienna, 217; co-writing Out of the Trees, 216; on being wet-behind-the-ears, 221; on formative Python experience, 211; on GC’s death, 299; on GC’s memorial, 300; on Holy Grail soundtrack, 215; on JC, 212, 221–222; on nearly killing the Pythons, 222–223; on press accounts of his contributions, 215; on TJ, 214, 222
All in the Family, 199, 201
Allen, Woody, 2
Alverson, Charles, 256
Amicus Studios, 144
Amnesty International, 92
Amory, Cleveland, 191
And Now for Something Completely Different, 88, 118–121, 145, 148, 152, 188, 274; Dirty Fork Sketch, 121, 177; re-release, 188; U.S. release, 185
Andrews, Julie, 189
Animation, 30, 58–63, 104–106; Beware of Elephants, 31; Black Spot, 140; Christ at Calvary, 141; Christmas Cards, 31; House Hunters, The, 61
Annie Hall, 2
Another Monty Python Record, 183
Armageddon: non-likeness to And Now for Something Completely Different, 185
Arthur King. See Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Ashley, Lynn, 67
At Last the 1948 Show, 17, 24, 29, 80–81, 268
Atherton, Howard, 160–162; on rushes of Holy Grail, 171–172
Attenborough, David, 134–135
Aykroyd, Dan, 127
—B—
Ball, Lucille, 311
Barbados, 230
Barclay, Humphrey, 6, 9, 13, 20, 295
Barker, Ronnie, 15–16, 63
Barnes, Clive, 14
Basquiat, Jean-Michel, 73
Batman, 156
Beatles, The, 144, 211, 309
Bedazzled, 144
Bedford, Terry, 155–158, 160–161, 172–173, 313–314; on ‘medieval look’ of Holy Grail, 160; on Python’s anti-establishment attitude, 313
Belushi, John, 128
Ben Hur, 180
Bennett, Alan, 6
Bentine, Michael, 5
Bergman, Ingmar, 273
Berkeley, Busby, 273
“Beyond the Fringe,” 6
Billington, Kevin, 83
Biôlek, Alfred, 123–124
Bird, John, 260
Bishop, Joey, 187, 192
Bogart, Neil, 183, 185
Bonham-Carter, Violet, 236
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The, 9, 151
Booth, Connie, 17, 23, 67, 84, 122, 258, 260, 295
Brand New Monty Python Bok, The, 126, 191
Brazil, 156, 169, 264–268, 302
British Broadcasting Corporation, 6, 29, 31, 50, 56, 71, 99, 105–106, 118–130, 133–135, 137–140, 196, 203–204, 206, 249, 253, 261, 271, 314
Broaden Your Mind, 25
Bron, Eleanor, 260
Brooke-Taylor, Tim, 6, 12, 16, 25
Bruce, Lenny, 112
Buddha Records, 183
Buffery, Anthony, 13
Bullitt, 245
Bunuel, Luis, 274
Burns and Allen, 2
—C—
Caine, Michael, 144
“Cambridge Circus,” 13, 15
Cancer: as source of comedy, 140
Cannes Film Festival, 292
Carreras, (Sir) James, 231
Carry On (film series), 145
Carson, Johnny, 187, 192
Casting, 43–44
Castle Stalker, 155
CD-ROMs, 312
Ceausescu, Nikolai, 236
Channel 4, 270
Chaplin, Charlie, 2
Chapman, Graham, 6, 11–14, 17, 19, 23, 31, 42, 45, 56, 81–91, 149–150, 158, 164, 171, 194, 210, 230, 234, 244, 246, 294–301, 308; ‘ashes’ of, 306; adopting John Tomiczek, 296; alcoholism, 87–89, 218–219; as actor, 233; as Biggus Dickus, 237; as box of bones, 310; as King Arthur, 145; as pepperpot, 47; at Footlights, 11; At Last the 1948 Show, 17; at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 14; attacking lower extremities, 90; chronic late
ness, 93; death of, 294–298; funeral of, 300; giving up alcohol, 294; homosexuality, 56, 67, 91; in Meaning of Life, 277; looking frightened, 244; memorial, 300; Out of the Trees, 216; playing King Arthur, 89, 155; psychiatric aptitude of, 84; sobering, 219, 220, 234; The Frost Report, 16; working with Petula Clark, 16; working with Ringo Stan, 217; writing with JC, 12, 17–18, 85–86
Charisma Records, 151–152, 183
Chase, Chevy, 127
Cheers, 307
Cher Show, The, 188
Christian, Roger, 241
Chrysalis Records, 152
Cimino, Michael, 230
Cinema 5, 179
Cinemax, 294
Clark, Petula, 16
Cleese, John, 6, 11–20, 23–24, 26, 28–30, 33, 48, 53, 56–57, 77–80, 85, 111, 113–114, 161–162, 174, 190, 197–198, 222, 252, 304; as woman, 46; at GC’s memorial, 300; aversion to facial hair, 159; departure from group, 196; on And Now for Something Completely Different, 121; on anger in humor, 263; on blasphemy, 247; on breaking conventions, 314; on casting, 46; on censorship, 139, 142; on competition among Pythons, 262; on controversy surrounding Life of Brian, 248–249; on critics, 72; on directors, 34, 52; on EI, 97; on fame, 74; on fans, 192–193; on filming Holy Grail, 164–166; on format of Python, 30; on GC, 82, 87, 89–90, 234; on GC’s alcoholism, 259; on GC’s death, 298; on GC’s memorial, 93; on group dynamic, 108, 113; on his taste in humor, 259; on How to Irritate People, 18; on Meaning of Life, 289; on meeting GC, 11; on MP, 92–93; on network preemptions, 70; on offer from David Frost, 15; on opening “Cambridge Circus” in New York, 14; on origin of Python, 23; on playing Brian, 234; on possible Python reunion, 306; on reading out material, 43; on rehearsals, 52; on repetition in Python, 130–131; on repetition in Python, 130–131; on shock, 134; on solo work, 260; on TG, 20, 106, 139, 262, 285; on The Frost Report, 29; on title of Python, 26; on TJ, 100–102, 109; on TJ as director, 165; on U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, 306; on writing with GC, 18, 41, 83, 295; solo career, 258