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Home , All You Need Is Cash, Do Not Adjust Your Set, Graham Chapman, How to Irritate People, Mr Creosote, Neil Innes

Fachbereichsarbeit aus Englisch

Verfasserin: Barbara Höllwarth, 8A

Betreuungslehrer: Mag. Martin Stehrer

Schuljahr: 2002/2003

Erich Fried- Realgymnasium Glasergasse 25, 1090 Wien - 0 -

CONTENTS

I. It’s… (An Introduction) 2

II. The Early Days 3

III. The Beginning Of An Era 4

IV. Members 1. 5 2. 6 3. 8 4. 9 5. 10 8. 11

V. The Closest Anybody's Ever Come To Being A 7th Python 1. 12 2. 13

VI. ’s Flying Circus 1. The Series 14 2. The Beeb 16 3. The German Episodes 17

VII. Films By Monty Python 1. And Now For Something Completely Different 19 2. Monty Python And The 19 3. Life Of Brian 21 4. Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life 23 VIII. More Films (With/By Python Members) 1. – 25 2. A Fish Called Wanda 26

IX. What Monty Python Means To Me 28

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I. It’s...

…actually is the first word in every Episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, announced by an exhausted old man in rags performed by Michael Palin, who, for example, comes out of the sea, crawls out of the desert or falls off a cliff. Sadly, there are still people who ask questions like „What’s Monty Python anyway?“ or even worse “Who is Monty Python?” although there already is a definition of the word “” in the Oxford Dictionary nowadays that says: ”after the style of, or resembling the humour of, Monty Python's Flying Circus, a popular British television comedy series of the noted esp. for its absurdist or surrealist humour.” Monty Python is a so-called group, although one of the six members is from America. The group was formed back in 1969 and worked, like most British at that time, for the BBC. They set milestones for modern humour because they wrote and performed what they thought was funny and never cared about comedy tradition. What they did, was to change by getting rid of punch lines and clear structures in their jokes and make something surreal, anarchic, chaotic and surprising out of it. The Pythons are now seen as pioneers of comedy in Britain and all over the world and obviously influence lots of comedy shows, films and even commercials, if you come to think of the Austrian “Anker” advert that was shown in summer ’02, with loads of that suspiciously looked like those from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, or the advert for a certain bank, shown in summer ’02 as well, in which a rather rude and mean commander turns out to be a quite nice man with patience for his soldiers, which was just about the same scene like in Monty Python’s “Meaning Of Life”. John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin are the inventors of the “funniest joke in the world”, “Pepperpots”, as the old women with high pitched voices, mainly performed by Terry Jones, are called, and of course of Monty Python, a legend that was about to change the world…

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II. The Early Days

The career started relatively early for all the six members of Monty Python. For those, who studied at the Oxford and Cambridge University and performed in many comedy shows and theatre groups, such as “”, “Cambridge Circus” and “Oxford Revue” and also for the American Terry Gilliam, who studied at the in , where he edited the school humour magazine “Fang”. After his graduation in 1962, he went to New York and started to work for a magazine called “Help!”. John Cleese and Graham Chapman, both studying in Cambridge, became good friends and toured and America with Footlights. In New York, John was asked to star in a photo-feature for “Help!” magazine (he had to play a man who falls in love with Barbie doll) and it was on that occasion that he worked together with the American editor Terry Gilliam. Graham Chapman meanwhile went back to England for his medical studies while Eric Idle, who was in Cambridge as well, was elected president of the Footlights and fought for the women’s right to become members of this group. In Oxford, Michael Palin and Terry Jones became writing partners when working on the Oxford Revue and a show called “Hang Down Your Head And Die” and got their theatre experience that way. When he graduated in 1964, Jones was hired by the BBC and worked on “The Love Show” at first and after that he found a job at the British Broadcasting Corporation in a very small office as some sort of script editor who didn’t exactly know what he had to do there anyway. Terry Jones then became “the world’s worst production assistant” as he himself called it. After his graduation in 1965, Michael Palin became host of the Bristol teenage pop music show “Now!” and wrote some sketches with Terry Jones from time to time. Cleese also started to work for the British television after his graduation, and helped Terry Gilliam to find work in a show called “” together with Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. According to Palin, it was very important for all of them because it was the first time they were given a free hand as writers and performers. Graham Chapman and John Cleese had an equally important television show at that time, “At Least The 1948 Show” in 1967.

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Other shows they wrote before they were Pythons: - (1966) (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin) - (1968) (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin) - We Have Ways Of Making You Laugh (1968) (Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle) “We have Ways of Making You Laugh was very unfunny. We didn’t have any ways of making them laugh!” Eric Idle (“The First 280 Years Of Monty Python” p.29, 1999) - Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969) (Terry Jones, Michael Palin)

III. The Beginning Of An Era

“Do Not Adjust Your Set” had been a very successful television programme, so the cast was asked to work on a grown-up version of that show. John Cleese and Graham Chapman suggested that Michael Palin and Terry Jones, whom they knew from “The Frost Report”, might work with them. Jones and Palin brought Eric Idle into the group, who wanted Gilliam to be in it as well. “John and Graham were a pair, and he was interested in Mike. Mike, Terry, and I were sort of put together, and I guess we dragged along Terry Gilliam for that, too.” Eric Idle (“The First 280 Years Of Monty Python” p.33 , 1999) So the six of them declined to work for the television channel that featured “Do Not Adjust Your Set” who wanted them to start a new show. Instead they received a job offer by the BBC and accepted. Much to our delight the BBC didn’t insist on a “pilot” programme, so they had actually no idea what those comedians where up to. The only problem on the way to success that was left was a good name for the team. There were plenty of suggestions what the comedy group should be called, such as “Sex and Violence”, “The Whizzo Easishow! (Guaranteed to last ½ hour! Money back if not!)” and “Gwen Dibley’s Flying Circus”.

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According to what Michael Palin said at the “U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Monty Python” in 1998, he saw the name “Gwen Dibley” in a magazine from the Towns Womens’ Guilt and thought it would be nice to give this woman her own series without her knowledge. So when the listings came out for that weekend her family would say “Mum, you’ve got a series on television!” There were 5 pages filled with all sorts of possible names, a lot of them included a “Flying Circus” (“Bob Python’s Flying Circus”, “The Amazing Flying Circus”) but when the BBC insisted on a sensible name for the programme immediately, they finally agreed on “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”. The term “Flying Circus” is given to any collective source of annoyance and confusion. Now that they had a name and a job, a decision had to be made on what to do next because everything they knew so far was that the series was supposed to be funny… With a group of 6 fabulous comedians like Monty Python, this was not a problem for long and they soon got their very own outrageous and personal style.

IV. Members

IV.1. Graham Chapman

"A modest, soft-spoken loud mouth.... Graham's favourite colour is off-white

and his favourite heavy gas is Helium". (http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/8889/python/mp- bios.htm 5.12.2002) Graham Chapman was born in on January 8th in 1941. He studied medicine in Cambridge where he had his own cabaret show, before he started to write and act for Footlights together with John Cleese and Eric Idle. After his graduation he worked as a doctor at St.Bartholomew's hospital in but soon gave it up to do comedy again. He became well known as the Colonel who was “not having things getting silly” from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In the Python Films he played in “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” and the leading Role in “Life Of Brian”.

picture from http://www.hot.ee/montypython/chapman.jpg 5.12.2002

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Graham has never been married but lived together with his lover David Sherlock and adopted a son. He was a loony and one of those guys who turn up in a huge carrot-costume when asked to speak at the and then just stand there for twenty minutes, saying nothing at all. Receiving an award from the “Sun” Newspaper, he was jumping up and down on the way to the stage, emitting a loud squawk. Then he received his award from Lord Mountbatten, put it into his mouth and crawled all the way back to his seat. When Cleese and Palin found a half empty bottle of whiskey in one of Grahams bags during “Holy Grail” they realized that Graham had a serious drinking problem. At his peak he was consuming two quarts of gin a day and fought hard to stop drinking. Chapman soon went on writing several scripts for movies and television series and even published his own books, such as “A Liar’s Autobiography” and “Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Sillybits, And Outright Lies”. Also, he worked together with , the author of “The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy”. He even gave up smoking his pipe before he died of throat cancer in England on October 4th in 1989. His death, that was a day short of the Pythons’ 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was said to be the worst case of party pooping Terry Jones had ever seen. "I thought it was in terribly bad taste for him to die when he did." Terry Jones (http://www.pythonet.org/graham-chapman.html 11.12.2002)

“He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky […] Well, I feel that I should say, "Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard! I hope he fries. “ And the reason I think I should say this is, he would never forgive me if I didn't, if I threw away this opportunity to shock you all on his behalf.” John Cleese (http://www.pythonet.org/graham-chapman.html 11.12.2002)

IV.2.John Cleese

John Marwood Cleese or “Cheese” as the families’ surname was, before they changed it, was born on October 27th in 1939 in Weston-Super-Mare. When he was six feet tall at the age of twelve, he started to make other people laugh in order to defend himself. - 6 -

He studied law in Cambridge where joined many Footlight productions and started his writing relationship with Graham Chapman. The two of them remained being writing partners throughout the Python years. After his graduation he started working for the BBC, where he wrote several comedy series together with Graham and acted as well. He was the first to leave the Pythons but never gave up writing or performing and earned a lot of money doing commercials in America, Holland, Norway, Australia, Denmark, Sweden and England. He even featured his eighty-year-old mother in a radio ad for “Life Of Brian” in which she asked the audience to watch the film to make her son richer so he wouldn’t throw her into the streets. She even got the award for the best radio entertainment commercial of 1979! His first wife was Conny Booth (the “witch” in “Monty Python And The Holy Grail”) but the union lasted only ten years. When they divorced, Cleese needed therapy to get him through a difficult time. He later became co-author of the book “Families And How To Survive Them” he wrote with his therapist Robin Skynner. Cleese married Barbara Trentham in 1981 but after nine years the marriage broke up. In 1992 John and Alice Faye Eichelberger got married. Cleese has two children from his first two marriages. One of them is Cynthia Cleese, who played Portia in “A Fish Called Wanda”. John Cleese is best known for playing the Minister in “Ministry Of Silly Walks” from Monty Pythons’ Flying Circus. Nowadays he still plays small roles in “” and “James Bond” films and also hosts documentaries on the human body or his favourite animals, Lemurs (best known for their fabulous appearance in “Fierce Creatures”) from time to time. Together with his first wife Conny Booth he wrote the script to the television series “” in which he plays Basil Fawlty, an eccentric and rather strange hotel manager. The show was based on a real life experience Cleese and the rest of the Python team had, when they stayed in a hotel that was run by a man like Basil.

picture from http://www.bettycat.com/home/games/cwot/images/silly.gif 5.12.2002

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When asking for a taxi, for example, the hotelier would roll his eyes and say “Alright!” in a way so that you’d be sorry for asking in the first place. IV. 3. Terry Gilliam

“Some friends call Gilliam a Renaissance man: others place him earlier. […] But whatever his physical appearance, his graphics, drawings and paintings are unmistakably Lascaux.” John Cleese (http://pythonline.com/plugs/gilliam/index.shtml 11.12.2002) The master of animations was born in Minnesota in Medicine Lake on November 22nd, 1940. He always loved watching animated series and cartoons on television as a kid and edited the school magazine “Fang” when he was in Occidental College, majoring in political science, although he had previously studied Physics and Fine Art.. After graduating he found a job in New York as an editor for a humour magazine called “Help!”. During that time he got to know John Cleese, who starred in one of the photo-features. Several years later he contacted Cleese again, asking him to get him into British television. That’s how he started to work with Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and several other people for a small television series entitled “Do Not Adjust Your Set”, rarely as an but mainly as the one who created all the amazing animations that occurred in the show. During “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” he worked alone in his room, whilst the other members seldom knew what he was up to. He was once said to be the most mysterious Python because he seldom performed in front of the camera. Anyway, the Flying Circus would never have been the same if it weren’t for Gilliam’s animations that also appeared during some of the singing sequences in “The Meaning Of Life” and in the cage scene of “Monty Python And The Holy Grail”. Not only was he the director of his own cartoons but also he co-directed all the Python films together with Terry Jones.

picture from http://www.noticine.com/noticine/berlin2002/fotos/gilliam11.jpg 10.12.2002

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He married the Python’s make-up artist Maggie Weston in 1973 and has three kids called Amy Rainbow, Holly Dubois, who appeared in Gilliam’s film “Brazil”, and Harry Thunder. In 1977 his movie solo debut “” came into the cinemas. He broke his very own golden rule in film making of only directing his own scripts, such as “”, “Jabberwocky” and “Brazil” at the point he got the offer to direct “” and later on “Twelve Monkeys” and accepted. “Once your name’s up there on the screen saying “Film directed by ------“, people believe that, and they hire you and give you money!” Terry Gilliam (“The First 280 Years Of Monty Python” p. 280, 1999)

IV.4. Eric Idle

The actor, author, script writer, composer, producer and director Eric Idle was born in South Shields, on March 29, 1943. During his time in Cambridge, where he studied English, he was Footlight’s elected president and opened the membership up to include women. Whereas Jones and Palin and Cleese and Chapman invented sketches as writing teams, Eric had to create his scripts and song lyrics almost always all by himself. It was therefore sometimes hard for him to get his material into the show. From 1969 until 1975 he was married to the Australian actress Lyn Ashley. With her he has a son called Carey, born in 1973. Nowadays he is still married to the ex-Playboy model Tania Kosevich, who played a German prostitute in Eric’s film “The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash”. Nine years after their marriage in 1981, Tania gave birth to their daughter Lily. They all spend their lives in San Fernando Valley, California. Although he played in “Casper”, had the role of Rincewind in “Discworld II: Morality Bytes” and Tommy Rainbow Butterfly Patel in “Splitting Heirs”, together with John Cleese, he claims to prefer writing to acting. The talented singer did not only perform his songs in the Flying Circus series but also in their films. Sadly however is the fact that he didn’t actually sing in “Rutles” but only lip-synched what , a fantastic musician from the late seventies, sang, when playing Dirk McQuickly.

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Eric’s well known for the annoying character he played in Python’s “” sketch, for “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”, the song at the very end of “Life Of Brian” and for his frightfully witty penis song he performs as a man who suspiciously looks like Noel Coward but isn’t. “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” was even in the charts and, according to the author of the website http://www.geocities.com/fang_club/Idle_biog.html it was sung by a Royal Navy band whilst their ship sank because of a missile during the Falkland War. Idle wrote and published several books, such as “The Road To Mars: A Post- Modem Novel” and “Hello Sailor” and of course a great amount of books the Pythons wrote together.

IV. 5. Terry Jones

Terence Graham Parry Jones, “the Welsh one” as he’s called, was born in 1942 on the 1st of February in Colwyn Bay, North . His father served in the RAF in WWII and went to India. When he came back the whole family moved to Claygate in . Terry resented leaving behind Wales, the place he loved and lived in all his life and decided to be as welsh as possible for the next fifteen years. In 1970 he married Alison Telfer, a biochemist who specialised on photosynthesis. His two children he knows about are his daughter Sally, who was born in 1974 and played a small role in Jones’ film “” and his son Bill, born in 1976. Terry attended the Church of England primary school and the Royal Grammar School at . He then went to St. Edmund Hall College and finally ended up in the Oxford University to study History. It was at that time when he met Michael Palin, his writing partner and friend. After graduating and getting bored of Oxford, he found work at the BBC and had several jobs there until he got the chance to star in the children’s comedy show “Do Not Adjust Your Set” together with Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam. Denise Coffey and David .

picture from http://www.cinerhama.com/britalent/idle.jpg 10.1.2002 - 10 -

Jones had always been the most sensible one in the Python group whilst John Cleese was exactly the opposite, being more of a logical person. It was said that when he and Cleese argued about how their scripts should be improved or changed, it sometimes ended up with the two of them shouting at one another. At one stage one of them even threw an ashtray at his “rival” but luckily missed his aim. After Python he directed several films and television shows, such as “Wind In The Willows” and “Eric The Viking”, a film, based on a children’s book he wrote for his son Bill. He went on performing in series and films but also wrote several children’s books, some of them together with Michael Palin. When he was asked to write “” by Douglas Adams, he accepted and added that he could write it in the nude. To prove it, this very picture has been printed on the back of the book. Adams then wrote in the introduction to the book that Terry was one of the most popular people whose bottom was only slightly less well known than his face. Of course, he wrote, it had only been displayed when strictly necessary on artistic grounds that has turned out to be extraordinary often…

IV.6. Michael Palin

The 5’9’’ tall Michael Edward Palin was born on May 5th in 1943 in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Not only is he the youngest member of the Python group, it’s also said that he is the nicest, although he considers this a lie. “There are many Pythons nicer than me. Mother Teresa, for instance. I know she's not a real Python but she was always sending us jokes […] You didn't know that, did you? Of course not, because it isn't true. It's a lie. And lying isn't nice, is it?” Michael Palin (http://pythonline.com/plugs/palin/notnicest.shtml 10.1.2002) He went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he received a degree in History and met Terry Jones. In April 1966 he married his childhood sweetheart Helen Gibbins. With her he has three kids. Thomas, born in 1969, William, born in 1971 and Rachel, born in 1975. His oldest son played the role of Sir Not Appearing In This Film in “Monty Python And The Holy Grail”.

picture from http://hem.passagen.se/aasman/gumby/reviews/terryjones.jpg 10.1.2002 - 11 -

Palin himself is well known for being the famous “it’s man” during the Flying Circus period and Arthur Putey, the chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer. After Python, he left home for a journey around the world in 80 days, accompanied by the BBC television team. Palin was even named a Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth. He wrote scripts to films and television series, composed, together with the other Pythons, several songs, gave the idea to “Fierce Creatures” and performed in loads of films and programmes. In the film “A Fish Called Wanda”, he stars as the animal loving Ken, who accidentally runs over Kevin Kline with a steamroller, in revenge for his fish called Wanda that had been eaten by Kline in one of the previous scenes. His first stage tour, called “The Weekend”, opened on the 15th of March in 1994. Just like Terry Jones, he published children’s books. In 1995 his first novel “Hemingway’s Chair” was printed and in April 1995 Palin helped to organize and participated in “The Secret Policeman’s Ball” concerts, along with some of the British star comedians like, John Cleese, and Neil Innes, for the benefit of Amnesty International. So he is not only a member of “Oxfam”, a Union that fights for a more equitable world, but also of AI. Michael Palin is even president of an environmental group that tries to improve transport in Britain and supports the Michael Palin Centre of the British Stammering Association.

V. The Closest Anybody's Ever Come To Being A 7th

Python

V.1. Carol Cleveland

If there ever was a 7th Python, it could have only been Carol Cleveland, who was always asked to appear in the show when a “real” woman was needed. In the “Marriage Guidance Counsellor” sketch for example, it would have been ridiculous,

picture from http://www.geocities.com/canaveralgumby/palinUNofficial/index.html 26.1.2002 - 12 -

to use one of the Pythons dressed up as a woman instead of having someone perform in this sketch who actually was female. The joke simply wouldn’t have worked. Carol Cleveland was born on January 13th in 1943 in London, England. She had several roles in the Flying Circus series but also performed in all of their films and on their stage tour “Life At The Hollywood Bowl” as such as in “The Secret Policeman’s Private Parts”. She married Peter Breet in 1971 and the wedding was a real Python affair, with all the members of the comedy group in attendance. Carol and Peter divorced in 1983 and Carol now lives in Brighton, occasionally working on stage and performing "Pom-Poms Up!" a one-woman show about her life.

V.2. Neil Innes

The talented singer and Neil Innes was born on 9th of December, 1944, in Danbury, Essex. He started his career by forming the “Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band” or “The Bonzo Dog Dada Band1” as its original name was, together with his friends from art college. The band was quite popular from 1966 to 1972, had several singles in the charts and was even supported by Sir Paul McCartney, who produced “I’m The Urban Spaceman”. Neil Innes got to know Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones when the Bonzos were asked to work with them on “Do Not Adjust Your Set.” In the Flying Circus series he appeared only once, in the late episodes but he was involved in all of their films apart from “The Meaning Of Life”. As actor and musician he helped the Pythons at “Life At The Hollywood Bowl” by performing songs and playing small roles in a few sketches. Neil Innes married Yvonne Hilton in 1966 and has three sons called Miles Alexander, born in 1967, Luke Zachary born in 1971 and Barnaby James, born in 1978.

1 The band was tired of having to explain that “Dada” is a certain art movement and changed it to “Doo Dah”.

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VI. Monty Python’s Flying Circus

VI.1. The Series

The first Monty Python’s Flying Circus2 series that contended 13 shows aired from the 5th to the 26th of October in 1969 and from the 23rd of November to the 11th of January in 1970, directed by John Howard Davies. Three more series followed and in the end the BBC broadcasted four series with 45 episodes altogether, at one stage even featuring and Douglas Adams. The reasons why the Flying Circus series were so interesting and new at that time was, not only but mainly, because of Terry Gilliam’s sequences. Because the Pythons tried to avoid punch lines or any sort of logical constructions throughout the sketches, they often used the cartoons to stop one sketch and link to the following. The animations themselves didn’t have anything to do with the previous scenes most of the time and brought some sort of bewilderment to the viewers because they were so far from any progression and logic and skipped from one thought to the next in a “stream-of-consciousness manner”, as calls that phenomenon in his book “From Fringe to Flying Circus” that was published 1980. “My stuff was never comprehensible for them…and not for me either.” Terry Gilliam (“The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Tribute To Monty Python” 1998) Terry Gilliam really helped the others to break away from the strict and somehow conservative way of making comedy with his work. Of course the idea of changing the typical beginning-middle-end structures did not originate from the Python team but was used by performers and writers like (known from “”) before Monty Python’s Flying Circus aired. The Pythons also worked by starting a sketch in a scene, quite recognisable from other programmes, like a television quiz or a discussion, and then change the content completely and make something unexpected out of it. At the Hollywood Bowl for example a sketch began with a political discussion with

2 The title has been translated in Japanese as “The Gay Boy’s Dragon Show”. - 14 -

Che Guevara, Mao Tse-tung , Karl Marx and several other important people and ended up with Karl Marx, trying to win a beautiful lounge suite3. Another technique, typical for Flying Circus, was to start with a clear structured beginning and then let the whole idea get wildly out of hand so that one bizarre action followed the other. One can see that quite clearly in the “Visitors” sketch. A couple has a romantic evening at home, when all of a sudden some strange loonies, led by an annoying man, known from the “Nudge, Nudge” sketch, creep into the scenario, ruin the whole evening and simply lead the sketch to an absurd ending, again leaving the viewer somehow confused but still amused. A lot of main characters, such as Arthur Putey, The Colonel, Luigi Vercotti and the Newsreader, Pepperpots and Gumbies4, from certain sketches appeared again in many other scenes. Partly because it would have been a waste if these characters had not been employed more often and partly because it has got some funny effect if you let a person who had his role in a sketch already, appear again. It’s a cheap way of raising a laugh. The viewers like to recognise people from previous sketches and episodes and letting certain characters appear again throughout the shows, can be said to be Pythons writing techniques as well. Typical for the Flying Circus series is also the title theme. True Python fans will probably always think of a 16 ton weight or a stamping foot when hearing John Philip Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March” on a parade for example and according to what Michael Palin said at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Tribute To Monty Python” in 1998, you can check whether you are a Python fan or not by watching the fish slapping dance – those who show the slightest bit of amusement are going to like the other sketches too. The Pythons formed so called “writing teams”, so Cleese and Chapman wrote together, Palin and Jones were writing partners and Gilliam and Idle worked on their own. The men had meetings from time to time in their houses, where they brought all the material together and the teams read out their material for the others. If a sketch was good enough to be in the show depended on what the others

3 He didn’t win the furniture, but as no one leaves the show empty-handed, as the show master said, he got a teddy bear.

4 Brainless male human beings who have a moustache, glasses, a handkerchief on their head, braces and rolled up trousers, who love flower arranging and operate in a very extravagant style.

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thought of it. As the Pythons voted for their sketches to appear in Flying Circus, Idle often got the feeling that he had only one vote, because he worked alone, whereas all the others had two, because they worked in pairs. It was also said that there was some sort of Oxford/Cambridge rivalry in voting for the sketches. There were Cleese, Chapman and Idle on the one side and Jones and Palin on the other side, together with Gilliam. Only sketches with six votes were taken for the series right away, all the other material was either put aside or went to the pile of sketches to be improved. That’s what made the Python series so much better than several modern comedy shows – it was just those six people who had the right to say what kind of comedy sketches they want to perform and no end-producers, no executives or people to do research on what the people want to watch on TV – and it worked quite well! The Pythons wanted the show to be unpredictable, without any shape and the people should never be able to say what kind of humour it was, but according to what Terry Jones said at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, the fact that the word Pythonesque is in the oxford dictionary, shows that the team failed…

VI.2. The Beeb

The word “Beeb” means BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was popularised by British comedy acts such as Kenny Everret, and eventually picked up by mainstream BBC presenters, until the whole establishment became enshrined in the public psyche, (mostly due to veteran Terry Wogan), as "Auntie Beeb." As in the fact "beeb" is the first sound you make when pronouncing the Word BBC -- i.e. "beebeecee". The Pythons had a lot of freedom, working for the BBC, at first. They got paid very little, worked out their sketches on the basement or filmed their crazy material all around the country and nobody bothered them at all. So they were free to do what they wanted until they had the “masturbation problem”. In one of their sketches a character said his hobbies were strangling animals, golf and masturbating. There was huge laugh from the audience when they first filmed that sequence but when the head of the BBC got to see that bit he demanded the Pythons not to use the word masturbating on television.

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The six of them then had a meeting with the BBC discussed the word masturbating with Duncan Wood. Unfortunately they had no success and had to cut out the word. So what was left from the sketch was the answer “strangling animals, golf and (pause)”. The audience seemed to laugh at the word golf which was just as ridiculous as seeing “strangling” animals as being alright but using the word masturbating was not accepted. Of course their was lots of criticism towards the BBC in Flying Circus. In the “World War One” sketch for example several are not allowed to talk because it’s always said that the BBC can’t pay for too many performers with speaking roles. Police Chief: Look! We can't afford it! The BBC are short of money as it is. (from the World War One sketch) There even was a “The BBC Is Short Of Money” sketch, in which Eric Idle is a Newsreader, wearing an old blanked and sitting in a little dark room somewhere in the basement, saying “The BBC wishes to deny rumours that it is going into liquidation. Mrs Kelly, who owns the flat where they live, has said that they can stay on till the end of the month ... and we've just heard that Huw Weldon's watch has been accepted by the London Electricity Board and transmissions for this evening can be continued as planned. That's all from me so... goodnight.”

Terry Gilliam once had an idea to slowly put the sound down during a sketch, so all the people all over England would have to increase the volume of their television to the highest level. The Pythons would then wanted to make a deafening noise but the BBC never allowed them to do so. They had rules about that already.

VI.3. The German Episodes

Believe it or not but the one who brought the Pythons to Bavaria was nobody else but Alfred Biolek, a man who is probably best known for his show “Alfredissimo! – Kochen mit Bio” (1994). Idle said, when he was asked why they decided to do TV episodes in German, at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, “Du kannst auf diese Art einen billigen Lacher bekommen.”, and he was right of course! But recording two episodes in German also helped the Pythons to become more popular.

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On the same occasion Idle also said, that the Germans came to them and said “Look, we don’t have a sense of humour, but we understand you do. Will you come to Germany and write a comedy show for us?” The Pythons were then invited to Germany and from the Airport in Munich they were brought straight to Dachau. When they asked how to get to Dachau to the camp, everybody kept denying that they knew where it was and when they finally got there, it was just about to close and the Pythons couldn’t get in. So the told them they were Jewish and finally were allowed to come in5. “Turning up just as the place was closing, they were herded out by the officious attendants. Graham Chapman was not best pleased, and banged on the gates, shouting: 'Let me in, I'm Jewish!'” Arts Diary, , September 12, 1998 The German Episodes were somehow different from the typical Flying Circus shows, because for the German audience, they tried to make fun of things, the German were familiar with, like Albrecht Dürer, the Germans celebrated his 500th anniversary at that time, Little Red Riding hood, who was performed just grotesque by John Cleese, and the Olympic games that took place in Munich, 1971. They even arranged a football game with the most popular German philosophers, like Nietzsche, Hegel and Mary, playing against the ancient Greek philosophers. Of course the game wasn’t at all thrilling, as the philosophers remained standing around and thinking about the major meaning in life but when Archimedes suddenly shouts out “Heureka!” in the second half and gets the idea of shooting a goal, the Greek win against the German in one of the most exciting football games ever, in the history of philosophy. For the first “Fliegender Zirkus” episode (1971), all the scripts were translated into German, together with the Pythons and the comedians then learned their roles by heart, just parrot-like. This was of course a lot of work and sometimes very hard to understand, so for their second series (1972) they agreed on filming it all in English and then synch everything afterwards.

5 This is said to be a true story, as told by Eric Idle, when asked about the German episodes.

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These German shows have never been released in England, until 1998, so they were said to be “Lost Episodes” for a very long time, although some of the sketches have been shown at “Life At The Hollywood Bowl”.

VII. Films By Monty Python

VII.1. And Now For Something Completely Different

It is always said that the Pythons made four films altogether. Those four films are “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” (1976), “Life Of Brian” (1979), “Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life” (1983) and “And Now For Something Completely Different” (1971). The only difference between “And Now For Something Completely Different” and a typical Flying Circus episode is the fact that the film has been translated into many different languages, that it was in the cinemas and that it is not about 25 minutes long, like a normal show but 85 minutes. Otherwise it is exactly like any other Flying Circus episode, because it is only a collection of some of the best sketches and animations from the first two series, including the Killer Cars, Hell’s Grannies, the Nudge-Nudge sketch and the Funniest Joke In The World. The sketches were re-shot on film outside the usual studio sets and as the Flying Circus series were not shown in the USA at the time of the film release, for many Americans “And Now For Something Completely Different” was the first Python- experience, so even though it is not a proper “film” it still had a very important role in making the Python humour considerably more widespread.

VII.2. Monty Python And The Holy Grail

“Makes Ben Hur look like an Epic.” “Sets The Cinema Back 900 Years.” “And now! At Last! Another film completely different from some of the other films which aren't quite the same as this one is.” (taglines from http://us.imdb.com/Taglines?0071853 1.2.2003) In this low budget film, King Arthur, accompanied by his knights Sir Launcelot, the Brave, Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Launcelot, who had nearly fought

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the Dragon of Agnor, who had nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill, Sir Galahad, the Pure and Sir Bedevere, seeks the holy Grail. At first they try and persuade a couple of really strange Frenchmen to join them on their holy mission but all they get from the French is abusing and taunting. They then decide to separate and seek the Grail individually so the viewers get to see four different stories that all end up with getting back to King Arthur and trying to find the Grail together as a group. At first we see Sir Robin’s attempt to find the Grail, which is of course without any success as the “brave” knight runs away whenever it seems to get dangerous. Sir Galahad comes to a huge castle, full of eightscore young blondes who waited for a young good looking knight like Galahad all their lives, so as Galahad says that he is not allowed to make love, they persuade him to stay a bit longer for oral sex. But luckily Sir Launcelot then comes to rescue his friend. King Arthur and Sir Bedevere try to pass a forest on the way to the Grail but are stopped by the knights who say NI! They end up trying to get a shrubbery in order to appease the knights and pass the woods when Sir Robin appears and joins them. Sir Launcelot himself gets held up from seeking the Grail, when he tries to rescue a Lady who is forced to stay in a castle against her will, who turns out to be a gay prince, trying to get away from his arranged marriage. The quite aggressive and dangerously wild knight kills several wedding guests. Somehow, all of the knights come together again and find an enchanter called Tim, who takes them to a cave that is guarded by a killer-rabbit that can be defeated by the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Through the cave they find out that the Grail might be in the Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh…. Anyway, the only two who actually got there were King Arthur and Sir Bedevere but when they arrived at where the Grail was said to be, it turns out to be the Frenchmen’s castle and after some more abuse the two of them and all the other knights of the round table decide to go home again, when the police arrives and arrests them all. Now, the probably best known scene of this film is the fight of King Arthur against the Black Knight, who ends up losing all his limps and still doesn’t want to give up. This scene can be said to be gross, but it is not, because the knight shows no pain

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and he himself is the one who goes on fighting all the time because he just can’t get enough. Although the black knight was performed by John Cleese most of the time, they also asked a local one-legged blacksmith to play this role (probably after King Arthur cuts of the knight’s first leg). A lot of local people also had their roles as knights of the round table, attacking the French castle or yelling “Get on with it!”. The reason why they used coconuts banging together and no real horses was simply because they couldn’t afford any horses as they only had a budget of 210.000 pounds. They filmed it all somewhere in Scotland, and as the equipment couldn’t be brought to the set by cars because of the lack of proper roads, all of the crew members had to carry the stuff to the places. The huge and dangerous bridge, passed by Galahad and Arthur, was especially arranged for the film and not at all save. In fact, they couldn’t believe that the bridge really held their weight…

VII.3. Life Of Brian

In this film, the Jewish Brian, who is born in a stable on the same day as Jesus, is the main character. We come to know how his live looks like and what it’s like, living in a city that is occupied by the Romans. When he finds out that his father was a Roman he tries to rebel against it by joining the People’s Front of Judea, a political group that fights the Roman empire. He helps them in one of their terrorist attacks and gets caught by the Romans. While he is trying to flee, he pretends to be one of the prophets on the street, so the Roman soldiers would ignore him. It is during that misunderstanding that the public thinks that he really is a Messiah and follow him wherever he goes and misinterpret everything he says or does as a miracle. Brian finally gets arrested again and crucified, but because Pontius Pilate wants to prove the friendship between Rome and Jerusalem, he says that he’s about to release one of the prisoners. The public finally agrees on releasing Brian but unfortunately, when the soldiers come to the place where people get crucified,

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everybody claims to be Brian, just to come free, so the real Brian has to hang there and wait until someone else come to rescue him. Judith, Brian’s love affair from the People’s Front of Judea, tells the others what just happened to Brian, but instead of trying to rescue their friend right away, they stay and discuss on what to do next and when they finally come to a conclusion, they only go to him, tell him that they are not the rescue committee and talk a lot about how much his death means in the struggle against the emperors. The Judean People’s Front is not better, as they just come to Brian to commit suicide in front of all the crucified people, and Brian’s mother is only angry with her son, saying "Go ahead! Be crucified! See if I care!". So it all comes to the point when the man next to Brian begins to cheer him up by singing “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”. The film is very often said to be blasphemic6 although that’s just not true. The Pythons said that it all started with the six of them, thinking about blasphemous jokes and then tried to make a film out of it, called “Jesus Christ – Lust For Glory”. They realized that it’s not easy, making fun of Jesus, as he was in fact a really good man and everything he did and said was good moral philosophy, so they thought it might be funny if there was someone living at the same time who is mistaken for being the Messiah. The Christ himself only appeared twice during the film; in the birth-scene and when you see him giving the sermon on the mountain. Still, for some reason, Christians and Jews kept on demonstrating against the film7 and in parts of England and Ireland the movie was even banned from the cinemas whilst in America the people just didn’t go to watch it. ”[…] what's funny really is the fact that Christ said all these really good things about “Love Thy Neighbour” and everything, and then for the next two thousand years people are killing each other and torturing each other because they can't quite decide how he said it. The film is heretical but it's not blasphemous, it's a heresy.” Terry Jones (“The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Tribute To Monty Python” 1998)

6 As the film was not allowed to be shown in many cities, there was following trailer for the film: This is where we were going to have some incredibly hilarious footage from our film “The Life Of Brian”. Unfortunately, we are in litigation of it. However, we invite you to picture it in your minds now and if you do, we promise not to sue you for violation of copyright.

7 For the first time people with different beliefs fought together and not against each other.

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Critics said “It’s a parody of the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, showing him as an ignorant zealot in the confused political scene of First-Century Palestine. Obscene language is put into the mouth of Brian = Jesus […].” (“From Fringe To Flying Circus” 1980 p. 249) but most of them didn’t even watch the film and if they did, they didn’t understand it. Some of those also complained about the crucifixion scene in the end, but there was no reason really, as Jesus Christ was not the only one who was crucified. This form of capital punishment was just typical for the Roman civilisation. Those who try to find something in the film to complain about, really miss the point of it. The message of the movie was to show people that they don’t have to follow someone because they are all individuals and should find their own way, just as Brian tells his followers.

VII.4. Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life

“It took God six days to create the earth, and Monty Python just 90 minutes to screw it up.” (tagline from http://us.imdb.com/Title?0085959 7.2.2003) Six fish with the Python’s faces want to know the meaning of life, which is just what this film is all about. The movie is parted into several chapters, such as “Part I: The Miracle Of Birth” in which you see a normal birth in a hospital with some disgusting scenes, when they show the baby to the mother or wrap it in rough towels. In the second part of the miracle of birth we see what it is like to become a baby in the third world – in Yorkshire. This time the mother gets her baby while she is washing the dishes and it doesn’t bother her at all, as it didn’t happen the first time. The house is full of kids, as their parents are Christians and “”, although they can’t afford them. The parents have to give their kids away to medical experiments, much to the annoyance of their neighbours, two Protestants who discuss the advantages of being a Protestant. In “Growth And Learning”, the second part of the film, we hear the headmaster, complaining about the fact that some of the students rubbed linseed oil on the school cormorant, saying “[…] it was presented to us […] to commemorate Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British.”.

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This scene is followed by a praising of god, beginning with “O Lord, please don't burn us. Don't grill or toast Your flock. Don't put us on the barbecue or simmer us in stock.” , which again looks as if it was meant to be criticism on the Christian religion. After the “Middle Of The Film“ sequence the fish come to see some other aspects of the meaning of life. In “The Autumn Years” for example, Mr. Creosote, a rather fat and disgusting man, enters a restaurant, orders a bucket because he constantly has to throw up, and loads and loads of food. After eating, he is so stuffed, that when the waiter gives him a waver thin mint to eat, he explodes. The film is full of people who die in wars, or because they were given away to medical experiments, or because someone removed their liver, and in the end they all end up in heaven, where it’s Christmas every day. The movie contains funny and absurd scenes and it even features , the actor who played Arthur Dent in “The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” but still there are some things that make me think of the film as something more than only a line of witty jokes and animations. There is a lot of criticism in this film, against Britain. War is one of the biggest themes in this movie, and so the narrator says throughout the film that “Democracy and humanitarianism have always been trademarks of the ... “. This is of course not true and probably meant to be ironical, as in the Zulu-war scene, all of the soldiers die and nobody really cares, but when one of the officers loses a leg for some reason, everybody’s in panic and tries to find the leg immediately. The British soldiers think that they are worth much more than the Zulus, but for the commanders, they all count equal and if one of their soldiers is crippled for lifetime or even killed, it simply doesn’t matter. The words “who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British” made me wonder too… it probably was the fact that it was the first time ever I saw British actors who really showed the viewers what being colony in the good old days really meant, that made me feel so confused but that’s what it was, as absurd as it can be: keeping China British.

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VIII. Other Films VIII.I. The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash

This is, what it all started with – Offer, as it was read in the show in America. The Beatles of course never appeared, but instead the world came to know the Rutles, a band that was created during the “Rutland Weekend Television” era.

picture from http://rutlemania.org/offer.html 7.2.2003

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The Rutles’ members are Eric Idle as Dirk McQuickly (representing Paul McCartney), Neil Innes as Ron Nasty (a Lennon-like character), as Stig O’Hara and John Halsey8 as Barry Wom. The film “The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash” is a documentary about the Rutles’ career and was written by Eric Idle. All the songs were composed by Neil Innes and because Idle had no time for any rehearsals, Ollie Halsall played the guitar and sang for Eric. The Rutles story is not only a legend, but a living legend, a legend that would live, long after lots of other living legends had died, it is a parody of the Beatles’ story and of the media itself. The research work must have been quite phenomenal, as the result is just perfectly the same as the original Beatles’ history, but with little funny differences in what they really did and said. The “Magical Mystery Tour” for example was changed to “The Tragical History Tour” and instead of LSD scandals the Rutles were introduced by to a different, very strange substance that influenced their lives – tea. Many stars were asked to appear in the movie and so , , Michael Palin, Bianca Jagger, and the actual had their appearances, amongst several other stars. It showed the good and the bad times of the Rutles and how their style changed throughout the years and how they threw away their money. At the end of this persiflage, all the musicians go their separate ways but in real life, the Rutles re-united again, this time with Eric Idle singing instead of lip- synching because of the loss of Ollie Halsall.

VIII.2. A Fish Called Wanda

The film, written by John Cleese, that stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Cline, Michael Palin and Cleese himself, first came into the cinemas in 1988. Wanda, a woman who constantly flirts with everybody in order to get what she wants, Otto, a rather stupid man who thinks he is intelligent because he reads Nietzsche’s philosophy, Ken, who has got a stutter and loves animals more than

8 A drummer of one of Innes’ bands, called „“. He also was member of the band “”, together with one of the best guitarists the world has ever seen, the 5th Rutle Leppo, better known as Ollie Halsall.

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human beings and George, the leader of them all, commit an armed bank robbery and steal rare diamonds. Wanda and Otto then call the police and tell them that it was George who stole the jewellery, in order to have the lute for themselves. Unfortunately George brought it somewhere else, so Wanda starts to date his lawyer, Archie Leech who is unhappily married and has a daughter. She hopes to find out where to find the diamonds with the help of George’s lawyer but because Otto is so jealous, he appears whenever Wanda and Archie are together, and ruins everything. In the end, Wanda and Archie fall in love with each other and find out where the diamonds are, with the help of Ken. Otto too tries to get the jewellery but is held off by animal-loving Ken, who wants to take revenge for his fish that were eaten by Otto in order to make Ken say where to find the lute. Ken finally rolls over Otto with a steamroller and loses his stutter this way. The film ends with Archie and Wanda, marrying in Rio, Ken becoming the Master of Ceremonies at the London Sea World, Otto emigrating to South Africa to become Minister for Justice and George is probably staying in prison for some more years. There are lots of bizarre scenes and brilliant quotes, such as “Alright, alright I apologize. I'm really, really sorry. I apologize unreservedly. I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basic in fact and was in no way fair comment and was motivated purely by malice and I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you or your family and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.” Archie was dangling out of the window, upside down when he said that because otherwise Otto would have let him fall down. In another scene, Wanda wants to prove Otto how very stupid he really is, by letting him know that he was wrong when he thought that Aristotle was a Belgian, the central message of Buddhism is not “every man for himself” and the London Underground is not a political movement – she looked it all up. It was followed by “Fierce Creatures” which is often said to be the second part of the film because the same actors perform the main characters of this film, but the plot of the film hasn’t got anything to do with “A Fish Called Wanda”.

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IX. What Monty Python Means To Me

To be honest, the first time I zapped through the channels on television and stopped to watch some Flying Circus, I really hated it and didn’t think it was particularly funny. For me, it was simply old fashioned, the animations scared me and as I was only about twelve years old, I found it hard to understand any of it, for it was all in English and I didn’t want to read subtitles all the time. Several friends of mine tried to convince me to watch the show with them throughout the years but I stayed stubbornly and didn’t change my mind – which was that I hated it all. I remember that I saw the “Ministry Of Silly Walks” sketch once, late at night, and thought it wasn’t at all bad until I realized that it was Monty Python I was watching, and changed the channel immediately. Finally, in February 2000, I came to see “The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Tribute To Monty Python” on ORF, and just like the host of this show said, my heart fell for Monty Python. In this Tribute, the almost full Monty was interviewed about their Monty Python time and several sketches and scenes from their films were shown. I think it was at the very end of the show, when Eric Idle and all the rest of the cast and the audience began to sing “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” when I made the decision to watch all their films and series and become the worlds greatest Monty Python fan. It might have been the fact that I knew the song but never realized it was by them and it reminded me on my childhood, that made me feel so familiar with the group all of a sudden and I realized that heir humour was exactly like mine – bizarre, disgusting and strange. So I had to crawl back to those who owned all the videos and tried to persuade me to watch the shows, and I had to admit that I was an idiot, not seeing how great the Pythons really were… Little by little I reached my aim and from Monty Python I came to know many more interesting things, like Neil Innes’ work, or the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, I started to read and love Douglas Adam’s books, it helped me to improve my English and brightened up my life.

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Bibliography

Wilmut, R: From Fringe To Flying Circus: Celebrating A Unique Generation Of Comedy 1960-1980 London: Eyre Methuen Ltd., 1980

Johnson, K.”: The First 280 Years Of Monty Python America: St. Martin's Press, 1998

Biolek, A.; Cleese, J; Chapman, G.; Gilliam, T.; Idle, E.; Jones, T.; Palin, M.; Woitkevitsch,T.: Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus: Sämtliche deutschen Shows Germany: Haffmans Verlag AG Zürich, 1998

Webpages: http://pythonline.com http://www.stone-dead.asn.au/ http://www.montypythonpages.com http://www.terryjones.cjb.net/ http://www.dailyllama.com/ http://neilinnes.org http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/python/FlyingCircus.html http://www.imdb.com

Videos:

Monty Python And The Holy Grail

Monty Python’s Meaning Of Life

Monty Python’s Life Of Brian

And Now For Something Completely Different

A Fish Called Wanda

The Rutles – All You Need Is Cash - 29 -

Miller, P.: Monty Python’s Flying Circus Life At Aspen USA, 1998

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