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Monty Python: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Monty Python
On the 11th of May 1969, six men gathered in a Kashmiri tandoori restaurant in Hampstead, London, to change the course of comedy forever. This was not a planned meeting of a pre-existing group, but a collision of talents that had been circling each other for years. Graham Chapman and John Cleese had met at Cambridge University, while Terry Jones and Michael Palin had crossed paths at Oxford. Eric Idle was also at Cambridge, and Terry Gilliam had been spotted by Cleese in New York City. They pooled their writing and performing efforts to create a show that would discard the rules of television comedy. The BBC had initially offered Chapman and Cleese a two-man show, but Cleese was reluctant to work with Chapman due to his erratic personality and alcoholism. Cleese invited Palin to join them, and Palin suggested Jones and Idle, who in turn wanted Gilliam to provide animations. The result was Monty Python's Flying Circus, which debuted on the BBC on the 5th of October 1969. The name itself was a joke, chosen because the group thought it sounded funny, with no deeper significance than that. The show was loosely structured as a sketch comedy but used a stream-of-consciousness approach, allowing sketches to blend into one another through Gilliam's surreal animations. This innovative style pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in content and form, creating a self-contained comedy unit that had creative control to experiment without interference.
The Art Of The Anti Punchline
The Pythons rejected the traditional structure of comedy sketches, which relied on building up to a punchline. Instead, they decided to simply not bother to cap their sketches in the traditional manner. Early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline, with one scene having Cleese turn to Idle and remark that the sketch was the silliest he had ever been in, after which they all resolved not to carry on and simply walked off the set. They experimented with ending sketches by cutting abruptly to another scene or animation, walking offstage, addressing the camera, or introducing a totally unrelated event. A classic example of this approach was the use of Chapman's anti-silliness character of the Colonel, who walked into several sketches and ordered them to be stopped because things were becoming far too silly. They also used a giant foot, a trademark of Gilliam's stop-motion animation, to suddenly squash things, including the show's title at the end of the opening credits. Another favourite way of ending sketches was to drop a cartoonish 16-ton weight prop on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum. The Python theme music was the Band of the Grenadier Guards' rendition of John Philip Sousa's The Liberty Bell, which was first published in 1893. Under the Berne Convention's country of origin concept, the composition was subject to United States copyright law which states that any work first published prior to 1924 was in the public domain, enabling Gilliam to co-opt the march for the series without having to make any royalty payments. The show popularised innovative formal techniques, such as the cold open, in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements.
When did Monty Python's Flying Circus debut on the BBC?
Monty Python's Flying Circus debuted on the BBC on the 5th of October 1969. The group formed after a meeting on the 11th of May 1969 in a Kashmiri tandoori restaurant in Hampstead, London.
Who were the six members of Monty Python and how did they meet?
The six members were Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam. Chapman and Cleese met at Cambridge University, while Jones and Palin met at Oxford, and Gilliam was spotted by Cleese in New York City.
What was the budget for the Monty Python film Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
Monty Python and the Holy Grail had a budget of only 229,000 pounds. The film was filmed on location in rural areas of Scotland and received investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Led Zeppelin.
When did John Cleese leave the Monty Python group?
John Cleese left the Flying Circus at the end of the third series before the programme called a halt in 1974. Cleese felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer and found Chapman difficult to work with due to his alcoholism.
Which charity received the most support from Monty Python members between 1976 and 1981?
Amnesty International was the most frequent and consistent beneficiary of Monty Python's charitable endeavours. The troupe appeared in four major fund-raisers known collectively as the Secret Policeman's Ball shows to raise money and awareness for human rights.
When did the final Monty Python reunion show take place?
The final Monty Python reunion show took place on the 20th of July 2014 at the O2 Arena in London. Michael Palin stated this performance would be the last time the troupe would perform together.
Following the success of the television series, the group decided to embark on their first proper feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in 1974. The film was based on Arthurian legend and was directed by Jones and Gilliam. It was filmed on location in picturesque rural areas of Scotland, with a budget of only 229,000 pounds, raised in part with investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Led Zeppelin. The backers of the film wanted to cut the famous Black Knight scene, but it was eventually kept in the film. The film was selected as the second-best comedy of all time in an ABC special, and viewers in a Channel 4 poll placed it sixth. The group's next film, Monty Python's Life of Brian, was released in 1979 and was a satire on credulity and hypocrisy among the followers of someone who had been mistaken for the Messiah. The film was shot on location in Tunisia, with finances provided by The Beatles' George Harrison, who together with Denis O'Brien formed the production company Hand-Made Films for the movie. Harrison had a cameo role as the owner of the Mount. Despite its subject matter attracting controversy, particularly upon its initial release, it has been ranked among the greatest comedy films. The Pythons' final film, The Meaning of Life, was released in 1983 and returned to something structurally closer to the style of Flying Circus. It was by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of black humour, garnished by some spectacular violence, including an operation to remove a liver from a living patient without anaesthetic and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote exploding over several restaurant patrons after finally giving in to the smooth maître d' telling him to eat a wafer-thin mint.
The Departure And The Solo Careers
Cleese left the Flying Circus at the end of the third series, feeling he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show. He claimed that only two sketches penned by Cleese and Chapman in the third series were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts. He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. The rest of the group carried on for one more half season before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. Each member has pursued various film, television, and stage projects since the break-up of the group, but often continued to work with one another. Cleese is best known for the sitcom Fawlty Towers, which is the only comedy series to rank higher than the Flying Circus on the BFI TV 100's list. Palin and Jones wrote the comedic TV series Ripping Yarns, and Jones also appeared in the pilot episode. Gilliam directed Jabberwocky and Brazil, and wrote and directed an additional six films. Idle enjoyed critical success with Rutland Weekend Television, and his musical Spamalot has made him the most financially successful of the troupe after Python. Chapman died of metastatic throat cancer on the 4th of October 1989, and his comedic fictional memoir, A Liar's Autobiography, was adapted into an animated 3D film in 2012. Jones died on the 21st of January 2020 from complications of dementia.
The Secret Policeman's Ball And Human Rights
Members of Python contributed their services to charitable endeavours and causes, with the cause that has been the most frequent and consistent beneficiary being the human rights work of Amnesty International. Between 1976 and 1981, the troupe or its members appeared in four major fund-raisers for Amnesty, known collectively as the Secret Policeman's Ball shows. The brainchild of John Cleese, these benefit shows in London and their many spin-offs raised considerable sums of money for Amnesty, raised public and media awareness of the human rights cause, and influenced many other members of the entertainment community to become involved in political and social issues. Among the many musicians who have publicly attributed their activism to the inspiration of the work in this field of Monty Python are Bob Geldof, U2, Pete Townshend, and Sting. Cleese and Jones had an involvement in all four Amnesty benefit shows, Palin in three, Chapman in two, and Gilliam in one. Idle did not participate in the Amnesty shows. The Secret Policeman's Ball were the first stage shows in the UK to present comedic performers in the same setting and shows as their contemporaries in rock music. Since 1987, the Balls featured newer generations of British comedic performers, such as Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and puppets from the satirical TV show Spitting Image, with many attributing their participation in the show to their desire to emulate the Python's pioneering work for Amnesty.
Reunions And The Final Goodbye
Since The Meaning of Life, their last project as a team, the Pythons have often been the subject of reunion rumours. The final appearance of all six together occurred during the 1989 Parrot Sketch Not Included 20 Years of Monty Python TV special. Chapman's death in October 1989 put an end to the speculation of any further reunions. However, there were several occasions after 1989 when the remaining five members gathered together for appearances. In 1998, during the US Comedy Arts Festival, the five remaining members, along with what was purported to be Chapman's ashes, were reunited on stage for the first time in 18 years. In 2013, the Pythons lost a legal case to Mark Forstater over royalties for the derivative work Spamalot. They owed a combined 800,000 pounds in legal fees and back royalties to Forstater. They proposed a reunion show to pay their legal bill. On the 19th of November 2013, a new reunion was reported, following months of secret talks. The original plan was for a live, one-off stage show at the O2 Arena in London on the 1st of July 2014. The tickets for this show went on sale in November 2013 and sold out in just 43 seconds. Nine additional shows were added, all of them at the O2, the last on the 20th of July. They have said that their reunion was inspired by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Michael Palin stated that the final reunion show on the 20th of July 2014 would be the last time that the troupe would perform together. It was screened to 2,000 cinemas around the world.