Our family is crazy about the Monty Python crazies! Their TV shows and their movies are totally off the wall bizarre and so incredibly funny. Glenda and I started to watch them back in the 1970’s and our son, Gregory, got fever much later and saw the movies and reruns of the TV show. Still being rerun somewhere, I’m sure. And we use Monty Python quips all of the time, in the house. All we have to do is mention the “cheese shop” or the “dead parrot” skit from their TV shows and we start to laugh.
Their movies are unforgettable. In the 1980’s, we went to see a double feature, "The Meaning of Life" and "The Life of Brian", the latter being about as sacrilegious as you can get. The cinema was on Yonge Street, just south of Bloor. We took Glenda’s sister and her husband with us. They were not quite up to speed on Monty Python and Glenda’s sister spent have her time with her jacket over her eyes.
People living in the Commonwealth are much more likely to have been exposed to Monty Python. In 1986, we moved to Illinois and not too long afterwards we went to see "A Fish Called Wanda" starring some of the Pythons, along with Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline. Glenda and I were almost rolling in the aisles with laughter and almost everyone else sat there quietly. Oh well!
What I did not know, until I came across the first item featured below, was that they wrote books
as well – and they are as looney as the shows!
The Brand New Monty Python Bok; written by the cast members, illustrated by Terry Gilliam (one of the cast members) and a bit by Peter Brookes; edited by Eric Idle; Eyre Methuen Ltd., London 1973.
The title page is buried halfway through the book! Inside the front cover is pasted a fake library card – see the photo above and check out the names. This was their second book. Note, the glittering review comments were penned by them as well. A wild ride.
The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin with Bob McCabe; Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2003.
This is THE book on Monty Python, 360 pages worth. From the blurb – In 1969, six Englishmen (well, one was Welsh, and another was an interloping American) came together to create a television programme about an unscrupulous, untrustworthy, and frankly slimy theatrical agent named Monty Python. The resultant programme was said to be a Flying Circus, although no animals, clowns, high wire acts or trapezes were to be found.
Reading the above snippet, you can see that this book is every bit as nuts as the first one. And just as highly recommended.
The cast broke up and went their separate ways. Cleese did a short lived but highly memorable TV show called “Fawlty Towers”. Now in his 80’s he has put together a play version of “Fawlty Towers” in London with a new cast of characters. For a while he did leadership videos for the corporate World. Palin wonders around the world and writes travel books.
But every once in a while, the cast, I should say the remaining cast, members get together as Python.
Ripping Yarns; Michael Palin and Terry Jones; Eyre Methuen Ltd., London 1973.
Here now are the complete texts of six ripping yarns which set British television back 50 years, illustrated with copious stirring photographs from the BBC films themselves. In this new collection Michael Palin and Terry Jones one third of Monty Python and two thirds of Dr Bert Fegg have blazed an exciting and endearing new trail through the English psyche. The book is ideal reading after lights out, in the colonies, or on a long sea voyage.
Hello Sailor; by Eric Idle; Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1975.
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English comedian, actor, voice actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, writer and comedic composer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of The Rutles and the author of the Broadway musical Spamalot. A competent guitarist, Idle composed many of the group's most famous musical numbers, most notably "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", the closing number of the movie "Life of Brian" which has grown to become a Python signature tune. He was responsible for the "Galaxy Song" from the movie "The Meaning of Life". This is his first of some 10 books. A beautiful copy of a scarce book by a creative genius.