Content deleted Content added
m links added |
|||
Line 42:
Several featured other important British comedy writers or performers of the future, including [[Marty Feldman]], [[Jonathan Lynn]], [[David Jason]], and [[David Frost (broadcaster)|David Frost]], as well as members of other future comedy teams including [[Ronnie Corbett]] and [[Ronnie Barker]] ([[the Two Ronnies]]), and [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], [[Graeme Garden]] and [[Bill Oddie]] (the Goodies).
Following the success of ''[[Do Not Adjust Your Set]]'', originally intended to be a children's programme, with adults, [[ITV]] offered Gilliam, Idle, Jones, and Palin their own series together. At the same time, Chapman and Cleese were offered a show by the BBC, which had been impressed by their work on ''The Frost Report'' and ''At Last The 1948 Show''. Cleese was reluctant to do a [[Double act|two-man show]] for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin and invited him to join the team. With the [[ITV]] series still in pre-production, Palin agreed and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn suggested that Gilliam could provide animations for the projected series. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.<ref name="auto">''The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons''—Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, John Chapman, David Sherlock, Bob McCabe—Thomas Dunne Books; Orion, 2003</ref>
==''Monty Python's Flying Circus''==
Line 55:
Writing started at 9 am and finished at 5 pm. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days, they would join together with Gilliam, critique their scripts, and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a 'writer', rather than an actor desperate for screen time. When the themes for sketches were chosen, Gilliam had [[Blank cheque|carte blanche]] to decide how to bridge them with animations, using a camera, scissors, and airbrush.
While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members (Jones and Palin) was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., the arrival of the [[Spanish Inquisition]] in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In [[Anagram]]s). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's".<ref>Wilmut (1980), p.211</ref> Gilliam's animations, meanwhile, ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship).
Several names for the show were considered before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was settled upon. Some were ''Owl Stretching Time'', ''The Toad Elevating Moment'', ''A Horse, a Spoon and a Bucket'', ''Vaseline Review'' and ''Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot''. ''Flying Circus'' stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it. Many variations on the name in front of this title then came and went (popular legend holds that the BBC considered ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' to be a ridiculous name, at which point the group threatened to change their name every week until the BBC relented). ''Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus'' was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. ''Baron Von Took's Flying Circus'' was considered as an affectionate tribute to [[Barry Took]], the man who had brought them together. ''Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus'' was suggested, then discarded.
Line 100:
===End of ''Flying Circus''===
Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese left the ''Flying Circus'' at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show, and claimed that only two Cleese-and-Chapman-penned sketches in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts.<ref name="auto"/> He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. According to an interview with Idle, "It was on an [[Air Canada]] flight on the way to [[Toronto]], when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom."<ref>[[Richard Ouzounian]], "[http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1152963371205 Python still has legs]", ''Toronto Star'', 16 July 2006</ref>
The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" series before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. The name ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' appears in the opening animation for series four, but in the end credits the show is listed as simply "Monty Python". Despite his official departure from the group, Cleese supposedly made a (non-speaking) cameo appearance in the fourth series, but never appeared in the credits as a performer. Several episodes credit him as a co-writer since some sketches were recycled from scenes cut from the ''Holy Grail'' script. While the first three series contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after six.
Line 114:
====''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1974)====
{{Main|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}
In 1974, between production on the third and fourth seasons, the group decided to embark on their first "proper" feature film, containing entirely new material. ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' was based on [[King Arthur|Arthurian Legend]] and was directed by Jones and Gilliam. Again, the latter also contributed linking animations (and put together the opening credits). Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film, but it was Chapman who took the lead as King Arthur. Cleese returned to the group for the film, feeling that the group were once again breaking new ground. ''Holy Grail'' was filmed on ___location, in picturesque rural areas of [[Scotland]], with a budget of only £229,000; the money was raised in part with investments from rock groups such as [[Pink Floyd]], [[Jethro Tull (band)|Jethro Tull]] and [[Led Zeppelin]]—and UK music industry entrepreneur [[Tony Stratton-Smith]] (founder and owner of the [[Charisma Records]] label, for which the Pythons recorded their comedy albums).
The backers of the film wanted to cut the famous [[Black Knight (Monty Python)|Black Knight]] scene (in which the Black Knight loses his limbs in a duel) but it was eventually kept in the movie.<ref>Interview with John Cleese on Q-The Podcast with host John Ghomeshi, on 16 July 2009</ref>
Line 130:
====''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982)====
{{Main|Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl}}
Filmed at the [[Hollywood Bowl]] in Los Angeles during preparations for ''The Meaning of Life'', this was a concert film (directed by [[Terry Hughes (film director)|Terry Hughes]]) in which the Pythons performed sketches from the television series in front of an audience. The released film also incorporated footage from the [[Germany|German]] television specials (the inclusion of which gives Ian MacNaughton his first on-screen credit for Python since the end of ''Flying Circus'') and live performances of several songs from the troupe's then-current ''[[Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album]]''.
====''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983)====
{{Main|Monty Python's The Meaning of Life}}
Python's final film returned to something structurally closer to the style of ''Flying Circus''. A series of sketches loosely follows the ages of man from birth to death. Directed again by Jones solo, ''The Meaning of Life'' is embellished with some of Python's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers. The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of [[Black comedy|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). At the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone."
Besides the opening credits and the fish sequence, Gilliam, by now an established live action director, no longer wanted to produce any linking cartoons, offering instead to direct one sketch—''[[The Crimson Permanent Assurance]]''. Under his helm, though, the segment grew so ambitious and tangential that it was cut from the movie and used as a supporting feature in its own right. (Television screenings also use it as a prologue.) Crucially, this was the last project that all six Pythons would collaborate on, except for the 1989 compilation ''[[Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python|Parrot Sketch Not Included]],'' where they are all seen sitting in a closet for four seconds. This was the last time Chapman appeared on screen with the Pythons.
Line 154:
In terms of numbers of productions, Cleese has the most prolific solo career, having appeared in 59 theatrical films, 22 TV shows or series (including ''[[Cheers]]'', ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'', Q's assistant in the [[James Bond movies]], and ''[[Will & Grace]]''), 23 direct-to-video productions, six video games, and a number of commercials.<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/ IMDB]; as of January 2005; includes pre-release items.</ref> His BBC sitcom ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' (written by and starring Cleese together with his then-wife [[Connie Booth]]), is considered the greatest solo work by a Python since the sketch show finished. It is the only comedy series to rank higher than the ''Flying Circus'' on the [[BFI TV 100]]'s list, topping the whole poll.
Idle enjoyed critical success with ''[[Rutland Weekend Television]]'' in the mid-1970s, out of which came the Beatles parody [[The Rutles]] (responsible for the [[cult]] [[mockumentary]] ''[[All You Need Is Cash]]''), and as an actor in ''[[Nuns on the Run]]'' (1990) with [[Robbie Coltrane]]. Idle has had success with Python songs: "[[Always Look on the Bright Side of Life]]" went to no. 3 in the UK singles chart in 1991. The song had been revived by [[Simon Mayo]] on [[BBC Radio 1]], and was consequently released as a single that year. The theatrical phenomenon of the Python musical ''[[Spamalot]]'' has made Idle the most financially successful of the troupe post-Python. Written by Idle, it has proved an enormous hit on Broadway, London's West End and also [[Las Vegas]].<ref name="ParkerO'Shea2006">{{cite book
|author1=Alan Parker
|author2=Mick O'Shea
Line 197:
In an interview to publicise the DVD release of ''The Meaning of Life,'' Cleese said a further reunion was unlikely. "It is absolutely impossible to get even a majority of us together in a room, and I'm not joking," Cleese said. He said that the problem was one of business rather than one of bad feelings.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3093564.stm Monty Python reunion 'unlikely'], ''[[BBC News]]'', 9 September 2003</ref> A sketch appears on the same DVD spoofing the impossibility of a full reunion, bringing the members “together” in a deliberately unconvincing fashion with modern bluescreen/greenscreen techniques.
Idle has responded to queries about a Python reunion by adapting a line used by [[George Harrison]] in response to queries about a possible Beatles reunion. When asked in November 1989 about such a possibility, Harrison responded: "As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a Beatles reunion as long as [[John Lennon]] remains dead." Idle's version of this was that he expected to see a proper Python reunion, "just as soon as Graham Chapman comes back from the dead", but added, "we're talking to his agent about terms."<ref name="ChapmanCleese2005">{{cite book
|author1=Graham Chapman
|author2=John Cleese
Line 245:
[[Terry Gilliam]], an American, was the only member of the troupe of non-British origin.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/06/movies/main2071659.shtml |title=Terry Gilliam Sounds Off, Director Of 'Brazil' Says Current Events Parallel His Cult Movie |publisher=CBSNews |date=6 October 2006 |author=David Morgan |accessdate=21 September 2008}}</ref> He started off as an animator and strip cartoonist for [[Harvey Kurtzman]]'s ''Help!'' magazine, one issue of which featured Cleese. Moving from the USA to England, he animated features for ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' and was then asked by its makers to join them on their next project: ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. He co-directed ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' and directed short segments of other Python films (for instance "[[The Crimson Permanent Assurance]]", the short film that appears before ''The Meaning of Life'').
When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin. That left two in their own corners: Gilliam, operating solo due to the nature of his work, and [[Eric Idle]]. Regular themes in his contributions were elaborate wordplay and musical numbers. After ''Flying Circus'', he hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' four times in the first five seasons. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film ''[[Splitting Heirs]]'' (written, produced by and starring him) and 1998's ''[[An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn]]'' (in which he starred), which was awarded five [[Razzies]], including 'Worst Picture of the Year'. He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. He also wrote the Broadway musical ''[[Spamalot]]'', based on the ''Holy Grail'' movie. He also wrote ''[[Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)]]'', an [[oratorio]] derived from the ''Life of Brian''.
[[Terry Jones]] has been described by other members of the team as the “heart” of the operation. Jones had a lead role in maintaining the group's unity and creative independence. Python biographer George Perry has commented that should you "speak to him on subjects as diverse as [[fossil fuel]]s, or [[Rupert Bear]], or mercenaries in the [[Middle Ages]] or Modern China... in a moment you will find yourself hopelessly out of your depth, floored by his knowledge." Many others agree that Jones is characterised by his irrepressible, good-natured enthusiasm. However, Jones' passion often led to prolonged arguments with other group members—in particular Cleese—with Jones often unwilling to back down. Since his major contributions were largely behind the scenes (direction, writing), and he often deferred to the other members of the group as an actor, Jones' importance to Python was often underrated. However, he does have the legacy of delivering possibly the most famous line in all of Python, as Brian's mother Mandy in ''Life of Brian'', "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!", a line voted the funniest in film history on two occasions.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2131880,00.html |title=The last laugh: your favourite 50 |work=The Observer |___location=UK |author=Philip French, Mark Kermode, Jason Solomons, Akin Ojumu, and Killian Fox |date=22 July 2007 |accessdate=21 September 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385293/Life-of-Brian-wins-the-vote-for-film's-best-laughter-line.html |title=Life of Brian wins the vote for film's best laughter line |publisher=Telegraph |author=Sarah Womack |date=19 February 2002 |accessdate=21 September 2008 |___location=London}}</ref>
Line 269:
===Space===
In 2010 the commercial space company [[SpaceX]], launched a wheel of cheese into low earth orbit and returned it safely to the earth. [[Elon Musk]], [[Chief Executive Officer|CEO]] and CTO of SpaceX, claimed this was done as a tribute to Monty Python.
===World records===
Line 282:
===Things named after Monty Python===
Beyond a dictionary definition, Python terms have entered the [[lexicon]] in other ways.
*The [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]] by [[Guido van Rossum]] is named after the troupe, and Monty Python references are often found in sample code created for that language. Additionally, a 2001 [[April Fool's Day]] joke by van Rossum and [[Larry Wall]] involving the merger of Python with [[Perl]] was dubbed "Parrot" after the [[Dead Parrot Sketch]]. The name "Parrot" was later used for [[Parrot virtual machine|a project]] to develop a virtual machine for running [[bytecode]] for interpreted languages such as Perl and Python. Its package index is also known as the "Cheese Shop"<ref>http://www.python.org/about/gettingstarted/</ref> after the [[Cheese Shop sketch|sketch of the same name]]. Also, the [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] wrote some spacecraft navigation software in Python, which they dubbed "Monty". There is also a python refactoring tool called bicyclerepair ( [http://bicyclerepair.sourceforge.net/] ), named after Bicycle Repair Man sketch.
| |||