Fun:Monty Python
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== Spamalot == | == Spamalot == | ||
Revision as of 04:52, 20 July 2010
Monty Python's Flying Circus is the greatest sketch-comedy group ever.
Contents |
Quotes
We're not going to bother putting in quotes, as nearly every line out of their mouths is quotable, and plenty of other quote sites exist. Besides, most of the geeks who frequent this site can recite most of Monty Python and the Holy Grail from memory anyway.
Origins
According to Terry Jones, most people don't realize that Monty Python is an anagram of his name.
Core members
- John Cleese - the only one to have a real movie acting career to this day. He left the TV show project after the third season and became the ever hilarious Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers. Classic belly laughs all round.
- Eric Idle - creator of the Rutles projects.
- Graham Chapman - the tall gay alcoholic one. Unfortunately, dead (R.I.P.) Played the lead in the Holy Grail and Life of Brian films.
- Terry Jones - the Welsh one. Co-directed Holy Grail with Terry Gilliam.
- Michael Palin - has made travelogues for the BBC, and the Ripping Yarns series.
- Terry Gilliam - the only American in the group. He wasn't in many of the sketches,[1] but created the absurdist, highly influential animations. He has made a career as a director, with his work including such cool movies as Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In 2006 Gilliam renounced his US citizenship and became solely British.
Occasional members
- Carol Cleveland[2] - a bit of tail, played the sexy young female roles. The unsexy old female roles were played by the male cast members.
- Connie Booth - another bit of tail, brought in by John Cleese, who she later married and unmarried.
- Neil Innes - wrote on occasion, and has stood in for absent Pythons at later appearances. He also worked on the songs, usually with Eric Idle.
- Douglas Adams - contributed to some scripts.
- The Fred Tomlinson Singers - professional singers used as a backing/chorus, most notably in "The Lumberjack Song" and "Camelot" (Holy Grail).
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Their first feature film, Grail is a spoof of the legend of King Arthur, and a musical. It stars Graham Chapman in the lead role, which he plays straight, with hilarious results. It was directed by the two Terrys, with them taking the reins on alternate days of production. The subsequent films were directed by Terry Gilliam alone, since the dual-director idea was nerve-wracking in practice.
Each of the players takes on several roles, both male and female, in the film. This would be repeated in their later films.
While most of the film is a classic, some scenes stand out in the public memory:
- Constitutional peasant ("Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!")
- The Ballad of Camelot ("it's only a model...")
- The Knights who say "Ni!" ("Brrring us... a shrruberrry!!!")
- Bring out your dead!
- Lancelot in the convent
Terry Gilliam, heretofore seen little, also took on several roles, usually covered in mud, the most notable of which is Arthur's horse and squire, "Patsy".
Trivia
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of Andrew Schlafly Junior's favorite movies[3].
Life of Brian
Main article: Life of Brian
Despite vociferous protests from Christians, this parody of Jesus' life from the early 80s has remained popular. It was recently voted the top comedy film of all time by British viewers.
The film was banned for eight years in the Republic of Ireland and for a year in Norway. It was marketed in Sweden as "The film so funny that it was banned in Norway".
The closing theme from the crucifixion scene, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", remains a perennial favorite. It was sung by survivors of the Welsh Guards as their landing ship, Sir Galahad, was bombed and on fire in the Falklands War.
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
This film, which is more of a series of elongated sketches, is their most uneven post-television production. They still argue about why, but one reason that is given is that for various reasons, Cleese did not want to sit down and work on rewriting it one more time to tie it together better. Originally planned as the story of one Everyman's life, probably once again using Chapman as the lead, it ends up having its only continuous thread being that it proceeds from birth to death. Some of the individual sketches are very good, but others fall short of the Monty Python standard.
Like all their films, it is also a musical, featuring timeless classics like "Every Sperm Is Sacred".
Post post Python politics
As much as they still accord some grudging respect to each other, rifts have formed between some of the surviving core members to the point where they refuse to all gather in the same place at the same time. One of their DVD extras makes some fun with this, by having a discussion with all five surviving members apparently in the same room, achieved through electronic trickery and deception.
Interesting?
Chapman, Cleese and Idle were all members of the Cambridge University Footlights Revue, which at that time also included the future Goonies — Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden. The Frost Report brought them together with Jones and Palin at the instigation of Barry Took (a bloody good scriptwriter/comedian/show host in his own right).
Spamalot
In 2007, Eric Idle wrote (with the help of John Du Prez) a musical version of "Holy Grail". It's considered lulzy and amazing even by the Philistines who don't enjoy culture and art.
References, notes, and intramural snark
- ↑ He had a few small parts. He was one of the Spanish Inquisitors, for instance. After the fun they had using him on camera more in the films, the other five expressed regret that they didn't use him more in the television shows.
- ↑ A/k/a "Carol Cleavage"
- ↑ MySpace: Andrew Schlafly
See also
- Philosopher, for Monty's philosopher's song lyrics. What do you mean you don't already know it?