Directed By: Aubrey Powell
Starring: Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones
Tag line: "Like Handel.. only funnier."
Trivia: This movie was filmed during the show's only European performance at the Royal Albert Hall
Life’s a piece of shit… when you look at it” – Line from the song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”
As much as I love Holy Grail, I’ve always considered 1979’s Life of Brian to be Monty Python’s masterpiece. Written by Python alum Eric Idle and conductor / composer John Du Prez, Not the Messiah: He’s a Very Naughty Boy is billed as a “musical oratorio” based on Life of Brian, and is an often funny, quite entertaining, and very unusual take on the story.
Performed live at the Royal Albert Hall on October 23, 2009 (to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Monty Python’s Flying Circus), Not the Messiah: He’s a Very Naughty Boy features Idle himself and a quartet of professional singers, backed by the BBC Orchestra and chorus. A spoof of Handel’s Messiah oratorio, Not the Messiah re-tells the tale of Brian (a role played by Tenor William Ferguson), the son of a Jew named Mandy (Mezzo Rosalind Plowright) and a Roman soldier, who lived during the time of Christ. Born in a manger, Brian grew to adulthood, joined a revolutionary group (The People’s Front of Judea) led by an anti-Roman fanatic named Reg (Bass Christopher Purvis); fell in love with fellow militant Judith (Soprano Shannon Mercer), and, after being mistaken for the Messiah, was crucified as a traitor to Rome.
With some of the other Pythons popping up occasionally, most notably Michael Palin (in drag), who acts as narrator, Not the Messiah combines a number of musical styles (Doo-wop, folk, classical, and even mariachi) to relate Brian’s story, taking us from the dawn of time (and the beginning of organized religion) through to a rendition of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, easily the most popular song that Python ever performed.
Though they play it straight, everyone on-stage is clearly enjoying themselves, as is the audience in attendance. All of the arrangements are solid, but my favorites include “Chaos and Confusion” (the opening number, which gets things off to an exciting start), “What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?” (the re-enactment of a very funny scene from the movie), “Individuals” (A Bob Dylan spoof, complete with harmonicas), and “The Final Song” (a melancholy tune in which Brian accepts his fate and prepares to die on the cross).
With Idle occasionally reciting lines of dialogue lifted directly from Life of Brian, as well as Michael Palin’s impromptu rendition of “The Lumberjack Song” (which also features Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes), Not the Messiah is an entertaining combo of old and new, taking what had been a hilarious motion picture and transforming it into an impressive musical extravaganza.
Directed By: Paul Miller
Starring: Robert Klein, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam
Line from the film: "The great thing about being around Graham was that he adored bad taste"
Trivia: Among the audience members who were on-hand to watch this live show were George Wendt, Ted Danson,and other members of the cast of Cheers
It had been 18 years since they last appeared together. John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle. Even Graham Chapman, who died in 1989, was there (his ashes, anyway, encased in a tastefully decorated urn). They have all had their successes separately; Michael Palin hosted some amazing travel documentaries for the BBC, and Terry Gilliam has become a world-class director, creating such fantasy classics as Time Bandits and Brazil.
Together, though, these six men will always be known as Monty Python, and Monty Python Live at Aspen is as much a tribute to their incredible accomplishments as it is a refreshing walk down memory lane.
Hosted by Robert Klein, Live at Aspen was recorded in front of a studio audience at the 1998 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. All five living Pythons (as well as the lone dead one) were in attendance, reminiscing about the early days of Monty Python's Flying Circus, their BBC-produced television show (including how the initial studio audience didn’t “get” their humor), and the freedom they experienced while writing and performing their sketches, many of which should be enshrined in the Comedy Hall of Fame (if there is such a thing).
Along with the behind-the-scenes revelations, we are treated to clips from their various skits, such as the wildly popular “Dead Parrot” routine (Michael Palin recalls that it was his mechanic at the time who inspired this particular sketch; whenever his car would give him trouble, this mechanic would tell him that everything was fine).
When the TV show ended, the Pythons turned their attention to the big screen, and in the process churned out comedy gold: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life. Again, clips are shown, like the Black Knight scene in Holy Grail and the always disgusting Mr. Creosole segment from The Meaning of Life (alas, there were no snippets from Life of Brian, due, apparently, to some legal issue they were experiencing with that movie at the time).
There are even scenes from their live performance at the Hollywood Bowl (the “Sit on my Face” barbershop quartet is hilarious), and a brief discussion of the shows they did for German TV (including a bizarre tale of how they were met at the airport by German producers, who immediately shuttled the six off to Dachau for a tour of the infamous concentration camp. To this day, they have no idea why this happened).
As a fan, I loved seeing the troupe together again, and the Pythons proved that, after all these years, they could still make people smile; Eddie Izzard pops up at the beginning (posing as part of the group), though, ironically, it was Graham Chapman’s ashes that got the biggest laugh of the night. There were even some celebrities in the crowd (I noticed just about every cast member from the hit TV series Cheers).
If you love Python like I do, Live at Aspen will serve as a reminder of their greatness, and reassure you that, after all these years, they haven’t lost their touch.
Directed By: Terry Hughes, Ian MacNaughton
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle
Tag line: "Never before in the history of human civilization has there been a movie called Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl"
Trivia: Eric Idle sings the "Lumberjack Song" in this film, even though Michael Palin sang it on the TV series
Filmed over five nights in September of 1980, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl features all six members of the Python troupe presenting some of their most popular skits, as well as a few that the gang they hadn’t performed since their college days.
Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl is a lot like the Python’s first foray into cinematic territory, And Now For Something Completely Different, in that it highlights some of the funnier sketches from their ‘70s TV series, including the “Ministry of Silly Walks”, in which Michael Palin, attempting to obtain government funding, wants to improve upon his “only slightly silly” walk; and “The Argument”, where a man (Palin again) pays to engage in an argument with a professional (John Cleese), only to be disappointed by the outcome. There are musical numbers as well, including “The Lumberjack Song” (performed, for some reason, by Eric Idle instead of Michael Palin, who sang it in both the TV series and Something Completely Different) and a few tunes by the troupe’s longtime collaborator, Neil Innes. The highlight, though, is the always popular ode to the Australian education system, “The Bruce’s Philosopher’s Song”, which Palin, Innes and Idle transform into an audience sing-along.
Yet what I enjoyed most about Live at the Hollywood Bowl were the skits never before broadcast. Included in the mix are “Colin ‘Bomber’ Harris”, an entertaining bit of physical comedy by Graham Chapman, who plays both a wrestler and his own opponent (Chapman first performed this bit while a student at Cambridge). Also included is the incredibly racist musical number, “Never Be Rude to an Arab”, performed by Terry Jones; and what was my favorite skit in the movie, “The Last Supper”, with John Cleese as the Pope and Eric Idle as Michelangelo, who is forced to defend his rather colorful rendition of the famous painting, The Last Supper.
A nice blend of old and new, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a walk down memory lane for Python fans, while, at the same time, giving them a little something they have never seen before.
Directed By: Ian MacNaughton
Starring: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman
Trivia: The movie was intended to introduce American audiences to Python's comedy, but ironically, it did far better business in Britain, where viewers had already seen the movie's sketches
Before tossing their hat into the cinematic ring with 1974’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Pythons (aka Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) made a name for themselves by way of the UK sketch comedy television program, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974.
1971’s And Now For Something Completely Different is a compilation of the Python’s most popular skits from that series’ first two seasons, reshot on film and, unlike the show, not performed in front of a live studio audience.
Directed by Ian MacNaughton (who helmed the TV series as well), And Now For Something Completely Different presents such memorable Python routines as “The Funniest Joke in the World”, about a joke so uproariously funny that anyone who hears it dies laughing, and “Nudge, Nudge”, starring Eric Idle as a sexually frustrated bar patron asking stuffed shirt Terry Jones a string of inappropriate questions. Interspersed between the sketches are animated segments produced by Gilliam, the best of which is “American Defense”, a U.S. propaganda film that, after vilifying the Chinese, transforms into a toothpaste commercial.
Though only sporadically entertaining at the start (aside from the above, I also liked the “Fresh Fruit Self Defense” sequence, as well as the “Expedition to Mt Kilimanjaro” sketch, but the “Marriage Guidance Counselor” skit left me a bit cold), the final half of And Now For Something Completely Different is absolutely hilarious.
The laughs come fast and often starting with the Python’s most famous routine, “The Dead Parrot”, where John Cleese tries to return a deceased parrot he recently purchased at Michael Palin’s pet store, and it all wraps up with “The Upper Class Twit of the Year” competition, in which Chapman, Cleese, Idle, Jones, and Palin play well-to-do imbeciles competing for the title of Upper Class Twit of the Year. These two skits, and all those in between them, are comedic gold.
Directed By: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam
Starring: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle
Tagline: It took God six days to create the earth, and Monty Python just 90 minutes to screw it up"
Trivia: Michael Palin's line, "Hey, but I didn't eat the mousse," is a rare Python ad-lib and was not in the script
Having already tackled the legend of King Arthur (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and Christianity (Life of Brian), Monty Python obviously felt they were ready for something a bit larger in scope, and for my money, it doesn't get much bigger than defining The Meaning of Life!
Returning once again to the sketch format made popular in their Flying Circus television program, the Pythons (or Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric idle and Terry Gilliam) present the story of life in skit format, from birth and early education up to and including death.
The lads make a few detours along the way, delving into such topics as sex, theology, and war, and even have time for a musical number or two. Yet, ultimately, The Meaning of Life is about just that, explaining why mankind is here on this planet, and offering a hypothesis on the true reason for existence.
On second thought… no... it isn’t about that at all.
The Meaning of Life is yet another triumph for the Pythons. Among the highlights are a classroom sequence, set at an all-boys prep school, where the Headmaster (John Cleese) is instructing his pupils on the finer points of sex by way of a live demonstration; and a late scene in which a dinner party is interrupted when Death (Cleese again) comes knocking.
Of course, the group occasionally crosses the line into hilariously bad taste, including the “organ donor” skit and, even worse, a sequence set in an upper-class restaurant, where the incredibly wealthy Mr. Creosote (Terry Jones), who also happens to be the world’s most obese man, wreaks havoc with his rather nasty habit of vomiting every few seconds. The movie also boasts a handful of memorable musical numbers, like the not-so-subtle jab at Catholicism, “Every Sperm is Sacred”, and the Busby Berkeley-inspired “Christmas in Heaven” grand finale.
The Meaning of Life has all this, and some fish too!
For those of you wondering if, during all the chaos laid out above, the Pythons ever do get around to enlightening the audience on the true meaning of life, I can assure you they do.
But if it’s an earth-shattering revelation you are craving, well… you'll probably be disappointed.
Directed By: Terry Jones
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin
Tag line: "He wasn't the messiah. He was a very naughty boy"
Trivia: The only character to appear in all four Python films (And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life and this one) is God
Soon after its release in 1979, Monty Python’s Life of Brian was attacked by religious leaders, who deemed it “blasphemous”. As a result, the movie was banned outright in countries such as Ireland and Norway.
Even before its first day of shooting, Life of Brian had problems; EMI, the company that originally agreed to finance the picture, pulled out after deeming the final script a bit too risque (fortunately, good friend George Harrison stepped in, and Handmade Films was born).
I find this all very interesting, especially when you consider that Life of Brian isn't so much a film about Jesus as it is a comedy that takes place at the same time Jesus walked the earth. William Wyler did this very thing in 1959 with Ben-Hur, only without the jokes.
Brian (Graham Chapman), whose mother is an unmarried peasant (director Terry Jones, in drag), was born in a Bethlehem manger.
No, not that manger...the one across the street from it.
Brian grows to manhood in Roman-occupied Judea, and dreams of the day the Romans will be driven from his homeland. To this end, he joins the People’s Front of Judea, a rebel organization - led by talkative militant Reg (John Cleese) - whose ultimate goal is to dispose of the Romans before a rival group, the Judean People’s Front, beats them to it. It’s here that Brian meets Judith (Sue Jones-Davies), a fellow rebel who instantly captures his heart.
But even with a new love to brighten his days, things don’t go well for Brian. First, he’s captured by the Romans and brought before Pontius Pilate (Michael Palin) for sentencing. Then, after escaping that fate, he is mistaken for the Messiah by a pack of persistent followers who refuse to leave him alone!
Life of Brian takes humorous potshots at everything from speech impediments to sci-fi, though for my money its funniest scene centers on a poorly-organized public stoning, with women in beards posing as men and a Jewish Official (John Cleese) who doesn't realize until its much too late that uttering the word “Jehovah” can be hazardous to your health.
But along with the comedy, Monty Python’s Life of Brian also conveys a very intriguing message, one that I'm convinced was at the root of the problems it experienced with religious leaders. When Brian is erroneously declared the new Messiah by a rowdy gang of rabble, he does his best to convince them that he is not “divine”, that he's just as ordinary as everybody else. He says (in no uncertain terms) that his "followers" should learn to stand on their own two feet, that they don’t need anybody telling them what to do.
Is this message anti-theology? Perhaps. Yet one could argue it’s also anti-government, anti-establishment, and a few other “antis” I can’t even think of right now. The Python’s aren’t so much lampooning organized religion (at least not exclusively) as they are addressing the fundamental desire to latch on, to be led through life instead of setting out on one's own path.
It's a sticky subject, to be sure, but to their credit, the Pythons don't shy away from it; they tackle it head-on.
The fact that Life of Brian is also flat-out hilarious is just icing on the cake
Directed By: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle
Tag line: "And now! At Last! Another film completely different from some of the other films which aren't quite the same as this one is."
Trivia: Michael Palin, at an even dozen, plays the most characters in the film
I grew up watching reruns of Monty Python’s Flying Circus on public television (which, in the Philadelphia area, was broadcast every Saturday night at 11 p.m). While in many ways an extension of the skit format that made their show a smash hit, Monty Python and the Holy Grail also gave the boys a chance to narrow their focus by exploring a single topic, making it the best of both worlds for Python fans.
Oh yeah…it’s damn funny, too.
King Arthur (Graham Chapman) is searching for the bravest knights in the land to join his court at Camelot. Over the course of his journey, he encounters many noble knights, including Sir Bedevere (Terry Jones), Sir Galahad the Pure (Michael Palin), Sir Lancelot the Brave (John Cleese), and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot (Eric Idle), all of whom swear their allegiance.
Once assembled, Arthur and his knights are given a divine task, assigned by God himself: seek out the Holy Grail. The search for the Grail is a perilous one, and the knights must outwit (among others) the gruesome knights who say ‘Ni’, a wizard named Tim (Cleese), and a ferocious, man-eating rabbit that might just bite their heads off.
Though it does follow a specific narrative, Monty Python and the Holy Grail relates its story by way of some very funny vignettes, seemingly unrelated parts that. when merged, form a hilarious whole. In an obvious spoof of the Middle Ages' low mortality rate, a man (Eric Idle) guides a cart through the streets and, banging a pot, exclaims “Bring out your dead”, at which point people start dragging deceased family members from their homes, as if it were trash collection day.
Even Arthur himself isn’t above reproach, and is afforded none of the honors normally bestowed upon a king. To begin with, he doesn’t own a horse; instead, his manservant, Patsy (Terry Gilliam), follows him around, striking two coconuts together to make it sound as if Arthur is trotting along on horseback. Then, he has to deal with a couple of peasants (Michael Palin and Terry Jones) who argue with him over the proper way to appoint a national leader (“King eh? Very nice. And how'd you get that? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma”).
From there, it's off to a castle, where Arthur is ridiculed and taunted by a particularly rude French knight, played by John Cleese (“I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction”). As if all this weren’t enough, Arthur finds he must battle the dreaded Black Knight (Cleese again), a valiant warrior who never gives up…even after losing a limb or two.
By the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the boys will have added more than a few rough edges to Arthur’s legendary Round Table. And odds are you'll still be laughing well after the movie is over.
