Monty Python Speaks! - Softcover

Morgan, David

3.93

1,074 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1841151688 ISBN 13: 9781841151687

Publisher: Ted Smart, St. Helens, 1999

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The definitive account of the first thirty years of Monty Python, in the words of the Pythons themselves – John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

‘Some people think it’s very clever and intelligent, and some people say it’s extremely silly and inconsequential, but not many people ignore it’ Michael Palin

With their dead parrots, holy grails and spam, Monty Python revolutionised comedy for the rest of the world. They paved the way for everything from Saturday Night Live to The Young Ones and The Simpsons, ushering in a new brand of surrealist comedy: a stream-of-consciousness sketch show that pushed the boundaries of format, style and content. Its legacy is not only important; it’s monumental.

In Monty Python Speaks!, David Morgan has extensively interviewed the entire world of Python – from producers and collaborators like Douglas Adams and Hank Azaria to the founding members themselves – to create the ultimate record of Britain’s most rebellious and successful comedy act. Packed with rare and never-before-seen photographs, and told with the group’s customary wit and irreverence, this newly updated edition, published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of their first appearance on the BBC, is the inside story of a comedy phenomenon.

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Review:

Here is the history of Python in their own words. The assembler, David Morgan isn't himself very funny, sad to say--he begins with that irritating archness that is the very opposite of Python-humour: "if there is a progenitor to credit (or blame!) for Monty Python..." But mercifully he takes a back seat as the book goes on. Instead we have extensive interviews with all the Pythons, except the dead one, as well as supporting material by various collaborators, from Carol Cleveland and Barry Took through to Douglas Adams (who worked with Graham Chapman in the 1970s). There is some other stuff as well, such as an old Michael Palin interview about Terry Gilliam's Brazil which isn't integrated so well, but taken as a whole this book provides unprecedented insight into the history and mentality of Python.

There are a great many fascinating facts to be gleaned: for instance, that the team came close to calling themselves "Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus" or that American TV insisted on deleting the phrase "his droppings are enormous" from a sketch about a polar bear invading somebody's garden. But the best thing in this volume is the way each Python emerges as a distinct voice: the slightly stiff intelligence of Cleese, the thorough-going niceness of Palin, the rudeness of Idle, the energy of Jones and the--well, the American-ness of Gilliam.

Chapman's voice can be inserted by reading his peculiar memoir, A Liar's Autobiography and in conjunction with those essential texts of scripts from the TV shows, Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just The Words Vol 1 and Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just The Words Vol 2, the entire Python universe can be yours, at least in printed form. --Adam Roberts

Synopsis:

The definitive account of the first thirty years of Monty Python, in the words of the Pythons themselves -- John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. "Gilliam is one of the most manipulative bastards in that group of manipulative bastards. Michael is a selfish bastard, Cleese a control freak, Jonesy is shagged out and now forgets everything, and Graham as you know is still dead. I am the only real nice one!" Eric Idle From the Dead Parrot sketch to The Holy Grail, from Spam to Conquistador Instant Leprosy, from the Judean People's Front to the People's Front of Judea, these are the some of the biggest cults of the last thirty years (nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more). Last year David Morgan extensively interviewed the group and those around them -- including Douglas Adams and Graham Chapman's partner, David Sherlock -- to create the ultimate record of Britain's most revolutionary and successful comedy act. Packed with rare and never-before-seen photographs, and told with all the group's customary wit and irreverence (and spam), this is the inside story of a comedy phenomenon.

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