[indistinct chattering]
[audience cheering]
[man]
-Shh?-[all chuckle quietly]
[music plays]
We've got ten minutesof overture?
Three minutes.
-[applause]-[chorus hums "Sit On My Face"]
[all singing indistinct]
[audience claps to the beat]
[all continue, indistinct]
♪ Life can be fineIf we both 69 ♪
♪ If we sit on our facesIn all sorts of placesAnd play ♪
♪ Until we're blown away ♪
[applause]
[audience cheering]
Thank you, gents,have a good show.
-Thank you very much.-Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[Idle] I have never stoppedbeing on stage,
I continued to bestuck at being a comedian,sad and pathetic.
[Gillam] Laughter is the fuelof the Pythons,
without laughter they die,
sad, horrible, old menin their lonely mansions.
[Cleese] When you start,you go out with every audience
you don't know if they'regonna hate you or not.
That's why comedianstalk about dying.
[Palin] There are religions,there are companies
which are desperatelytrying to control
what we are, what we think.
And we're just saying,"Up yours!"
[Jones] It is funto be together,
we do have a good timewhen we finally get together,
it's just such a nightmaregetting everybody together.
[indistinct chatter]
[whistle blows]
[matador music plays]
[man] Olé!
[indistinct chattering]
Python is weird.
It's weird that it survived,
it's weird it wenton television,
it's weird it went onin America,
it's weird it goes on,it's not normal.
It should be forgotten,it's 45 years or more.
[panting]
It's...
[Cleese] Monty Python'sFlying Circus.
[Palin] Welcome tothe Ronald Reagan memorial ball,
here in the pretty littleLA suburb of Hollywood.
♪ I put on women's clothing ♪
♪ And hang around in bars ♪
[Palin] Part ofthe absurdity of Python,
it was just aboutuniversal human behaviour.
It was poking fun, it wasn'tgoing head on at a target,
in any shape or form,
it was playing with people,making people look silly,
making people in powerlook silly.
Oh, I've hada bitch of a morningin the High Court.
Oh, I could stampmy little feet
the way those councillorscarry on.
-Don't I know it, love.-Oh, dear...
Objection here,objection there...
Must be why people all overthe world still like Python,
because it does debunk
and, sort of, undercutpomposity in all shape and form.
I'll tell youwhat I want,
I want a Last Supperwith one Christ,
12 disciples,no kangaroos,
no trampoline acts,
by Thursday lunch oryou don't get paid!
Bloody fascist!
Look, I'm the bloody pope, I am.
It does showthat without destroying,
without asking you to sign upto revolution,
allows you to make funof wherever you are
and whatever circumstances.
-What do you want?-Well, I was told--
Don't give me that,you snotty-faced heapof parrot droppings!
-What?!-Shut yourfestering gob, you tit!
Your typemakes me puke!
You vacuous, toffee-nosed,malodorous pervert!
Listen, I came herefor an argument.
Oh... oh, I'm sorry,but this is abuse.
Oh, I see,terribly sorry.
You want room 12Anext door.
I see,thank you very much.
Not at all.
[indistinct chattering]
[chatter continues]
[Palin] We're in a meeting.We're just aboutto read the script.
It's the opening of the show.
Terry is in the audienceand receives a phone call.
[woman] Commencing from about20 minutes before curtain,
he appears on screen at regularintervals going, "Hello!"
[all] Hello]
It felt like no time at all hadpassed since we did that sketch.
There's somethingabout the brain,you're in that room again,
and it's the same as30 years have gone by,
but it just felt familiar.
[dramatic music]
Nobody expectsthe Spanish Inquisition,
our chief weapon is surprise!
Surprise and fear, fear and...
Our two weapons arefear and surprise.
Our three weapons are,
fear, surpriseand ruthless efficiency
and almost fanatical devotion--Oh, four!
Four, amongst our weaponsare such elements--I'll come in again.
[chattering]
[woman] Celia, I comefrom Spain, why now?
Please don't tell meit's because of the money.
Nobody expectedthe Spanish Inquisition!
I think the answer is,we're all trying to payfor Terry Jones' mortgage.
-Yeah.-Terry's mortgage.
[man] Is this a one and only?
Will, at first it'll bethe one and only.
It depends how long people likeEric and Michael live, really.
[man #2] I imagineone of the reasons thishasn't happened before
is maybe it'd be just milkingthe old material,
have you had to overcomeany sense of guilt?
I think the cowdied years ago.
[laughter]
[man #3] You've obviously gota massive legacy behind you,
are you worried thatyou might mess it up
or you'd have a lot ofangry fans coming after you?
If we left it too long,it would be too late.
We don't havethat long, do we?
-No, we don't.-Sixty years between us?
[inaudible conversations]
[Gilliam] Python never reallydid things for the money.
It was nice making moneydoing things occasionally,
but that wasn't the motivefor doing things,
except for the O2 show,
it was the first time it became,
"Ah, we needto make some money".
[Palin] We had gotten ourselvesinto a lawsuit,
which was to do with royaltieson merchandising
for a man who'd been one ofthe producers of Holy Grail.
Seven years he's beenpursuing us,
seven years, it's cost usa million quid with lawyers
just to turn up and say,"No, that's not true,"
just to defend yourself.
And we were kindof laughing about it,
I mean, nobody was in despair,we were just...
Insane!
Why didn't we settle,five, six years ago?
[Idle] And so, we needto get out of this mess,
who could possibly help us?
And then I rememberedmy old friend Jim Beach,
he flew in from Switzerland,he sat in a meeting
and he said after,"You're fucked."
He said,"You really are in trouble."
But he said,"If you did one show at O2,
you could just pay offall this debt that you have."
And that was justa breakthrough,
everybody said, "Yes" at once.It was fantastic.
I thought, well...
16,000, it'll be a fun,interesting experience,
maybe we'll be able to sellthree or four nights.
It's gonna be 50,000probably all over the UK,
and then we went on sale
and suddenly we were world newsand we were terribly tickled
because we'd been forgottenfor so many years.
It was terribly funny.
Monty Python,are they still going?
They're doing ten shows.Do you wanna go?
Ten shows?Wow, that's pretty amazing.
They must be coining it in.
I bet it's expensive.
But I mean, who wantsto see that again, really?
I mean it was really funnyin the 60s.
Well, the first show sold outin 40 seconds.
Wow, that's pretty amazing,I mean...
Still, a bunchof wrinkly old men
trying to relive their youthand make a lot of money.
The best onedied years ago!
Maybe back in the 70sit was fantastic.
I mean, it wasthe funniest thing.
[Palin] All of us, with thepossible exception of Gilliam,
were brought upon stage performances,
that's where we were bloodied,
that was our apprenticeshipat university,
writing and performingour own material
in front of a live audience.
["I Like Traffic Lights" plays]
[Palin] We got the taste forlive at the Lanchester,
I think if was the BelgraveTheatre Coventry,
which is a nice theatre,
and it was just a buzz,it was just a joy.
It was kind of fairly obviousto us all
that we needed to makea bit more money
'cause Pythondidn't pay very much.
We all had to... six of ushad to share the fees,
and the fees wereridiculously low,
so what else could we do toaugment our earnings?
So, a stage tour was one ofthe things that was mentioned.
[Gilliam] Travelling aroundEngland was quite nice
and being with the groupwas exciting,
something one had alwaysdreamed of doing,
you're in the circus, you'rea little travelling troupe.
You're headingfrom town to town,
one-night stands... all thesethings that one dreams about.
It never goes quite like that.
It's always much moreshambolic and messy.
[Jones] We had a driverwho missed the turnings.
[laughs]
And we said,
"You missed that turning!"
And we later learnedthat he was short-sighted.
He couldn't see...
I don't know how many dates,14, 15?
And it was pretty rough early
because it was usually chaosgetting the film cues right,
and we had an idiotdoing the sound.
As far as I remembered,we'd opened in Southampton,
and then we went onto Brighton the next night,
and I rememberthat fairly distinctly,
because I had not wantedto do the silly walks,
it was nevermy favourite sketch.
And I never quite understoodwhy everyone loved it so much,
it was a bit of a mysteryto me, really.
And when I did it the firstnight in Southampton,
it laid a complete egg.
There I was,capering around on stage
in this embarrassing wayin total silence,
and when I came off I said,
"I told you so, I'm never doingthat fucking sketch again."
I said, "I'm out of here,I'm not doing it."
They all said,"Do it one more time,"I said, "No, that's it."
And then they went on,like they always do with me,"Please, do it one more time".
So, I did it the next nightat Brighton
and the bloody audience laughedand laughed and laughed,
so I was saddled with doingthat wretched sketch.
You see, as Defence, Education,Housing, Health,
Social Security, Silly Walks,
they're all supposedto get the same.
But last year, the governmentspent less on silly walks
than it did on industrialreorganisation.
We're supposed to get348 million pounds a year
to cover our entiresilly walks program.
-Coffee?-Yes, please.
[loud cheers and applause]
[music playing]
[Palin] In the back of my mindwas we can't just presume,
because we're 70and we're Python,
everyone is gonna come alongand say,
"Hey, great, they're stillalive and can make comedy".
We've got be as funnyas we ever were.
We've got to be ableto make people laugh
as much as they didwhen they first sawthe sketches, if not more.
There's gonna be a lotof bullshit out there tonight.
That's why we've gotthe high heels on,
to deal with steppingin the bullshit.
[Gilliam] We ended Python30 years ago,
and I thought we endedon a few highs,
and we endedwith a bit of dignity
and it wasn't goingto be a bunch of old farts
trying to scrabble togetherto get some money.
We'd been classy, we quitwhen we were still good.
We mustn't be embarrassing,
it'd be awful if we'd come backand it's just embarrassing.
[audience cheering]
He's got a cheer straight away.
[Idle] This is our very firstdress rehearsal,
things can go wrongin a dress rehearsal,
we have got a technical namefor that in the theatre,
it's called a "fuck-up".
The warm up is always good,aren't they?
Why don't they get them here?
It was quite good this one.
I think he should be in theshow, I think he's good enough
to do some of the smaller partsin the show.
[Idle] There was a lot ofdoubt, my ass was on the line.
They'd blame me totally,so I was very concerned.
It can only go downhillfrom here.
And it does.
[speaking in Spanish]
[all cheering in Spanish]
[in Spanish]
[Cleese snickers]
"La..." Oh, never mind.
Normally, Graham Chapmanwould be saying,
"We can't show it becausethe video has gone blank."
There we are... a bit.
[laughter]
That's fucking nice-- Now,that's 40 minutes of stand-up.
We could try a pictureof a llama, could we?
[Idle] Yeah.
On the video,is it still a blank...
No, no, it's all workingbeautifully now.
The moment you came back in,it was all up.
[man] And now,Radio 4 will explode.
[explosion]
Uh, no, it won't...
It didn't explode.Oh, dear.
[laughter]
[Cleese] Oh, well...
[man] Yeah, I think,from the outside... Oops.
And there was a big panic,
"It doesn't work, we haveto change this, change that."
It was not at all good.
I promise.
Well, anyway...
-Nice to see you.-See you later.
The LH2, that I foundquite difficult
because you suddenly realisethe dimensions of the stage,
a lot of technical stuff,
suddenly I thought, "Oh, my God,this is gonna overwhelm us."
That's when I began to think,"Oh, this is gonna beright up to the wire."
[indistinct chattering]
-[gong resonates]-[whimsical music plays]
[Cleese] One ofthe things about the O2,
is of course,it's so expensive to hire
that you can't hire it
and have a full dress rehearsalthe night before.
So the first timeyou perform there,
you haven't beenin the theatre 24 hours,
at four a.m. the equipmentstarted to arrive.
We had a short rehearsalat about three.
I like Chinese.
I come from Montreal, Canada.
We come fromGoteborg, Sweden.
Flew in yesterdayfrom Switzerland.
We came from Italy to seethe Monty Python live mostly.
I came from Serbiato see Monty Python today.
We've come from Barcelonato see Monty Python.
Yeah, man!
You realise in the end
we are rather lucky to get awaywith doing our jokes,
having fun together.
I don't think you'd seeany Pythons going around saying,"We're legends," you know.
"We have tossed asidethe barriers of comedy
and created somethingnew and wonderful."
That's what other people say,we know that's bullshit.
[siren]
-[woman] There's a siren...-Oh, yeah.
That was Terry Gilliambeing rushed to the Arena.
[man on P.A.] Ladies and gents,we're arriving at London Bridge,
alight fromthe front of the boat,
please take all personalbelongings with you.
[Gilliam] My stomachwent into my heart
when "we", the group,
agreed that "we"would do a show.
'Cause that's the last thingI wanted.
Gotta be on the move'cause I'm late.
[Gilliam] At the same time,the group is the groupis the group.
It's as simple as that and onefeels one's gotta be part of it.
-Ready? Way to go.-Sorry, well done, thanks a lot.
Cheers. Enjoy it.
Look at them!They're already pouring in.
[indistinct chattering]
It's ten minutes to six,
and in another hourand 40 minutes,
we will go on and there will be50,000 people out there.
Python doesn't do big stuff.It's quiet.
People sitting there chatting,is what it's about.
So, we've chosen this space,
which seems just about right,you know.
A few members of the familyand a couple of friends,
and that will be it.
I'm really lookingforward to it,
really looking forward to it.
I just want to keep this feelingI feel at the moment
for the next hourand 40 minutes.
[man] You alright, John?
I think it was a llama.
[laughter]
[Cleese] When you firstgo out on stage, if youtry to make people laugh,
and you fail,it's basically humiliating.
Even if you tell a bad jokeat a party,
or tell a joke badlyand nobody laughs,
you know, there's a momentafterwards of silence
and then somebody sayssomething to try to sort ofbreak the embarrassment.
When you're trying to be funnyin front of a lot of peopleand they are not laughing,
it's pretty terrible.
[whimsical music]
Good evening, hello.
[man] It's what it's all beenbuilding to. You ready?
Oh, no. It's afterwardswe're building to.
Yes, the mindlessadulation we need.
I suggested it to them,I can't say it's my idea,
I just said,"Why don't you do this?"
They were all getting onso well when they metat the end of August,
that everybody seemed to agree,I was astonished.
People are arriving,go shoot them.
Documentaries,
you know, you are supposedto observe, not interfere.
I think you, of all people,would know that the observer
interferes with the result,doesn't he?
-[man] It's quantum mechanics.-Quantum mechanics! Hello?
You don't even knowwhat a quantum mechaniclooks like, do you?
[audience cheering, whistling]
[loud applause and cheers]
Shh! Shh!
[Gilliam]
[Cleese]
[theme from2001: Space Odyssey plays]
Fuck off, John.
[all laughing]
[music continues]
[whimsical music]
[sounds of glass shattering]
[loud cheers and applause]
[Idle] I wasn't doing anything.I didn't have a gig lined up,
because of Spamalot,and musical comedy and theatre
and all that experience,
I would probably be the bestto take it on.
[Gilliam] Eric, would it workto bring the flower arrangingup there?
No, no, no, don't start fuckingwith the order.
This will work very wellin the order.
My instinct from very early onwas very much to trust Eric.
And it was clear to methat Eric was going to add
a song and dance element to it,
which seemed to me the wayto fill this huge arena.
[indistinct chatter]
Nobody's ever filled up O2,that size space, with a revue.
I went to Franceand I wrote for two weeks.
Then I thought, well, I thinkwhat I need to do nowis make this a musical.
And it will look like a show,
and then we'll come onand do our bits.
Can you name a single songor dance
from the first three series?
It was a completely differentkind of show,
the tone was different,
there was enormous amountof Eric's favourite filth.
It was a wildly different show,
except there were a fewsketches, famous old sketches.
[indistinct singing]
[man] We get John on behindwith the parrot hidden,
and then he goes...[vocalizing]
I wish to complainabout this parrot.
And we all run off andthe parrot sketch takes place.
I think Eric always had aproblem being the single Pythonwriting on his own.
I don't think you cansort of underestimatehow that must feel.
So, I think Eric feels thathe's got something to prove,
to the rest of us.
♪ Some things in life are bad ♪
♪ They can reallyMake you mad ♪
You see, if I'm just doing this,they're lemons.
You know, it's likethey've got nothing to do,
but if we all sing it together,arms around each other,
you know, there's a kind ofa nice... [whooshing]
within it for themas a farewell.
They didn't invite me for about15 years to meetings,I don't know why.
-I was in L.A. so they'd meet...-[man] Yeah, quite.
They're dreadful at business,they're really dreadful.
They need me,they need me.
We can create thissort of huge idea
that the universe itselfis expanding and expanding.
♪ We're 30,000 light yearsFrom galactic central point ♪
♪ We go 'round everyTwo hundred million years ♪
♪ And our galaxy is only oneOf millions of billions ♪
♪ In this amazingAnd expanding universe ♪
[man] Now, there are manyreasons why I find that songscientifically inaccurate.
This statement that space timeexpands at the speed of light,
well, there was a periodof exponential expansion
between ten to the minus-36and ten to the minus-32 secondsafter the Big Bang,
called inflation in which...
[screams]
[man] Cut, please.
Very good.
-Excellent fall.-[laughter]
You could give hima bit longer than that.
[people cheering]
I have been friends withProfessor Brian Cox for a fewyears, and we have a lot of fun.
And we drink a lot of Ruinartand discuss the universe.
[Idle] That's exactlyhow it should be.
How did you cometo be doing this silly joke?
I think you might'vebeen drunk.
You sent me an email saying,
"Would you be able to getStephen Hawking to do a gag?"
I said, "Yeah."
And I emailed himbut the funny thing was,
within about a minuteor two minutes,an email came back saying,
"Yes, big Python fan,definitely,"straight from Steven.
[Idle] We havea surprise for you.
We'd like to play you a song,if that's okay.
Can we do that?
♪ Just rememberThat you're standing ♪
♪ On a planet that's evolving ♪
♪ And you're revolvingAt 900-miles an hour ♪
♪ The sun and you and me andAll the stars that we can see ♪
♪ Are movingAt a million miles a day ♪
♪ In an outer spiral armAt 400,000-miles an hour ♪
♪ In the galaxy we callThe Milky Way ♪
♪ Earth ♪
The bit where I get run overis the bit where I point out
that space time can expandfaster than the speed of light,
and start talking aboutinflationary cosmology and...
[all laughing]
[Hawking] I thinkyou are being pedantic.
[laughter]
[Cox] We should put that in.
I knew Eric had written this in
and, um, you know,
I think my feeling was,"If he can pull it off, great."
[Cox] It's better to say thatthe Earth sweeps out
equal areas and equal times,
Kepler knew that back in 1609.
Then, the statementthat "space time expandsat the speed of light",
well, there was a periodof exponential expansion
between ten to the minus-36and ten to the minus-32 seconds
after the Big Bang calledinflation, in which--
[screams]
[Hawking] I thinkyou are being pedantic.
[indistinct chattering]
Oh, God...
How did it go?
Yeah, it's fine, you know.Yeah, that was good.
Gosh... I'll be back.
Eric felt that if it didn'twork, it'll be all down to him.
He may have felthe let us down,
'cause there's a very strongfeeling in Ericto be loved by the group.
[indistinct chattering]
-[woman] Is it going okay?-Yes, you can tell it now.
-I just wanna go and get---[Palin] What happened there?
-What?-[Palin] That was very nice.
-What?-At the end of the lion tamer.
-Was I just going on a bit long?-No, no...
I was gonna say I wanna bea marine surveyor.
I was gonna play one jokeon them and see if it worked.
But, no, it was very funny.
I'm so amusedthat they all got it.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Can I tell you something?
What?
I never wanted to bea lion tamer.
[laughter]
-[cheering]-I wanted...
Well, I want to bea lumberjack!
[whimsical music begins]
Leaping from tree to treeas they float down the mightyrivers of British Columbia!
I had all my flies undoneand then realised,
I did two or three of them up
and that got a small laughsomewhere.
♪ I cut down treesI skip and jump ♪
♪ I like to pressWild flowers ♪
♪ I put on women's clothing ♪
♪ And hang around in bars ♪
Originally, Python was,it was blokes at university.
So, if you had a woman,you wanted to do a silly woman,
probably done by the bloke,
if it was a sensible woman,a serious woman, it would bedone by Jo Kendall, or Carol.
So, when you wanted something...
The great thingabout Carol is...
I'm the real one.
-You can be very silly.-I can be silly.
-And outrageous, and serious...-Yeah.
You did understandhow to do it amazingly.
We never had to say,"Carol, no, do it this way".
[Carol] You see,now I'm finally...
finally I'm playingan old lady now.
I'm doing it now,so we got there eventually.
I'm not playing an old man,I am an old man.
When I'm on, I can tellto some extent what's going on,
but when I'm at the back,I can't hear the other guys'sketches properly,
and I can't hearthe audience's reaction.
So, I don't know what worksand what didn't work.
A Last SupperI commissioned from you,
and a Last Supper I wantwith 12 disciples.
And one Christ!
[audience laughs]
-One?!-Yes, one!
Now, what in heaven's namepossessed you to paint this
with three Christs in it?
Eric and I missed a coupleof lines in Michelangelo,
but otherwise it was good.
Lion tamer was very good,
Michael was very funny,
and the crunchy frogwas alright.
Um, it was a little bit slow,actually.
Little bit slow. It needsa little more pace to it.
What, a raw frog?!
We use onlythe finest baby frogs...
[Jones] I was quite nervousabout the first night,
because our memory's going,you see.
Oh dear, we don't get wiseras we get older, it's a myth.
...and lovingly frostedwith glucose.
That's as may be,but it's still a frog!What else would it be?
[Cleese] Terry Jones didtell us all, he said,
"Look, my memoryis beginning to go a bit."
I mean, he's still lovelyin conversation,but there was something about...
Maybe he was scared,'cause after all,
Terry hadn't been on stagefor decades.
We've got a cut manin the wing for you.
-Oh, right...-No, for you.
Oh...
We've got a new cutman working.
Okay, right.Yeah, yeah.
I, uh, raisedmy guitar so violently
I hit my face.
A trickle of blood going down--What the fuck's that?
[Gilliam] Oh, would've beena palace to us!
We used to live in an oldwater tank on a rubbish tip.
[Jones] It was only whenI wiped my hand
that I noticed thatthere was blood all over it.
And you kept actingand they all laughed, silly.
And they get a bit closer...
What do you have to do beforethey start getting worried,
have your head chopped off?
Our heads half-severed,but it was such a funny line.
Getting changed into whatit's called a "pepper pot".
Uh... 'cause we thinkold ladies
look like pepper potswith their hats on.
[Gilliam] Terry wasthe most worrisome,
'cause Terry during rehearsalswas just struggling.
And it was like, "Oh,this is not going to work,"but by the time we got on stage,
he had found a wayof making it work.
Smear of lipstick...
[woman] Does that feeltoo tight, Terry, no?
No.
I look like my mother...[laughs] basically.
And I kind of feel that, so...
Well, I don't talklike my mother.
[feminine voice] Bye.Bye. Oh, dear.
[Palin] And now,Radio four will explode.
[Jones] It was good to beback on stage again.
The audience was so welcomingand, uh, appreciative.
It's so... It was just wonderfulto be there.
[Palin] Well, it's just goneeight o' clock,
and time for the penguinon top of your television set
to explode.
How did he knowthat was going to happen?
It was an inspired guess.
That Michael Palin,he knows everything.
He's been everywhere,hasn't he?
You ever watchany of those travel pro...
-programs.-[laughter]
If you're gonna be rude aboutme, I'm gonna switch you off.
The man, yeah.
The man. You hear that?I'm the man.
But it's not really me,it's just a part I play
in this humble little charade.
It's wonderful to see Mikebeing funny again.
You know, I mean,we make the joke constantlyabout his boring travel shows
because we knowhow brilliant he is.
[humming]
In the very first read through,he's like woof!
And he's flying, he's alive,he's sparkling,
his timing... everythingabout him is extraordinary.
Nobody expectsthe Spanish Inquisition!
Our chief weapon is surprise.
Surprise and fear,fear and surprise.
Our two weapons arefear and surprise.
Fear and surpriseand ruthless...
Our three weaponsare fear, surpriseand ruthless efficiency,
and an almostfanatical devotion...
Four! Ah...I'll come in again.
Mike is the onethat I find I enjoy,and always have enjoyed,
being most, because it'sas though we were very muchin tune with each other.
It's as thoughwe watch each other,
and the playingis very flexible.
-[Palin] This is notan argument.-Yes, it is.
-No, it's just contradiction.-No, it isn't.
It is.
Sorry. [clears throat]
-[Palin] "It is not."-It is not.
[Palin] No, it is not.You just contradicted me.
-[Cleese] No, I didn't.-[Palin] Well, you did.
-[Cleese] No, I didn't.-You did just then.
-[Cleese] No, not at all.-Oh, this is futile.
-[Cleese] No, it isn't.-Yes, it is, I came herefor a good argument.
[Cleese] No, you didn't.You came here for an argument.
An argument isn't justcontradiction.
[Cleese] Well, it can be.
[Palin] John is sucha key factor in the show,
I'm not saying Eric isn'tor any of us aren't,
but John is... is really the--
Eric once said in an interview,you know,
"We're all funny, and all that,but on stage, John is the keyman."
Now, you see, this is whatI think is kind of...
Can't we goto cheese, somehow?
Yes, you couldcome back and say,
"Well, I've had a look,but we don't have any cheese."
Because there aren'tthat many...
-Cheese? I've got some cheese.-You've got some cheese?
-What cheese have you got?-Anything you want.
And then you go...No, no, no, no...
-And then we walk off.-This is pointless.
-I like this.-Yeah, that's nice.
[Palin] John, I think,throughout it,
wanted to work very,very hard to make it work.
He wasn't being difficult.
He was wary of himselfas the oldest of us,
and he had a lot of work to do.
See you next year.Oops, sorry.
[laughter]
Oooh!
[Idle] They only hadthree-days rehearsal.
I had them for three days
and Terry Gilliam fucked offto Paris for one of them
to give interviews on his film!
Which was good, 'causehe's only a troublemaker.
What?
Michelangelo, the finestRenaissance artist,
best known for his works
the ceilingof the Sistine Chapel.
[Gilliam] It's always dangerouswhen Python gets back together
because we've been separatefor so long,
each of us becomingmore powerful
in our little sphereof whatever work we do.
And we are used to people,you know, doing what we say.
[unintelligible]
What?
Why don't you talk properly?
I'm surprised how nervous I was.
I don't know why, I just feltuncomfortable doing many things.
Um... and it... it is...
It is partly having to,you know, deal with John.
He's intimidating.
♪ When I lift 'emThey climb the stairs ♪
♪ And whoo when I shave 'emThey ain't got hairs ♪
[groaning]
Gilliam was always hopeless,you know,
but he could be very funny.
[Gilliam] The problem withthe stage show for me, it's not
my real contribution to Python,
that's the reality, my beststuff is up on screen.
This stuff is fun,you know.
It's nice to be partof the whole thing,
it's nice to get the audiencelaughing and applauding,
but what it does, is put me backin the mental state I was in
when we were doing the showsand I was alwaysin awe of the others.
I just found, their performing,their writing was so brilliant
and I just felt,"Well, I'm not good--"
What I do is okay, but whatthey do is brilliant, you know.
And that's the weird thing now,
that 30 years later,I'm back in that mind frame.
Oh, I thought once I wasa rather good filmmaker.
Then I think I made operas,but it's all gone.
I'm just the guywho doesn't speak Englishas well as they do.
Is that the kind of confessionyou were looking for tonight?
[Jones] MonsignorJean Paul Reynard,
Padre Robert Henry Noonan
Rabbis Edwinand Kelly Makepiece Gingolde...
I think, why Pythonis memorable,
is because of the mix.
A lot of people thoughtwe just got together,
took drugsand wrote the material
and made it up on camera.
Of course it was incrediblywell organised,
everything was carefullyworked out.
[Jones] Mike and I wrotethe bulk of the sketches
and John and Graham would putin the star sketches.
[Palin] John, I think,would admit,
John and Graham, that they were
defenders of the more classical,conventional sketch,
like Dead Parrot, Argument,things they wrote,that were absolutely brilliant,
whereas Terry Gilliam,Terry and myself,
were slightly more concernedin breaking it up, in saying,
"Do we need to have a tag line?"and that sort of thing.
[Jones] For the first series,John was keen on doingjust the sketches,
and the sketches were funny,
but I sawThe Spike Milligan Show.
Well, I think I got the bestout of that joke.
Take the best out of thisone, sailor, whoopee!
Uh...
The 60s was very mucha time when peopleare suddenly saying,
"Let's do things that havenever been done before,"
because until then,television had been kept,
you know, it wasa fairly serious medium.
We at the Foreignand Commonwealth Office
decided to invent a pill,
which would make you hear theNational Anthem in your mind.
[Jones] And along comesSpike Milligan,very, very important.
[laughter]
Spike was having as much funwith televisionas he was with radio.
-It was wonderful.-Pretty good.
I heard every note!♪ God save-- ♪
[clucking]
[howling]
I rang up Mikeand Terry Gilliam,
and said, "We can link thesketches with Terry's animation,
and... we don't needto finish sketches."
Yes, mothers,it's time once again
-for Conrad Poohsand his dancing teeth.-[fart sound]
I had the freedomand the restrictionsthat are necessary,
in that Gilliam takes overfrom this point in the sketch
and gets us to that pointin another sketch.
Okay, so nowI've got goalposts.
But, now, what you doin-between,how the game is played,
that's up to me.
[unintelligible mumbling]
[whimsical music]
[man] Ladies and gentlemen,the most successfulcomedy group of all time,
-Monty Python!-[loud cheers]
Is this unusual, that youwould all be hanging out?
-Very unusual.-Very unusual.
[Norton] Said with feeling.
We don't get on very well,really.
One Down, Five To Go.
[laughter]
Two down, four to go.
Artificial knee,artificial hip.
-I've got two artificial hips.-That's a good dance routine.
♪ Artificial kneeArtificial hip ♪
You've got twoartificial hips?
No, they're not artificial,they've replaced them.
Why did you say artificial then?Doddery old idiot.
I'm leaving,I can't put up with this.
John despised me for a bit,you know,
sort of... for the firstseries of shows.
-[Norton] Is it allgreatest hits?-It's all greatest hits, really.
Very old material.
Intertwined withother people.
-Other...-[Cleese] Other people?
But, I mean, you know, onceI started directing the films,
he got more respect for me.
You know, there is agenuine idea called "artisticdifferences", you know.
And when you have two people whohave an artistic temperament,
aren't just thinking,"Well, we'll knock offat five and have a drink",
but are trying to getsomething really right,
then, of course, you are gonnahave fights and arguments.
-Monty...-Python...
-Reunion...-Live...
At the O2.
[all] July 2014.
My brain hurts!
Most of us are notnatural best friends.
You would find itvery difficult
to find three peoplemore different than me,
Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam.
We are just miles... poles apartin almost everything.
I don't think Terry Gilliamhas ever said anything
that I agreed with.
[Gilliam] One Down, Five To Gowas John's idea.
We agreed we were gonna do thisin alphabetical order,
so Cleese has gotta goand that'll be the end of it.
[whimsical music]
[Gilliam] By the timewe got to Canada,
that was a little bit moreinteresting,
'cause suddenly we are going,you know, internationally,
and everyone is flying over.
That was the days when youcould sit up in first class
and you could have drinks,at a little, rounded table.
It was very, very,very civilised, I think.
Then we get to Canada,and it just got sillier.
I remember riding the conveyerbelt with the luggage.
Uh, only because,what else you gonna do?
And we were like rock stars,
and that was the time whereyou could be merry japers.
You could be outrageousand people would find it funny.
We got to Vancouver airport,
and we came through the door
and there wasthis scream and cheer!
And we all went...
We all looked behind'cause we thought somerock'n'roll people were coming.
And then they put uson an open bus and drove usinto the city centre,
followed by cars hootingand honking.
I mean it was like...oh, this is a bit different.
[Gilliam] That was a bigsurprise from England,
the scale of getting to Canada,
everything is biggerand cheering fans.
It was like, this is the stuffyou dream of when you are young,
this is "fame"!
When we went on,it was rock'n'roll.
We'd go on stage and they'dgo nuts and just go nuts.
John would get very cross,
"Shut up, we haven't saidanything funny yet!"
Then they'd laugh.
I used to be so muchof a purist,
that I could imagineI would do that,
'cause for me it was a questionof trying to present
a performance in, as it were,in a glass case,
that was technically perfect.
That's what I was trying to do,
and over the course of about40 years, I've discovered
that there's a lot of other waysof doing it.
[Idle] It was on the planefrom Toronto going west
that John announced, "I'mnot gonna do another series."
I think Terry called mea traitor andI remember thinking,
"I'd only said I'd dotelevision with them",you know what I mean.
It wasn't sort of...
mixed-mingled my bloodwith theirs forevermore.
On one hand,it was very disappointing.
On the other hand, I beganto think maybe he was right.
We weren't carvingnew ground, I felt.
I think we were beginningto repeat ourselves
and it wasn't quiteas adventurous,exciting and dangerous.
[Palin] "Monty Python reunitefor rare on-stage show.
oft-perjured materialis delivered bythe septuagenarians..."
-It's really ageist.-I know it is ageist.
It's really ageist.Why keep going on aboutthe fact that we are 70?
[Gilliam] Because theywork for the Stones.
One of them said,"They imagined sexual encountersare clearly beyond them now."
-That's not true, is it Terry?-[Gilliam] It is.
You're... you're fit.
No, it's all beyond me,I gave it up years ago.
-I just wanna live.-So, my gauge isnow a safer place.
Yes, it is a safer place.
What was it... what...
I forgot,I've gone Terry on you.
So few of the criticsreally have any ideawhat they are talking about,
and of course they have no idea
that they have no ideawhat they are talking about.
But the greatest thingever said about the critics,
and it's been truefrom the very beginning,
was what Oscar Wilde said,you know?
He said, "They are like eunuchs.
They watch it every night butthey can't do it themselves."
Almost every reviewfrom broad-minded papers
that would recognise ageismwhen they saw it, say,
"At 70, they canstill get on stage."
Of course we can fuckingget on stage, you know?
People at 80...
David Attenborough is 86,he goes around the world!
It's a silly... it's a clichéthey've fallen into,
this is their sort ofangle on it.
"Gosh, these oldgrey beards..."
because, I suppose,when they first saw the materialwe were 27,
so it must be a bitof a shock.
You only felt the age backstage
when you were trying to getinto your next bit of clothing
and nothing fitsand you are sweating.
That's where the age was.On stage, we were... kids again.
[dramatic music]
[Cleese] Nobody expectedthe Spanish Inquisition!
There have been two I've seenusing the words "homophobia",
what the fuckare they talking about?
I mean, Camping Up,that's not homophobic,
You know, Judges is nothomophobic.
I think it's selling the joysof homosexuality.
I could see that littlecurly-headed foremanof the jury eyeing me!
-Really?-Oh, yeah, cheeky devil.
I finished up with,I got really strict:
"The actionsof these vicious men
are a violent stainupon the community.
Anyway, I finished up...
[audience whistling]
The actions...
Graham basically believedwe were all homosexual,
and we were all just covering itup in some way or another.
Look, I'm sorryif I'm interrupting anything
that any of youmay be doing at home,
but I want you to think of meas an old queen...
friend!
Graham was always outrageous,
he would push thingsto the limit
and reveal a lot about people.
Are you suggestingeating my mother?
-Yeah, not raw, cooked.-What?
You've got a very strangehuman being
crawling around under a table
and licking your wife's legs.
[man] Yes, you do.
It's amazing he wasn't beaten upmore often.
[man] What kind of a fellowis Monty Python, by the way?
He's black.
[man] Black...
And he's homosexual.
-And he's got three wives---[man] Speak for yourself!
I was speaking for myself.
I'm sad that he didn't getto do the O2 show,
but relieved at the same time.
His problem was
that he was always a littledisconnected from reality.
My impersonation of Grahamwas always... he'd be doing...
He'd be somewhere else,you know?
When you were writing with him,he didn't...
He came and went,
but when he arrived with an ideaor suddenly said something,
he was always rather wonderful.
Graham was always a painin the arse on stage,
'cause he always, you know,was pissed as a fart.
[Chapman] May I justbreak in at this point?
Yes, please break inat this point, sir.
I don't think I've been as badon an interview as this,
ever before in my life.
I'm really doing terribly badly,I'm sorry.
Maybe, later on, I mightbe able to say something
and when I can,I'll try and chip in.
When we first startedthe stage tour,
like in Bristolwe were on a stage tour,
and he'd do a sketch withMichael called Ken Shabby.
[gruffly clears throat]I clean out public toilets.
Is there a promotion involved?
After five years,they give me a brush.
I just wantto make sure
that you'll be able tolook after my daughter.
Oh yeah, yeah. I'll be able tolook after her all right, sport.
Aye! Know what I mean?[gruff laugh]
And Graham was the father,
'cause I was asking for Connie'shand in marriage, you know.
Sort of, um... "What prospectsdo you have?" and all that.
And Graham just didn't come on,
and John brilliantly appeared
half-dressed in the sketchafter that
and did Graham's lines.
He was furious!
He accused us of upstaging him,and trying to get...
But there was nothinghappening on stage!
So, that was the very bad partof Graham was the alcoholism,
'cause he would havetremendous fears of performing.
He'd have the shakes.
Uh, but when he recovered,
um, right aroundThe Life of Brian,
he was an extraordinaryperformer.
Luxury.
We used to have to get outof the lake at three o' clockin the morning,
clean the lake,eat a handful of hot gravel,
work 20 hours a day at millfor tuppence a month,
come home and dad would beat usaround the head and neck
with a broken bottleif we were lucky!
[Cleese] Graham Chapman,co-author of The Parrot sketchis no more.
He has ceased to be.
Good riddance to him,the freeloading bastard,I hope he fries.
[dramatic music]
[God] You people reallypissed me off!
I'm sorry I invented you.
It was a really bad idea.
Sex, sex, sex, that's allyou bloody humans think about.
That and trying to blow smokeup my arse with endlessprayers.
It's so boring!
Now, this is supposedto be a funny show,
so, for my sake,get on with it!
[thunder]
We toured Canada,2,000 seaters,
and then we did Drury Lane,
which was 4,000 seaters,we were on for four weeks there.
We had a residency at a theatre,
we weren't having to travel,which was better.
[Palin] It's a three-corneredcontest between,
from left to right, Alan Jones,
Sensible Party,
Tarquin Fin-tim-lim-bim
lim-bin-bim-bin-bim bus stopF'tang F'tangOle Biscuitbarrel,
Silly Party,
and Kevin Phillips Bong,
who is runningon the Slightly Silly ticket.
I think Floyd cameand the Stones came,and The Who came.
Bands liked us,
and, in fact, Led Zeppelin,and Pink Floyd,
were two of the investorsin our first film, Holy Grail.
It was just the thing to do,see Python,
'cause I think, you know,they're always on the road,
and they are bored shitlessand play endless comedy tapes.
I remember David Bowieand Mick Jagger
in a box to the sideof the stage,
you know, so, we hadquite a high-class audience.
I suppose we were in that sense
the first rock'n'rollcomedy group,in the sense if we're that big.
We were playing in big places,where rock'n'roll band played.
And then we did City Centerin New York
for about... four weeks or soand that was huge.
[up-tempo music]
[Cleese] When wegot to New York,
I'll always remember thison the opening night...
We went on stage,we got this huge laugh
'cause they recognisedthe opening line,
it was a cup final roaralmost,
and then they stopped laughing.
And we played the sketchto relative silence.
And I thought, "My God,this is... this is awful."
And suddenly, we didthe last line, cup final roar.
Hurrah!
And I walked off and I saidto a stagehand, "What..."
He said, "It's a pop concert,it's not a stage show."
And he said, "Come and look."
And he took me,they have a little bit of gauzein the front curtain,
and I could see the peoplein the audience going...
[mouthing]
They were all doing the lines!
So what are they there for?They're like a pop concert,
they know the song,they know the sketch,
but they are there justto share the occasion.
This is City Center and we endwith "Lumberjack Song",
and George Harrison was in,
and I said, "Why don't you go onand be a lumberjack?
You know, just come on likethis and be a lumberjack?"
And he did, and he wasvery good, nobody noticed.
[Palin] So, the story Georgetold me, that he,George Harrison,
had sent a fan letterto the BBC after the first show
saying, "This is great,"and all that.
And we never got it,
because someone probablyon BBC desk would've said,
"Oh, yeah, andI'm the Duke of Edinburgh."
Because The Beatleswere so huge then,
the idea The Beatles likinga silly comedy show...
You look vaguely Victorian.
What was great about doing theshow, is we don't have to do--
You know, you are notturning up at a funeraland doing a memorial speech.
It's like, "Wow, we're stillhere, let's do this thing."
-[Palin] Terry Gilliam!-Gilliam.
Come on,give me a little hug.
Are you a girl or a boyat the moment?
-Those are sideburns.-I wanna know how to hug.
I'm on the cusp. Ooh...
Pythons have alwaysexchanged insults
and teased each other rotten,and that's fun.
He's got a better wigthan I've got.
I knew it, I knew it!
You can wear itafter the show.
[laughter]
[Idle] It was the whole spiritof it, it was very warm.
In the rehearsals,they could not have beennicer or more loving.
Are your nipplesenjoying it?
-My nipples are...-Your nipples are enjoying it.
His nipplesare a very good sign,
you'll see in the interval,the state of Terry's nipples,
they really are very, veryfrisky tonight, aren't they?
Go away! For fuck's sake, it'slike being followed by the CIA!
What do you want to know?Why do you bother professionals
who are planningthe rest of the show,
to get to gripswith the characters,
the depth of the charactersthat we play?
Hello!
[indistinct singing on stage]
♪ It's fun to ownYour own vagina ♪
♪ It's great to haveYour friendly thatch ♪
♪ Your minge, your twatYour kitty cat ♪
♪ Your nest, your nastyOr your snatch ♪
♪ It's great to haveA monkey furrow ♪
♪ Your finger pieYour lunchbox or your catch ♪
♪ Your cameltoeYour bearded clam ♪
♪ Your bottom at the front ♪
♪ Your monkey mingeYour muffin ♪
♪ Or your oldSir Berkely Hunt ♪
♪ Your honeypotYour hairy friend ♪
♪ But never call it "cunt" ♪
♪ Or we won't come back ♪
[knocking on door]
-Come in.-[man] Come in.
It's the police...Hello.
You sent itto print it out.
-What's this?-[woman] Oh, that was for me.
That's a print out,you sent it to us.
Okay, thank you.Special delivery...
-[woman] I thinkthat was for me.-It's from John Cleese.
"Dear Eric, I am goingto have another wife..."
Oh, sorry!
[Idle] John isfiercely intelligent,
and then he's fiercely wilfulso it's like, you know,a comic Hitler.
Company, today,you go off to war,
and my God, I wishI was coming with you.
[laughter]
When I first went to fight,I had two arms, two good arms,
when the time came to give them,I gave them, I gave them gladly.
I sang and laughedas they sawed them off,
because I believethere was a future for mankind
if men were preparedto give their limbs.
[Cleese] I was worried aboutmy chaplain speech
because I thoughtI did it alright
but it didn't get muchof a laugh,
because it may be that it soundsslightly too convincing,
when you talk about a war to endthe next war, you know?
It's the kind of thingpoliticians say.
And our children'schildren's limbs,
and our children'schildren's limbs...
And what about our pets?
Why should thoselittle bastards get off...
[Chapman] Right, stop thatsketch, I think it's silly.
Now, nobody likes a good laughmore than I do.
It's algebra, I always sayit's algebra... comedy.
It is not an art, it's science.
"A" plus "B" equals a laugh.
If I do this and I wear this,and I say this, they will laugh,
that's just a theory,until they do.
It's provable becausethey laugh,
so, you were rightin your theory.
It's more mathematical than itis, "Oh, I'll just be funny."
Is your wife a goer?
Know what I mean,know what I mean,nudge, nudge,
know what I mean, say no more?
I beg your pardon?
Your wife, does she...does she go, eh, does she go?
Know what I mean,know what I mean, eh?
Well, she sometimeshas to go, yes.
I bet she does,I bet she does,
say no more, say no more,know what I mean, nudge, nudge.
It has its own logic to it,
and sometimes you can adjust itif they don't laugh,
and you say,"I'm sure that's funny,"
it's because you haven't quiteput the word orderin the right sense,
so that is goes flash into theirbrains all at the same time.
There's an example...
My Lord, I really must protestat your shooting my client.
Damn you!
I'm in charge of this court!Stand up!
Sit down!
-Go "moo".-[all] Moo.
See? Order in the skating vicar.and on with the pixie hats.
And everybody sing!
♪ Anything goes in ♪
♪ Anything goes out ♪
♪ Fish, bananas, old pyjamas ♪
♪ Mutton, beef and trout ♪
[Cleese] I still thinkyou should instruct usto do one more thing.
'Cause I remember this wasone of the moments I heard
that I cried with laughterwatching you on the box.
Stand up, sit down, go moo...
And I thinkwe should have one other.
And then reversethose lines, saying,
"On with the pixie hats andorder in the skating vicar."
Stand up!
Sit down!
-Go "moo".-[all] Moo.
Sit up!
[laughter]
Now, on with the pixie hats...
[Jones] Robert Browning,describing the metaphor,
he says, "You take an imageand another image
and combine themand they make a star."
♪ Old pyjamas ♪
♪ Mutton, beef and trout ♪
I think you make laughs by that,combining two images
and, um...that's my theory of comedy.
Hello, I wish to registera complaint.
Hello, Miss?
What do you mean, "Miss"?
I am sorry, I have a cold.
I wish to make a complaint.
Sorry, we are closingfor lunch.
Never mind that, my lad, I wishto complain about this parrot
what I purchasednot half an hour ago
from this very boutique.
On the recordingof the first parrot sketch,
it didn't get that muchof a reception
from the studio audience,it's very interesting.
Look, my lad, I know a deadparrot when I see one,
and I'm looking at oneright now.
No, no, it's not dead,it's restin'!
And I think it startedto become... a thing,
something special, that youwould say now "iconic",
when we started doing iton stage.
Testing, testing...
This is your nine o'clockalarm call!
[audience roars with laughter]
Now that's what I calla dead parrot.
He's stunned!
You assured me thatits total lack of movement
was due to it being tiredand shagged out
following a prolonged squawk.
Well, it may be piningfor the fjords.
[all snickering]
Pining for the fjords?
The biggest single surprise
was that we started to find thematerial funny when we read it.
We'd never expected it.
And suddenly, Mike and I weredoing the dead parrot sketch
and everyonewas laughing genuinely,
it was an extraordinary thing.
Well, I'd betterreplace it, then.
You can't say...
[all laugh]
[Idle] Palin canstill crack him up,
and John saidsomething quite nice,
he said, Eddie Izzardhad said to him
after the first night,
"Don't worry, everybody knowshow the sketch should go,
it's a joy to see itnot going properly.
We haven't see that."
And that relaxed John
about gigglingand corpsing occasionally.
But the focus, hisconcentration is really good,
he can bring it rightinto the moment
and make you waitfor his sense of timing
when he feels it's rightto say the next line.
[clears throat]
Do you...
[snickers]
Do...
These people...
they've got homes to go to.
[audience laughs]
So...
In that case, why don't youcome up with a punchline?
[laughter]
I'm waiting...I'm pausing for effect.
[stifling laughter]
So, I'll...
-I'll just say...-Oh, come on...
Do you wanna come backto my place?
Oh...
It's kind of likethe audience have been let in
to the private world of Python
and the relationships...
particularly betweenJohn and Mike,
which is banned in manycountries that relationship,
but not here luckily.
The corpsing thing has to beused very, very carefully.
If you are laughingbefore the audience laugh,
then they are justnot going to like it
and it looks unprofessional.
And very often with Pythonsketches,
the essence of the sketch,
was holding a completelyserious front.
John is marvellous at that,
just always looks absolutelytotally serious.
And that was so funny,
so you had to be very,very careful to debunk that,
but also, it does meanthat when John begins to go,
when he's being serious,it's very, very funny.
And what's this one,Spring Surprise?
Ah, that's our speciality.
"Covered in dark,rich smooth chocolate,
when you pop itinto your mouth..."
Let me read that for you...
"...stainless steel boltsspring out
and plunge straightthrough both cheeks."
Where's the pleasure in that--
[all laughing]
Pull yourself together,constable!
Sorry, sir.
Or you'll be a constableex-parrot.
Where are we,can you remember?
[laughter continues]
John Cleese, he said to us,we're in the Tardis,
John says, "Alright,the first person to giggle
gets to pay £10,000to charity."
He didn't even get throughthe first sketch.
-Come out, Phil!-I'm out.
Come out, come out!
Interesting thing is thatmost of the people
who come to the meet and greet
are usuallyfrom America or Canada.
Or, occasionally,one from Spain,
we had one bloke from Sheffield,
there's always a Finn, there'salways someone from Finland.
Python's lawsuit cost usa whole pile of money,
so the Pythonpension fund was...[makes slurping sound]
And John, you know,with his flagrant lifestyle...
um... he needed money,
and Terry needed...I mean, that's what--
I think so many peopledon't think we were serious
when we said it was aboutTerry's mortgage, but it was.
...just a pain, John.
...being back in his dressingroom is just pain.
I thoughtwe were gathering in here.
Just pain that Johnis in his dressing room.
"It is a pain" or"he's in pain"?
-No, it's a pain.-It's a pain, okay.
[Gilliam] He's notparticipating in the group.
No, he's just...
[Idle] We'll give Terrya glass of champagne.
Give him a glassof hot Beaujolais or something.
[man] This questionis for Terry Gilliam.
You may not even remember this,but a few years back
you were in Philadelphia,and you fell off a horse
and were kicked in the headby a horse...
-Yes.-Do you remember that?
-You were that horse?-No!
That was my horse.
-Are you serious?-Yes, of course.
Luke, the horsewas called Luke.
Yes, the horse was called Luke.
You bastard!
He was actually aimingfor Cleese,
I don't know what happened.
[man #2] My mother has alwayssaid, that you and her met
about 42 years ago.
-Yes, I remember.-[audience laughing]
[man continues] Now that youhave vaguely insinuated
that you remember the name,
Yes, I do...
I am rather tall...
In Calgary.
And I do walk funny.
[woman] My name is Sandy,
I actually have a questionfor Terry Gilliam.
Oh, God.Are you sure?
[Sandy] Sorry?
Getting kicked in the headby a horse.
-Are you from Philadelphia?-[Sandy] I am.
And maybe you were filming thereTwelve Monkeys
and you got a gashon the head from a horse?
Yes, that's true,was it your horse?
[Sandy] I'm the vetof that horse.
You're the vet of that horse?
[man] Hi, my name isManuel from Portugal.
-[laughter]-[Idle] Whoa!
I'm...
I'd just like to ask if anyonehas any elaboration
on why you're retiring nowas opposed to earlier or later,
and, if possiblyyou might reconsider,
I'm sure you've heard thatfrom thousands of people,
but it's a question of doing itout of duty to us
because nobody elsecan do what you do.
What the fuck do we owe you?
[whimsical fanfare]
[Idle] July 1980 was the lasttime we performed live.
The idea that Python would playthe Hollywood Bowl,
it was like a Frank Sinatravenue, you know.
So, it always made us laugh,Monty Python, Liveat the Hollywood Bowl
was already a comic titlefor us.
What happened at the Bowl isfor the first time we hadthe close-up cameras.
Now you can talkto 6,000 people,
because they can see you,they are all watchingtelevision together
is actually whatthey're really doing.
[Cleese] We had four nights,I think.
The Hollywood Bowl.
What I suddenly realised,
was what a wonderful sketchperformer Eric had become.
I saw your advertin the blassified ads.
The what?
In The Times Blassified Ads.
Ah, The Times Classified Ads?
Yes, that's right, I'm afraidI have a speech impediment.
I can't pronouncethe letter "B".
I never thought he wasn'tvery good before then,
I had always thoughthe was very good,
but when he didthe Hollywood Bowl,
it was as thoughhe'd somehow grown
and he was a bigger presencethat he'd ever been before.
Can you say the letter "K"?
Oh, yes.Khaki, kettle, Kipling,
Khomeini, Kellogg's Born Flakes.
Well, why don't you saythe letter "K"
instead of the letter "C"?
What, you mean, pronounce"blassified" with a "K"?
Yes, absolutely.
-Klassified.-Good.
Oh, it's very good! I neverthought of that before.
What a silly bunt.
I remember I had to dothe Travel Agent
and I went right amongst them,
I'd stand on them and gothrough them, it was really fun.
And they'd love it.I'd just trod on them.
"Oh, he trod on me!"[laughs]
...waiting to take you to thehotel hasn't yet been built!
When you finally get tothe half-built Algerian ruin
called the Hotel Limassol...
[Gilliam] The Hollywood Bowlwas great fun.
We were so at easein those days.
There's no water in the bath,there's no water in the tap,
there's only a bleeding lizardin the bidet...
[Palin] We were allyoungish then, we werekind of up for it.
Life of Brian had beena great success,
a success d'estime anyway,
and so we were ridinga bit of a wave then.
Tonight, on World Forumwe are deeply privileged
to have with us Karl Marx,
the founder of modern socialismand author ofThe Communist Manifesto.
[audience cheering]
Vladimir Ilitch Ulyanov, betterknown to the world as Lenin,
leader of the RussianRevolution,
writer, statesman, and fatherof modern socialism.
[Cleese] The loveliest thinganyone ever said to meabout Python,
was that, "I cannot watchthe news afterwards
and take it seriously."
And I think it's very importantthat we see
that we shouldn't betaking most of it seriously
because I don't thinkthese people have any ideawhat they're doing.
Jerry Lee Lewis has hadover 17 major solid gold hitsin the U.S. of A.
What's the name of the biggest?
That to me is alwayswhat Python was about,
trying to encouragepeople to think.
It's always been importantto me,
whether the silliness,the intellectual jokes,
the, uh--just breaking barriers,
trying to get peopleto look at the world,
see the absurdityof so much of it,
see the humourin the most small things.
[buzzer]
Yes, Mao Tse-tung?
"Great Balls of Fire"?
Yes, it was indeed.
Use your brain,use these things.
That was essential to Python,as far as I was concerned.
And causing offencewas part of that.
It's to shock people, to shockthem out of their complacency,
their timidity,their caution in life.
Be bold, fall on your facea couple of times,
it doesn't hurt that badly,you bounce back up, it's okay.
We now come onto a consideration
of the more sophisticatedtransitive mode of japing
in which, as we'll observe,the operator, or inceptor,
remains totally unawareof the humorous implicationsof his action.
First...First, we are to see
the simple sideswipeor "wop."
Hey, Vance!
[Cleese] I once interviewedthe Dalai Lama.
What he said, he liked laughterbecause he said,
"When people laugh,they can change their minds."
And I think that's right,
the more anxious we are, themore we hang on to our beliefs,
you know, if you thinkof the fundamentalists,
whatever religionwe are talking about,
the way they hang onto their beliefs,
they miss the point.
-Are you the church police?-[all] Oh, yes!
There's another dead bishopon the landing, vicar sergeant!
Detective Parson, madam.
What is he, RC or C of E?
How should I know?
It's tattooed on the backof their neck.
If you are really out there,
thinking we can changethis place
into something otherthan a madhouse
I think you are wastingyour energy.
But if you can make 12 or 15lives just a little bit better,
in some small way, then I thinkyou are doing your job.
♪ Life can be fineIf we both 69 ♪
♪ If we sit on our faces in allSorts of places and play ♪
♪ 'Till we're blown away ♪
[Palin] Throughout the world,there are groups,there are people,
religions, there are companies,
which are desperatelytrying to control
exactly what we are,what we think,
they say, "This is the wayyou should do it,
and we are just saying,"No, it isn't. Up yours."
-So, Mike's in there...-I'll come right out.I'll just drop this off.
Brilliant. Oh, there he is,there he is, Eric.
I'm transformed once againinto my mother.
God bless her.
She's been gone a long timebut suddenly she's come back.
-You are?-A friend of Mike's.
Ah! He always likedthe cheeky chappy.
He always had a feelingfor the cheeky chappy.
This is hilarious.
It's your newdocumentary career.
Thank you very much.
I suggest a tour aroundthe world but in drag.
How long will it takefor people to notice?
-I'll be right with you.-[Palin] Okay.
One afternoon,Eric just called me and said,
"Look, we've got problems
because, UK TV who are puttingout the show live,
are worried aboutcertain elements
which are gonna be beforethe watershed which is 9:00."
They wouldn't put onthe "Penis Song",the "Vagina Song",
and so we were ableto control at least
one of the gaps in the show.
I wrote a sketch very quickly.
I said,"Michael would be great,"
to apologise for it,
so I wrote him some textand said, "Would you do this
and we'll shot it tomorrow?"He said, "Absolutely."
[Palin] Right.
-Who's first?-[man] Should we go throughthe timing of this?
-Yes.-[man, indistinct]
That's the thing Python's alwayshad problems with, really,
yeah, it's like censorshipor anything like that.
It seems to usjust a challenge. It shouldn'tbe happening to us,
we've got to finda way around it.
...and then sortof gently come out...
The first two genitalia partsof the body such as the "bleep",
and the particularlynaughty "bleep",
with the understandingnot be transmitted
before the watershed,below the water line.
And some words like "bleep",
which may never be transmittedon television,
quite rightly at any time,
although I have one, a "bleep",that is, not a television.
I think it's funny if you areactually saying the words,
we have to bleep you forapologising for using the words.
Yes.
'Cause it's confusingwith the "bleep"
when you are saying itall the time.
Three, two, one, action.
Hello, my nameis Daphne Fielding.
Unfortunately, the Python boys
are using some rather vilelanguage, just at the moment,
in a particularly rude songwhich refers to genitalia
-and parts of the bodysuch as the...-[ship's horn]
-...and particularly,the naughty...-[party favour blows]
...which, as you understand,may not be transmittedbefore the watershed.
The watershedis a television term
introduced by top peoplein television
to mean nine o'clock,
which, of course, is the cut-offpoint between when decent peoplego to bed
and angry perverts and otherpeople of twisted mentality
are left to watch televisionafter nine o'clock.
[clears throat]And, of course, there are somewords they are using like...
cunt, yes, cunt,
which may never be transmittedon television quite rightly.
Although, I have one myself,
a television, of course,not a cunt.
Anyway, here to keep you going
is somethingI particularly like,
a picture of some sheep.
[Idle] He's just amazingat improvising.
He's wonderful,he's the best improviser.
He adlibbedthree different versions
of what was basically,you know, the same joke,
just completely off the topof his head, which is lovely.
Bravo, here he comes now.
In the guiseof an older man.
Oh, dear,I had to drop the drag.
-That was really funny.-I was enjoying that.
Yeah, it wasreally good.
You've got to getinto the swing of it.
-It was superb.-Good. Okay.
You had a lot of bleeping,
what happens whenyou bleep "cunt" andall that sort of stuff?
Anyone who can lip readwill know.
But I don't think the watershedapplies to lip-reading,so we'll see.
[whimsical music]
Not another show, is it?
It goes on and on, I feelwe've been in this ten years.
-Do you feel that?-[Idle] What's that, love?
I feel we've been doing thisfor ten years.
-Haven't we?-Yes.
-We were young when we started.-Yes, and now are good as...
And you were John Cleese.
Really? I thought I felta little unwell.
[laughs]
[music plays]
[indistinct chattering]
Who would've thought40 years ago
we'd all be sitting heredoing Monty Python, eh?
[all] Aye.
Bit quieter tonight, we think.Do you think?
No, I would it take itpersonally if I were you.
You think that?
No, I do think it's been--
-It was so big at the start...-Yeah.
...and then,where's it gonna go?
It can't go up from there,it sort of drifts down...
-They've burnt themselves outin the first five minutes.-Is that it?
It wasn't-- We didn'tburn ourselves out?
No, no, no, I thinkthe audience is not fit.
-It's not our fault.-It's not fit for this show.
-Anyway, here's John now.-Oh, sorry. He'll tell.
Yeah.
[both chuckle]
They were laughingin some places.
Sometimes you sensethe audience laughing moreat the familiar stuff,
other nights they loveat the stuff that goes wrong,
that hasn't happened before,
and I can't figurethis lot out at all,
-but it's been unbelievablyhot today.-Yeah.
So, they may have got inand get excited
and later start feelinga little bit tired.
They're probably tired.It does make you tired,doesn't it,
all this stuff,makes me tired.
What's going on?'Cause nobody's laughing.
They were listening,there's no question about that,
Laughter is the fuelfor the Pythons...
without laughter they die,
sad, horrible old men,
withering awayin their lonely mansions.
We found out whythey went quiet in Act I.
It's very simple, putlights on the audience.
'Cause when they wannafilm it tomorrow,
they want big shotsof the audience,
but that's not whatthe fucking thing is about.
When you put lightson the audience,
they stop being an audience.
They are individuals in lightsand they hate it,and you just lose them.
So that's what happened,it wasn't the heat or anything.
So, we are rather cross tonight,and heads will roll.
[organ plays]
Breaking news, Monty Python arereuniting for the last time...
[all speaking inforeign languages]
[crowd chants] Python! Python!
[all] Oh, we do loveMonty Python!
To me it's amazingto have the opportunityto see them actually live.
[Palin] We were under morepressure on the last nightthan on the previous nights,
because we were being filmed
and it was going outto 1,800 cinemas worldwide.
This was really important to getthis absolutely right.
[man] John, come in a little bitmore, that's lovely.
That's good.
I think that the conclusionof it was really important,
and when Mike who didn't wantto do it anymore,
was offered untold wealthto tour America
and South Africa and Australia,
when he said no,I was very grateful
and I said, "Jim, we'll make itthe last night of Python."
[indistinct chattering]
I think this is a very finite,ten days... and it works.
Brings itto a nice close.
There you are, good luck.
Thank you so much, my darling,it's been a pleasure.
Michael...
I need you to sing thesetwo wonderful hard-backed...
Do you have a signing device?
Yes, yes,put that in your fingers.
-I've got to take the top off.-That's the hard bit.
Now, all these ladies are cominginto my dressing room...
-What's going on here?-Come on, Terry.
[women laughing]
After the way you treat meon stage...
-Do you know the sketch?-I do.
-Okay, good.-I know every sketch.
You know everythingabout it.
For the show, he is on stagewith ten ensemble dancers
in Agent Provocateur lingerie.
-Right, you got my memo?-I did.
-Black lace, is that right?-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Am I wearing the chapswith the ass cut out?
-Fantastic.-Leather, white leather.
-Pleather.-Pleather?
-Yeah.-Sorry, sorry...
Couldn't all go right,could it?
It doesn't matter,you know what?
It's the red M&Ms,that's all.
["I Like Traffic Lights" plays]
[chorus vocalizes]
♪ I like traffic lights ♪
I had a phone callfrom my daughterwho lives in Buenos Aires,
who is off to the local cinemain Buenos Aires to watch it.
It's incredible,we're absolutely everywhere.
[cheers and applause]
-Crazy wig room.-That was my nickname in school.
-Crazy wig?-Yeah.
My theory begins now...
Ahem.
All brontosaurusesare thin at one end,
much thicker in the middle
and then thinat the far end again,
that is my theoryand what it is,
and it belongs to me too,and it's mine.
I like a nice ginbefore I go on.
-[man] One minute.-Great for the performance.
-What do you want?-Well, I...
Don't give me that!
You snotty-faced heapof parrot droppings!
Shut your festering gob, youtit! Your type makes me puke!
You vacuous, stuffy,malodorous, old pervert!
Look, I came herefor an argument.
Oh, I'm sorry,this is abuse.
-Oh...-[laughter]
-Do I take my lipstick off?-No, you keep it on.
-Next one.-Oh, that's right.
Oh, yes, oh...
[unintelligible audiofrom the stage]
[Cleese] Excuse me...
[man moans lecherously]
[quiet, indistinct chatter]
Sure.
[indistinct conversationon stage]
[man, lecherously]Mmm, that's better.
-Oh, yes, it is.-[cars honking]
[brakes squeal, crash]
[honking continues]
[fanfare music]
[Cleese] Albatross!
[audience cheering]
Albatross!
Two choc-ices, please.
I haven't got any choc-ices,I only got the albatross.
[Jones] Do you getwafers with it?
[Cleese] Course you don't getfucking wafers with it.
It's an albatross!
You're disgusting,you're not evena proper woman.
Don't you oppress me, mate.
[Cleese] It wasan emotional event
and the emotionswere almost all positive.
which is very rare.
The sense of general benevolencewas just extraordinary.
Looks very ordinary to me,
could just be an ordinary guyoff the street,
could be a celebrity,five, four, three, two, one!
Off with the bag!
Oh, my God!
Oh, wow!
Oh...
[audience cheering]
International Man of Mysteryhimself,
this is a great moment,but, Mike...
-Mike...-Yes?
We're both Mike, so I canMike... I can Mike with you.
-You're on "Blackmail"...-Yes.
What's gone wrong?
You mean,what's gone right?
I'm on stage with you.
Oh, well,we want you to confess,
'cause this is "Blackmail",we know you've been in trouble,
so, if there's anything you wantto share with the audience,
now it's your time.
I wanna sharehow incredibly honoured I am
to be on stagewith Monty Python,
the greatest comedy troupein the historyof the English language!
And...
And there may be photographsof me with German shepherds.
Oh, wow!
He's too nice a guy. Thank youfor coming on the show.
Oh, that's it? Okay.
[Palin] Thank you allfrom "Blackmail".
See you next week, okay!
If somebody had said to me
when I was 14 in Toronto,you know...
Amazing.
Beyond...
[man] Is there anybody elsein that category?
-In comedy?-Yes.
No. No. Nobody.
They're the Mac Daddy, dude.
Ladies and gentleman,
tonight the show is going live
all around the world,amazingly enough.
So, wherever you are watching,
would you please all join us
all the way around the world
in saying farewell to us
by singing this little ditty?
♪ Some things in life are bad ♪
♪ They can reallyMake you mad ♪
♪ Other things just make youSwear and curse ♪
♪ When you're chewingOn life's gristle ♪
♪ Don't grumbleGive a whistle ♪
♪ And this'll help thingsTurn out for the best ♪
♪ And always look onThe bright side of life ♪
[all whistle]
Come on!
♪ Always look onThe bright side of life ♪
[Jones] It felt emotional,the last night.
It was sad, really.
Being a Python was a great shotin the arm for me.
♪ When you're feelingIn the dumps ♪
♪ Don't be silly chumps ♪
I think I will now revealthe truth...
My secret fear isthat I will want more of it.
Your ego is this huge,massive thing waiting.
"More, give me more!"
♪ Bright side of life ♪
Gosh, we did it,we pulled it off, it's over,
but I'm glad we endedon a big high note,
rather than in someembarrassing hall,
somebody has a heart attackand they can't go on.
But seriously, that's howall show business ends.
♪ Give the audience a grin ♪
[Cleese] Dear old Graham,he loved being a star.
He loved the whole businessof show business,
and I think if he could've beenout on stage
he would've hada wonderful time.
[Palin] I rememberinterviewing Spike Milligan,
I was trying to say to Spikewhat people say to us,
"What does it feelto have done the Goons shows?"
And Spike said, "You know,it was like...
one good summer."
Yeah. So moving.
[chuckles] You know...
One good summer,I know what that means.
[all holding note]
[circus music plays]
[indistinct chattering]
I'm so glad you came, yes.
She's the youngest memberof the audience, I think.
Yes...
On my way back from Cambridge,when we shot you,
we said, "We cameall this way to Cambridge
to see the most brilliant manin the world
and we did a gag with him."
[Idle] I want very much torelease Stephen Hawking singing
"The Galaxy Song" as a single
I think that is definitemust for England,
and then I wondered if wecouldn't get him singing
"The Lumberjack Song",
and then maybe "Sit On My Face",but maybe that's a step too far.
[Cleese] I quite likegetting older
because you don't worryso much about things,
and you begin to realisewhat an utter madhouse
the whole world is.
It was so extraordinary,so phenomenal,
so vast, world encompassing,world spanning,
and it's over.
The guy going up the streetthe other day
as I was just walkingthrough London,
he just points his finger at me,he says, "Legend".
Mind you, he then fell offthe pavement.
[music continues]