Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
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| Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl |
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| Directed by | Terry Hughes Ian MacNaughton |
| Produced by | Terry Hughes |
| Written by | Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin Tim Brooke-Taylor Marty Feldman |
| Starring | Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin Carol Cleveland Neil Innes |
| Music by | Ray Cooper Neil Innes Terry Jones Michael Palin Fred Tomlinson Terry Gilliam Eric Idle |
| Distributed by | Columbia |
| Release date(s) | June 25 1982 |
| Running time | 77 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Monty Python's Life of Brian |
| Followed by | Monty Python's The Meaning of Life |
| IMDb profile | |
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 concert film in which the Monty Python team perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl, including several pre-Python ones. The performance was recorded on videotape and transferred to film. The Pythons originally planned to release a film consisting of their two German television shows edited together, but this proved impractical and this concert film was released in the wake of the worldwide success of Monty Python's Life of Brian instead.
As well as the on-stage sketches there are also filmed inserts, mostly taken from the two German Python specials (Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus).
The film stars all six Monty Python members, with Carol Cleveland in numerous supporting roles and Neil Innes performing songs. Also present for the shows and participating as an 'extra' was Python superfan Kim 'Howard' Johnson.
Although it mostly contains sketches from the TV show, some elements in those sketches have been altered - "dustman" is now "garbage man"; "Of course you don't get bloody wafers with it" now goes "Of course you don't get fucking wafers with it, you cunt!"; Gilliam has more acting roles and 'the Lumberjack Song' follows 'Salvation Fuzz' rather than 'Homicidal Barber' or 'Pet Shop'.
[edit] Sketches and songs
- "Sit on my Face" - A ribald parody of Gracie Fields' "Sing as We Go" from Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album, performed by Cleese, Chapman, Gilliam and Jones in waiter outfits, sans trousers or underwear.
- "Colin 'Bomber' Harris" - Chapman is his own opponent in the wrestling ring as Cleese delivers play-by-play. This is a mime piece that dates back to Chapman's college days.
- "Never Be Rude To An Arab" - Jones performs an ostensibly anti-racism song filled with demeaning epithets, and is subsequently blown up. This sketch has two parts at different points in the show. In the first part, he's blown up and dragged offstage by a large frog. In the second, he's blown up and dragged off by a Christmas tree. Also from Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.
- "The Last Supper" - Michelangelo (Idle) defends his creative first draft of The Last Supper painting against the objections of the Pope (Cleese). Was originally written for the TV series by Cleese but somehow never got on the air, and was first performed for one of the Secret Policeman's Ball shows.
- "Silly Olympics" - In a filmed bit, athletes compete in absurd sporting events. This piece is from the first Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus episode, dubbed into English.
- "Bruces' Philosophers Song" - The University of Woolloomooloo's Philosophy Department throws cans of Foster's Lager at the audience and perform "The Philosophers' Song", accompanied by large Gilliam cutouts, detailing the drinking habits of history's great thinkers.
- "The Ministry of Silly Walks" - Palin has difficulty gaining funding for his (only slightly) silly walk. This also contains colour footage of the same archival 'silly walks' seen in the first episode of the second Python television series.
- "Camp Judges" - British judges (Palin and Idle) behave unconventionally outside the courtroom.
- "World Forum" - Important historical socialist figures are asked general-knowledge questions in a quiz show format.
- "I'm The Urban Spaceman" - Neil Innes performs the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band number as Carol Cleveland tap dances and constantly loses timing of the song.
- "Whizzo Chocolates" - Candymaker Jones answers to the police (Chapman and Gilliam, who vomits into his helmet) for his disgusting varieties of chocolates.
- "Albatross" - Cleese attempts to vend a sea bird to audience member Jones.
- "Nudge Nudge" - Idle pesters Jones with perplexing innuendo.
- "International Philosophy" - In a filmed bit, German philosophers take on Greek philosophers on a football field. This piece is from the second Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus episode.
- "Four Yorkshiremen sketch" - Well-to-do Yorkshiremen try to top one another's tales of their austere beginnings, each story getting more exaggerated and absurd. Originally written for At Last the 1948 Show.
- The Argument Sketch - Palin pays Cleese to disagree with him. Sketch interrupted by Gilliam performing "I've Got Two Legs." Cleese ends Gilliam's singing by shooting him with a shotgun.
- "How Sweet to Be an Idiot" - Neil Innes sings an ode to lunacy.
- "Travel Agency" - Palin attempts to sell a package tour to Mr. Smoketoomuch (Idle), who will not stop talking about travel difficulties, even as he is chased an asylum orderly (Cleese) all about the stadium. He even interrupts the next sketch.
- "Comedy Lecture" - Chapman explains slapstick comedy fundamentals in an extremely highbrow manner as Palin, Gilliam, and Jones demonstrate. Originally written for Cambridge Circus.
- "Little Red Riding Hood" - In a filmed bit, Cleese as Little Red Riding Hood endures a fractured retelling of the classic fairy tale. This piece is from the first Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus episode, dubbed into English.
- "Bishop on the Landing" (aka "Salvation Fuzz") - A dead bishop on the landing disrupts a family's mealtime.
- During the performance of this sketch, technical difficulties (a microphone starts feedbacking) make Terry Jones lose his place (he temporarily looks up with a smirk on his face). Eric Idle has trouble keeping a straight face while delivering his lines with an extraordinarily overwrought accent, which also causes Terry Jones to openly burst out laughing. At one point, Jones loses his Pepperpot wig, which goes flying across the stage. Graham Chapman and Michael Palin slide across the stage in order to hide Jones as he replaces the wig. This was always a difficult sketch to perform live - on other occasions, the 'Hand of God' (a large Gilliam-designed cut-out) fingered the wrong character.
- "The Lumberjack Song" - A rugged outdoorsman (Idle, as opposed to Palin who played the role in the original BBC series) unsettles the chorus by revealing his 'alternative' lifestyle.
[edit] Box Office
A film version of the Hollywood Bowl performances, with direction credited to Terry Hughes, was given a limited theatrical release in North America beginning on June 25, 1982. It grossed a total of $327,958 USD during its theatrical run.
[edit] External links
- Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl at the Internet Movie Database
- Transcript of the Four Yorkshiremen
- Complete script
