USA: The Monty Python troupe celebrates their 40th anniversary with a special documentary

Record ID: 730755

  • Title: USA: The Monty Python troupe celebrates their 40th anniversary with a special documentary
  • Date: 20th October 2009
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 15, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ZIEGFELD THEATER, VENUE FOR THE PREMIERE OF THE MONTY PYTHON DOCUMENTARY, "MONTY PYTHON: ALMOST THE TRUTH (THE LAWYER'S CUT)" (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) ALL FIVE SURVIVING MEMBERS OF MONTY PYTHON - JOHN CLEESE, TERRY JONES, TERRY GILLIAM, ERIC IDLE AND MICHAEL PALIN ON THE RED CARPET ALONG WITH ACTRESS CAROL CLEVELAND - SIGNIFICANT FEMALE PERFORMER ON MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS CAMERAPERSONS (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) JOHN CLEESE, TERRY JONES, TERRY GILLIAM, ERIC IDLE AND MICHAEL PALIN POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS TERRY GILLIAM ERIC IDLE TALKING TO A REPORTER A CAMERAPERSON (SOUNDBITE) (English) ERIC IDLE, COMEDIAN FROM MONTY PYTHON, SAYING: "They couldn't exist in America because it is executive free comedy. No executives would ever have passed it. So, we were very fortunate to get into the BBC at a certain time when they weren't looking. And just we could play with the toys and do what we wanted to do and we didn't know what we wanted to do, we just knew what we didn't want to do." MICHAEL PALIN POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL PALIN, COMEDIAN FROM MONTY PYTHON, SAYING: "This is just one on the long road forward. I don't think this will be the last time that we ever get together. Never say never. We remain good friends, we like each other, we laugh at each other's jokes."
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA242T8B424ZDA7MM9138NF4H15
  • Story Text: It is time to once again celebrate The Ministry of Silly Walks, the Fish Slapping Dance and the Parrot Sketch. British comedy team, Monty Python, which introduced these hilarious antics and sketches to the world, is celebrating their 40th anniversary with an introspective look at its own history.
    All five surviving members of Monty Python attended a reunion at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on Thursday (October 16) co-hosted by the Independent Film Channel (IFC). The evening saw the premiere of IFC's six-hour documentary-series "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)". The documentary retells the entire Python phenomenon from start to finish. It features interviews with the surviving Python members - Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The late Graham Chapman, who died in 1989, also appears in the series through archive representation. Each of the six hours will be aired during IFC's "Python-a-thon" beginning October 18.
    Monty Python created the influential British television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" which first aired in 1969, and then went on to make popular movies including "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Monty Python's Life of Brian." , On the red carpet, the Python comedians were accompanied by actress Carol Cleveland, who was one of the few significant female comedians in "Monty Python's Flying Circus". In interviews, they all reflected on the world-famous troupe's legacy and the new documentary about the Python journey.
    Idle said Monty Python could never have existed in the current market-driven culture of television comedies in America.
    "They couldn't exist in America because it is executive free comedy. No executives would ever have passed it. So, we were very fortunate to get into the BBC at a certain time when they weren't looking. And just we could play with the toys and do what we wanted to do and we didn't know what we wanted to do, we just knew what we didn't want to do."
    The documentary is being touted as the last time that the five surviving members of the Python troupe will be together in a production. But Palin was more optimistic, emphasizing that one can "never say never."
    "This is just one on the long road forward. I don't think this will be the last time that we ever get together. Never say never. We remain good friends, we like each other, we laugh at each other's jokes," said Palin before he was pushed aside by Cleese on the red carpet.
    Looking back to their beginnings, Cleese said that he and the other founders of the group had been bored of the conventional comedy that was being done in the 1960s.
    "We'd all worked three or four years before for David Frost and we used to come up with crazy ideas and the director used to say - they won't understand that in Bradford, which is a slightly boring, industrial town in the North. What we discovered was that not everyone in Bradford understood Python but enough people did," said Cleese.
    In "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)" the Pythons tell their life story, revealing some deeper truths alongside other tried and tested Python history lessons. However, Terry Jones, believes that it is almost impossible to really figure out what was and is behind their peculiar sense of humor.
    "I think one of the things the documentary does is sort of does go back in the background and how we grew up, like after the war, rationing and the sort of society we were growing up in. So I think it's interesting from that. But I don't think it gives away anything. I hope I never discover what's funny, I hope I never know," said Jones.
    Terry's son Bill Jones, is one of the producers of the documentary. When asked what he learnt about his father while working on the documentary, Bill said what he found intriguing was his father's "fiery" relationship with John Cleese.
    Also the same night, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) honored the Monty Python comedy team with a special award for their contribution to film and television. BAFTA, which hands out Britain's equivalent of the Oscars each year, last honored the Monty Python team in 1987, when they were presented with the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.
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