Do Go On - 24 - Monty Python

Episode Date: April 6, 2016

It seems appropriate that a podcast hosted by three comedians should take a look at the legendary comedy group Monty Python! Jess discusses their origin, their films, and their lives beyond Python.Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Hello and welcome aboard another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnocky and I am sitting across from a man named Mr. Matt Stewart. Hello Matt. Hi Dave, how's it going?

It is good. I asked how's it going and I wasn't going to give you a space. How's it going? It is good to be here. How's it going? It's good from where I'm sitting. Hopefully it's good from where you're sitting as well. Hey, Dave, can I stop you right there?

Absolutely. Sorry to touch your lips like that. Oh, my lips are now sealed. extended pointer finger. You'll probably have a more scientifically correct word for that biology. Index finger. Index finger, thank you. Okay.

But I'll stop you right there. Oh, sorry, the index finger's back. I'd love to introduce you to a very good friend of mine. One of my best. I'm a very big fan of this person. Yep. It's Jess Perkins. Please make her feel welcome.

She's here every week. Please make her feel welcome. I feel welcome. I feel like doing a round of applause, but that would sound less welcoming than no applause. Please do it. Jess Perkins, ladies and gentlemen. Isn't that terrible?

I love it. How are you, Jess? I'm pretty good. How are you? I am good now, just to give us a bit of insight into our personal lives. We just enjoyed a delicious Indian curry meal together. We did. Two types of curry, one type of rice, and it was way too much rice.

Yeah, it was too much rice. We had a cute little do-go-on family dinner. Yeah. It was nice. It was delightful. It was good. I ate. I got there.

I ate very slowly, but we got through the food. You did well. You ate like a big dinner dinner. boy thank you you mom you were so like during the meal you were stopping me from joking about how slowly he eats but on Mike oh I'll rip into anyone no that's the thing it's a real waste because I'm I'm quite maternal but I don't think I want kids it's a real waste I don't know if that's a waste nah you can just mother the world we are the world you know what you can do I heard of this recently I think maybe it was even on

another podcast. You listen to other podcasts. Yeah, I was going to Dave Warnocky on, maybe it was, no, I don't know what it was. Anyway, I heard this, I heard this term mum-splaining. And that's where like a guy, a dad is out with their kids and they may be like feeding them or doing some changing a nappy or something. And then a mum or, you know, a stranger will come up and say, everything okay here. I find that it's actually easier to.

Oh, what? But yeah, that's really interesting. Apparently that happens a bit. It's like I kind of like the fact in some ways that there is one little thing out there that men get patronized there because it often goes the other way. Like man's explaining is just across the whole board. So mum's spawning is just this little. But I do hate that too because I hate when people assume like the dad is the inferior parent. Yeah, yeah.

It's like, no, not the case at all. I mean in the case in my family, but not in all. Not necessarily. I mean statistically, sure. I'll jump on the other side of the fence here I, as someone who is terrible at doing nearly everything in their life, practical tasks I mean, I would love it if someone came up and said,

Hey mate, that's not how you grill a grilled cheese sandwich. What? I'd love that. They came up and things got to explain to me. But even if you were doing a fine job and you're... Well, when it comes to grilled cheese, I'm not doing a fine job. What about this? How do you fuck up grilled cheese?

All right, so we've got an electric... I don't even know what that's called. What's it called? Stove. See, that's how bad I'm cooking. Oh, gosh. All the drink stuff. I've never had one before, and apparently it takes a long time to heat up.

And I had the grilled cheese on there for 10 minutes, not doing anything. Like, it wasn't melting at all. And then I'd come back a couple minutes later, and it's just burnt. Yeah. Yeah. Don't leave it for that long. Yeah. And if I'd been doing that in a park and a mum would come up, I'd been like, thank you, mum.

Well, yeah, I don't know if the mums needed. That's just parenting, I think. Thanks, Dad. What I'm saying is I need help. Apparently. to cry to help, I'm sorry. There is an extension from that as well. So, like, to go with that analogy of the cheese instead of the parenting,

that also there will be, mom's might go up to the dad and they'll say, and he's just like, say, feeding the baby a bottle. And they'll be like, hey, good on you. That's, it's really great to see. It's like, just doing the bare minimum of what being a parent is. So it's not the mother of the child, just a random lady. I think even the mum's coming and going, thanks for helping out. and you're like, the wife should never thank you.

No. Yeah, no, no, no, no. Strangers. Yeah, strangers. That's assuming that. Good on you. So if you're doing the grilled cheese and Australia just comes up to you in the park with your electric stove. Which I've taken to the kid park.

Cooking for yourself. Hold on. I'd love if I was eating a banana in a park and a mom came up and said fruit. Good choice. I'd get walking. Actually, that'd be sick. That'd be so good. Thanks.

Yeah, I don't actually. I don't mind. I don't, depends on how they do it, but interesting. I found it, I just, I'd never heard the term mum spawning. I quite like it. I quite like that too. When you said mumsplining, I thought it was just the unnecessary over-explaining, like my mum does. Like, what's for dinner?

And she talks about something that happened in 1973 and you're like, oh my God, mum. And do they, do they ever say things like, I've been around conversations where a couple of parents are talking, you know, and you're around for dinner at someone's house and they'll be telling you a story about their uncle or something? and I'll say he was gay by the way. And anyway, so he... And it's so irrelevant. Or just, yeah. Yeah.

And he was a dentist, by the way. Yeah. Both of those things happened in the same conversation was to me. It was a gay dentist. But one of the time? Neither of those things... Was it a gay dentist? He was gay, moving on.

Oh, he was also a dentist. Yeah, and neither time did it affect the story in any way. Yeah, it had nothing to do with it. I mean, great. What I find with my mum is she'll start to ask a question and I don't know what she's asking so I'll answer her but then she still finishes. Yeah. Like, what time is the 7.30?

Show tonight. I'm like, I've already told you. Sweet Jesus, come over here and I will strangle you to death. Oh, really? Yeah, I get quite aggressive. I hear that. I don't. She's super cute.

Nobody touched me. She's the best. Annie, if you're going to touch her, touch her with hugs and love. I try and then she says, get off me. Personal space, Jess. That's true. I do that all the time. I climb on her.

She's your hot and cold with you, mum. I really am. Zero to 60, they call me. Oh, miles or kilometres? Temperature. Oh. Celsius or Fahrenheit? Farronite.

Oh, it's not that warm. I'm pretty cold still. You've got a lot of cold. Low range. I hope you're... I hope your report will be hot today, which is what we're all here to do, is that for you to just to research a topic and report back to Matt and I,

and how we doing, How are we looking? Fine, we're looking, hey, okay, no problems here. All right. Your reports are always of the finest quality. Thanks, Bringo Star. Oh, that wasn't, I didn't even mean to be doing an accent there. You just sleep into it.

Your reports are always, oh no. Oh, boy. Oh, dear. Not bad. As Bringo pulling out of an impression of himself. Jess, what have you got for us? Okay, well, we always start with a question. Yes, we do.

And I have thought out my question really thoroughly. Yeah, I know. I know you were saying earlier that you started with the question and then you built a report around it. So it should be pretty rock solid. Which makes sense. Oh no, that's the opposite of what you said. I just added this a minute ago because I feel like sometimes the questions are

going to feel a little bit too obvious. But we'll have a bit of a go and see if you can guess. So my question to you is, what's wrong? No need to mum explain the question there, Jess. No, please do you go on? Who do you think? as the most influential group of comedians?

Is it, oh, I was researching the Friars Club today. Do you know the Friars Club of New York? City. Yeah, that rings a bell. They organise a lot of the celebrity roasts. It's like everyone who has been in an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry gets to go to the Friars Club

and then to go in there, you have to wear a jacket and then a performer takes his jacket. it. Anyway, that's just, it's called the Friars Club. But I was thinking about it, is that another do? It's not the Fryers Club. Is it the Melbourne open-mic comedy scene?

It is. I will be doing a report on my peers and I will be ranking them. From 1 to 279. Is it? Oh, is it just the Melbourne International Comedy Festival? No, that would be a broad topic. Was it the group? Influential, yeah, that's a big key.

Is it the footlights? Oh, no. Cambridge Footlights? Yeah. But it kind of came from that. Okay. then I'm guessing. Oh, is it the Goon Show?

Oh, they also worked alongside them, but no. Yeah, the Goon Show came just before Monty Python. Yeah. I love Monty Python. That's an awesome topic. Are you a Monty Python fan as well? I like them. I always feel weird about the fan thing.

I feel like I don't know enough to call myself a fan. Sure. Unless you mean liking them. Yeah. If you mean liking them, then I'm a fan, but I don't, I'm not a like a, full on knowing everything about him kind of guy. Yeah, no, I don't think I'm really like that either.

And I don't even, you know, I think you've got to be realistic. I don't love every single thing they've done. Because they are very absurd, right, and like out there and wacky. But a lot of their stuff I very much enjoy. Sometimes they are really quite silly. Very, aren't they? Just a tad. Just a bit bloody silly.

No, I think they are very funny. And I would agree that they are definitely some of the most influential comedians. Oh, 100%. And like one of the, I think in American comedy, because you know, you listen to a lot of American comedians talk and stuff, and they are normally influenced from the inside, like American comedians influencing Americans. But one of the names that comes up a lot from outside of America would be Monty Python. Absolutely, yeah. I was watching like a documentary on YouTube about them and lots of Americans were interviewed about them. Even like Jim Carrey as well.

I remember watching an interview with Jim Carrey. Robin Williams was talking about them. Jim Carrey technically Canadian, but I guess that is in North America. Continental. Sorry, what a, what a, I find it so annoying when people pull other people up on bullshit things. And I did it to be funny, but it wasn't funny. It was just annoying. I believe Mike Myers is also Canadian.

That's why I said speaking about. I was doing the, uh, doing the volume, just you know, loud enough. Okay. Just off, off, Mark, here. Well, on Mike, but off the record. I'll, I'll be louder. So, I've broken it up in. to almost like a timeline, I suppose.

I'm going to look at their origin and some of their TV and film work and then what have they done beyond? Okay, just a little, like a little index of what we've got coming up. Is it an index at the start? Or index is at the back of the book? The index is at the back, I think, with the glossary.

Glossary. You want the table of content. Table of contents. That's the word. That's what you just got there. And then it wouldn't be a Jess Perkins report. Without fun facts. Just a preface.

seeing again what we have to look forward to. I love that you outlined. It's like a proper lecture, isn't it? Yeah, I didn't mean to. This is what will be covered today. Time for questions at the end. Please hold them. I was wondering why you were standing at that lectern, but that makes sense.

B.Y.O. Lecture. And why we're in a lecture theatre with 250 Melbourne University students. I just want to echoey. So in the early to mid-60s at Oxford University, history student Michael Palin met English student, Terry Jones. Meanwhile, over at Cambridge University, another English student, Eric Idol, met law student John Cleese and medical student Graham Chapman. So you look at, we've got a fair broad range there, don't they?

Sounds like buddy tism. Doesn't it? What were they, what were their specialties though? I don't know. They sound like very educated dudes. Yeah, and like a real mix there. So you've got a couple of English students, you've got history, law and medicine. I think medicine being the least useful.

Meanwhile, Terry Gilliam was studying political science at the university in Los Angeles ever heard of it probably known as L.A. Quite a well known. The city of angels. Yeah,

does that ring a bell? So working together in various sort of sketch groups and comedy troops across both universities it sort of led on to John Cleese got a role on at last the 1948 show

and following the success of a program that the others were on So the others were all on a program called Do Not Adjust Your Set, which was like a tea time children's program. That's funny, isn't it? Yeah, and it was kind of cool because they said that because it was on about 525 in the evening. So they had this weird crossover audience of like kids, but also parents or like adults coming home from work. So they were really fucking about and being very, very silly. Silly boys.

They're being silly boys. It's great when you watch something like a kid show like Play School Back now. They make mistakes and stuff, but they just do it all in one take. And they laugh with each other. When you're a kid, you don't notice that kind of stuff. Sometimes they'd look at the camera like, you see that? Anyway, I stuffed up that cardboard thing. Anyway, let's start singing.

Like, and they sort of laughed with each other. How often are you watching Play School now? I'm trying to cut back. I'm waiting myself off. Sure. I'm four nights a week. I used to be five. Yeah, sure.

Four. Following the success of their program, do not adjust your sets. ITV, the network. offered Gilliam, Idol, Jones and Palin their own late-night adult comedy series together. So they're in like early to mid-20s. And so this is Terry Gilliam's being given a go as well. Yeah, yeah, so he sort of joined them. He came across and was writing for, do not adjust your set.

Well, not writing, but he was doing like all the animations and stuff. Oh, cool. So he's already got his sort of weird style. He's the guy that does the animations, Terry Gilliam. There's videos on YouTube of him teaching you how to do it. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome.

Yeah. And I remember I was watching a documentary and Michael Palin was saying, Like what impressed him most about Gilliam's work was his comic timing. Like it's quite basic animation, I would say. Like he says that, but I couldn't do it. So it can't be that. And also, this was done 50 years ago. Yeah.

You know, it's easier. You probably could do it yourself now, but probably not back then. Probably not big. So he was like very talented, but his timing and stuff was very, very funny. And so they were offered their own late night show, which was awesome. But the network had said, you've got to wait about 18. months until we can give you a studio. There was no time for them, so they had to wait about 18 months.

But at the same time, Graham Chapman and John Cleese were offered a show by the BBC. The BBC had been impressed by their work on the Frost Report and at last the 1948 show. So John Cleese was apparently quite reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Graham Chapman's supposedly difficult and erratic personality. A loose unit. A bit of a loose unit. I think this is sort of in the early stages of his alcoholism. Yeah, he's trouble with booze.

Also, if there's only two of you, that's two people have to write half an hour a week. That's really a lot of... Yeah, so it's like a lot of... It's a lot more pressure, so you bring other people on board. So he brought, basically, he brought Palin on because they knew each other, having worked on how to irritate people, which was like another program they were working on. So they've worked on so many shows. Yeah, and these are like, well, a lot of these are also.

So, like, radio, they did a lot of radio plays. They wrote for shows. They weren't always the performers. They did a lot of writing. So he invites Palin to come along, who brings Terry Jones and Eric Idol and Terry Gilliam with him. They're like, all right, you can have me, but I'm a package. It's me plus four or nothing.

I'm bringing the rest of the gang. So, yeah, they brought along Gilliam as well to do all the animations and stuff like that. And when it came to, like, the actual writing process, You may know this, but apparently Eric Idol always wrote alone. He wrote by himself. John and Graham wrote together. Terry G., he animated alone, obviously. He just worked alone.

It's just his personality. Yeah, he'd just like to animate alone. And Michael Palin and Eric, and Terry Jones wrote together. So they had their little groups, their little writing partnerships that kind of worked for them. And what I really like is that they had a very definite idea about what they wanted to do with their series. So they admired the work of acts like Peter Cook and Alan Bennett, Dudley Moore, and they'd worked on the Frost Report. And they enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show not only but also.

But one problem that they saw was that these programs had great sketches, but the writers would sort of struggle to find a punchline funny enough to end on. And that would kind of... So the comedy was... missing. Yeah. Your comedy is great. It just doesn't have any more jokes.

Yeah. I really enjoy your comedy, but it doesn't, it's not funny. It's like a dramatic play, but we could wrap that up with a joke at the end. Yeah. We just put it in a punchline. I don't know if you guys are misunderstanding that on purpose or not, but that's not what it said. Said it was, they were very funny sketches. Uh-huh.

They just didn't have the big, the big bang laugh at the end. Oh. It was before the days where you could just. you know, drop some dubstep at the end and move on. Oh, Oh, thinly veiled stab at our very good friends,

Auntie Donna. No, those are they, those are great punch signs. And great dubstep. Oh yeah, fucking nice. And rock and bods.

Should go see them at the comedy festival if that's not over yet? It is not. It's not over yet, but they've probably sold out. Yeah, well, you should watch their DVDs. Yeah,

because they're amazing. Anyway, um, so, saying that their sketches were good, but the lack of hilarity kind of distracted from the overall quality, right? So they decide... I know, it's pretty brutal, yeah. That's nasty.

You understand, though, don't know that? Oh, yeah, no, totally. Do I need to explain it again? If you just one more time. Okay, so it's funny, but it's not funny enough. It's not for ha ha ha funny. Yeah. Yeah, it's gentle.

It's gentle funny. It's like, hmm-ha, kind of funny. That's kind of the sketches that I write. I love it writing a gentle sketch. Even a sad one. Yeah, I love a sad sketch. Some of the best. So the Python boys decided that they would not bother to cap their sketches in the traditional manner.

So in early episodes of Flying Circus, which is the series that they sort of went on to make, they make great play of this abandonment of the punchline. So like in one scene, Cleese turns to idle as the sketch descends in. to chaos and remarks, this is the silliest sketch I've ever been in. And they all resolve not to carry on and just walk off the set. So, like, they broke those sorts of barriers a lot. That's very clever. Looking at someone else and thinking, your sketches are great,

but it's not that funny at the end. Instead of just making it funny at the end, which is obviously very difficult. It is fucking impossible. It's just abandoned ship. It's maybe not impossible. It's very hard to do that consistently. And then also making the abandonment funny.

Very good. Yeah. But they took that so now no one else can really use it. Jerks. Yeah, that's true. That's very python-esque. What, just because they invented it and I'm basically ripping it off, then yeah, sure. Yeah, I guess so.

Whatever. Anyway, I'm just going to go on with my funny walk sketch and good day to you, sir. I love that funny walk sketch, though. My funny walk sketch? Yeah. Thank you. What if you mean silly walks? No, mine's the funny walk sketch.

Oh, of course. Very good. Yeah, you haven't seen Matt's funny walk sketch. I think I have. It's just him walking, to be honest. He's got a funny walk. He bounces a lot as he walks. It's not a, I wouldn't say it's a rip-off.

It's more of an homage. Oh. It's a what? An homage. Do you have a certain... Genesee qua. I guess you could say it. I don't know.

It's up to you. If you want to get technical. If you want to get a technical. Technicale Oh fuck Would have been way better Won't you teaching yourself Spanish or something

The Spanish? See Anyway They're working together And trying to figure out What sort of style They're going to create And Terry Jones remembered

An animation that Gilliam had created For Do Not Adjust Your set Called Beware of the Elephants Which had intrigued him With its stream of consciousness style So that's kind of how Their style Began

because it was kind of a stream of consciousness. It just kept going into nothing in a way and then different things would come in and change it and would go a bit nuts, much like a stream of consciousness. Yeah, there it is. They often used one of Gilliam's animations to move from the closing image of one sketch

to the opening scene of another, so they sort of used it as like a segue kind of. Transition. Yeah, exactly. Segway's probably better, but that's fine. Do you see how he tried a mum explain that? to you. Yeah.

What's a difference, Dave? Was that worth correcting her about? I definitely regret it. Good decision. No, I don't regret anything. I'm pretty great. They treated writing like a nine to five job, so their approach was quite democratic. And if the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show.

I quite like that. That is cool. I mean, it does sort of seem like it should be how it is, but I imagine when you're working in a big group, It can be very challenging. Okay, but if you're working on your own, which two of them are, you've got to convince more, because you obviously find it funny. What an excellent point.

You're in a duo, you've got two already. They might have formed the coalition. No, you're absolutely right, because John Cleese made the same point. He said he felt sorry for Eric, who was like writing by himself, because it wasn't quite the same for Terry Gillian because, you know, he would... Yeah, but he would come with ideas or they would say, this is what we're doing, and he would make ideas around that, whereas Eric would be writing stuff, and if he couldn't convince him that it was far like he's yeah you're right in the group of two

you've already got two votes he was just like just him one more and then you've got it well maybe his maybe his vote should have been worth two maybe but i don't think they thought of that at the time apparently one of them was a doctor so basically not a matha magician matha magician math magician very good right got relayed around the room that one okay so the casting of the roles for their sketches was also quite unselfish, I guess you could say. Since each member viewed himself primarily as a writer rather than an actor, they weren't desperate for screen time.

Yeah, they weren't desperate for screen time. There was no divas fighting over it. They just kind of let it go, which is kind of cool. And while the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of their team's humour. It got to a point because when I was in Year 12, my Year 12 drama solo had to have Python-s comedy. So I watched a lot of Monty Python as recent. Mum would be like, why don't you do your homework?

I am doing my homework, Mum. So what I was saying, though, was it got to a point because I was watching so much Monty Python that I could identify who had written which bit because there's certain styles that go with each sort of writing team. So the Oxford educated members, like Terry Jones and Palin, they were more visual, more fanciful

and a little bit more out there. So like the Spanish Inquisition, for example, was one of theirs. But the Cambridge graduates, so Cleese and Chapman who wrote together, they tended to be more verbal and more aggressive, which I think you can see in Cleese's performances, more confrontational where one character intimidates or hurls abuse. That's sort of their style.

I think it's very funny, yeah. But it's true, like you can start to think of sketches and you're like, I guess that makes sense. Whereas Eric Idol's characters were like lots of verbal quirks, and his were really language-based, so like the man who speaks in anagrams would have been him. Like, he just, um, he was really wordy.

That, what was that character to do with the, No More, Say No More, Nudge, Nudge, Nudge, Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink. That's a famous one. That is a good one. So, I'm a very shallow.

Say no more. I haven't, Diven too deeply. Diven? Like, instead of, Diven? Diven? Like past tense of dove.

Dived. Diven. Past tense of Dove. That is a past tense that doesn't exist. Yeah. I haven't... I'm very wordy as well. I'm a little bit like Eric Ardle.

You definitely are. You're the Eric Idol. No, you're the Gilliam. But please, Jess, do go on. There were other names for the show. Did you know that? So, when they... Before they came up with the flying circus,

they had some other options. What don't know? Hit me. Okay, here we go. Our stretching time. That's funny That's funny So Monty bath

An owl stretching time Yeah Matt's doing a Perkins That was a three people think of a word Yeah And then go And then away to get Like finish the sentence

The Toad Elevating Moment No two words No you wouldn't remember that A horse A spoon and a bucket Really? That's pretty funny Vaseline review

My person's one It's still number one Owl Stretching Time. Bun, whack it, buzzed, stubble and boot. A bit wordy. Too wordy. Our stretching time, you're a fan of? Yeah, was that on the short list?

I think it was. I still get more. Well, those, no, those, that's it. The Vaseline Review is my favourite. You like Vaseline Review? I quite like a horse, a spoon and a bucket. Out of the three of us, though, who would be the horse? What do you laugh here?

My laugh there? Yeah. Who would be the horse, the spoon, and the bucket here? Out of us three? Yeah. Oh, as a kid, if I played Monopoly, I was always the horse. Okay, you could be the horse. Spoon and bucket.

As a kid, I often ate with a spoon. I shat in a bucket. I can't wish I could. Is that true? Laughing because it's true. I don't know. Hasn't everybody shat in a bucket? Tragedy plus time.

Big time. Filled a bucket or two in my day. Oh, no, that's no good. But you are a horse. That is awful. I hate shit humor. All right. Just what I wish I could keep a straight face for a joke.

Yeah, well. Right, so they had all those other options for names, but Flying Circus stuck because BBC had printed that name in their schedule and were not willing to amend it. So, did they even think of it? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, they did. They went through and went, well, we're not going to call it Vaseline review.

Yeah, and there's all sorts of theories as to where Monty Python came from. Like, I couldn't even really find a... Ah, that's interesting. Yeah, I couldn't even find a proper... like reason there was too many different ones but there's a few oh wait so they were sorry I was thinking they were the names for flying circus so they that was decided it was Monty Python's Flying Circus they weren't called Monty Python yet yeah they were all right so the show

itself was called Monty Python they weren't as a group called Monty Python I didn't realize that that sort of came later after they would make sense because this is the first thing they did together yeah but they sort of like later when they worked on other projects they kind of dropped the flying circus but kept Monty Python so that became their group name. But at first I think it was just all part of it. So, oh, I'm also, I always thought they'd chosen the Monty Python part. So they were just going to be called and known in history as the Vaseline review.

Yeah, or, that's funny now. But they would have dropped the review after that show and just being called the Vaseline. And then, everyone would be like, the Vaso boys. And then you'd be doing comedy like that and you're like, well, it's a bit Vaseline-esque, isn't it? Yeah. Jess, we're going to need you to do some Vaseline-esque. But French. French Vaseline-esque, please.

We. And go. Oh, my lips, they are so sharp. I'm super offended. Are you? Why? Because you have chat lips and you've got a French background. Yes, exactly, Dave.

A bit of sensitivity, please. Well, let's do with Monty Barth and not wrap this up and move on to the next bit. Yeah, he's learning. Fuck you, man. Anyway, the first episode of Monty Parthens's Flying Circus was broadcast on the 5th of October 1969. Apparently, not to the most impressed audience. They did have a live studio audience. So even though, because when you do TV, you put it out there and you're like, well, I wonder if people will like it.

But you're doing the show in front of an audience that are hating it and then you know that it's going to go to like times 100,000 of this. And have you been to any live tapings of comedy shows? Yes. I've been to a few, like, I went to a few of the late shows in America and stuff, and every love comedy show I've ever seen, they're like, just laugh, even if you don't get it, laugh. Let them in there like, laugh, you'll get it on the way home, just laugh now, otherwise you'll regret it later. Just laugh at everything. What a line.

I'm going to say that at the start of my comedy festival show. If you think it's a joke, just laugh. If there's a pause laugh, just laugh. Please laugh. Wow. And they're just like, yeah, everyone laugh. And then let's all practice a laugh. And then did they do a setup or they just go and go?

And then everyone goes, ha ha. Maybe, I might be making that sound more fuck than it was. That might have been applause and stuff. They'd do that. Yeah, they do that for applaud. But like, I wrote for a community TV show that was filmed in front of an audience. Yeah. And when you're really proud of your jokes and like the producers have laughed really hard during the,

during the rehearsal and then you do it in front of an audience and get like a, it's like, oh, okay. I'm going to rethink all of my life choice. I think I bombed some of your writing on that show one time, didn't I? Yeah, you did. Sorry about that. No, that's okay. So they're doing it in front of a live audience. The writing was very strong.

Thank you. It was definitely the performance in that case. Yeah. But in this case, they can't blame anything because they've written and their performing. Exactly right. You can blame the fuckhead audience. They weren't ready for it. You know what, they like...

I guess in history, no, you can blame them, because clearly it's pretty great because we're still talking about it. Yeah, but was it? I think to just be confronted with that with no context, you would be like, what the hell is? And it was so different to anything else that was being done. And also, sketch comedy is very hit and miss. I don't know if you guys know that. Back to Python, are they pretty upset that their show is not going so great.

I think they're a little disappointed, yeah. In an interview, like Michael Palin said he remembers, so they all went to like the bar. Because again, it was like a late show. So it was, I think it was on nearly 11 p.m. It was quite late. And they sort of had drinks at the bar. And a lot of their friends were like, oh, just got a just got a run off just got a good a cucketor and he was like you don't even

have kids like people not wanting to hang out ghosted it yeah yeah so it was it was a bit awkward but so you per hurdle right but they kept going they just kept going and they actually um ended up doing fairly well obviously as you can as we now know um i mean they've been honored here today exactly and once you've made it onto a podcast i mean what more more is there. Well, this is the final chapter. Yeah. We're closing the book.

You're going to have to recap this in the recap? Yeah, yeah, I'll get to that. That's in fun facts. Okay, great. I thought I was wondering why you were writing still with one hand. Yeah, I'm recapping. In an April episode of Do Go On podcast, the Monty Python were mentioned. So they, Flying Circus, the show kind of popularized a few different styles, such as

like a cold open. so like when an episode would start without traditional opening titles or announcements so they used to do one that was like the it's man so Palin would like make this huge journey across really difficult terrains finally get to the camera and go it's and then it would cut him off and it would be the title sequence right it was like this really long drawn out and then they'd cut him off that's fantastic I love a cold open oh great good stuff I love a good cold open I love a cold hour

Which is what I often deliver I like a cold shower I like a mold flower I like a bold Cower That's when you caner boldly Oh That sounds like a nostril

Yeah that sounds I'll do it I'll show you Okay Okay Oh yeah yes He's doing it My word

Good heavens Thanks Holy moly I'll take it up to 10 I can't even look at it my eyes are burning I'm back they also

they disliked finishing with punchlines you know that hack move so they experimented with ending the sketches by cutting abruptly to another scene or an animation or they'd walk off stage or they'd address the camera known as breaking the fourth wall in the indes If you're in it.

I think that is probably, that is my favorite kind of segue, is like an anti-punch line or a... Just break it. Break it or, yeah. Yeah. Walking between the two, like if they just roll into the next sketch. Yeah, I think it's clever. When it's done well, I reckon that is my favorite kind of transition as Dave would say, or segue as, as Jess Perkins would say.

Thank you for giving me a surname there. Or just midi bit, as I would say. A midi bit. Another type of MIDI bit that they would use would be just introducing a totally unrelated event or character So the best example of this Was the use of Chapman's anti-silliness character The Colonel

Who would walk into sketches and order them to stop Because things are becoming far too silly Which I love I love that it's like a colonel And he's like telling them off like naughty kids It's the best Another favourite way of ending sketches Was to drop a cartoonish 16-ton weight prop

on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum. Or a knight in full armour, played by Terry Gillian, would wander on set and hit characters over the head with a rubber chicken before cutting to the next scene. You know, because they're just like, okay, well, what makes sense here? None of this. Excellent, good. A knight with a rubber chicken.

Fair enough. I guess it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Why is he holding a rubber chicken? Why not a sword? I mean, I hadn't really thought about it like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

But yeah, I see that now. There you go. Yet another way of changing scenes would be when John Cleese, usually in a dinner suit, would come in as a radio commentator and in his pompous manner make a formal announcement and now for something completely different, which later became the title of the first Monty Python film. So over the next four years, they produced four series of the show, 45 episodes, and despite the success of the show, because they actually ended up doing quite well, John Cleese left the group at the end of the third series.

He says he felt as if they were repeating themselves and that he and Graham had only written two truly original things in that final third season. And they did another one without him? They did another one sort of without him. So he was still credited as a writer, I think, on like three of the episodes. They were given 13, but they only did six because they were like, we've only got enough for six.

Right. So they kind of agreed with him. Yeah, I guess so. I guess they must have. and so he was also apparently finding it difficult to work with Graham Chapman who was at that point in the full throes of his alcoholism and according to an interview with Idle Eric Idle he said it was on an air Canada flight on the way to Toronto when John turned to all of us and said

I want out why I don't know he gets bored more easily than the rest of us he's a difficult man not easy to be friendly with he's so fine because he never wanted to be liked that gives him a certain fascinating arrogant freedom yeah isn't that great like it's brutal but I like that brutal honesty like he's he's a hard person to be friendly with also I imagine that it'd be just great if he was on a different part of the airplane to them he's in business class because he's so tall and they're out the back true I want out he pakes through the curtain yeah I want out I just gets a hostess to could you just give a message

to those guys back there? I want out. Send him a bottle of champagne as well. Yeah, go on. Hands them a message, DB Cooper style. A little note. What a throwback.

What a throwback. So yeah, the series flying circus kind of fell apart, but that led on to them working on larger projects. So I've got a little list here

of their films. Can you name all their films? Yeah, I reckon. How many are there? One, two, three, four, five. Okay. There's Laugh of Brian. There's

Holy Grail Holy Grail And now for something Completely different Live at the Hollywood Bowl Yeah Oh okay that counts Yeah exactly

Obviously So and now Because you said yeah Wait one Two three four Five yeah I think there is six Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Is one as well But I Oh we didn't name five then Wait no no no No you've named them all Have I got it here No I don't Oh yes I do have

Hollywood Bowl here There's five Well done Perkins, I can read my own notes. So first was, and now for something completely different, which is a collection of their favourite sketches from... Yeah, it's just a recut from the TV show, isn't it? Basically, yeah, so that came out in

1971, and then in 1975... Same year as DB Cooper, I'm just saying, sorry, for me. In 1975, they released Monteparthed and the Holy Grail, so... Which I think is the funniest movie I've ever seen. Yeah, I think it's...

I'm going to say, I think it's my favourite, but I think Life of Brian's my favourite. They're probably the two big ones, right? Yeah, they'd be the two biggest ones, absolutely. So, Monty Python, sorry, the Holy Grail, obviously following the legend of King Arthur. And apparently it only took five weeks to film, especially out in five weeks. After Holy Grail, a few years later, they released The Life of Brian. Because apparently after, or sort of on the premiere of Holy Grail, people were saying,

what's the next one going to be, what's the next one going to be? Well, they're freaking out because they're like, we just made this one. Well, that's exactly it. And Eric Idol made some smart-ass joke about Jesus Christ, a lust for glory, something like that. He made some sort of joke, and then it became a long-running joke for them. So then they actually decided instead of, none of them were religious, but they also didn't really see the point in just attacking a religion.

So it's not actually about Jesus. It's about a guy who was born at the same time in like the, and sort of lived a parallel life to Jesus. It keeps getting mistaken for Jesus. Right. So it still caused. So much fuss. Like there was huge,

huge outcries from Christian communities against them. They were in a lot of trouble. Great film, though. Super funny. Did you watch the, there's a, I've seen this interview come up a bit on different specials and it's on YouTube in full.

I think where there's a, like this kind of flamboyant bishop or something. Yeah. He argues against him. I think he seems a bit, maybe he's a bit drunk and stuff. Yeah. And John Clay's and that argue like really, like just intelligently, but it's sort of

it's just a bit of a mess. And it's just crazy to think how. It's amazing to watch. And it's just straw man argument after straw man argument. Yeah. And they, and, yeah, John Cleese and Michael Palin, like, John Cleese stays pretty calm and cool all the way through it. He said in an interview he didn't realize until later how angry and upset Michael Palin was getting.

Yeah. He's like, he's actually got a reputation as the friendliest man in Britain, but he was just getting very upset. set. Yeah. And they're both being very sarcastic and it was brilliant. It was very funny to watch. But the film was written entirely on holiday in Barbados.

Somebody had a house, like a friend of theirs, had a house. So they all went to Barbados and just wrote. That's cool. How cool is that? And it was filmed in Tunisia. Do you know that? I did not know. That's where it was filmed.

Dave, Tunisia. What are the surrounding states? It's in Northern Africa? Yeah. What borders Tunisia? It's a... Did you know Dave is very good with African. geography. Is he? Capital of Tunis here is Tunis. It's not a joke. I wasn't laughing. I was laughing

at you for being a nerd. It's next to Libya, Algeria. He's looking like he's got the picture in his head. No, no, he's looking at a map. It's in Northern Africa, so it's up near Egypt, but a little bit west. Oh, okay. I thought he was going to do better than that. It's not bad, though. I said two countries is next door, too. Yeah, I don't know where any... So do you know where it was? I knew it was in Africa and I knew it was in Northern Africa but I couldn't show you on a map of Europe

where I've been but if you If I said North Africa and you said No it's in the Pacific Sea I would have said Yeah fuck alright

Yeah If you'd said it's It's like an island off Tasmania Oh yeah no no totally Totally that's cool It's in Tasmania Oh you had the deserts of Tasmania Yeah that's great

That's where they filmed it Right, so they've done that And then the Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl came out in 1982 That was obviously a live show That was filmed and then released Yes, Matt I was going to say

Before we move on from Life of Brian The fact that I've heard a few people mention I don't know I think it's true Is that it was In a big way funded by George Harrison Is that true? I've heard that as well

And he didn't realize That they didn't realize That he'd pretty much put All his money on the Yeah, he was, and they, they didn't realize that, and they found that that out later and were like, they were glad they didn't because they would have felt so much more pressure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that is correct. Former Beetle, George Harrison did fund mostly Life of Brian. And he also had a cameo in the film.

Oh, right. As the owner of the Mount. That was in my fun facts. Thanks so much for ruining one of my fun facts. I should have probably thought. But I have a good one. And it ties in nicely with our Beatles' previous. Beatles episode.

But I have heard about him, they didn't realize him putting his money on the line. Yeah, but how much? Because he's a beetle that he'd have, oh, they've got a billion dollars. Yeah. But I think at the time, or around the time of the Beatles, he wrote, George Harrison wrote a song called Tax Man and it was about the current, I think it was about the current tax meant that they were paying something like 90% tax. What?

So the Beatles were making a lot of money, but not necessarily seeing a lot of it. Brutal. But I like that he was in it. I can't, I haven't seen it in ages, but like if he's as I picture him, he wouldn't have needed much of a makeup artist or any sort of. To be of the time. Yeah, he just kind of blends in. Oh, that's a great for now.

I want to watch that. He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy. Brilliant. That is really good. My recall of it is also excellent. I reckon I would have heard that phrase or that line a million times before I even knew that was from.

Yeah. Definitely. The other one that we say a lot in my family is like, you are all individuals. And the whole crowd of people go, we are all individuals. And then one little voice goes, I'm not. Brilliant.

That's very good. So good. And is that the same with the, well, now we're just going to start doing lines, but the meek shall inherit the earth. What do you say? I think he said the Greek shall inherit the earth. Or something like that.

Blessed are the cheese makers. The cheese makers. I assume they would have said something like that. The cheesemakers. That does that sound like you? I really don't. You could have played one of the women. Oh, yeah.

They all played their own female characters. They weren't, that's something that people don't realize. Back in the 70s, there weren't many female actors, so they had to play all the roles themselves. There weren't many. Women actors had not been invented yet. Yeah. They hadn't. They were invented in the late 70s.

So they were nearly around. Nearly, but not quite. Technology hadn't quite caught up to their business. Exactly. They tried a bit, but they just didn't look like women on film. Yeah, they don't look the same. They look like the robots. And we can't have that.

We wanted an authentic look. It was the uncanny valley. So they just put Terry Jones in a wig and it just had the right look. And what a woman. What a woman. So they did have their live show live at the Hollywood Bowl, which was filmed and the film was released in 1982. And then in 1983, the meaning of life came out, which sort of documents a man's life from birth to death in different chapters.

Crucially, this was the last project that all six pythons would collaborate on. And what year was that in the 80s? 83. Except for the 1989 compilation Parrot Sketch Not Included, where they're all seen sitting in a closet for four seconds. So I think you can pretty safely say that meaning of life was the last thing they all did together. And it was the last time that Chapman appeared on screen.

with the other pythons. In terms of like film stuff, each of the members, sort of after the group kind of split up. It wasn't like a Beatles where they had this big falling out. They just kind of all went their separate ways and did other stuff. So they've all pursued various film, television, stage projects, but often continued to work with one another, like they'd sort of cameo in each other's work.

So many of these collaborations were really successful, most notably a fish called Wanda in 1988, written by John Cleese, which he starred in along with Michael. Palin. It's very funny. It's great. I haven't seen it.

I should check it out. And the pair also appeared in Time Bandits, which was in 1981, which was directed by Terry Gilliam, who wrote it with Palin as well. Time Bandit. I don't think I'm familiar with the time. I don't think I've seen that one either. That doesn't bode well. No, just, I mean, this was still 30 years before we were born, 20 years before we were born.

All right. Nope, 10 years. Okay. Nine years. Speaking of Time. I'm band-ed. God, we went for 30 to 9 pretty quick. I didn't have claimed to be the one who's good at maths.

She didn't, Dave. I've never said it once. Dave, so apology, please. It's my fault for being good at maths and geography. Oh, God. What am I good at? What am I good at? What am I good at?

No, really, what am I good at? You're good at. You're good at. You're good at. You're good at. Oh, good at, I'm telling me how I shouldn't be cooking a toast. the cheese sandwich. Okay.

All right, I am good at toast of cheese sandwiches. Thank goodness. Hold on to it. You need it. So other stuff

that they sort of collaborated on, Michael Palin and Terry Jones wrote a comedic TV series called Ripping Yarns, which ran for three years between 67 and,

sorry, 76 and 79. Great, I don't know that. Ripping Yarns. Yeah, it might be good. Yeah, good one. In 1996, Terry Jones wrote and

directed an adaptation of the Wind and the Willows. Have you seen that at all? I reckon I might have seen it. I loved it when I was a kid. In my kid years. Yeah, yeah.

So it featured four members of Monty Python. So Terry Jones played Mr. Toad. He played it really well. Eric Idol was Rattie. Cleese was Mr. Toad's lawyer. And Michael Palin was The Sun. What a role. Oh, the Sun.

Not like S-O-N, S-U-N. Oh, the Sun. The Sun. I am familiar. You are familiar? You know it? First names. Biggest star in our solar system, Dave.

Do you know that? That's all joggle. fact for you? No, it's not. No, it is. No, but it's not geography. I thought you're saying no, it's not the biggest star. You're the biggest star, Jess Perkins.

Ah, stop it. So, in 2013, the Python's lost a legal case to mark Forrestator, the film producer of Monty Python and the Holy Grail over royalties for their derriths. derivative work Spam-a-Lot, which was a big stage play. Eric Gidal. Yeah, Eric Gidal did that. I was going to talk a little bit more about that later anyway. But so over royalties in that, they owed a combined 800,000 pounds in legal fees and back royalties.

So they were trying to not pay the producer at all? Well, yeah, well, I guess so. Like he was sort of saying that Spam-a-Lot was derivative of Holy Grail, which it totally is. Like, it's part of it. Yeah. It's, well, it's sort of a spin-off, for one of a better word. Right, so what they did to pay back their legal fees was they proposed a reunion show.

So they always are like, no, no, no, we won't reunite. Oh, what we have, that big bill? Yeah, okay, we can probably do a show. So on the 19th of November in 2013, a reunion show was reported following months of secret talks, and the original plan was for a live one-off show at the O2 Arena in London on the 1st of July 2014, with some of Monty Python's greatest hits

with modern topical python-esque twists, apparently. They're all very old by this point. Yeah. Like this is only three years ago, so they're like in their early 70s. Yeah. So they don't have the stamina for these big live shows anymore. But they did it.

And tickets for this show went on sale in November of 2013 and sold out in 43 seconds. What? How does that happen? 43 seconds. They're gone. Can you imagine if you're on... I can't even type my credit card details in that quick.

No, you'd be like... Yeah, true. You'd be like sick on them. Oh no. I guess that that counts... I must, because they're like reserved and you get funded it. So I must count from when. But that is amazing.

So everyone in straight away. And that was that... It's like a big stadium. Like 20,000. Yeah, it's huge. 20,000 tickets in 43 seconds. Well, two more seconds. You could have sold out another arena.

Would have made Jess feel a bit more comfortable. You know, how she hates. An odd number like 43. I do. 45 would have made me much happier. Thank you. Round it up to a minute, if you like. Yeah, well, no, because then, no, 45 seconds is fine.

So then they added nine additional shows. Nine? Nine additional shows. All of them at the O2, and the last was on the 20th of July. So they all sold out too. They all sold. So 10 shows. Yeah.

And am I remembering this, right, that they did like a live broadcast of cinemas around? Yeah, I remember that too. I don't have the details of it, but I do remember that as well. Yeah, I've got a vague memory of that. Yeah, and I've got the DVD and I've watched it, and the behind the scene stuff's really interesting as well. Yeah, I remember seeing them, like, getting changed and just their old floppy. Are they having a good time, or they're just doing it for the money?

No, they're definitely having fun. They're fucking around a real bit. They're hanging shit on each other. But I think they all kind of, I don't think they particularly get along. Yeah. Like, they're not really best mates. I don't think they ever found it that easy to work together. They just worked so well together.

And then there was a comment in that as well from a few of them was sort of like, well, if John Cleese didn't come on board, it wouldn't have happened because, like, he, I think even Michael Palin was saying John Cleese was the star. Like he was just such an engaging performer that without him, the whole thing wouldn't have worked. Right. Which is pretty...

That's kind of generous, I think. Yeah. Especially, yeah, if it's like, that makes it sound like it's not a big group of egos, which I guess it must be on some level. It has to be, I suppose, yeah. But that was just kind of interesting. So I've got like a few notes on what each of them sort of did individually,

and then I've got some fun facts. Great. Love it. We on board? Stick into the contents. Appreciate it. Happy to help. So we'll start with John Cleese, who was my personal favourite.

Apparently not the nicest person in the world, but my favourite performer. In terms of number of productions, Cleese had the most prolific solo career, having appeared in 59 films. What do you hell. 22 TV shows or series, 23 direct-to-video productions, woo-hoo, six video games and a number of commercials.

Yeah, he often pops up in commercials, doesn't he? In some strange places. Like bank ads and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It must be worth a million bucks to him or something, but wow. Yeah. I think, yeah, because he, I think he's been married a couple times, and I'm pretty sure he says that one of those he regrets a bit because he had a cost.

He lost him a lot of money. There was a pretty short marriage and he had to do a tour basically, like an interview tour and he called it the Alamone. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very good. So you remember things. I remember some things.

Yeah, no, that's absolutely true. I think he's been married, I think, four times. So his BBC sitcom Fulte Towers, which he wrote with his wife, Connie Booth, is considered the greatest solo work by a python since the sketch show. It's the only comedy series to rank higher than the Flying Circus on the BFI TV 100s list topping the whole pole so Fulti Towers was Numero Uno Oh man, it's so great

It's amazing, it's so good Like we studied it in drama in Year 9 Like we watched Fulte Towers to learn comedy And it's one of those crazy shows I will say your school was pretty big on Monty Python members Must have been Yeah And they wonder why I turned out the way I did

Very python-esque. And bitter. Just a broken, bitter human. I married four times. Yeah, it's not good. Sorry, Matt, I cut you off, what are you going to say? I was going to say it's... I think I've heard other people say this a bit,

but it's one of those shows where you're like... If I didn't know, I would assume that there were multiple seasons. I mean, there were two. But I would have thought there would be more seasons and more episode per season. Yeah. So many classic moments that it feels like it was... You know, it could be 40. episodes, not 12?

They just packed it all in. Now, apparently, this is kind of cool. John Cleese apparently based Basil Fulte on a real person who was called Donald Sinclair, who he encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at a hotel in Torquay. Which is where it was set. Yeah. Yeah. The TV show.

So reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra. I could run this hotel just fine if I could run this hotel just fine if I was. that weren't for the guests. And he later described Sinclair as the most wonderfully rude man I've ever met. Although Sinclair's widow apparently denied this, said he was totally misinterpreted. He was a lovely person.

But apparently, like, bullshit. The most famous, like, TV wanker ever. But if he was being funny saying, like, that's just a funny line. I used to say that when I worked at a supermarket. Fuck, this place would be much better without the, It's quite derivative of early John Cleese.

I didn't realize that at the time. I feel like we came to that joke. On your own. 30 years apart. I don't think you did. Mate, you stole it. Admit it. During the Python stay, Sinclair,

allegedly threw Eric Idol's briefcase out of the hotel in case it contained a bomb. And this guy's supposed to be normal. He's the best. He complained about Gilliam's American table matters and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared ask the time of the next bus through a bus, a bus schedule item.

I love that. In 1999, John Cleese appeared in the James Bond film The World is Not Enough. Oh, yeah, Q. Yeah, well, no, he was Q's assistant, referred to by Bond as R. And then in 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in Die Another Day, that's when he was promoted to Q.

Because Robert Llewellyn had died. Ah. Sand. Who played Q initially, I guess. For 17 films, that's right. 17, that's a lot. A couple of fun little facts. There is a species of lemur named after him.

From like, because there was like a lemur and creatures, dangerous, fierce creatures. Yeah. That's not why, but like he really likes lemurs. So there's a species of them referred to as Avahi Klii. That's really great. How cool is that? I think I'd like them in life. Yep.

Oh, fuck, yeah. He's, uh, he's... Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. You better believe it. In 1996, he declined a commander of the British Empire. Amazing. Badge.

What do you get? He's an honour. He's an medal. He's an, yeah. What do you get for that? Yeah, so he declined that. Yeah, he probably do get, like, a medallion or like, often they get, like, a thing around the neck and a... Yeah.

But he said, no thank you. No, thank you. I don't know why. No explanation why. He just said no thanks. like John Lennon that time you told us or he mailed it back or something? That's pretty great. No, he made his show for the movie.

Yeah, he made his drive and take it back. This is kind of fun. There is a rubbish heap of 45 metres in altitude that has been named Mount Cleese just outside of Palmerston North after he dubbed the city, Suicide Capital of New Zealand. So he like shattle over this place in New Zealand, so they named a heap a rubbish after him. Oh, wow. I love that, but I also think he would see. really love that.

I think he might even like that more than the Lima. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone's a winner there. He would have really enjoyed that. Okay, now Michael Palin, so apart from fierce creatures, his last film role was a small part in the Wind and the Willows that I sort of mentioned earlier that Terry Jones had written. And he did, obviously, what he's sort of known for now is a series of documentaries.

Like, he does a lot of travel documentaries. His first one was part of the 1980 BBC television. series great railway journeys of the world woohoo strap yourself man upfield line he traveled through the UK

by train because like apparently as a kid he had a hobby of train spotting so that seems pretty exciting then he also did Michael Palin around the world in 80 days so he's done some other travel stuff including pole to pole

again it's his pole dancing adventures full circle with Michael Palin Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventures Sahara with Michael Palin Himalaya with Michael Palin He started out slow with trains And now he's gone to some really exotic places

He's gone heavy So yeah he's done a lot of like travel stuff Which is very very cool So it's mainly been his bag ever since I think I'll just put it out there And say that he's probably my favourite Yeah I was going to say yeah I do like TV shows and movie sketches

Yeah I like him a lot as well It's bloody tricky one I don't know why we have to have favour No we don't have to have a favourite beal But yeah I did say it but I regret it, but I don't because I love him. Anyway. Yeah, I'd probably have to say Cleese as all, I think.

Who are we up to? Who's next? Terry Jones is next. Now, this is what I didn't know. He wrote the screenplay for Labyrinth. Wow, that's a really great claim. Yeah, it's pretty good. I didn't know that.

That is a fun fact before we've got to the fun facts. Apparently his draft, though, went through several rewrites and that sort of thing. So much of the finished film was a little bit different. Still claim it. Still were claimable. He didn't actually write. the cod piece and that was written in a later draft. It wasn't requested by someone else.

Bally himself. Sini, Seanberg. Shineberg. So what is we need? A little thing that I like to call a codpiece. I'm modelling it now and you can see how good it makes me look. The fad of the 80s. Welcome kids.

Everyone's wearing cod pieces. Yeah. And call the main character. I'm the Goblin King. Shineberg. Send me! I'm Sydney of the Goblin King, Shineberg. Write it in.

We need puppets. Kids love puppets. Get Jim Hansen on the phone. Oh, I can't do the accidentally. Dave does it much better. Jim Hanson, I've got you on speed up. I don't know why either. I'm Janeberg.

Shineberg's my favorite character. From Labyrinth. Anything. Yeah, so Terry Jones wrote Labyrinth. What's kind of cool is he did a lot of TV work as well. He wrote a series, like, he wrote quite a few. children's books and he also wrote ripping yarns with palin that I sort of mentioned before. He also did like a TV series that challenges popular views of history.

So for example, Terry Jones' medieval lives, which he received an Emmy nomination for for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Program. It argues that the Middle Ages was a more sophisticated period than his popularly thought. So like he just sort of go against the grain and make a whole show about it, just kind of I like that. Tell me he's not a Holocaust and I. He didn't do a Holocaust and I special, do it.

No. Good. We move over to the other Terry, Terry Gilliam. The only Python not born in Britain, he became a naturalised British citizen in 1968 and formally renounced his American citizenship in 2006. Really? Which you totally would do, right?

Not when you're like working in Hollywood. Oh, yeah, good point. Yeah, did he have to? Well, I mean, he was a British citizen since 1968. Exactly. It's like 34. It can be a dual citizen. He was a dual citizen for a long time. So I wonder why, yeah.

Don't know why he would be asked. I know like Rupert Murdoch did because he had to because if he was in a street. He couldn't own so much media in America if he was a dual citizen. Yeah, okay. I've written down his kids' names just because they have great names. So he's... Zylophone. Amy Rainbow.

That's pretty good. Is that like one word? No, Amy Rainbow. Amy Rainbow. And then his son is Harry. Thunder. And there's a one that's just Holly. It's not as funny.

But Harry Thunder. Holly precipitation. That's very good. It's so patronizing when I say that in it, but I don't know it. I mean, only when you pat me on the head, as you say. Well, you're just so cute. Eric Idol wrote and put on spam a lot, which was based on, as we were saying before, based on Holy Grail.

It opened in Chicago and has since played in New York on Broadway. London and numerous other major cities across the world. Melbourne, Australia. It definitely did. I did it, cool. It was nominated for 14 Tony Awards. That's a lot. 14 is a lot of awards.

It won three. So best musical, best direction, and best performance by a featured actress. I imagine the best musical is the main one. And then finally it brings us to Graham Chapman, who he completed his studies and was a registered doctor. I do remember hearing at some point that he was the doctor on set for Life of Brian,

which I quite like one way to cut Yeah, cut a cost there So by the time Monty Python went on tour in 1973 His drinking had begun to affect his performance And he was missing cues on stage He was forgetting lines

But by the time He stopped drinking in Christmas of 1977 Concerned that he wouldn't be able to act properly in life of Brian And remained sober for the rest of his life Oh great Yeah Because he was the lead role

in life of Brian and Holy Grail. I remember hearing that they thought he was the best actor. That's when he put him in those role. They said he was the best actor. I thought, I imagined that he just kept drinking. That's why. So did I. I thought that was just a problem throughout his whole life,

but he apparently stopped and didn't drink again. How did he die? He had throat cancer. So he was diagnosed with the throat cancer in 1989, and apparently John Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook, and Chapman's partner, David Sherlock, were all there when he died, when he passed away. They were all there. And his death actually occurred the day before the 20th anniversary of Flying Circus.

So the day before the 20th anniversary, and Terry Jones said it was the worst case of party pooping in all history. Very good. He died just before. Now, the five surviving Python members decided to stay away from his private funeral, because it was just going to become a media circus. So they sort of stayed away and gave his family some privacy. But they did send a wreath in the shape of the famous python foot with the message to Graham from the other pythons with all our love.

P.S. Stop us if we're getting too silly, which I really like. Oh man, you don't make me cry. A private memorial service for him was held two months later. John Cleese delivered a memorable eulogy to Chapman with a shock humour that he believed Chapman would have won. wanted. Later became the first person at a televised British memorial service to say fuck. What a record. I love that. So what he said in his eulogy, he said, I've got a quote here, I guess we're all thinking

how sad it is that a man of such talent, of such capability for kindness, of such unusual intelligence should now so suddenly be spirited away. Well, I feel that I should say, nonsense. Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard. I hope he fries and like the whole church was just pissing themselves laughing it was so funny um and michael palin delivered a eulogy as well they all did actually it seems like most of them actually got up and said something um but palin said chapman had decided to die rather than listen to palin once again and idle also led the other surviving pythons and chapman's close friends and family in a rendition of always look on the bright side of life um and he closed it by saying i'd just like to be the

last person at this meeting to say fuck um i do have a few fun facts to finish off with if i may that would be so good you sound really enthused i am so enthused i am thank you d'all i'm that keen wait i am so and i'm even more enthused i don't think so i'd like to top your enthusiasm with this enthusiasm okay well nice try but i don't think it is quite as enthusiastic as i'm feeling right now Well, what have I told you that just before I was at 50% enthusiasm? And now I'm at 85% enthusiasm. 85%? That's not bad, but my pie is bigger than yours. And I'm giving you 93% of my bigger pie.

Well, 100% of my smaller pie. In fact, it's a largest circumference than your pie. It seems like you've got me there, but now I've found another level. I'm bloody hell. Fun fact number one. The Holy Grail was filmed on location in rural, areas of Scotland with a budget of only 229,000 pounds.

The money was raised in part with investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Oh wow. I think that's kind of cool. I didn't know that. They did I. They had some cool friends. They did have some cool friends. And cool fans, I'll say too.

Yeah. I'm sure they just appreciated that they were. On St. George's Day on the 23rd of April 2007, the cast and creators of Spamelot gathered in Trafalgar Square under the tutelage of the two Terries and set a new record for the world's largest coconut orchestra.

How many members? 5,567 people. Clip-coping in time to the Python classic always look on the bright side of life. Wow. For a Guinness World Record attempt. It says attempt, so I don't even know if they did it. Do you think that we could beat that?

How many friends do you have? Is our listenership bigger enough for that yet? No. Not what to get all in one place. Definitely not. We'd have to fly them here. There are seven asteroids named after Monty Python. So one for each of them and one just called Monty Python. So I think that's pretty cool. They've all got an asteroid named after them.

Wow. How cool is that? So there's a John Cleese. There's a Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Gidel, Michael. They've got numbers in front of them. John Cleese, have you keeping track of what he's got? He's got a limer. He's got a pile of rubbish and an asteroid. He's doing all right. It's no airport like Edmund Hillary, but something.

Edmund Hillary also has a mountain on a... On Pluto. On Pluto. Mountain Range. It's not even just a mountain, it's a mountain range. The John Cleese International Airport. I think it could happen in his lifetime. I think it rings a couple bells.

Only a couple more. So in 2001, John Cleese was cast in the comedy Rat Race. Do you ever see a rat race? Yes, with Rowan Ackinson. Yeah. But I've heard it's... And he played the eccentric hotel owner, Donald P. Sinclair. Do you recognize that name at all?

Donald Sinclair. It was the name of the hotel owner who he based Basifaltian. Bazi Fulti. How cool is that? That is, I did not know. I couldn't even remember. Well done. Yeah, I think that's pretty cool.

All right, I've got two more. Michael Palin had a small cameo role in Home and Away. What? Michael Palin was on Home and Away. What did he say or do? He played an English surfer, which I mean, totally. looks like a gnarly dude. This is recently, by the way,

he has a fear of sharks and he interrupts the conversation between two main characters to ask whether there are any sharks in the sea. And yes, I found it on YouTube, and yes, I will tweet it. Great. And it's horrendous.

Are there any sharks in the sea? No. Carry on then. And the last one I have, it's probably not particularly funny for the last one to end on, but inside the Globe Theatre, there are commemorative stones

to mark donors to the theatre. and Michael Palin has his own stone, but it's misspelled as Michael Palin, so two L's. And the story goes that John Cleese paid for the stone and insisted on misspelling his name as a joke. Gentlemen, that was my report on Monty Python that was hastily put together last night. Well, I enjoyed your Monty Python report. Thank you. And I feel like going home and watching my favourite Holy Grail, because, oh, man, every sketch in that movie makes me laugh. so much. Yeah, awesome. Thanks so much

for the report, Jess. If you guys out there want to get in contact with us or suggest a topic, you can get in contact. Our hat that we're pulling topics out of is getting bigger and bigger by the minute or by the week, by the week, we'll say that. You can tweet us at do go on

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