As we inch closer to the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Monty Python’s Flying Circus in America, no self-respecting celebration would be a true celebration unless it begins where it all began…in Dallas, TX, courtesy of KERA TV, the PBS affiliate in North Texas. Thanks to Ron Devillier and Bob Wilson for having the foresight […]
Read more
John Cleese is back and the British sitcom world is all the better for it. Almost four decades removed from the world of sitcom, the former founding member of Monty Python will appear in his first BBC sitcom since Fawlty Towers ended in 1979. Edith will see Cleese head an all-star cast including Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey, […]
Read more
Just in case you are in need of a good, old fashioned cry at some point in the not-too-distant future, this is a video all fans of Monty Python, Terry Jones or comedy in general need to see. Earlier this week, Terry Jones received the award for outstanding contribution to television and film to a lengthy standing […]
Read more
Hanging in Room 8 of London’s National Gallery is a rather unassuming painting. Bronzino’s Mannerist masterpiece, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, was made in the mid-1500s for King Francis I, the King of France reigning from 1515 until his death in 1547. The piece, which hangs alongside works by Michelangelo and Raphael, depicts Cupid kissing his mother Venus, with great detail and […]
Read more
Fraught with years of on-again/off-again attempts to bring his vision to the screen, it looks like Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys) is finally set to get underway on his long-gestating The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Based on the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote offers a “modern and satirical twist” on the […]
Read more
Following last night’s 40th anniversary re-release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (in sing-along fashion, no less), comes the brilliant news that 14 minutes of ‘lost’ animation has been discovered that never made it to the film when it was released back in 1975. Kind of like finding the ‘Holy Grail’ of sorts if you think […]
Read more
Even with it being the 40th anniversary of the release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I have struggled the past few weeks to find the perfect moment to write about Terry Gilliam’s secret to Monty Python animation. Then, like God appearing out of nowhere in the clouds and instructing Arthur, King of the Britians, to ‘seek the grail’, […]
Read more
It wasn’t quite 932 A.D. when I first crossed paths with King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Brave Sir Robin and the Knights of the Round Table, but even though it was 1975, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was standing on line at the Esquire Theatre in Dallas for the ‘world premiere’ of […]
Read more
Forty years ago this month, in a scene reminiscent of the Beatles’ first trip to America, four members of the Monty Python comedy troupe landed at Dallas’ Love Field and were mobbed by adoring fans. The troupe had just flown in from LA where Monty Python and the Holy Grail had just been screened for the first time to […]
Read more
On Sunday, 20 July 2014, Monty Python ceased to be. They went to meet their maker and are now pushing up daisies. It was on that day they shuffled off their mortal coil, ran down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. Bereft of life, they now rest in peace. Python is an ex-comedy troupe. Or…are they just pining for the fjords or just ‘stunned’?
Read more