Monty Python’s Flying Circus Erupts With (Mostly) Enduring Laughs With "Volume 3!"

The Good: Often hilarious and irreverent, Decent-enough DVD bonus features, Well-performed
The Bad: A few dated references, A few sketches that hold up less well over multiple viewings.
The Basics: With "Volume 3" of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, classic sketches like "The Lumberjack Song" and "Dead Parrot" arrive on DVD!


When one considers the masters of comedy, it is no surprise that the acting troupe that was known as "Monty Python" is considered one of the greatest collections of comedic minds to ever assemble. Indeed, over thirty (forty by the end of this year!) years later, much of the humor is still engaging, laughable and illustrate minds that see the world in very different ways from most people.

Those minds include Graham Chapman, who on this disc masters the deadpan for roles that seem serious like military commanders who are disgruntled over not getting the good lines, and John Cleese, who screws his face up and does a Spanish accent that one might never guess he could pull off . . . while singing! There are Eric Idle and Michael Palin, who play off one another perfectly, be their impersonations of cavemen, lounge singers, gangsters or gameshow hosts. There is Terry Gilliam who is creative with old photographs to create animated bits that are visually exciting and funny. And there is Terry Jones, an underrated as both a physical and verbal comedian who is able to assume the widest array of guises with complete plausibility.

"Volume 3" of Monty Python’s Flying Circus contains the third trio of episodes from the sketch comedy show's first season. The episodes "You're No Fun Anymore," "Full Frontal Nudity" and "The Ant, An Introduction" appear with a fair amount of their original 1969 grainy filmstock on DVD. Still, the show is hilarious and the three episodes include some of the best sketches the series ever produced.

In "You're No Fun Anymore," the disheveled old man runs down a long hill, forgets his line and has to be prompted for the "It's . . ." that opens the show. After the credits, John Cleese interviews a camelspotter who has worked for seven years to spot a camel in England and write its number in his book. The interviewer probes to reveal that the man is actually a trainspotter, the title line is delivered and an animation follows. Then, there is a sketch involving a multi-million pound company that has its director's meeting and it is revealed that their profits the year before were a shilling and the accountant is revealed to have embezzled a penny. There is then a collage of punchlines cutaways where the punchline is always "You're no fun anymore!"

Then, Monty Python’s Flying Circus does something very different for the show; it spends the remaining twenty-plus minutes on a single sketch, "The Sci-Fi Sketch." Like a little movie, aliens come to Earth and begin turning everyone into Scotsmen. This diabolic plot continues until most of England is emptied and a lone scientist and his dippy girlfriend try to expose the alien conspiracy and understand what is actually going on. When the aliens turn out to be giant blancmanges and the timing of the invasion and conversion of Brits into Scots is nailed down to the fortnight before Wimbleton, the alien conspiracy becomes clear: they mean to win Wimbleton!

After being handed an ignited bomb by a beautiful woman, the disheveled old man opens "Full Frontal Nudity." At that point, a new enlistee in the army attempts to get out of service because the job is dangerous. His commanding officer is then visited by two civilian, mobsters who offer him a protection service for his military base for a fee. An animated bit provides a little nudity then, followed by an art critic who bumbles through evaluating nudes. This is followed by a ridiculous sketch in a department store where newlyweds attempt to buy a bed. However, those they are purchasing the bed from multiply estimates by ten, divide measurements by three and put a bag over their head when the word "mattress" is said!

The episode continues with a sketch involving hermits who are sharing gossip and ways to decorate/insulate their caves before the sketch is broken up by the General from the protection racket sketch. Then comes the famous "dead parrot" sketch. In that bit, a man attempts to return a parrot he purchased an hour prior because he discovers it is not "just sleeping," but rather is dead and stapled to its perch. This is followed by a flasher and finally by a roving gang of violent grandmothers who are mugging locals.

In "The Ant, An Introduction," the disheveled old man runs through a series of bombings to introduce the show, which then starts with a song about llamas that includes quite a bit of information that is patently false. This moves into a recurring bit "a man with a tape recorder up his nose" before a mountaineer is interviewed by a man for an expedition up Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately, the leader of the expedition sees double and interviews the man as if he were a pair of people, despite the interviewees protests. Then comes a barber who has homicidal urges and those urges lead him to reveal to his client his true passion which introduces . . .

"The lumberjack song!" The famous, hilarious song about a man wanting to be a cross-dressing lumberjack is followed by a "song" by Professor R.J. Gumby. A lounge act begins with a sycophantic introduction to an act that does not show. Gilliam then provides an animation of absurd dancing. This is followed by a group of witless hunters and then a sketch wherein a man an a woman begin to get romantic on their couch when a man from a bar stops by because the guy had said "we should have a drink sometime." He brings with him several friends, who make a ruckus and throw a party of their own.

The men of Monty Python’s Flying Circus play most all of the roles in their sketches, male and female (in drag) and the back and forth between their normal personas and their falsetto-squeaking alter-egos is often funny beyond description. On "Volume 3," men hit their stride, but they also have a few references (in "Full Frontal Nudity," someone is referenced as being played by a piece of wood and the specific allusion is lost on me) that are dated or specific to Britain that might not be known by American viewers in the new millennium.

"Volume 3" has the standard DVD bonuses for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which include a series of definitions to specific bits in the show. As well, there are biographies for the Pythons and a little featurette illustrating how Terry Gilliam made some of his animated features for the show. This disc also contains a clipshow of a few sketches (from throughout the entire series) involving people behaving in a wacky fashion. The best DVD bonus feature, though, would have to be the performance of "The Lumberjack Song" live from one of the "Monty Python" stage shows!

The DVD's capacity is underused with this set, but it is still worthwhile, worth picking up for the three episodes that are on it and fans of sketch comedy and Monty Python’s Flying Circus are likely to find is an indispensable set for their collections!

[For a much better value, check out Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 on DVD, reviewed here, as it has the complete season, with nothing left to search for!]

For other works by Terry Gilliam, be sure to visit my reviews of:
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Tideland
The Brothers Grimm
12 Monkeys
The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen
Brazil
Monty Python And The Holy Grail

8/10

For other Television and Movie Reviews, be sure to visit my Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Classics Of Real Comedy: Monty Python’s Flying Circus Volume 2 Has Real Laughs!

The Good: Funny, Holds up well over multiple viewings, Good (enough) DVD features.
The Bad: Not a great use of the medium.
The Basics: More than just for geeks, Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a perfect DVD with "Volume 2," even if they could have squeezed another episode on!


With classic shows on DVD, it is real easy to see where the priorities are by what get released quickly and what producers of DVDs take the time to clean up and restore and make into the ideal digital permanent record for posterity. To be honest, some of the programs that take time to be put on DVD make a great deal of sense that they take so long to arrive on DVD; cleaning them up for digital is a painstaking process and they are packed with cutting edge effects and need to be poured over frame by frame for the ideal viewing experience.

So when A&E released Monty Python’s Flying Circus on DVD as one of the earliest television series' to use the medium, it was clear that even with the new digital medium, the show was funny in its late-60s barely-touched-up form and improving the picture quality was not going to improve the series any. That said, there is not much that actually needs improving on the classic British series!

Volume 2 of Monty Python’s Flying Circus contains the second trio of episodes (episodes four through six) of the first season of the series. This is a sketch comedy show (for those who might be unfamiliar with it) so there is not so much in the way of plot or character to consider. Instead, the performers - Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin - and animator Terry Gilliam present scripted skits that are zany, clever and poke fun at all manners of the establishment.

Episode Four, "Owl-Stretching Time," has the disheveled old man introducing the show after being tossed off a cliff. What follows is a sketch with two batty old women discussing art and smacking their children, before consuming some of the artwork themselves. This sketch is interrupted by an art critic eating a painting and the first appearance in the series of their classic line "But it's my only line!" A singer is taken down by a mistress which breaks to an officer in the Army breaking the fourth wall to object to the turn of the army's slogan "it's a man's life in . . ."

This is followed by Terry Jones appearing in a silent movie-type sketch wherein a man attempts to find a place to change into his swimming trunks only to be pretty consistently thwarted by interruptions and a lack of privacy. After another warning from the officer, one of his subordinates begins training a group of people on how to defend themselves against attacks by people wielding fresh fruit (and not point-ed sticks). An animated operation follows, which is then followed by a sketch that has a bookseller working as a front for an international criminal conspiracy of . . . dentists.

In "Man's Crisis Of Identity In The Latter Half Of The Twentieth Century," is introduced by the disheveled man rowing into frame. This then becomes the rather amusing "Confuse-a-cat" sketch wherein a company that specializes in shaking things up for felines puts on an absurd act to snap a cat out of its ennui. This is followed by the world's worst smuggler at customs, which is capped off by a television interviewer attempting to ask a cat, a duck and a lizard questions about customs law at the time and then the "man in the street" the same question. This is followed by a sketch wherein the police raid a flat and do some obvious evidence planting. The show break's the fourth wall to have writers respond to that sketch.

This is followed by an erotic film that continues to get interrupted by other programming before settling into a sketch where an applicant for a job is interviewed with an extremely odd collection of questions. Asked about the time of day and his responses to simple greetings, the applicant begins to crack, at which point the interviewer becomes increasingly pleased and absurd. The episode is capped off by an encyclopedia salesman who is posing as a burglar to get let into the homes of those he wants to sell encyclopedias to.

The disheveled old man introduces "It's The Arts" by running across a field to a ringing telephone. The segment "It's The Arts" then begins as an exploration of an artist with an obscenely long name whose name takes so long to say that saying it eats up most of the time for the interviews. Then there is a sketch involving gangsters involved in an elaborate scheme to actually buy the watches they want. This is followed by the famous "Crunchy Frog" sketch wherein a confectioner is taken to task for putting actual crunchy frogs in his crunchy frog chocolates.

The episode continues with a "nothing ever happens on my street" type sketch wherein a stockbroker journeys to work oblivious to naked women, monsters and gunplay all around him. This goes into a one-note skit involving an American Indian at a theater before the recurrence of the Scotsman on a horse gag from an earlier episode. The episode concludes with the very funny sketch involving sycophantic writers at Twentieth Century Vole attempting to kiss up to a famous producer.

On DVD, Volume 2 contains biographies of all six of the regular "Monty Python" castmembers, with video clips as well. Each episode has a useless trivia fact and there is a dictionary of terms unique to Monty Python’s Flying Circus. There is also a selection of clips of historical individuals (the Queen, Attila The Hun, etc.) acting absurd from throughout the series as well as a presentation of the "Crunchy Frog" sketch performed live! There are no commentary tracks or interviews, but there is a trivia game as well. Unfortunately, the closed captioning on this disc (necessary when one is on the phone ignoring what pompous relatives are saying) is printed all in white, often over white scenery or clothing. The result is much of it cannot be adequately be seen.

For those who love classic television, British comedy or sketch comedy, this is an essential set. In fact, the only real problem with this disc is that there is not more on it (the capacity on this DVD is hardly entirely utilized!).

[For a much better value, check out Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 on DVD, reviewed here, as it has the complete season, with nothing left to search for!]

For other British comedies on DVD, please check out my reviews of:
Blackadder
Chef!
Fortysomething

10/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Opening Inspired, Monty Python’s Flying Circus Vol. 1 Has Three Great Episodes!

The Good: Hilarious, Well-presented, A few interesting DVD bonus features
The Bad: Closed caption function, Light on extras, Use of medium
The Basics: Starting high, Monty Python’s Flying Circus Volume 1 has three episodes of sketch comedy that is only dated in its look!


There are few British (or American) sketch comedy shows that have made such an impression on the world as Monty Python’s Flying Circus. And while Saturday Night Live has arguably made more "stars" over the years, the ratio of great comics to mediocre performers is unrivaled on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Arguably, it is a tie; Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Kids In The Hall both had troupes that were made up of individuals who were experts at what they did and proficient in every possible way at making comedy. And while all three of these sketch comedy shows eventually ground themselves into a pulp, ending without their full potential evident (or continuing long, long after it was truly funny), Monty Python’s Flying Circus managed to preserve much of its genius throughout, ending with the same absurdist humor with which it began.

And that beginning comes on this DVD, Volume One, which includes the first three episodes of the series, "Whither Canada?," "Sex & Violence," and "How To Recognize Different Types Of Trees From Quite A Long Way Away." These three episodes introduce the comedic geniuses Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin as a cohesive acting and creative unit. Gilliam, for example, appears almost never on screen in these episodes, but he provides interstitial animations to move the show from one sketch to another. The men of Monty Python’s Flying Circus appear as most of the women in the show as well, dressing in drag and performing in ridiculous falsetto voices to flesh out the sketches that require the "feminine touch." This is often hilarious, as it is in the case of Cleese performing with his falsetto voice to portray a batty Englishwoman who cannot tell the difference between the taste of dead crab and Whizzo butter.

Though the entire first season could have been put on a single DVD, A&E opted to release them as volumes before bundling them together (a poor use of the medium's capacity). For those wondering what the hype of the troupe is, it is worth looking at the content of the episodes.

In "Whither Canada?" there is the running gag involving pigs getting squashed, shot or otherwise killed versus the pigs killing humans. The show takes a decidedly news-oriented bent when the coverage turns to the death of famous people. This includes the competitive deaths of Ghengis Khan, Lord Nelson and other notables. There is a "man on the street" interview which proves most British housewives cannot tell the difference between the taste of dead crab and Whizzo butter. An animated sequence follows, which uses stock photography which is manipulated for humorous intent, including having soldiers dancing and being eaten by their hats.

As well, there is a snide interviewer of a filmmaker, which quickly degenerates into a forum on putting one's interviewee at ease and then another interview where the interrogator becomes obsessed with the interviewee's nickname. Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson is roughed up by the interviewers and the show turns to a competition which is Pablo Picasso painting while riding a bicycle. The final sketch is a historical look at joke warfare and the joke that helped the British win World War II.

In "Sex & Violence," the disheveled old man runs and trips over dunes to announce the show, which then begins with a farmer talking to a visitor about sheep that are up in a tree. It seems the ringleader, Harold, is a smart sheep and it attempting to convince the other sheep to attempt to fly. What follows, then, is an explanation in utter gibberish between two French pantomimers in front of a sheep diagram explaining through utterances and gesticulations how the flying sheep could be used as mass transportation. The phrase "and now for something completely different . . ." is introduced into the series then with the introduction of a man with three buttocks, who then gives way to a man with two noses. This is followed by a musical interlude involving a man who plays specially trained mice by beating on them like a percussion instrument in order to elicit specific tones of squeaks.

After that monstrous display, there is a marriage guidance counselor who seduces the wife of the husband who brings her in for counseling. That sketch is followed by one of the Queen in an old silent movie which is slapstick in nature. Then there is a playwright who argues with his miner son for not following him into an intellectual profession. Their fight, including the son explaining working with tungsten carbide drills and the father defending his press tours, leads the playwright to kick his son out and consider writing a play about it. This is followed by a priest and a humanist wrestling to prove the existence of god and then an expose on those who dress up as mice and go to mouse parties.

After another extended opening, wherein the disheveled old man runs through a forest to introduce the show, "How To Recognize Different Types Of Trees From Quite A Long Way Away" begins with photographs of the larch. This is part of a lesson on recognizing trees at a distance and transforms to the court proceedings for Mr. Larch over a parking ticket. His attorney enters, puts a babbling woman on the stand, then a man who quickly becomes a corpse, before calling to the stand Cardinal Richelieu as a character witness for Mr. Larch. Inspector Dim (of the yard!) bursts in to uncover the fraudulent Cardinal before the Bicycle Repair Man sketch begins. In a world where everyone is Superman, one man leads a secret life as Bicycle Repair Man and he has to help one of the supermen repair his bike. This is followed by a children's storybook reader, who finds himself reading adult stories.

This is followed by the restaurant sketch in which a customer politely asks for his dirty fork to be replaced, which sets off a string of apologies from the headwaiter, manager, chef, etc. After a corny punchline, a milkman is lured into the home of a pretty woman, who has something else in mind. John Cleese then begins delivering the news in a monotone, which leads burglars to break in, abduct him and throw him off a pier while he continues delivering the news. Finally, there is a sketch - arguably one of the most famous ones the series ever did - wherein a man strikes up a conversation with another man about his wife and he speaks the body language as he leers. This is popularly known as the "nudge nudge" sketch and it is great fun.

Because this is sketch comedy, there are no recurring characters in these episodes, though the five on-screen performers (everyone but Gilliam) quickly become recognizable for their various talents. Chapman, for example, is gifted with a dry deadpan, Cleese is able to do deep sarcasm and Terry Jones shines as an extraordinary physical comedian. Idle and Palin have a great rapport with one another and many of their sketches have them playing good-natured everymen or slimy salespeople.

On DVD, Volume 1 contains biographies of all six of the regular "Monty Python" castmembers, with video clips as well. Each episode has a useless trivia fact and there is a dictionary of terms unique to Monty Python’s Flying Circus. There is also a selection of clips of various silly occupations from throughout the series as well as a presentation of the "Nudge Nudge" sketch performed live! Unfortunately, the closed captioning on this disc (necessary when one is on the phone ignoring what pompous relatives are saying) is printed all in white, often over white scenery or clothing. The result is much of it cannot be adequately be seen.

Still, this is hardly a reason to not pick up this DVD; the men of Monty Python are downright brilliant and this disc illustrates how they started high with some absolutely genius sketch comedy.

[For a much better value, check out Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 on DVD, reviewed here, as it has the complete season, with nothing left to search for!]

For other sketch comedy shows, please check out my reviews of:
Da Ali G Show
The Kids In The Hall - Season 1
Saturday Night Live - Season 1

9/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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