2. What is Monty Python?
Monty Python was a group of comedic actors comprised of
five English men and one American, all but one linked through
university. Although their comedic roles are foolish and
ridiculous they are all very intelligent people, each one of
them attended a University. They came out with their first
series in 1969. It was called Monty Pythons Flying Circus and
it became a huge hit immediately. The show was based
around a number of comedy skits which later on they became
well known for and put in their movies. You will see an
example of one of these skits in the following slides. Monty
Python is a unique group of comedians in that they were the
first to do something like this. May I remind you that this was
long before Saturday Night Live.
3. Movies
Monty Python has conducted three feature films; “Monty
Python and the Holy Grail”, “The Life of Brian” and “And
Now for Something Completely Different”(Covers seen
on next page). They made these movies after having
great success and gaining great popularity in the
television business, with comedy show Monty Python’s
Flying Circus. The most well known movie of theirs in
my opinion is the Holy Grail, this is also my favorite of
Monty Pythons movies which are all hilarious. Monty
Pythons films are all comic genius. If you don’t believe
me, watch them for yourself.
5. One of Monty Pythons skits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeki
ZYSVdeQ
To view video, right click URL and press
open Hyperlink.
6. Who was in Monty Python?
There are six men involved with Monty Python. Their names
are John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam,
Graham Chapman and Michael Palin.All of whom are
talented actors and writers who even after Monty Python
went on to be very successful. Cleese, Idle, Jones, Chapman
and Palin, all but one attended either Cambridge or Oxford.
Gilliam,however, is American and attended Occidental
College where he studied physics and the fine arts. The most
well known individual in Monty Python would have to be John
Cleese, John Cleese was the mastermind behind some of
their skits and parts of their movies. On top of this he was
also very good in character, as was demonstrated in the
earlier slide.
8. Dead parrot
Monty Pythons #1 rated comedy skit is “The Dead Parrot”. In this skit, John
Cleese poses as a man who has purchased a parrot. Several minutes after he leaves
the store he realizes that the parrot is dead and returns to the pet store to complain.
When he arrives at the pet store the cashier realizes that
the man has discovered that he had purchased a dead parrot and pretends
that he hasn’t even acknowledged his existence in the store. When the man
approaches the counter they begin a hilarious debate on whether the parrot is alive or
not .
9. The Lumber Jack Song
This is more of a song then a skit but it is fantastically funny so I have chosen it
anyway. The Lumber Jack song is a song written by Eric Idle and starts out like yo
everyday Canadian but near the end turns into more of a Monty Python song.
The lyrics go from chopping down trees to more
crude lyrics which I would rather
not describe as you may end up scared for life.
10. Ministry of Silly Walks
The ministry of silly walks is one of my favorite skits. It involves, as the
title suggests, a ministry of silly walks. This Ministry,however, is not like others as
it is comprised of several people with ridiculous walks. The skit is mainly John
Cleese posing as the head of the Ministry whose job is to interview and employ people
that claim to have silly walks. The majority of the the skit is John Cleese walking in a
ridiculous fashion towards the ministry of silly walks. Once he arrives he interviews a
man that supposedly has a silly walk.
11. Self Defense against fresh
fruit
Self Defense against fresh fruit Is a skit about a military training group that is
focusing mainly on defense against fruit. The trainer (Eric Idle) is teaching
the class defense against the banana, he summons a student to use
as an example. The student is given a banana and told to attack his trainer.
The student is unsuccessful in doing this as the trainer takes out his gun and
shoots him, he then proceeds in asking for another volunteer.
12. Longest Name
In this skit a a news broadcaster announces that besides Bach Beethoven
and Mozart there is another forgotten great pianist. He then proceeds in telling
the name of the composer which just happens to take about 5 minutes to
say, the screen then goes blank with the words 5 Minutes later in the center of
the screen.When the broadcaster finally finishes the name he says and “now
to an interview live with his only living relative”. Over the course of the
interview the interviewer is forced to say the name several times until finally
the relative of the composer has a tragic heart attack and dies.
13. Conclusion
Monty Python is a unique group of comedians who gained success
with their many movies and skits. They continue to entertain long
after they stopped producing films.
