MONTY PYTHON AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Oi! You. What are you looking at? Go on. Get out of it you ugly looking sod. Scram. Or else I'll get those funny-faced reptilian clowns to pounce on your head and call you 'Mildred'. Well, either 'Mildred', or something else conjured up during this 77 minute live stage performance held in 1982.


Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl


THE STORY:
Roll up. Roll up. Come gather round and witness 'Monty Pythons Flying Circus' performing live sketches held at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl.

Yeah. I'm not squawking your parrot, pal. They all start off this gig by singing a cheeky little number entitled, ‘Sit on my face, and tell me that you love me’, whilst showing some cheek in the process. And next, they then commence to bombard all in sundry with sketch after sketch after sketch, presenting such classics as: (1) The Last Supper. (2) The Ministry of Silly Walks. (3) Whizzo Chocolate Factory. (4) The Argument Sketch. (5) The Four Yorkshiremen. (6) The Comedy Lecture. (7) Nudge-Nudge, Wink-Wink. Plus (8) Many, Many More.

But hey! Not only do the Python's perform silly sketches, folks. Oh no. There's also a number of songs performed as well. There is the 'Bruce’s Philosophy' song. The 'Never Be Rude To An Arab' ditty. The 'I'm An Urban Spaceman'... errr... lullaby. Plus the 'Lumberjack' anthem too. All assisted by their old comedic chum, Neil Innes.

Now Neil isn't the only person who aide's the Pythons on stage. Carol Cleveland  -- they're token female --  is also at hand to play quite a few minor roles scattered throughout it. Plus, on top of that, on display are a number of video inserts which sometimes complement their sketches (a’la 'The Origin Of The Ministry Of Silly Walks'), or newly recorded material (like the 'Silly Olympics', or 'International Philosophy Football'), as well as some of Terry Gilliam's famous surreal animated montages.

Furthermore, just to make this live performance that much more pythonesque, theirs one or two audience unnerving moments thrown in for good measure. Like when John Cleese dresses up as an usher and tries to sell an... ALBATROSS! Or when Eric Idle breaks free from the travel agency sketch, and starts running through the auditorium rambling like a lunatic whilst being chased by Mister... coff-coff... Cheese.

And finally, at the very end of their show, the python’s project two simple words upon the screen to convey their inner most feelings...

PISS OFF! 

Boy, you gotta love a python, don't you?

THE REVIEW:
To be absolutely honest with you, comedy fans, I'm not too sure if I'm the right type of a person to write a review about 'Monty Python At The Hollywood Bowl'. I'm biased you see. Very-very biased. I'm a Python fan born and bread, and I have Monty's blood running through my veins ever since I was a wee lad in my Mothers arms.

So what do you think I'm going to say about it? Huh? That I didn't like it perhaps? Or that I've seen it all before on the telly or on the big screen? And somehow this is going to make this particular performance any less enjoyable?

Ha! Fat chance. I can't say anything bad about this staged-show at all. It's a bloody magnificent show. As it had the wit, the humor, and the timely charm that I just love watching whenever I have a moment to spare.

Now if memory serves me correctly, I think that this was one of their last collective live performances on stage together. Cause not so long thereafter, the Pythons decided to make a couple of films and then go their separate ways.

Graham Chapman, may God bless his soul, died about seven years later, whilst the rest have gone on to make special appearances in whatever-may-take-their-fancy. Not that this is a negative thing of course. No. Never negative. Just like these smashing filmic-facts. (1) 'Columbia Pictures' first released this production on the same day Greece abolished head-shaving in the military -- the 25th of June, 1982. (2) Its a little known fact that the 'Custard Pie Lecture' was the first sketch Michael Palin and Terry Jones wrote together whilst they were both students at Oxford University. (3) Yes. That's correct. Terry Gilliam put cold beef stew in his mouth so he could throw up on queue during the 'Whizo Chocolate Factory' sketch. Yuck. (4) The 'Michelangelo sketch' was based on a real historical event. The one time Renaissance artist, Paolo Veronese, painted a 'Last Supper' with a number of superfluous contemporary elements thrown in, and was ordered to remove them or else. He didn't. What he did instead was rename it: 'Feast in the House of Levi'. (5) The Python superfan / author, Kim Howard Johnson, made a small cameo in this piece. He was an extra. Not sure which one though. Ha! (6) The Pythons used this show to break up their writing duties on 'The Meaning of Life'. At the time they had some sort of writers block, and thought that this would be a good way of airing out the old cobwebs. (7) All of the filmed-inserts were taken from the German version of the television series -- 'Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus' -- and were never seen before internationally prior to its release. (8) Even though Eric Idle sang the 'Lumberjack Song' in this shindig, originally it was Michael Palin who sang it on the television series.

Hey! Do you know what? I just thought of something. In a strange way 'Monty Python At The Hollywood Bowl' captures all of the Pythons during their prime. Boy, they were all so vibrant, so sharp, so on-form, so pitch perfect, and were as courageous as ever. Heck, some parts of this show put me on the very edge of my seat. Especially that bit when a couple of the Pythons took it upon themselves to clamber all over the auditorium, and basically jazz up the crowd.

Yeah. I'm not kidding. It was positively punk-like in nature, and dangerously bordering on the vaudevillian edge of art.

But hey! I don't want to go on and tell you how much I enjoyed watching this show, explaining to you what things made me laugh and why they made me laugh in the first place. As you've most probably guessed by now, pal, this type of a thing is just my cup of tea. It’s inspiring. It’s anarchic. It’s clever. It’s silly. It’s Python!!!

So piss off and write your own poxy review, ALBATROSS!

May god bless you, and all you sail on, AMEN!

THE RATING: NI!