Much as everyone says the 60s were the best decade of the 20th Century, they were, on the whole, over-rated. However, one British-produced legacy will forever live on in history, and it ain't The Beatles.
At first a group of Cambridge students wouldn't arouse much interest. A group of students involved in the footlights society, John Cleese (b.1939), Graham Chapman (1941-89) and Eric Idle (b.1943), a couple who weren't, Michael Palin (b.1943) and Terry Jones (b.1942), as well as a straggler from Minneapolis, Terry Gilliam (b.1940) managed to forever change British television.
But first, they had other things to take care of. Cleese was first involved with The Frost Report (1966), before moving onto At Last the 1948 Show, where he first collborated with Chapman. At the same time, Idle, Jones and Palin were involved in Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967), a children's programme which they decided to make with their own agenda. Whilst working on this, they enlisted Gilliam to produce some warped animatons, which gave the show that extra kick. Chapman, Cleese and Palin worked together for How to Irritate People in 1968, and Jones and Palin worked together on The Complete and Utter History of Britain in 1969, this after working on radio for Twice a Fortnight, alongside future Goodies Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Garder and Bill Oddie. Now they had all worked together in some capacity, they went for the big one.
That came in 1969, with Michael Palin emerging from the sea off Poole, stumbling towards the camera, and announcing 'It's...' From here on, British comedy was forever changed, as Monty Python's Flying Circus quickly became a cult programme (well, it was on BBC2, at the time a spare station). The series of sketches linked together by co-incidence, or more commonly Gilliam's animations (or the aforemeantioned Cleese announcer quote), was a huge hit.
The way the shows were produced were split down into writing groups. Cleese and Chapman worked together (Cleese wrote, then Chapman threw in an idea from left field for an added edge), Jones and Palin worked together, Idle and Gilliam on their own. This may sound like a bad plan in practice, but this led to the greatest moment of British comedy ever, The Parrot Sketch. Other masterpieces produced include The Ministry of Silly Walks (both of which get Cleese hassled to this day), Upper Class Twit of the Year, The Funniest Joke in the World and The Spanish Inquisition. Most comics today site Python as an influence, even in the US, such as The Kids in the Hall (also using sketch based comedy), Mike Myers and the creators of South Park (Idle also did a voice cameo for South Park: Bigger, longer and Uncut). However, none can stake a claim to be anywhere near as talented or innovative as the Python boys.
However, things were not as sweet a couple of series. Cleese, the head member, spotted that most sketches had just cannibalised ideas from the first couple of series, and walked out in 1973. In 1974, the circus was over, before it got stale, dull, and repetitive. Cleese went on to produce Fawlty Towers in 1975 (and create another moment of comedy history, this time involving some Germans), but the circus wasn't as finished as it first looked.
In 1975, it returned, in cinematic form. The team regrouped to write, as Gilliam and Jones directed, Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975. And they came back in style, creating more catchphrases that would echo down through the ages (usually 'Ni!', or involving shrubberies, the Bridge of Death or the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch sequence), which did good business with those desperate for another fix of the surreal comedy that they provided. And in 1979, they returned once more, with the Jones-directed Life of Brian. However, this time they attracted contraversy with the Christian religion, who seemed to think that the whole concept was poking fun at their religion, as memorably sent up on Not the 9 O' Clock News. Despite the contraversy, the film was another success, and spawned the huge hit Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, sung by Idle.
One more visit to the multiplex remained, with Monty Python and the Meaning of Life (1983-again both Terrys directing), which was a series of sketches, but not all of it worked. And Mr. Creosote made The Exorcist look like a mild stomach upset, as well as being one of the highpoints.
After that, they went their own ways. Cleese starred in Clockwise and was writer/star of A Fish Called Wanda, Palin went around the world with a BBC crew in tow, Gilliam's directorial career took off (since directing the likes of Twelve Monkeys, Time Bandits-reuniting the Python crew once more-and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Jones was involved with Ripping Yarns before this period, Chapman was a recovering alcoholic, and Idle moved to Hollywood.
Then in 1989, the day before their 20th Anniversary, Chapman died of throat cancer, which could be the darkest use of comic timing ever. After the show was re-run once again, they went back their seperate ways. And then in 1999, for their 30th Anniversary, they produced their first new Python material for 25 years for some quick sketches on the BBC2 Python Night. About time, too.
The Best Site, apparently/ Monty Python dot com/ The Obligitary Unofficial Site/ Monty Python's Completely Useless Site.
Official Site/ Bowling For Columbine site.
Describing himself as a Media Terrorist seems to be the best way to put it. From his early work on GLR in 1988 he became noticed for his rather outrageous take on just about anything that moved. Although this did in fact lead to him getting fired for his crank call work. This (eventually) led to Morris breaking onto TV with BBC2 producing The Day Today, a masterwork of satire.
Using the format of the overblown news programme (News at 10 clearly being one) and a backup cast including David Schnyder and Steve Coogan, who brought Alan Partridge over from radio as well, as a less than useful sports presenter. Rather than all playing one role, each member played several in the course of a programme, with Morris holding it together as the anchorman.
After one series it was put to rest-although the videos are still selling strongly today-5 years after it was first aired. Steve Coogan took Alan Partridge into National consciousness and Schnyder went to work on The Saturday Night Armistice. Meanwhile Morris, strangly enough considering it was his baby, didn't go bigtime.
When he returned, however, people definatly noticed. A switch to Channel 4 (with the humor getting steadily darker) and Morris produced Brass Eye, one of the most contraversial programmes in TV history. Taking the line of an investigative news programme, rather than The Day Today's news format, on a range of subjects such as drugs, sex and crime, Morris managed to offend just about every Daily Mail reader out there. There was even discussion in The House of Commons about trying to get it off the air within a week of it first being aired.
Stunts included getting celebrities to give views on hoaxes he had made up, as well as a large amount of swearing to make sure the elderly and narrow minded had something to complain about. The 'Drugs' episode featured Morris approach a REAL drug dealer and ask for made up drugs to show that there were so many new drugs that some dealers didn't have a clue (he didn't have any Clarkey Caps or Whacky Candles, only Crack), as well as the campaign against 'Cake', a made up rave drug-feturing appeals from Noel Edmonds and, ironically enough, Bernard Manning. The latter caused the main contraversy-not bad for the first episode. The 'Crime' episode caused more and ended up with the sequence of a musical based on Peter Sutcliffe being cut, but not the Blouse (a blatant send-up of Pulp) single Oh Myra. You can guess what that was about. With deflated egos draping the walls (and a less than subtle subliminal message about departing programming director Michael Jackson), again Morris put it to bed after just one series. He probably would have been forced to, admittedly, by The Outraged Masses, but the long and short of it is that it finished.
However, he has just made his return to our screens, again on C4, with Jam, which is the closest TV has come to insanity, and that is again just from the first few episodes. Adapted from his radio show Blue Jam (just as The Day Today was), the show features a sequence of surreal situations which often don't seem to go anywhere (acted out by the likes of Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap) which are almost dream like, with various camera techniques and soundtrack effects to enhance this feel, but is also strangely disturbing-especially since it has no commercial breaks (or even end credits) to help return the viewer to normality. Not, as one writer for The Times put it, because no-one in their right mind would want to have sponsorship during the airtime.
Such examples include The Day Kilroy Went Mad, a woman calling a plumber to fix her baby that wasn't working, home video footage of a man committing suicide by jumping off the first floor 40 times in case he changed his mind (he didn't), a TV that emitted lizards into a couple's living room, someone trashing Holborn to lower her rent, as well as the twisted opening spiel of the first episode. There are a couple of recurring characters as well-a man who goes to a therapist for no real reason (where he put his wallet, what to do that evening) and a rather twisted GP. The 4 Later version, Jaaaaam, had more disturbed content, such as a man hiring a 6 Year Old girl to dispose of a corpse. When it woke up whilst she was putting an electric carving knife to the shins, she shot it at least 5 times.
Monty Python meets David Lynch, in other words. Actually, the best advice is to stay awake for 3 days-life gets more or less the same. A shame that The Majority udidn't understand it when looking up from their soap operas. However, he did get major headlines in late June 2001 after the Brass Eye Special: Paedogeddon, which was the big story in The Daily Mail (who else?) that day, which was even taken to Parliament, as Channel 4 were seen as not sticking to their directive. A full essay on this is in production at this time.
Official Site/ Chris Morris: Media Terrorist/ Jam Credits.
