The British university students who became global comedy stars

JOHN Cleese and Eric Idle are in town for a series of shows, bringing one third of the original Python team back together. But who was Monty Python?

18/02/16: The two Pythons, John Cleese and Eric Idle are touring nationally with their show John Cleese & Eric Idle: Together Again At Last...For The Very First Time. So called because it blends scripted and improvised bits with story telling, musical numbers, exclusive footage, aquatic juggling and an extended audience Q&A meaning no two shows will be quite the same. Pictured at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney.John Feder/The Australian.

It is perhaps the most famous name in British comedy, but there was no actual Monty Python in the comedy troupe of the same name.

It was just the strange alias of the writers and core cast members, namely Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. They were the people who gave us gems such as the dead parrot sketch, the Ministry of Silly Walks, songs like I Like Chinese and movies Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Life of Brian.

Python members Cleese and Idle are in Sydney this week with their show Together Again At Last ... For the Very First Time, which will feature highlights from the non-existent Monty Pythons’ long career as well as new and improvised material. The show will have special appeal for fans of the original series, many of whom can still quote lines from the famous sketches.

Prior to the TV show that made them famous, most of the group had stumbled into performing as students in university reviews. Success beyond the uni stage opened opportunities to write and perform in some pioneering British radio and TV comedies. Cleese wrote for satirical program That Was The Week That Was (1962-63), wrote and performed in The Frost Report (1966) and the radio show I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again (1964-73).

Monty Python were (from left) John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin and Eric Idle.

Chapman wrote and appeared with Cleese in At Last The 1948 Show (1967), famous for its Four Yorkshiremen sketch, and parody self-help show How To Irritate People (1968), which also included Palin.

Palin and Jones had been together on stage before both appeared in the TV series Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-69), which also featured Eric Idle and bizarre animations by American-born Gilliam.

When Chapman and Cleese were offered their own BBC show they asked Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin to join them. The concept for the show was to avoid doing a series of sketches with a punchline. The sketches were done as “stream of consciousness”, with segues from one to another, often using Gilliam’s surreal animations, sometimes just saying “and now for something completely different”. Parts were filmed before a live audience, interspersed with segments filmed outside the studio, or animated by Gilliam.

Eric Idle, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones in the 1982 film The Meaning of Life.

When one of the first episodes required a sexy woman, the team thought it wouldn’t be as funny with one of them in a wig doing a silly voice, as had been their way. So actor Carol Cleveland joined as the seventh Python.

Brainstorming ideas for the show’s title they suggested “It’s ...” also “The Toad Elevating Moment” and “Owl Stretching Time”. The group favoured “Bunn, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot,” but the BBC insisted they include the words “Flying Circus” which had been part of the working title.

Cleese was the most famous of the group at the time but didn’t want it to be his flying circus. Other suggestions included “Gwen Dibley’s Flying Circus” but eventually Monty Python was chosen as suitably funny.

Some viewers were more bemused than amused but by the end of the first season reviews were mostly positive and ratings high, despite its late Sunday night timeslot. The TV show spawned live stage shows, a 1971 movie — And Now For Something Completely Different — along with albums and books.

John Cleese and Eric Idle in a scene from Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down Five to Go in 2014.

Chapman’s alcoholism and Cleese’s departure, before the truncated 1974 season, ended the series. But other Python projects soon emerged. Cleese rejoined the team for the film Monty Python And The Holy Grail, released in 1975, about King Arthur’s quest for a religious artefact.

Rock bands Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin were among the backers of the film.

Their next film The Life Of Brian (1979), this time backed by fan and former Beatle George Harrison, was set in ancient Judea and featured a false messiah. It was banned in places and picketed by Christians, who called it blasphemous. Both films were huge successes.

An album of new material, The Contractual Obligation Album, was released in 1980 and in 1983 they released their last film together as the Monty Python team, Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life. It was a series of sketches loosely tied together by a theme suggested by the title.

All of the members have had successful careers acting, writing, directing and even compering travel shows and documentary series.

Chapman’s death in 1989 prevented any further full reunions but there have been many new collaborations — including a stage musical version of Holy Grail (Spamalot) and events such as Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down Five to Go in 2014.