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Released by: A&E
Released on: 10/23/2001
Directors: Various
Cast: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Robert Klein, Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes
Released: 1972, 1982, 1989, 1998
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The Movie:
As the BBC's finest bastard sons, Monty Python has become a pop culture phenomenon due to their combination of dry wit, absurd antics, and the outright bizarre. A&E has put together an interesting collection of Python material that didn't really seem to fit with the films that they did or with the television episodes done for the BBC. So what we have with Monty Python Live! is a sort of hodge-podge of Monty Python's lesser known bits that nicely fills the holes left by the previous DVD releases.
DISC 1
MONTY PYTHON LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL
Released to theaters in 1982, this film was, well, filmed live at the Hollywood Bowl in California. While a lot of the classic sketches are here, the real treat is the new material that wasn't performed in the TV series of films that they made together. Regular 'guest stars' Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes help the boys out on stage, which ties the film back to the original television series quite nicely.
The fans we see in the film are absolutely rabid, reciting lines back to the performers and hanging off their every word, waiting for that punch line to hit then immediately igniting into laughter.
MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS: LIVE AT ASPEN
Filmed at the Aspen International Comedy Festival in 1998, this hour long show marks the first time that all the surviving Python members, joined by the late Graham Chapman's ashes, have appeared together onstage since disbanding almost 20 years earlier (not including the 6 second 'reunion' from the 20th Anniversary show). Hosted by an intentionally unfunny Robert Klein, this is more or less their greatest-hits presented as a timeline with some of the members adding in bits as they go along. Klein's performance isn't necessarily bad though, as he allows them to do their thing without getting in their way, and some of the results are pretty hilarious and climaxing with the obvious sing along, Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, lead by Eric Idle.
DISC 2
PARROT SKETCH NOT INCLUDED: 20 YEARS OF PYTHON
Marking the Pythons' 20th Anniversary, this A&E special presentation from 1989 hosted by Steve Martin is probably the weakest entry on the set. Having not seen this since it first played on TV over a decade ago, I'd forgotten how bad Steve Martin is here; he's just not funny. Basically just a compilation of parts from various sketches from throughout the troupes history, narrated by Martin with a minor, roughly 6 second, reunion clip at the end that ultimately proves to be nothing special.
MONTY PYTHON'S FLIEGENDER ZIRKUS: GERMAN EPISODE #1
This is an odd one. Presented here uncut for the first time (having aired slightly trimmed on cable a few years before this release) is one of the two episodes that were done for German audiences. While a fair bit of it is just the BBC material dubbed over, there is quite a bit of new material to be found in between the older pieces. It's certainly an unusual experience to see classic moments like The Lumberjack Song done in Bavarian, but here it is in all it's glory for the first time.
Video/Audio/Extras:
For the most part, the newer material here looks pretty good. The only problematic entry is the Live At The Hollywood Bowl feature, which is presented full frame. This one doesn't look so hot at all, but it's more to do with the source material than with A&E's transfer. Likewise, the German Episode is very beat up as well. The other entries, which do suffer from some minor damage, look pretty good.
No problems on the Dolby Digital Stereo/Mono tracks on this disc. Dialogue is fine and rarely hard to understand (unless you have problems with English accents). There's some hiss and the odd strange piece of distortion here and there, but for the most part, it's clear and satisfactory. It's not reference quality, but it'll do. Live At The Hollywood Bowl is a little low, and you might need to turn it up a bit to understand it all.
Included as supplements on the discs, found under 'Loony Bin' on the menu, are a few interesting but minor extras. Post Python Troupe Highlights is an incomplete listing of the work that each member did after the parted ways, Pythonisms is a dictionary of terms that they use in their material. Bleeding Critics and Confusing Musings round off the text-based features. Everything is wrapped up quite nicely in Terry Gilliam's animated menus and topped off with scene selection.
The Final Word:
While this release doesn't serve as the best introduction to the troupe's work, it's certainly a great item for the Python fan in your household and completists will, of course, need to own it. And at $19.95, it's worth it.