Monty Python's Flying Circus: Live at Aspen (1998) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Paul Miller

Writer:

Peter Crabbe (writer)

Release Date:

21 March 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

TV Special

Cast

Robert Klein	...	Host
John Cleese	...	Himself / Various Roles (also archive footage)
Terry Gilliam	...	Himself / Various Roles (also archive footage)
Eric Idle	...	Himself / Various Roles (also archive footage)
Terry Jones	...	Himself / Various Roles (also archive footage)
Michael Palin	...	Himself / Various Roles (also archive footage)
Graham Chapman	...	Himself / Various Roles (archive footage)
Eddie Izzard	...	Himself / Monty Python Imposter
Carol Cleveland	...	Various roles (archive footage)
Cathleen Summers	...	Herself

Also Known As:

US Comedy Arts Festival Tribute to Monty Python (USA)

Runtime:

58 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Aspen, Colorado, USA

Company:

Python (Monty) Pictures

Trivia:

This documentary is featured on the 2-disc DVD entitled "Monty Python Live!"

Quotes:

Terry Jones: The thing is that... There's nothing funny about what Christ said and what's funny, really, is the fact that Christ said all these good things about "Love thy neighbor" and everything and for the next 2000 years people are killing each other and torturing each other because they can't decide HOW he said it.

Movie Connections:

References Life of Brian (1979)

Only wish it could've been longer

This special appeared in the 90's on HBO, if memory serves, and at the time I didn't care much to watch it (mostly due to how I wasn't a Python fan at the time). But I got to see it finally as part of a Live Python DVD set, and while it wasn't great, it was good to see the five (err, six of them) back in action. Robert Klein hosted, with Eddie Izzard appearing in a bizarre cameo at the start of the show (I wonder if the audience, many celebrities, knew who he was at the time), and it was really half clips from the show and films (sans Life of Brian) and half recollections. The clips are fairly standard, although for myself having barely dipped toes into the Flying Circus sketches it was a grand sight to see anyway. I loved how when they were asked how they got together they started all talking at once, and also the very abrupt and suddenly improv form of comedy that comes forth after Gilliam accidentally knocks over Graham's 'ashes'.

Nothing at all, as a given of course, is taken too seriously with the accounts of their histories (though Gilliam gives a cool tale of the first reception of 'Holy Grail' at the premiere), and there is a genuinely uproarious story of visiting a concentration camp during their trip to film the German sketch. In short, it's an hour long trip into the Python world as only they could tell it and show it, but one wishes it could've been longer; Klein could've asked some better questions as well. On the other hand, it is technically an awards show (another element Cleese and Idle and the other play with in their acceptance speech), so it's hard to really dig in like say the autobiography of the Pythons does. To put it another way, for a reunion show it could do a lot worse. Three cheers for Graham's ashes!