Monty Python on Public TV in 1975

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18 жыл бұрын

KERA-TV in Dallas was the first PBS station to broadcast Monty Python's Flying Circus, and it was the Pythons' first stop in the US after the premier of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Los Angeles in 1975. This interview footage first aired live on KERA that year, and hasn't been seen by the public since. It was discovered on an old reel that had been saved by an engineer, and as you can see, it cuts off after about 14 minutes... the engineer taped over the rest. It's a look at the group being candidly questioned by fans at the peak of their fame and creative powers.
Provided by The Sound of Young America, a public radio show about things that are awesome. On the web at www.maximumfun.org ; clip is downloadable at tsoya.blogspot.com

Пікірлер: 182

@ketmaniac 16 жыл бұрын

Valuable piece of historical footage. A treasure for all MP fans. Big points to you for uploading.

@sam21462 6 жыл бұрын

One hell of a cliffhanger.

@maxmcwhirter 11 жыл бұрын

he was going to say 'owl stretching time'

@80sGenKid 2 ай бұрын

Hard to believe Dallas TX introduced us blokes to Monty Python...thank you Ron! I was introduced in the 80's and blown away!

@billyoung6246 10 жыл бұрын

The first episode of MPFC aired on KERA-TV in Dallas on Sunday, October 6, 1974 at 10:00pm, two weeks prior to when it first aired in Chicago on WTTW making KERA the first PBS station in the U.S. to air the series. The video was pulled from an in-studio appearance in March of 1975 days after the LA premiere of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Following the KERA premiere, a number of PBS stations followed suit such as WTTW, WNET and WHYY.

@reving19 17 жыл бұрын

PBS introduced me to Monty Python's Flying Circus in 1978. This is great. Thanks for posting.

@kewen 16 жыл бұрын

Great footage, I love it. And Graham saing "medically speaking I think something's wrong with it" about the armadillo XD

@colibri1 16 жыл бұрын

I didn't see this interview when it aired, but I was lucky enough to be living in the Dallas area when Monty Python aired. I had no idea it was the first area of the country to broadcast it. Now I feel special.

@coreysgreat 10 жыл бұрын

thank you for the rare footage i love the python fam FOREVER !

@Itoldyousoproduction 12 жыл бұрын

love Graham Chapman just casually smoking a pipe, haha.

@bobgrantsbus 16 жыл бұрын

Thanks for posting this interview. Only seen stills in such books as The Pythons by The Pythons etc.

@kt9166 6 жыл бұрын

I discovered Python on Channel 6 in Denver when they first ran it, and taped every show I could on my little Radio Shack cassette recorder. Played them over and over and over again. Thank you, Channel 6, for bringing us this still brilliant and silly classic.

@frithar 12 жыл бұрын

That was brilliant! Thanks so much for posting!

@stockholm1752 17 жыл бұрын

thank you for posting this.

@NYCBG 18 жыл бұрын

What a nugget! Thank you so much for sharing this with the rest of the Pythoniacs!

@jmedia1102 16 жыл бұрын

Incredible material; thanx for sharing.

@SweetSweetWaldo 18 жыл бұрын

WOW! Wot a twezha to behold! Thanks for posting this! I grew up on Monty Python. We all memorized our favorite bits, incorporated Python phrases into conversation, and had the whole Python spirit seep deep into our psyches! So...where are Cleese and Idle?

@why1so1serious1 15 жыл бұрын

thanks for the vid !!! enjoyed it verry much !!!

@Westerdd 18 жыл бұрын

amazing to see them in their prime. they were in the states to promote the holy grail film they had just made, amazing..

@lucynaribola 16 жыл бұрын

Gotta love Mike for putting the Armadillo in front of the camera during the lumberjack song... lol Graham's smile at 10:27

@PandaJungle 12 жыл бұрын

I love that the tape ends, at the most important part of his sentence..! ...:)

@thomesocksup 16 жыл бұрын

I agree. My favorite sketches were the Lumberjack song and the Pet Shop. "If you hadn't nailed it to the perch..."

@ferderig 16 жыл бұрын

Very nice!! I'm reading MP's autobiography this broadcast is mentioned. EI is not there because a few months ago he officially left Python. JC rarely went on these publicity tours. PBS in Dallas was the first station to show Python. Funny thing MP took the armidillo and it scared him at night when he went to for a pee!

@WalterJoergLangbein 9 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU!

@missslytherinkim 18 жыл бұрын

This is fanatstic really, thanx a bunch. Love the armadillo bit.

@porflepopnecker4376 6 жыл бұрын

I watched Python every Sunday night on KERA back in the late 70s. It was the cornerstone of their "British Comedy Block", which also included shows like Fawlty Towers, The Two Ronnies, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, and several others. Before that, KERA's Sunday night 10:00 CST time slot had been filled by a bad movie series called "One Star Theater."

@80swoodpanel 18 жыл бұрын

Love how Gilliam caught a bit of a British accent, it's strange! They're all so frikin' adorable!

@agent1442 12 жыл бұрын

The worst that's ever happened to me watching TV was being (slightly) set on fire. I can't imagine being electrified merely by watching a TV show. How tragic for that poor man

@Tehrasha 5 жыл бұрын

Terry Jones, cut off before he could utter "Owl Stretching Time".. which later became an episode title.

@SouthernWolfman 14 жыл бұрын

I actually saw this interview back in Texas...I remember the armadillo sitting in Palin's lap. I was a big Python fan from their beginning.

@CF1975 16 жыл бұрын

The TV show's last season was in 1974 (only Cleese left, Idle was still there). All the movies they did were after this and were made with the complete, original Python group.

@judmcc 6 жыл бұрын

Acording to my memory, I think that GETV (Georgia Educational TV - later Georgia Public Broadcasting) showed Monty Python as early as 1971 or 1972. I may be wrong, of couse, but I seem to remember seeing the TV show on GETV well before Holy Grail came out.

@54spiritedwill54 16 жыл бұрын

What Terry Jones was about to say was "Owl stretching Time" Which was one of the 1st names to be suggested for the show.

@dbirdwell 17 жыл бұрын

Ahhh, lucky me, I was a teenager in Dallas when this aired. I can actually remember this fund drive! My friends and I would get in trouble with our parents for laughing so much--it came on late and they all were usually in bed by then.

@guLizaah 17 жыл бұрын

terry wanted to say "owl-stretching time" which was the name of the fourth episode of the flying circus. actually they had further ideas such as "whither canada?" (first episode), "gwen dibley's flying circus", "it's", "vaseline parade" and many more.

@Amoladable 11 жыл бұрын

In '74, it premiered in Dallas. After that, 100 other PBS stations picked it up for October '74.

@lovegoodbyes 18 жыл бұрын

Aw! It got cut off! What show could be that important that it could be taped over Python? sheesh...

@SylviaCohen 14 жыл бұрын

Thanks for posting this! They're absolutely wonderful and gorgeous in this interview I love Graham Chapman TOO MUCH The world would be so DULL and DULL and DULL... without Monty Python :-)

@NEPatriot 18 жыл бұрын

So I guess we have KERA to thank for allowing the demented, yet brilliant comedy of Monty Python to come to American shores. This is the most brilliant scheme by a PBS station during pledge breaks or as I call them "beg-a-thons." AMAZING FIND!

@7six5four3two1 15 жыл бұрын

The armadillo!! I just finished reading the section about it and this interview in Michael Palin's Diaries 1969-1979. If you love Palin and/or Python you need to get that book!

@bokehintheussr5033 3 ай бұрын

I love that non only is Chapman drunk in the interview, hes in the process of getting even drunker 😂

@riana21688 18 жыл бұрын

oh wow, the hair!!! lol this is so amazing! we want more!!!!! raccooncartoon, you lucky, lucky person!

@bohemiatotal 17 жыл бұрын

I love that man. Really lucky you were, I wonder what he was talking about when off air:)

@mandeville7474 14 жыл бұрын

Before Monty Python,Palin,Idle,Gilliam and i think Chapman wrote and appeared in a children's tv show(commercial tv,ITV) called "Do not adjust your set(t.v).I used to watch it.

@boychildnew1 5 жыл бұрын

That was probably the thinnest and coolest ive ever seen Terry Jones looking. and the longest hair on Michael - he looked rather Beatles like. nice!

@akrukowski1964 15 жыл бұрын

Contrary to what the narrator at the beginning says and Wikipedia, KERA first showed MPFC in July of 1974. I remember seeing it in TV guide and thinking it was going to be a real circus show and asked my mom if I could watch it. I still watch it faithfully. By 1979 the Sunday night British comedy line-up was Benny Hill, MPFC, The Two Ronnies, Dave Allen at Large, and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

@misterrosewater 17 жыл бұрын

11 great nights of public TV, as opposed to the other 354.

@jessiethegeek 16 жыл бұрын

geniuws.i love the armidillo and graham looks awesome with the pipe

@DcTurner 16 жыл бұрын

They hadn't left; Life of Brian was released in 79, so things were still going on. They were probably busy elsewhere doing promotion for 'Holy Grail'. Great footage though; thanks for posting.

@cinewillp6391 5 жыл бұрын

Python folowed me across the pond in 1975. Never got right since...

@Djarra 15 жыл бұрын

I still have one.

@Lshannon90 12 жыл бұрын

Awww... Graham is awesome. I miss that guy so much...

@mattwales2734 6 жыл бұрын

I remember watching this with my dad back in '78 or so. I didn't realize we were trailblazers.

@ssdexecutor 18 жыл бұрын

I didn't think there was anything Monty Python-related I hadn't already seen.

@blaspherian 17 жыл бұрын

WOW... AMAZING.

@BethGoth15 6 жыл бұрын

If there's anything I've learnt about the 70s, it's that everyone's hair looks like a wig.

@HeraldBell 13 жыл бұрын

cheers to KERA in Dallas

@MayhemII 18 жыл бұрын

Its so odd to see them in normal clothing, and speaking in their actual accents... It's really great that someone managed to salvage this footage. :)

@wardka 12 жыл бұрын

One of my fondest memories was "discovering" Python in the mid 70's on PBS in college. A group of friends got me sort of chemically altered, let's say, and told me I *had* to watch this show. I'll never forget how surprised all the odd skit endings, non sequiturs, and weird editing made me feel, and how brazen and irreverent it seemed. Finally there was a type of comedy for the counter culture. Of course to this day you can recite any line from Holy Grail and people of any age will know it.

@MaccaForever 16 жыл бұрын

I couldn't agree with you more! :D

@zoe_alva86 18 жыл бұрын

I find him too, don't worry! too bad it isn't longer :( and interrupting him! Viva La Python!

@AdamAntiumtv 13 жыл бұрын

Oh my god! He was electrified?! That's horrible!

@ProcolHarum1967 15 жыл бұрын

To be fair they never really broke up as they recorded several albums all through the 1970s and 80s and they did make the Holy Grail with John Cleese in 1974 and it was released in 1975.

@CopperNoir 17 жыл бұрын

I believe Terry Jones was about to say the show's original name was "Owl Stretching Time."

@fabioemerim 17 жыл бұрын

Well, you've got to admit the ending of this footage being cut by the engineer was a very Monty Python thing!

@MiIIenia 16 жыл бұрын

This is according to Wikipedia's entry on Fawlty Towers: "Fawlty Towers was a British sitcom made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975." Could probably be chalked up to bad timing. Hope that helps...

@anardev 17 жыл бұрын

God how fantastic is this? I remember Cleese doing the radio comercial for Holy Grail -The first 100 people arriving at the theater got a coconut Yeah, I just bought a coconut..

@egapnala65 17 жыл бұрын

Anybody got any footage relating to the early broadcasts of series 4 (on ABC?)which were so hacked to pieces the Pythons sued the network and won? That would be interesting to see. Great footage. Thanks for downloading it.

@OeditpusRex 15 жыл бұрын

Other proposed titles were "A Horse, a Bucket and a Spoon," "Bunn, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot," "The Toad Elevating Moment," "Whither Canada?" and "Sex and Violence." The latter three were recycled as first-season episode titles, as was "Owl-Stretching Time."

@MissEntity 14 жыл бұрын

@mandeville7474 Actually it was Palin, Idle, Gilliam, and Jones. Chapman was not involved in "Do Not Adjust Your Set," he was involved in other things, including "At Last, the 1948 Show"

@ISB 18 жыл бұрын

"Terry Jones was about to say "Owl Stretching Time"." yup.

@Orlor 6 жыл бұрын

Didn't see this one at the time but I remember them returning to NJ a couple of years later to do the telethon for PBS. One thing I remember was PBS, in a attempt to show the difference in censorship between PBS and regular TV, played the Dirty Vicar sketch. They tried to play it like it would be played on regular TV but the engineers screwed up so the line "I like tits" came out like "I like /beep/ tits /beep/"

@drmoonrat 17 жыл бұрын

well he was about to say "owl stretching time"

@ketmaniac 16 жыл бұрын

Terry Jones was a bit restrained in describing the hold commercial TV had in the US in the 1970s. By 1975 all Python's TV stuff was finished, with only movies to follow. It was old news in the rest of the word. It had been a hit everywhere, subtitled and dubbed from one end of Europe to the other. The US was about the only country that had never heard of it. Such was the power of the networks, they kept it out for five years.

@Itoli 16 жыл бұрын

Cleese was already gone from the group, he wasn't on the fourth season of flying circus.

@odinssverd 12 жыл бұрын

lol at the loud wine bottle opening at 12:14

@MoonBarrett 14 жыл бұрын

Wow, they all look super foxy in this clip! :)

@Erunno89 15 жыл бұрын

I believe he was going to say "Owl Stretching Time" It's also on Wikipedia - a full list of potential names.

@prunejuicebob 14 жыл бұрын

Love how English Gilliam sounded back then!

@MrJim62 17 жыл бұрын

I remember Cleese doing the radio comercial for Holy Grail -The first 100 people arriving at the theater got a coconut

@kayper54 12 жыл бұрын

I tried watching this when it was first on here, but I was just too young -- 10 or 11 -- to understand ANY of it. By the time I was in high school and saw it again, it was like seeing it for the first time. By then, however, I had already seen every episode of Fawlty Towers thanks to my Mom, and I saw John Cleese and yelled, "Hey! it's that guy from Fawlty Towers!" My friends have teased me about that to this very day. Sigh. I was so uncool.

@vuduyudu 17 жыл бұрын

there were a few other interview of monty python on youtube with jones palin and chapman in 1979, does anybody here know where i can find those videos?

@bohemiatotal 17 жыл бұрын

They were promoting the holy grail, and Cleese was in that.

@HughWichmann 17 жыл бұрын

Love those phones. And smoking on stage!

@Alibabble 17 жыл бұрын

Aww! Why did it have to end so abruptly? It's really great to see a Monty Python interview back in the days when they were actually still making Monty Python sketches (at least in movies). But was Graham Chapman drunk? I know he had alcohol problems and this might go as further evidence, because he always seemed to pull it together on the shows (or at least the editors did).

@AshLuvsJonnyStew 14 жыл бұрын

Are you in the US? My local library had it, and I live in a small suburb of Richmond, VA. I think Amazon has it as well :)

@OeditpusRex 15 жыл бұрын

He may have been tired, but he was likely also quite drunk, as he generally was in those days.

@mercuriesque 16 жыл бұрын

And the phones are ringing and ringing *LOL*

@bohemiatotal 17 жыл бұрын

He was dealing with his struggle aainst alcoholism

@AshLuvsJonnyStew 14 жыл бұрын

mike writes about this armadillo in his Diary

@Yimello 10 жыл бұрын

Graham was just about to tell the story of the masturbation debate with the BBC commissioner before he went off on a tangent.

@onefinalhit 18 жыл бұрын

the set really looks like the set in the BlackMail skit from Monty python.

@JeffreyChaucer2 11 жыл бұрын

They are about to creat the greatest comedy movie of all times!

@thomesocksup 16 жыл бұрын

John Cleese is my favorite. I also watched Faulty Towers.

@bohemiatotal 18 жыл бұрын

Graham is so great!:))

@BethGoth15 16 жыл бұрын

Graham's hair is gorgeous too.

@qwerty7546 17 жыл бұрын

Monty Python and the Holy Grail ... "we don;t have a distributr yet..." :)

@MIKECNW 18 жыл бұрын

woner why the engineers cut it off before it was finished?

@dbmozart 14 жыл бұрын

The clip itself feels like 'Election Night' or something... How wierd!

@ISB 18 жыл бұрын

heh heh... that was actually Eric Idle's description of the state of his buddy.