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A running gag in Monty Python’s Flying Circus found the show occasionally cutting away to old stock footage of an audience of elderly women tepidly applauding.

Well, it turns out that this joke may have been closer to the truth than we thought.

According to The First 28 Years of Monty Python by Kim “Howard” Johnson, the clip was really “stock footage of a Women’s Institute meeting.” Michael Palin noted that it was likely pulled from the BBC’s vast library of footage by their researcher, but confessed that “it was rather like our own audiences (at the start).”

Much of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was filmed in front of a live audience, but this wasn’t their choice. According to producer and director Ian MacNaughton “that was BBC policy, to have a studio audience.” And that policy didn’t always work out for the Pythons. As they were...

Steve Martin and the Monty Python gang are seemingly big fans of each other’s work — although John Cleese’s opinion of the American comedian may have soured slightly in recent years, after Eric Idle gave him the role of God in Spamalot and “fired” Cleese.

Martin is such a Python admirer that he was tapped to host the TV special Parrot Sketch Not Included — 20 Years of Monty Python, which featured the final onscreen appearance of those six unforgettable comedians: “John, Paul, George, Ringo, Bob and… one other unforgettable guy.”

But when Martin first got into Monty Python, he didn’t even know what they looked like. That’s because the show didn’t air in the U.S. until 1974, but their albums were widely available.

The Pythons began issuing audio recordings of their sketches as early as 1970. And while their first release, simply titled Monty Python’s Flying Circus,...

Even the most original shows aren’t created from nothing. Saturday Night Live, like every comedy show before or since, can point to funny ancestors that helped draw up the blueprint for its success. Here are five comedy classics that formed the template for the show that became SNL…

[subtitle]1Your Show of Shows [/subtitle]

“Saturday Night Live always had its roots showing,” wrote Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller in their oral history Live From New York. Those roots began in the golden era of live TV in New York, especially Your Show of Shows featuring Sid Caesar and his troupe. The comedy was enhanced by the thrill of the live broadcast, a “this is happening now!” quality that had disappeared from television before SNL brought it back in 1975.

When Dick Ebersol made his initial Saturday Night pitch to NBC, Your Show of Shows was one of his examples of what SNL would try to emulate,...

"Monty Python's Flying Circus" was a tough sell in the United States, and it's easy to see why. Many of the TV shows and media tropes that the Pythons lampooned on their famously absurd sketch comedy show were unbearably insular to British audiences. There were jokes about local television personalities, spoofs of English news programs, and send-ups of the BBC's tendency to cram dry, not-at-all-entertaining documentaries into their programming blocks.

The BBC had made a deal with Time-Life Television to broadcast reruns of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" in the United States, but after a deal had been struck, Time-Life deemed the series to be "too British" for U.S. audiences. Ultimately, it was shelved. Time-Life's suspicions about the Pythons were proven true when the troupe's 1971 anthology film "And Now for Something Completely Different" tanked at the box office. Additionally, the six silly men performed a 30-minute block of material...

One of the biggest unanswered mysteries of human existence is the question of whether or not there is life after death. Is there a heaven? A hell? Is reincarnation real? If you played professional baseball when you were alive, does that mean that you’re doomed to spend eternity haunting some random guy’s corn crops?

Well, The New York Times recently published an article all about the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. As the university’s website explains, “Dops is investigating the mind’s relationship to the body and the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death.”

The department has faced some pushback from academics wary of studies concerning the “paranormal.” So, as The Times notes, Dops is “financed entirely by private donations.” And one of those private donors just so happens to be this guy:

While he’s more well-known for his...

It’s 2025 which, despite the lack of flying cars, robot butlers and miraculous poop-cleaning seashells, is very much the future — at least compared to the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Even though so much time has passed since the days when the internet was just a twinkle in the eye of Al Gore, people are still very much enjoying the comedy of Monty Python, who first hit the comedy scene way back in 1969 with the debut of Monty Python’s Flying Circus on the BBC.

The Pythons are seemingly just as popular in the 21st century as they were in the 20th, as evidenced by their run of sold-out shows at London’s massive O2 Arena in 2014…

…and their streaming success, first on YouTube, then Netflix and now Shout! TV. Which, when you think about it, is highly unusual. I mean, it’s not like many other decades-old BBC shows are hot streaming commodities these days.

Its been decades since Monty Python launched into the comedy scene, leaving a long-lasting mark on the industry and pop culture in general. The comedy ensemble first gained widespread acclaim for their series Monty Python's Flying Circus, that ran from 1969 to 1974 on the BBC. Consequently, their portfolio expanded to include more films and series, among others, some of which have now found a new streaming home thanks to a fantastic deal with Shout! Studios.

Shout! Studios has reached an agreement with Mercury Studios Media Limited to license exclusive U.S. and Canadian distribution rights including AVOD, SVOD, broadcast, theatrical and non-theatrical distribution rights for a catalog of Monty Python films, specials and performances.

This includes perennial favorites such as the landmark sketch comedy TV series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” recently restored and available for the first time across all platforms in HD, and comic masterpieces “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” which marks its 50th anniversary in 2025.

Shout’s CEO Garson Foos said: “Since the earliest days of the company, Shout! has been dedicated to celebrating the best entertainment that pop culture has to offer and has sought to be a trusted home for beloved films and series. Iconic and iconoclastic, Monty Python has long been at the top of that list. We are fans first and foremost,...

John Cleese is best known as a member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python. Let’s look back at the Oscar-nominated funnyman and his 12 greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1939 in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, Cleese rose to prominence thanks to the British sketch series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” which ran for four seasons on the BBC from 1969-1974. The troupe — which also included Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — revolutionized comedy with their surreal, experimental sketches, the best of which were assembled into the film “And Now for Something Completely Different” (1971). This led to other cinematic outings, including “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), “Life of Brian” (1979) and “The Meaning of Life” (1983).

Cleese achieved big screen success of his own with “A Fish Called Wanda” (1988), which he wrote and starred in as an uptight English barrister who becomes entangled in an elaborate...

It’s no secret that the Monty Python bond isn't super-strong right now. And the reason why it’s no secret is because a lot of the inter-Python bickering has transpired on social media. Eric Idle and John Cleese made headlines for posting snide comments about one another, the result of Idle’s vocal discontentment with the handling of Monty Python’s finances. It’s basically the British comedy equivalent of watching your parents fight.

While the Idle-Cleese feud has certainly garnered a lot of attention recently, it isn’t exactly a fresh phenomenon. Not only is this not the first time that Idle and Cleese have squabbled, it’s not even the first time that they’ve squabbled in front of all their social media followers.

The two Pythons also beefed way back in 2011. And it will probably come as a shock to precisely no one that it was also about money.

While most news about Monty Python these days tends to involve bitter financial disputes and long-simmering tensions blowing up on social media, there’s at least one recent Python-centric story that’s unquestionably heartwarming. And no, we don’t mean John Cleese’s decision to quit Twitter.

There’s currently a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to pay for a statue honoring Terry Jones, which is to be erected on the promenade in Colwyn Bay, Wales where the late Monty Python member lived until he was nearly five. Jones, of course, passed away in 2020 due to complications of a rare form of dementia, which he was diagnosed with in 2015 — although his death still hasn’t stopped him from booking acting jobs.

The GoFundMe campaign, dubbed “A Python on the Prom,” seeks to raise £120,000 for the bronze sculpture. Run by Jones’ family and the Conwy Arts Trust, the campaign was...

Eric Idle and John Cleese’s recent social media feud garnered a lot of attention from fans, but it’s far from the first time that the two Monty Python members squabbled. As one resurfaced interview clip illustrates, their behind-the-scenes tension goes back decades, and once involved an argument over drinking urine.

One of the most infamous lost Python sketches is “Wee-Wee Wine Tasting,” which was filmed for the Season Three episode “E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease” but ultimately cut from the broadcast. As Idle recalled in the 1990 documentary Life of Python, the sketch, which he wrote with Michael Palin, found a refined gentleman visiting a wine cellar, and taking guesses as to the contents of his glass (Pouilly Fumé? Médoc?) only to be constantly informed that the wine is, in fact, “wee-wee.”

While most members of the Pythons got behind the “very silly” sketch, Cleese was vehemently opposed to it and,...

I think it's fair to say that Monty Python movies, much like the TV show from which they sprung, are all great. The absurdist brilliance of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," which ran on the BBC from 1969 to 1974, saw comedians John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam rewrite the rules of comedy. Alongside regular collaborators Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth, the Monty Python troupe established themselves as true comedic geniuses, leading to a run of feature films that remain just as beloved to this day as the "Flying Circus" itself.

Chief among those films is 1975's "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a deconstruction of the British national identity by way of an irreverent retelling of Arthurian legend. The film was and is much more than its oft-quoted catchphrases would suggest, with the Python boys turning their subversive eye towards British history and sending up...

Christopher Nolan cemented his status as the crown prince of IMAX with his record-breaking Oppenheimer run, but fans will have to wait a while longer to see Interstellar on the biggest screen around. But wait, you might be thinking. Wasn’t IMAX supposed to screen Interstellar in 70mm literally next month?...

Nearly a lifetime ago, in 1975, Terry Gilliam submitted his five-minute short film “Miracle of Flight” to the Annecy Animation Festival in France.

An absurdist gem about homo sapiens’ disastrous desire to take to the skies — using the same cut-out technique made famous by the irreverent interstitials and opening credits Gilliam designed for the British sketch comedy series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” — the film screened, but won no prizes.

Suddenly, half a century later (as “Miracle of Flight” might put it), Annecy corrected the oversight by awarding Gilliam an Honorary Cristal. Turns out, it’s a much nicer trophy — considerably bigger and far easier to dust — awarded in appreciation of lifetime achievement in the field.

“Can you believe how long it has taken me to get this fucking award?” Gilliam joked in mock outrage. “I think they know I might not be around next year.” But the director of “Time Bandits,...

Stanley Kubrick's 1971 dystopian sci-fi film "A Clockwork Orange" points out that a modern British society -- so devoted to stuffy manners, politeness, and keeping evil out of sight -- won't know how to deal with legitimate sociopaths. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) is a violent little punk who regularly leads his teen gang -- the Droogs -- into fights, into bars that serve drug-laced milk, and into the locked homes of their victims. Alex beats and assaults people without a scrap of conscience, and sees the world as something to consume, use up, and have sex with. Kubrick toys with the audience a little, presenting Alex as charismatic and funny, even though he's a monster.

When Alex is finally apprehended for his many crimes, the juvenile delinquent is thrown into prison and subjected to a new kind of rehabilitation technique ... involving movies. Alex has his eyes clamped open and he...

After fifty years, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is still rightfully hailed by many as one of the all-time greatest comedies, and for a seemingly countless number of reasons: King Arthur’s “horse”, the corpse collector, the Black Knight, the outlandish animations, the rude French knights, an enchanter named Tim, the Knights who say “Ni” a killer rabbit, the Holy Hand Grenade, and so and so on.

But while the end result is historically hilarious, the filmmaking process itself was often pure misery for most involved. Get ready to storm the castle and find out Wtf Happened to this Movie!

During the 1960s, British comedy writers and performers Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin had variously collaborated and found degrees of success before uniting in 1969 to form the group known as Monty Python. This alliance resulted in the BBC sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus,...

Eric Idle has set the record straight for anyone who thought he had a cushy life from his earnings as a member of Monty Python, saying that he still has to work for a living.

“I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster,” the 80-year-old actor and comedian wrote on Twitter. “Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.”

Later on, Idle clarified that though the British comedy troupe owns “everything” they ever made as part of the group, changes to royalty distribution — and what he sees as mismanagement of the company — have made a drastic impact on their earnings.

“I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously,” he wrote. “But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised.

“Monty Python” alum Eric Idle addressed an apparent fan misconception on Friday: that he and the rest of the legendary British comedy troupe’s members aren’t swimming in cash from their productions. As he put it, “I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.” Idle is 80 years old.

I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded. Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age. https://t.co/nFDbV9BOfC

— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) February 9, 2024

Hours later, Idle added, “We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam...

Celebrating its 48th-and-a-bit anniversary, Monty Python And The Holy Grail is coming back to cinemas for a limited time only.

Forget your usual sing-along screenings of your favourite musical. You can go to a quote-along screening of Monty Python And The Holy Grail this February.

It’s been 48 (and a half) years since the iconic comedy premiered in cinemas. Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, Monthly Python And The Holy Grail marked the directorial debuts of Gilliam and Jones.

To mark the anniversary, the film is making a comeback in cinemas, but there will also be special quote-along screenings. They will give you an opportunity to shout out lines like “She’s a witch!” and “I fart in your general direction” at the screen.

Tickets for these are already on sale and you can purchase them here.

Monty Python’s Life Of Brian...

The current generation will likely know John Cleese for his Tweets and his Gb News project "The Dinosaur Hour," which recently saw him trading witticisms with Stephen Fry in a 12th-century castle for some reason. Which is a shame because at one time he was pretty much unanimously viewed as a British national treasure and comedy great. So much so that when he dropped in on the "Cheers" crowd back in the '80s, he basically caused the whole show to buckle under the weight of his reputation, at least until the writers managed to compose themselves enough to get his episode back on track.

Appearing in the season 5 installment "Simon Says," Cleese played Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, a renowned marriage counselor and friend of Kelsey Grammer's Frasier Crane, who at one time attended Oxford with the distinguished doctor. Presumably, in the "Cheers"-verse, Finch-Royce was also a friend of Alan Cornwall,...

Some classic TV shows from the past still have plenty to offer modern audiences. Old TV shows often don't have a place on modern streaming platforms, but they still hold up today and deserve to be watched. Shows like I Love Lucy, Roots, and The Twilight Zone still influence new shows being made decades later.

Although the modern era is widely regarded as the golden age of television, some TV shows from decades ago still make brilliant viewing. Some shows from as far back as the 1950s still have plenty to offer modern audiences, whether they're sitcoms, sci-fi anthologies, or adaptations of popular novels. These shows influenced TV for generations to come, and they contain some innovations which are still being felt in the modern TV landscape.

Classic TV shows don't get the same attention given to classic movies. TV wasn't traditionally seen as an equally serious art form, but...

A lost pre-Monty Python comedy series called A Complete and Utter History of Britain has been recovered by ITV after being mis-catalogued for decades. The series was a spoof documentary of the British Isles and was filmed as a seven-part series, but only the first two episodes were thought to have survived past its original broadcast. A Complete and Utter History of Britain laid the groundwork for Monty Python's later work, as it parodied British history in a similar vein to their movies and shows.

A decades old British comedy show featuring Monty Python’s Michael Palin and Terry Jones is recovered after it was thought to be long lost. Jones and Palin were two of Monty Python’s six founding cast members, which also included Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gillam, and Eric Idle. As a comedy troupe, Monty Python begin their act through the sketch comedy show...

Bruce Lee's guest appearance on the show Blondie in 1968 is impossible to find today, as there is no existing footage of the episode. Unlike his other American film and TV appearances, which are widely available, Lee's appearance on Blondie has been completely wiped from existence. CBS canceled Blondie abruptly and erased all the tapes of the show, so it's likely that Bruce Lee's cameo will remain lost to time.

In 1968, Bruce Lee made a guest appearance on Blondie, a show that lasted for only one season, and now, despite Lee’s fervent fan following, it’s impossible to find that episode. Blondie was never released elsewhere or shown again on TV, so there’s no existing footage of it. It hasn’t been seen since it aired in 1968. Lee was no stranger to shows that only lasted one season. The Green Hornet, his first big American hit, only aired...

It's nothing short of a miracle that anything nearly as weird as "Monty Python's Flying Circus" became a pop culture phenomenon. In the BBC television series that ran from 1969 to 1974, comedians Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, along with animator Terry Gilliam and frequent co-stars Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth, obliterated all sense of sanity on the airwaves.

Their sketch comedy show — which had neither circuses, pythons, nor a character named "Monty" — crafted off-the-wall sketches about every strange thing they could think of. Silly walks, Hungarian phrase books, and how not to be seen were just the tip of the very absurd iceberg, and the comedy troupe's absolute dedication to defying convention remains, to this day, a gold standard to which any comedian can aspire.

Monty Python didn't stay on the airwaves forever. The troupe created four feature films together over the course of twelve years,...

There are few groups that are both as beloved and problematic as Monty Python. The British group created some of the most iconic comedies of the 20th century.

Their film The Meaning of Life is widely regarded as one of their best. But how does it compare to modern comedy?

What Was Monty Python?

The group of five British men and one American came together in 1969 to create the zany show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The show consisted of sketches often completely out of the ordinary and skewered society in a way that no mainstream show had dared to before.

Related: Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Best Sketches, Ranked

The players consisted of Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman. The group disbanded and came together multiple times for live events and projects. A few have died, and those that are left have...

One of the most acclaimed comedy series of all time is returning to TV more than four decades later. “Fawlty Towers,” the beloved British sitcom starring John Cleese, is getting a revival, with the “Monty Python” star set to return.

The show is being developed at Castle Rock Entertainment, with Matthew George, Rob Reiner, Michele Reiner, and Derrick Rossi executive producing for the studio. Cleese will write and star in the revival with his daughter, Camilla Cleese.

“What I like about Matt is that, unlike many producers, he really ‘gets’ the creative process,” Cleese said in a statement announcing the project. “When we first met, he offered an excellent first idea, and then Matt, my daughter Camilla, and I had one of the best creative sessions I can remember. By dessert we had an overall concept so good that, a few days later, it won the approval of Rob and Michele Reiner.

It's an old adage that comedy doesn't travel well, but some shows definitely fare better than others. As a Brit, I've met many Americans with a creepy zeal for quoting sketches from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" at me. "Red Dwarf" is hugely popular where I live in the Czech Republic. And the bawdy BBC sitcom "'Allo! 'Allo!" sold to 56 countries -- the cast was reportedly greeted "like the Beatles" during a visit to Bulgaria. I once had the pleasure of dining at a pizza restaurant in the Serbian capital of Belgrade called 'Allo! 'Allo! where all the pies were named after the characters.

But one British sitcom that doesn't seem to travel well is also one of our most enduringly popular, "Only Fools and Horses." The show follows the fortunes of the Trotter family, headed by a dodgy wheeler-dealer whose dubious get-rich-quick schemes always go disastrously wrong. It aired from...

British comedy. For years, it has amused and sometimes bemused audiences with its often dry and frequently out-there humor that's either understood and swiftly adored or ditched quicker than a dead parrot. That said, it's certainly had (and continues to have) a huge impact on the shape and overall direction of modern comedy. From the surrealist gags of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" to the painfully awkward realism of "The Office," British comedy series have helped pave the way towards what we now consider the stuff that tickles our funny bones best.

That said, for every David Brent, there are countless other characters -- and their accompanying shows -- that fly under the radar and go criminally unnoticed by international eyes. While British broadcasting may only feature five primary terrestrial channels, its output is large, varied, and colorfully eclectic, with a number of series deserving of far more praise than one nation alone can offer.

In space, no one can hear you grumble about your s****y job. The title sequence for "Red Dwarf" opens with a guy in a grubby spacesuit, miserably daubing paint on the exterior of the eponymous mining vessel. When the camera pulls back we can see why he's unhappy; he is working on the "F" of the ship's name which must be about 80 feet high.

It could be a scene from "Dark Star" or "Alien," two movies that showed us that space travel will be pretty boring and arduous for the regular Joes who keep the lights on during long hauls between the stars. Those films provided inspiration for "Red Dwarf" writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who set their cult British show on a spaceship three million years in the future. Only one of its characters is a living human, but that doesn't stop them from following the classic...

The Deadpool movies featuring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc With A Mouth made a number of references to Monty Python. Founded in 1969, the legendary comedy troupe redefined sketch comedy with their series Monty Python's Flying Circus, which ran for four seasons on the BBC. They later developed a cult status in the United States with the release of their second film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The Pythons officially parted ways professionally in 1983 but continued to work together on other non-Monty Python projects. Their influence on modern comedy cannot be understated, so it is understandable that Ryan Reynolds would turn to the Pythons for inspiration in his development of the Deadpool comics into a film franchise. Reynolds' work, however, went beyond simply referencing Monty Python, going out of his way to honor their comedic legacy.

Related: How Deadpool Sneakily Dropped A Brilliant 1960s Batman Reference

Why Deadpool Makes So...

Of all genres, comedy runs the risk of aging the fastest. In some cases, this can be due to the use of offensive jokes in old works that fly in the face of modern audiences' sensibilities. In others, it's simply because joke structures that were innovative and surprising to audiences at one point have become trite and overused. Because of comedy's inherently short shelf life, it's one of the most difficult genres to create a timeless classic within. That's why the few movies that have seemingly accomplished this, movies like "Airplane!" and "Blazing Saddles," are such impressive works of art, as they manage to hold up even against the ravages of time.

In some cases, even the creators of these movies are surprised by how much staying power they have. This is the case for John Cleese, one of the co-founders of the legendary Monty Python sketch group. While Monty...

The writing of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was largely handled in teams. John Cleese and Graham Chapman would write sketches together, and their output tended to be more linguistic and cerebral; Cleese and Chapman were responsible for the Cheese Shop sketch, for instance, or the Argument Clinic. Michael Palin and Terry Jones were a team, and their sketches tilted toward whimsical absurdity; the pair wrote the Spam sketch and the Dead Parrot sketch. Eric Idle wrote sketches on his own, and his tended to be cheeky, as when he wrote the "Wink wink, nudge nudge" sketch. He also wrote the show's songs. Terry Gilliam lived off to the side working on the "Flying Circus" animations. 

As stated in any number of retrospectives, the team would then unite to pitch and/or read sketches. Together, they would hone the jokes, make them as funny as possible, and agree as to who would play which parts.

Tim Beddows, Managing Director of the UK-based Network Distributing Limited, has died. He was 59.

Beddows died on Friday, November 18. Network Distributing confirmed the news to Deadline in a statement, describing Beddows’s death as a “terrible shock to everyone who knew him both personally and professionally.”

“The Network team are devastated but committed to continuing his legacy and building upon Network’s position of strength as a leader in the UK home entertainment market,” the statement read.

Beddows founded Network in 1997. The UK-based company now acts as an independent UK publishing, distribution, production, and entertainment group.

The company is most known for its work restoration work. Some of the company’s biggest re-releases include The Sweeney, The Professionals, The Woman in Black, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Prisoner, and Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation library.

In 2021, Network acquired a number of libraries, including Rapido TV, the Danziger film and TV catalog,...

Bedazzled star Brendan Fraser says one scene from the cult comedy movie had the approval of Monty Python's John Cleese. The actor starred in's Bedazzled after gaining prominence in his role as Rick O'Connell in The Mummy. A remake of the 1967 British film of the same name, Bedazzled follows Elliot, a meek and lonely man who makes a deal with the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) in order to turn his life around. Directed by Harold Ramis, Bedazzled served as one of the several quirky comedies that established Fraser as a relatable and funny on-screen presence.

While appearing in a video for GQ, Fraser revealed that one scene from Bedazzled earned the approval of Cleese, a member of the British comedy troupe known as Monty Python. The group's significant influence on the modern comedy scene in the decades since sketch comedy televsion show Monty Python's Flying Circus, which aired in 1969, cannot be understated.

Five Oxbridge "superior beings" and one American "barbarian at the gates," to use Terry Gilliam's own words; that was the lineup for "Monty Python's Flying Circus," the comedy troupe that took irreverent aim at the social and class boundaries of stuffy British society and, in their anarchic way, the very format of comedy itself.

For his part, Gilliam was the often-overlooked member of the gang, not only an outsider by nationality and class but also due to his role within the Pythons. As the animator, he worked alone and made far fewer appearances in their sketches, often taking on gurning grotesques that the others didn't really want to play. As a result, he never really had a defining screen persona. While we remember John Cleese and Michael Palin from the Dead Parrot sketch or the Ministry of Silly Walks, and Eric Idle as the insinuating spiv in the Nudge-Nudge routine,...

Comedy star John Cleese is returning to British TV by making a show for right-leaning channel Gb News.

The Monty Python and Fawlty Towers star, who campaigns against “wokeism” and “cancel culture,” will become a presenter on the network, which launched in the UK last year with an ethos to present an alternative to rivals by focusing partly on culture wars content.

Cleese will debut on the channel next year, working alongside satirist Andrew Doyle on the currently unnamed program. Together they will encourage “proper argument,” said Cleese.

Doyle already presents Free Speech Nation on the channel, which boasts a presenting line-up that includes Dan Wootton but has rarely rated in a meaningful way in the UK.

Cleese appeared on BBC radio program Today this morning to talk about the show. Somewhat ironically, he claimed he would not have been approached by the BBC to make the same program and...

When the seminal British TV program "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was still on the air (1969 - 1974), it wasn't yet reaching a massive international audience. To facilitate the show's spread, a feature film consisting of re-staged sketches from the show's first two seasons -- called "And Now for Something Completely Different" -- was released in England in 1971. That film is certainly funny, although it lacks the comedic magic of the TV show.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was put into production after "Flying Circus" went off the air. The special features for the film's 2001 DVD release featured vintage footage of late cast member Graham Chapman explaining that the troupe had been working on a script -- pointedly absurd, natch -- that was set partially in the Middle Ages and partially in the present day. After some discussion, the Pythons came up with the King Arthur/Holy Grail angle, knowing that...

The U.S. version of "The Office" came along at a key point in the history of reality TV. At the end of the 20th century, the format had only recently been the target of ridicule and satire in the movies like "The Truman Show" and "EDtv." However, by the time "The Office" premiered in 2005, reality series like "Big Brother" and "Survivor" had come to dominate the airwaves. So rather than trying to fight the tide, "The Office" creator Greg Daniels embraced it, even going so far as to seek out a director of photography with personal experience in this newfangled form of entertainment.

Like the original British sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the U.S. version of "The Office" is a mockumentary series about the daily lives of the employees at a fictional paper company in Scranton Pennsylvania called Dunder Mifflin. Mockumentary TV was, of course,...

“Monty Python” legend John Cleese has defended J.K. Rowling amid transphobic tweets, slammed the new “woke rules” for laughs, and now is calling out film studios for producing uncreative comedies.

During the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas (via New York Post), Cleese told Fox News Digital that comedians do not have the freedom to be funny in 2022.

“There’s always been limitations on what they’re allowed to say,” Cleese said. “I think it’s particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you’re not checking everything you say critically before you move on. What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you’re going because you’ve never been there before. That’s what creativity is — you have to be allowed to build. And a lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something,...

Prior to "Monty Python's Flying Circus," its individual members were scattered across multiple developing satire TV shows, all notable in their own rights. John Cleese and Graham Chapman were two of the many writers on 1962's "That Was the Week that Was," and appeared on screen together on "At Last, the 1948 Show" in 1967. Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Eric Idle, meanwhile, had appeared on the very silly program "Do Not Adjust Your Set," also in 1967. The American cartoonist Terry Gilliam, meanwhile, moved from drawing comics for the magazine "Help!" (founded by Mad Magazine luminary Harvey Kurtzman), to doing animations for "Do...

The post Terry Gilliam's Monty Python Frustrations Found An Outlet In Holy Grail appeared first on /Film.

Though an enormous number of beloved, bygone TV shows have been revived for the streaming era, there isn’t a whole lot of precedent for this kind of revival in the area of sketch comedy. It makes sense: There are fewer hit sketch comedy shows than straight sitcoms or dramas, and many of the most famous lineups would now be incomplete (like “Sctv” or “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”), or have featured too many incarnations to reunite properly (like the many casts of “Saturday Night Live”).

There’s also the matter of how sketch comedy is often fueled by youthful vitality. “The Carol Burnett Show,” for example, was a huge 11-season hit in the ’60s and ’70s, but a 1991 revival quickly floundered despite arriving just 13 years after its original finale—about the same amount of time that’s elapsed since Canadian comedy troupe the Kids in the Hall last appeared on television.

"Saturday Night Live" is commonly viewed as the pinnacle of sketch comedy on television, even if fans of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" might have something to say about that. Created by Lorne Michaels, the live, late-night sketch series has endured for nearly 50 years since premiering in 1975, with the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" ushering in a new era of comedy. But Lorne Michaels also made waves with another band of comic misfits imported from Canada, and they stepped into the comedy gaps that "SNL" left unfulfilled. They're called The Kids in the Hall, and while "SNL" caught...

The post Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks Review: A Celebration of Canada's Finest Alternative Sketch Comedians [SXSW] appeared first on /Film.

A relentless demonic force leads to a controversial exorcism in Leroy Kincaide’s The Last Rite, and with the film now in theaters and on VOD and Digital from Samuel Goldwyn Films, we've been provided with an exclusive clip to share with Daily Dead readers!

Below, you can check out our exclusive clip from The Last Rite, and we also have the official press release with additional details on the film:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired U.S. rights to Leroy Kincaide’s The Last Rite. The film stars Bethan Waller (Red Bird), Johnny Fleming (Soho), Kit Smith (Echoes), Tara Hoyos – Martinez (Trust), Ian Macnaughton (Monty Python’s Flying Circus), David Kerr (The Crown), Deborah Blake (Billionaire Boy).

Lucy, a study from home medical student and sleep paralysis victim, moves in with her boyfriend and finds out all is not as it seems,...

The U.K.’s Network Distributing has sealed a deal with iconic British horror label Hammer Films to form Hammer Studios Ltd.

Network’s managing director Tim Beddows and financial director Jonathan Lack and Hammer CEO Simon Oakes will head the new company.

The new entity will manage and control Hammer’s interests in its vast library of content such as “The Woman in Black” (2012), “Let Me In” (2010), “Dracula” (1958), “The Abominable Snowman” (1957) and “The Quatermass Experiment” (1953). Hammer Studios will invest substantially both in restoration and new production development from both its owned and newly created IP.

The restoration plans are in keeping with Network’s ethos, as it is a well-known brand for film aficionados, mining the vaults of TV companies and film studios since 1997, unearthing cult programs and films and making them available on home video and digital formats.

Network’s restoration of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” “The Prisoner...

The Last Rite is releasing on November 26th from Samuel Goldwyn Films. Inspired by true events, this film premiered at Arrow Video FrightFest 2021 and is the is the directorial debut of wrester/actor Leroy Kincaide. Here’s the trailer:

Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired U.S. rights to Leroy Kincaide’s The Last Rite. The film stars Bethan Waller (Red Bird), Johnny Fleming (Soho), Kit Smith (Echoes), Tara Hoyos – Martinez (Trust), Ian Macnaughton (Monty Python’s Flying Circus), David Kerr (The Crown), Deborah Blake (Billionaire Boy).

Lucy, a study from home medical student and sleep paralysis victim, moves in with her boyfriend and finds out all is not as it seems, when she falls prey to a demonic force hell bent on ripping her apart from within. Torn between sanity and the unknown, Lucy is left with no alternative but to contact a local priest, Father Roberts for help.

The one thing you can say on behalf of In the Earth is that it is almost certainly the first dramatic feature film to emerge from the Covid era that is explicitly about the worldwide plague that has sidelined and fractured international filmmaking—not to mention the world at large–as we’ve always known it. Aside from that, British horror-and-mayhem specialist Ben Wheatley’s little quickie is a tedious walk in the woods, a ho-hum affair featuring dull characters and a succession of unpleasant injuries. Imagination and surprise are in short supply. Neon is handling U.S. distribution after the film’s Sundance bow Sunday evening in the festival’s Premieres section.

Shot over 15 days last August in a forest between London and Oxford, this evident low-budgeter represents Wheatley on a down-and-dirty rebound after his fancy and thoroughly pointless Rebecca remake starring Lily James and Armie Hammer. But as...

Warning: this A Discovery of Witches review contains spoilers

For a show about vampires, A Discovery of Witches is relatively light on blood and gore. Its undead creatures are civilised types, more likely to be found sipping a 1982 Latour than fang-deep in a carotid artery.

That all changed this week, as season two took a 21st century detour with a police thriller slant. A mystery vamp has been going to town on warm-bloods, and, hope Domenico and Gerbert, it could spell the end for the de Clermont dynasty.

It made a refreshing change to spend time in the here and now instead of the there and then. Modern clothes, modern speech, a modern-day hook up between a couple of hot young things… well, one hot young thing and one cold old thing doing a remarkable impression.

Marcus and Phoebe’s flirtation injected a vibe missing from this show since Matthew...

This The Watch review contains spoilers.

The Watch Episode 5

After a funny, enjoyable episode 4, in which The Watch finally got the upper hand, episode 5 shows Captain Sam Vimes taking the decision of whether or not anyone should be able to control the dragon plaguing the city into his own hands. After lying to the other members of the Watch, he takes Wayne the talking sword off to a lake where Unseen University disposes of dangerous magical artifacts, fully intent on destroying the sword himself and keeping the rest of his team from sharing the blame. Acting Captain Angua sends Cheery and Lady Sybil Ramkin following after while she and Carrot debate the morality of destroying a sentient sword—and investigate a Thieves Guild robbery that didn’t happen on schedule.

Meanwhile, Carcer has enlisted the Thieves Guild—which, he reveals, is responsible for the death of his father—to steal...

Paramount Pictures has acquired the upcoming film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Spamalot” from Fox, according to an insider with knowledge of the project.

Eric Idle, who penned the music and lyrics for the original musical, wrote the screenplay. Broadway veteran Casey Nicholaw, who choreographed the musical, is set to direct the film adaptation. Dan Jinks is producing the project with Idle. Executives Jon Gonda and Mike Ireland are overseeing the project for Paramount.

The “Spamalot” film adaptation was previously set up at Fox, but was set aside when Disney acquired Fox in 2019.

The 2005 Broadway musical “Spamalot” was adapted from the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a comedic parody of the King Arthur quest.

The late Mike Nichols directed the original Broadway production, which went on to receive 14 Tony Award nominations and won in three categories, including Best Musical. “Spamalot” became a commercial success and grossed more than $175 million.