Free Radio Episode Guide, Season 1 - Pazsaz Entertainment Network

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The Not So Exciting Begins
The documentary has a rivitingly unexciting start, showcasing the uptight, starch world the Pythons were born into after WWII. Each Python then briefly discusses their different, yet similar childhood's all growing up in the middle class of London; that is except Terry Gilliam who was born in Minnesota. Despite growing up separate, each Python talks fondly of The Goon Brothers radio program as the greatest comedic influence of their young lives. After high school each Python attended prestigious colleges and, the five members born in London first began to cross paths. After school, Python John Cleese remembers being utterly shocked as he received a call from the well known British talk show host David Frost and began writing and acting for the Frost Report. It wasn't before long that his buddies from Cambridge Graham Chapman and Eric Idle followed in suite, and soon Michael Palin and Terry Jones from Oxford followed as well. Around the same time Terry Gilliam was at Occidental College, a small private school in California and was restlessly bored. Gilliam tells the tale of how he simply left school, headed to New York and received a job for Harvey Kurtzman's at Help!, a popular "smut" magazine, on the same day of his interview! While Cleese, Chapman and Jones still wrote for Frost, Idle and Palin left to work on a new show, the hit children's TV series titled, Do Not Adjust Your Set. Despite being for kids, Cleese remembers the show as the best thing on TV. It was then that a long haired Gilliam, bored of the magazine business, traveled to London and was hired on the show, as Idle remembers, due mostly to his great fur coat. Due to the great success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, the group was offered a 14 episode adult series. Cleese remembers hearing about this and discussing with Idle, Palin about collaborating on this comedy series. Thus, Monty Python's Flying Circus was the child of that collaboration.

The Much Funnier Second Episode
The second part of the documentary begins with Cleese remembering their meeting to pitch Flying Circus as "the worst meeting any of them had ever been a part of." Yet somehow, the Python bunch was given the opportunity to make a 14 episode comedy series. It took the group some time, and many name rejections as Jones remembers, but the series name, Monty Python's Flying Circus was born. The shows lack of structure and extreme silliness, at first did not catch audience's attention. The masses, especially the older generation, where "weirded out" by the shows lack of punch-lines, men dressed in woman's clothes and anti-establishment messages. Plus no one could make heads or tales of Terry Gillian's kooky cartoons that weaved all of the sketches together. However, despite its poor first reviews, the show gradually grew in popularity until it became the super hit known today. Actors from Russel Brand to Seth Green all join in and share their favorite Flying Circus sketches and discuss the strong influence the show had on them growing up. The most memorable sketches varied from the ever popular "Dead Parrot" sketch, to the "Hitler hiding out in a London Flat" sketch. However despite the show's great success, the topics were often too much for BBC to handle and by the 3rd season the show quickly came under the censorship microscope.

And Now The Sordid Personal Bits
The third part of the documentary begins with the Pythons angrily remembering the BBC beginning to fight them over censorship issues. Examples of these instances include a "Giant Penis," which Idle clearly remembers as a severed leg, and a masturbation sketch, to which Palin accused the executive of being a masturbator himself. Despite the minor setbacks, the group still prospered and released two Albums, which were highly successful at the time. So successful in fact the group began performing them for sell out live audiences. It was then that the Python's admit to first being bit by the celebrity bug, which none of them fully enjoyed. Cleese remembers painfully not being able walk down the street without some fan walking silly next to him. Cleese claims that the Python's had little knowledge of each other's personal lives, yet during the interviews each remaining member had a lot to say about working with one another professionally. It seemed however, from most of their recounts that a lot of the Pythons problems stemmed from Chapman, the black sheep of the group. Chapman was a closet homosexual and an alcoholic to boot. Cleese confessed that often the two would write scripts and Chapman would forget his lines only hours later. Cleese then talked about how after the 2nd season, he was bored with the repetitive nature of the show, and by the end of the 3rd season he had enough and left the group. Despite the abandonment, the remaining Pythons banned together and did a 6 episode trial 4th season without Cleese. However, they all remembered agreeing that something did not feel right without him. The remaining Python's then rejected the BBC's offer of 6 more episodes and Monty Python's Flying Circus ended. However, Monty Python came back, in a particularly regal way.

The Ultimate Holy Grail Episode
The fourth part of the documentary begins with the Pythons finally making their arrival in the United States. After much time, and money, and to Clesse's amazement, Fly Circus was a regular on PBS in the U.S. However, fed up with TV the Python's pushed into a different medium, film. Their first film And Now For Something Completely Different was a collaboration of their most famous sketches and was shown in the States. Although successful, the Python's disdainfully talk about their taste for film not being quenched and striving for something completely different. Thus, the infamous Monty Python and the Holy Grail was written, their first full length feature. The group still looks back in amazement that the film came out as brilliant as it did, having all sorts of problems. The Terry's, Gilliam and Jones, directing their first film ever, and in interviews confess how they quickly learned that having two directors never works. The directing, however, seemed the least of their worries, with Chapman in the prime of his alcohol dependency and Cleese, who begrudgingly admits, to being a bit of a diva and annoyed by the films muddy location and bothersome costumes. Idle adds that the film was greatly rushed and got terrible first reactions at the prescreening. For blood sakes they used the same castle in every scene! However, the Python group can't help but laugh as they reminisce about their worries, before the premier and the joy they felt by its almost immediate commercial success after. British Comedian Phill Jupitus and other celebrities discuss the films impact on them as well as comedic films forever. I mean for heaven sakes, it was even Elvis favorite flick and it's hard to disagree with the King.

Lust For Glory
After the tremendous success of The Holy Grail, the Python gang remembered feeling that it was so much fun; they wanted to do film again. So, upon Idle's idea, they traveled to Barbados for some script writing away from it all. Well, it wasn't long before they came to the conclusion that there film should be about the least controversial topic they could think of, Jesus Christ. Thus the film, The Life of Brian was written as a satire of Jesus Christ's life. The gang seemed to be at their primes, Cleese comments on the extreme atmosphere of fun and enjoyment, Chapman had recovered from his raging alcoholism, the Terry's never remembered getting along so well and the Pythons prospered. However the gang's intentions of the film, not making fun of Jesus the man, but rather the misinterpretations of his teachings was well, misinterpreted. Many parts of the U.K. banned the film as well as one state, North Dakota in the U.S. However as Idle and Palin commented this only seemed to hype the film more and it became a great success. The Pythons were looking on the bright side of life.

The Last Episode Ever... For Now
The Python gang fondly remembers their days gallivanting through Hollywood as they put on, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. They describe the event as a huge party with the audience drinking, laughing and smoking naughty things. Palin even recounts going out into the audience for a skit and coming back on stage suddenly stoned for the first time! After the Python's tour of Hollywood, the gang, being offered a great deal of money, wrote their third and final movie, The Meaning of Life. The film encompassed many sketches the gang had written and, in true Monty Python fashion, they poorly tied them all into one narrative. Although not as critically acclaimed as their first two films, all of the remaining Pythons comment on looking back at the films shining moments and all of them can't help but feel it as a success in their own hearts. It was 6 years later in 1989 that the Pythons truly saw the meaning of life when their sixth member, Graham Chapman, passed of cancer. The teary eyed Python' talk of the memorial service where they came together to celebrate Chapman's life in the only way the Pythons bunch knew how; swearing and making fun of him fondly. Following this discussion, the remaining Pythons all discuss the new projects they are working on. In a sign of true loyalty, the Python's all agree that the group, in honor of Chapman, will no longer collaborate together without their fallen friend. Many Comedians and celebrities alike, then talk about the impact the Python's had on comedy and the power the dynamic comedy troupe had over their lives. The documentary ends with the Pythons respectfully telling us all to piss off.