Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014)

Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition back all those years ago. And nobody expected a reunion show of one of the greatest comedy troupes to ever grace the screen. That's right. After 34 years, the iconic and brilliant actors of Monty Python, came together once again to give us their unique and loud out loud dose of comedy. This performance, which was broadcast in the US and UK, certainly hits you in all the right nostalgic parts. If you're like me, you grew up watching 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' or any one of their hilarious films whether it be 'The Meaning of Life' or 'The Holy Grail'.You can rest assure that skits and segments from those movies make it into this excellent performance. The group did 10 live shows at London's famous O2 arena in front of sold out crowds, and did some of their famous skits as well as some new material. This almost feels like a farewell tour and a Greatest Hits album all rolled into one big performance that is almost three hours long. Every member of the Monty Python crew is here, including Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones. And yes, the late Graham Chapman makes a few appearances in the form of some video skits and messages.It's amazing how all of these men have not lost their comedic beat and continue to entertain and make us laugh still to this day. Full of music, comedy, and vintage skits that we all love, this performance is one for the books for every Monty Python fan. Keeping with their unique brand of humor, which at times can confuse us and go into the wacky and way out weird genre, the live performance starts out with of course, some llamas. It's quite funny in that "what is really happening" kind of way.Through songs, dances and other comedic skits, we get that old and familiar taste of this unique brand of humor, which is at times, modernized for this day and age, complete with some excellent cameos throughout. Yes, the Yorkshiremen show up, along with the Spanish Inquisition, Bruces, Spam, and even some of Terry Gilliam's animated skits make it into the show. One of the only downsides to this show, which is only relegated to this Blu-ray is that the camera-work is kind of a mess in places, which leaves the home audience missing some of the jokes, because the camera is not focusing on some of the key players during some of the punchlines, hence we miss out. It's not a big problem throughout, but it is somewhat annoying in a few places.'Monty Python Live (Mostly)' is a lot of fun, yet it kind of sad in a way that we all know in the back of our minds, that this is the last time we will see all these guys perform together again. It's a solid farewell in style and comedy, furthering their legendary status into the entertainment and comedy world.

I really wanted to get tickets to this but they were hugely expensive and very difficult to get hold of also I couldn't attend the 'live' cinema screening of the last night as we were on holiday. For both of these misfortunes I can now in hindsight be very glad.A re-union after such a long time is always risky and likely to disappoint, just ask many rock bands that tried to re-capture the old magic, and the Pythons pretty much fail in the expected ways. They're old tired-looking men performing material written by bright energetic young men and it shows. In many of the routines they appear to be simply going through the motions, there's no energy or edge to the performances. The sharp comic timing is generally absent and instead there's heavy reliance on the good will of the audience enjoying the familiar favourites. Eric Idle and his team did put together a cleverly constructed show, with big musical and dance numbers in a Python style to give the Pythons themselves time to change costumes and, presumably, have a little lie down. Very little of it made me laugh out loud and the bits that did were generally the big-screen inserts showing famous sketches from the TV-era Python, such as Philosopher's Football, and their series of spoofs on the Olympics, the hundred yard dash for people with no sense of direction etc. It was great that they included Carol Cleveland, the unofficial seventh Python and the only regular female performer in the shows and films, and there are a couple of funny cameos from Professors Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking at the end of one of the few bits that really did still work, Eric Idle's Galaxy Song from the film "The Meaning of Life". The Argument Sketch, the Dead Parrot Sketch and The Cheese Shop Sketch all worked pretty well as did "Nudge Nudge" but aside from that very little of it would have attracted a paying audience if it wasn't part of an established and historic team. The DVD itself was badly let down by the appalling picture quality; it was often like watching something on YouTube! It was grainy and fuzzy in almost all the close-ups and I wonder if there had in fact been no close-up shots filmed and the close-up was just a computer- enhanced zoom in on an existing wide shot with the usual loss of resolution that this entails? If so then someone from the film production team needed firing.For die-hard Python fans only, and even then you'd be better off watching "Life Of Brian" or "Holy Grail" again.

Imagine having won a competition 40 years ago, then imagine that until now people do not remember you or relate you with anything other than having won that bleeding competition! All your life's journey, all your successes and failures, your whole existence on earth has been reduced into one achievement that happened almost half a century ago...as if all what you've done since then didn't count! That is what a person like, say, Douglas Adams always felt when people remembered him only as the writer of his very first novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, even though he had written 8 other books. That is what people like Arthur C Clark smiled bitterly whenever people remembered him only as the Author of 2001 Space Odyssey.And that is how the five great geniuses who participated in this show would feel when, after 45 years of amazing achievements and spectacular successes in transforming the humor culture of the whole world in all of its visual, musical and conceptual aspects, they are remembered only as "Pythons", the group they had once belonged to 40 years ago!People Always kept pestering Douglas Adams to write "another hitchhiker's book", and forcing Arther C. Clark to finish yet another 2001 Space Odyssey sequel, as if writing sequels to those particular works was the only thing those great minds could do, as if the rest of their creations wasn't significant. Similarly, people(myself included) hoped 'The Pythons' would come up with 'new Python material' for this live performance. 'The Pythons', no doubt, were not very excited about doing so. Quite understandably in my opinion. We don't consider pestering John Cleese to create another Fawlty Towers, or Fish Called Wanda, or even Fierce Creatures. We don't Ask Terry Gilliam to give us another Brazil. We don't believe it is a very good idea that Terry Jones would try his hand in a sequel for Starship Titanic, and only a few of us ever watched Michael Palin's travelogues, but whenever one of those names is mentioned our mind flashes 'Pythons'! Yes, that was great. We want more of that. And the more we want it, the more we prove to the Pythons that they were really nothing else than Pythons. That was their finest hour. And the past half century really didn't count. Do not expect them to be happy about this!!It is then understandable that they would've never bothered to comply with our sadistic desire to lock them inside the Python's sarcophagus... if it wasn't for money. Especially at this old age when they would've enjoyed their retirement, or at least their attempt to make use of their remaining years in creating something good enough to be remembered for other than their one and only achievement that counts in the past half century!And since the money they needed wasn't a huge amount, for John's Alimony is almost paid for, and the costly legal dispute that forced the group into reunion would require less than a million quid, then their collaboration can be as brief as possible. In fact they mentioned it several times that they turned down a huge number of offers to perform this show all over the world.Wouldn't it have been wonderful if they had came up with new material? New sketches? New brilliant Pythonic insights on the social and political dilemmas of our age, and the absurdity of the human condition in general? Of course it would. It would've also been a great farewell from them to their audiences, and a great generator of huge sums of money. But, above all, it would've cemented them in our memory and in the deep bleeding annals of history as nothing but 'The Pythons'.Think about it.

The Pythons are in their 70s, they have been one man down for 25 years and they have got back together one last time to make a lot of dosh and help pay for John Cleese's recent divorce.The last night at the O2 was simulcast around the world and nearly live on British television, I say nearly live so for the early part of the show broadcast in the early evening, the swearing was bleeped out. The unedited version went out the next day.So here are the remaining Pythons, older croakier and a few with forgetful memories. Terry Jones is the worse with memory issues but old age and ill health catches with us all. Eric Idle is still energetic and he gets to sing his catchy songs including looking at the brighter side of life.Terry Gilliam known with the Pythons more for his animation and better known these days as a director and battling to raise money to make films throws himself with gusto at the sketches. As with Idle he is giving 100% commitment, his movements are just more snappier as if to tell the rest of the team that he has still got it and tell Hollywood to give him more money to make the movies that he wants to make.Eddie Izzard and Mike Myers turn up for a spin as fan-boys and Carol Cleveland helps out with the sketches just like in the old days.It's been a while since I have since the TV shows and I have never seen videos of their live shows such as Live from The Hollywood Bowl. To be honest I was reluctant to see this. In recent years Cleese seems to be a curmudgeon always complaining about something and even Palin in his recent travel shows has become more croakier.However after a few minutes you get used to the older troupe and once the famous sketches and songs start to arrive you get into the spirit of the thing. There are a few ad-libs, a few forgotten lines and a little mischief here and there. The dancers make the whole thing a little more professional and although I believe that there were a few new sketches they were omitted from the uncensored repeat (I guess they will turn up as DVD extras.) We want to see the old hits. The dead parrot sketch, Spam song, Lumberjack song, Blackmail, Nudge nudge wink wink say no more.So what if they did it for the money, it keeps the old fans happy, maybe get a younger audience and a nice pension for them