Dark Destinations may be end times Night's creature. Why would a few more casually
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You are wrong how you figure Every mark on Mongo is hunting you down,
not you, your partner, he said, I didn't have a ray gun.
Full cast performances set in the haunted corners of the globe. Darkness is
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Alone at Weirdingwaymedia dot com weird Welcome back to midnight Viewing. I'm your host,
Father Malone. Welcome back to midnight Viewing Anthologies. Tac Antonio Lapour is
on location filming. That's true. But in his stead we have a very
very special guest. This is an actor and a director and a producer and
of late an author, mister Christopher John featherol Is. If you bought any
airwalks in the nineteen nineties, it was probably due to this fella. Chris
wyt to introduce yourself. Say hi to the midnight viewers. Hello midnight viewers.
Yeah, that is true. I had a nickname of Bigtail there for
a while due to that airwork commercial. Well, thank you for having me
on. I appreciate it. You kind of covered it. That's so that's
me in a nutshell. Thank you so much. Hey man. You know
that's that's not nearly enough of the facets of who you are and what you
are in this world. But I'm happy to give them the cliffs Notes versions.
Remember Cliff's Notes, you and you probably, but the kids today don't
they even have textbooks today. I don't even know. I don't know.
I'm so out of the loop and I don't care to know. And that's
the problem. I'm the problem. Chris is on board tonight for a very
special episode This is Our Is this our first comedy anthology? Oh? My
god, I think it is? And got to start at the top,
I guess because we're doing Monty Python's The Meaning of Life? Tired of questioning
your own existence? Not much happened at the moment, is there now?
In a special limited offer, don't stand that call bing No, you've never
seen undercop before. The meaning of life can be yours. Yes, it's
all here and you. Unabridged translation by Monty Python, Comy What's it all
about? Philosophy? Ah, that sounds wonderful? Is that a sport?
No, it's more of an attempt to construct a viable hypothesis to explain the
meaning of life, including why you were born? And what are you doing?
Small? It's a birth? Wonderful you do nowadays? What do I
do? Nothing? Dear? You're not qualified? Why things don't always work
out? The mill's closed way destitute? I've got no option but to sell
you all for scientific experiments. What dreams means? Wouldn't you like to know?
Let's just say this. Why people who don't speak your language want to
hurt you? Why you like sex? Sex? Sex sex? Why wary?
How to talk to waiters? Good afternoon? Seven? How are we
today? Better? Bucket? Where diseases come from? Hello? Can we
have a fact? You know? Sir? It's reddish brown? It's sort
of yeah, yeah, I know that it is, but I'm using it?
And why we've all got to go sometime? This is mister death cravy.
Well, let's cast rather a gloom over the evening, hasn't it?
Then We've said much about the meaning of life, so farever, don't let
the meaning of life? Why are we pass you by? He ever wanteds
to know what it's saw us. O's gonna really let Monty Python explain it
for for you in the film that proves once and for all that there is
death after life. Don't take a why? Yes, the meaning of collect
because before we get to all the Shenanigans of Monty Python's their history, your
history with them, our history with them together. I don't know. Tell
me about the book you've just written. Is it in any way involving dragons?
You know it does. That's a very good question. I think you've
done your research. Yes, it's called The Last of the Giant Fire Lizards.
It is Lizard versus Wizard. It's a magic, flinging, fire breathing
pile of fun. Why in twenty twenty four have I never heard lizard versus
the Wizard before? I know? Right? That's sounding good for you,
Thank you, thank you. Yeah. No, it's a book about whose
point of view are we taking here? Well, this is kind of the
fun thing with it, and I don't know. Other people that are smarter
than me will probably be able to answer this question better. But I don't
know of any other books or movies or any kind of you know, pop
culture where it takes the perspective of the dragon. Oh my god, dragon
POV. Dragon POV that already sold, by the way, Chris, in
addition to the lizard wizard thing. Yeah, why hasn't there been a popular
entertainment told from the dragon's point of view? Good question, totally insane.
Please continue? What's the story about? All right? So we're with the
dragon starts a little tragic. The dragon loses a bit here. She loses
her her home, her mate, all because of this dirty ass wizard.
By the way, can we swear on this show? Oh? Fuck?
Yeah? Oh, I don't know why I'm restraining. Yeah, it's it's
zephyr ignitis. You know. When her home gets destroyed, she she goes
on the war path. She goes out for revenge. She's got to hunt
down this wizard and take them out. But along the way she makes some
friends. So she gathers her little crew of dragon warriors together and they go
out find some strange new land, just destroy some cities and have some some
big fire breathe in magic battles. You know why no one came up with
lizard versus wizard because they weren't thinking from the lizard point of view. I
like the way you think. Man, Yeah, you're right. I want
to watch some wizards burn. Well, you could listen to them, and
I do the audio book as well. You know, usually usually it's the
dragons whose time has passed. But let's reverse that make it positive. I
think, right, Yeah, for sure, I want a dragon hero.
And it's fun too, because you get to play a little bit with you
know, in our world, in our human world, here we see dragons
as this big, terrifying monster beast. In her world, she's the great
protector of all things and can't even really understand why people look at her as
a terrifying thing. She sa, hey, man, but no, wizard's
gotta kill wizard's got to take out the dragons. So this wizard's name,
what's that? It's this wizard's name Zeohazen. Okay, I'm gonna write that
down. I'm gonna write a letter against him. Yeah, no, you're
gonna write a letter speaking of how old we are. I'm gonna write marnheim
Er, Right, you gotta choose. Wait, you on the side of
the lizard of the wizard. I can't wait to read this book. You
said you've got an audible version. There's an audio book out there. Yeah,
and if you do what kindle unlimited, it's free. You can just
go on there right now, look up Last of the Giant Fire Lizards and
start flipping pages. God, that sounds so wonderful and easy. And where
else can we get this book? Amazon's the place. It's exclusive Amazon and
fantastic. Now, maybe you don't even need to leave your computer or your
phone or however you're listening to this. The device in your hand can get
you a dragon story from the dragon's point of view. Right now. Just
stop what you're doing and read that. Keep this podcast open on its own
little window. But now you can come back to this man, this is
is pre recorded. They need to live that live, you know what I
mean? Stop and pay attention our shenaniganst will wait, that's true, that's
true, Chris further off, and I meant back in what nineteen ninety five
four sounds by right? Yeah? We were projections now, we were projectionists
at the New Wilshire Theater in Santa Monica, California, between thirteenth fourteenth and
Euclid Street mentor oh no, I don't know about that. I know we
showed movies together and that was a lot of fun. Two screenhouse then owned
by Landmark Theaters. It's now a bicycle shop. I thought shoe shop,
but yeah, no longer, no longer movie. You know, most of
these cinemas here in La now a lot of them. I had driven past
it and saw that there was a bike shop in there, and I thought,
and this was the last time he came to Santa Monica. Yeah,
for real, it really hurt, Yeah, it does. That was a
beautiful theater. It was an old vaudeville theater. The fly space was still
back there. There was a backstage area. It was an immense amount of
fun at that backstage area. I don't know if you remember. This was
filled with old canisters of old films. We had an original print of I
believe Alien back there. We had some Charlie Chaplin shorts. It was nutty.
We had the Seven Samurai. No did we never screened that? Oh
we did? Where was I? You were yet employed? This predates you
when we were sort of still putting the theater back together like just and they
were loading those prints in. Man to be young, I don't often get
nostalgic, and I'm not being nostalgic. It was a good time. I'm
happy I'm living right now though, but a great, a great moment in
the sort of right before the fall of thirty five millimeters be absolutely reveling in
it, yeah, and touching it and feeling it. I missed the taste
of cellulide. I did too. It just hit me the other day I
posted some silly plug in the book, you know, some of my old
old lives, and one being a projectionist that I went. You know,
I bet I could still threat up a simplex, could probably do it blindfold.
It just absolutely that never goes away, you know. Yeah, remember
this trick. There's a hair in the gate and then you would wet your
fingers, put a drop on one frame and it would pull the hair out.
Hey gang, Hey, everybody listening. You know when you see in
the old movies the cartoon and they put in the hair in like what is
the hair like? That's how you got rid of it. Yeah, little
projection's tricks of the trade. There's still some projectionists. The new BEV still
still has thirty five Yeah, I think man still has it, still has
a platter. I think they got the digital as well, But there's not
all left no. I know back in Boston, not necessarily the Bridle,
there's a Coolidge Corner. Still this thirty five millimeter out there, I know
that. I think we now, no, we don't have one here in
Las Vegas, but we do have a theater that is now showing second run
or you know, calendar, let's call it like once a week at least.
So that's a step in the right direction. And here's the thing.
In rewatching this movie, I was once again, I once again fell in
love with thirty five millimeter film grain, the type of stock they're using here
in England in nineteen eighty two. There's just something so specific and you just
want to grab a hold of it, right like, yeah, yeah,
it still feels I mean, there's a datedness to it because they're doing you
know, some kind of period bitch throughout, but it does still feel incredibly
vibrant and I mean gorgeous. It doesn't the cinema, oh fucking a cinematographer
here. I know every technicality in the world. The cinematography is fantastic.
The filmmaking in general is fantastic. But I want to know before we sort
of dive into the nuts and bolts, because I'm sure we both have a
lot to say because this is just one of those movies. How did this
movie first come into your life? How did Monty Python first come into your
life? And in addition, meaning of life? Right? Yeah, I
know that's tough, but it is. I mean, there was a period
of my life in high school, so this goes all the way back to
you know, some of my first introductions to comedy was Monty Python. For
me, it started Charlie Chaplin, a little bit of Stooges, you know,
but by the time I'm twelve or thirteen, Monty Python takes over everything.
I want to say. It was Holy Grail. That must have been
my inst It's most people's entry level drug. Yeah right, but there was
such a I had a buddy, you remember, I'm gonna give him a
shout out, mister Jeff Mattis you remember, my God, of course,
I remember Jeff Mattens. Grew up together and that was one of our first
real big bondings. We memorized sketches from Flying Circus together and would quote them
on the way back to school and you know all that. So it's hard
to say what really was the first thing. It feels like all of it
all at once was just right. Oh, I know, it's such a
flood because once you get once you get hold of any of it, you
want all of it. And there was so much out there. Yeah.
And then so then going through some of the you know, rewatching something like
Meeting of Life, you really see that, like, I mean, the
style is just clear that you know, they have some tricks that they do
over and over again that are incredibly funny, and they're aware of, oh
how do we top the trick and twist it? So there's a great I
think Meeting of Life is kind of this build up of what they do to
okay, our sketch work at least, or I don't know, you could
just see the history through it. But what was the question question first Community
of Life? I think you kind of answered it to a team getting into
Holy Grail there. I think they were just they were who we wanted to
be, and that comedy became our comedy. And I still see it,
and I mean you'll see it when you read the book. You'll see a
lot of it in there. You go that, yeah, wait, no,
I always got that bit of a vibe from you anyway. Yeah,
A python leaning, Yeah, for sure. What was your into the Hole?
It was the Python's the Meaning of Life? Oh is this? Oh
goodness? Well, this movie came out of nineteen eighty three. By nineteen
eighty four, I was eleven years old and this was on cable and I
watched it a lot. How many times have you seen it? I could
not calculate. Oh really, okay, yeah, sincerely. It's one of
those. And you know, it's funny. This is a phenomenon I've been
noticing lately because I listened to a lot of podcasts and a lot of movie
podcasts, and sometimes people are like, oh my god, that's crazy.
How many time I's in this movie? It's like twenty times? And I'm
like twenty. Like if I fall in love with a movie, it's going
on a loop, right, I won't know where it begins and I end.
You know. Luckily, for me, PBS was running Flying Circus.
Yeah, so I was able to leap right into that. And then by
then I renting videotapes and so what's funny is My next introduction to them film
wise was and Now for Something completely Different, which is just their first film,
and it's just straight filmed versions of the sketches they had already performed on
television. It's a real cheat of a movie, but it's always good to
see just a little bit something different, just like a whole different take sometimes
and a touch of higher production quality, you know, a little more money
for that. Yeah. But what's funny is it looking at it, it
seems hampered because it's not them directing. They have an outside director, so
it still feels straight and television bound, even though they've got a higher budget.
I think it was the same guy, wasn't it. Yeah, from
the series, I think he was a lot of the flying circus and then
I think he did I think he did enough for something completely different, which
that makes perfect sense. Yeah, But so they didn't really get the reins
until Holy Grail and then it was Jones and Gilliam battling each other to the
death and that that movie is gorgeous. But you can tell there are two
arring parties in that one, right. Yeah. But I think we can
all agree that Life of Brian is their perfect film, right, Oh for
sure. And here's my fun story about Life of Brian. So I met
my height of Monty Python Craze and I take a little break, I decided
to go down to the video store and rent something else I'd heard about,
Flash Gordon. Now I'm late to the game on the Flash Gordon. You
know you're never too late for Flash Gordon. But I pop it in and
in the first ten minutes theme song comes on. My mother. Now this
is a fairly religious household that I'm growing up. My father says to me,
what is this song, Flash Savior of the Universe. No, no,
no, no, turn this off and go rent something else. And
I try to explain it to her, and I'm a little more down to
earth. Okay, fine, mom. So I walked down to the video
store, and this is when I realized money Python has another film Life.
Let me rent that and see that one flew right over her head and it
is And the whole time Auggle's hands over my mouth, terrified they were going
to walk in the room and go oh no, this is much worse.
And I'm rolling like, yeah, yeah, perfect felt, and what a
perfect story. I love that. That's what got you there. That'sh being
the Savior of the universe was too too blasphemous, too blasphemous, So let's
downgrade and go to life. Abro. They follow up. They follow up
Life of Brian with Hollywood Bowl. Yeah again seeing too many times, and
but you know, it feels good watching them doing their thing live. But
it's still not quite it right, It's not what we're looking for. Not
coming off of Holy Grail and Life of Brian. Now, Michael Palin,
if you haven't read his book, I'm speaking to the everyone here. If
you haven't read Michael Palin's he's published his his Dye from eighty two to eighty
nine, Halfway to Hollywood, and he describes everything and every time they wanted
to do a movie, it was and we all know this a hard scramble
to find the fucking financing to get both movies made, right, So in
nineteen eighty two, MGM says, we'll give you each two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars do whatever you want. And they're like, wow, how perfect,
But we really have nothing to say. So the point where they're going
to abandon it, yeah, and it's Terry Jones who sort of comes in
and has a leveler Welsh head and gets them back to the table and their
initial script is going to be the movie is going to be called The seventh
stages. Mad. It's going to be one character and we're going to fall
him through the seven stages of his life. That character is supposed to be
played by Terry Jones. I don't know when the switch comes where they're just
like, fuck it, let's do sketches about these. But I'm so happy
they did. Yeah, this is going to be their final film, and
they fucking go back to the well, but do it in a narrative format.
Yeah, it's look, Life of Brian can't be beat. It's a
political, religious, wonderful statement for humanity. It's the best of all of
their instincts, all of their comedy. But this is almost a perfect meld
of we're going to tell long form narrative and short sketch and somehow make them
work together in a way that feels organic even when it doesn't. But then
they buffer it with Okay, here's our short film presentation, which is very
Maudy Python to just break a fourth wall and do something right, and that's
great glue to piece those two things together and it, Yeah, it's gorgeous.
Well the short film of course, pomping at midway through, right,
just yeah, and then bringing all of these things back to where I mean,
there's a feeling of okay, this is you know, there's an anthology
to this and it is kind of their old sketch work. But then there's
a we're well aware of that and we're going to bring it back around.
See what what I love about it is it's like as meaningful a movie as
Life of Brian is, but it's about them. They each sort of allow
themselves to go out and do their own thing. Terry Gilliam just wants to
go off and make a fucking short film, and nobody says no when he
keeps filming. It was supposed to be four minutes, right, it's fifteen
minutes at least. It's totally absurd. I now I was a little too
young to snuck in at this point. We have seen it in the theater,
but I could imagine going in blind to see Monty Python's the Meaning of
Life and this coming on. I guarantee you you know you know this,
you've worked in theaters. The poor usher outside that door had to go no,
it's just it's part of the movie. Go back. It's already started.
This is not a fifteen times and I know it's okay. Go back
in. It's part it's part I guarantee it's part of the movie. Well,
and they you know, and they with it. They immortalize this.
Like something that I think there's been missing from cinema for you know, even
in our lifetime, is this. Oh you get the featurette and then maybe
the little advertisement, you know, the cartoon and then this and then the
that, like it was a whole train of entertainment leading up to the big
whatever. So they kind of give you that experience again with us too.
Yeah, and that's an experience that was just we just missed it, right,
It's the one we've been chasing our entire in our entire lives, right,
So yeah, it's wonderful when they could do something like that. Grindhouse
did something similar to that where they give us trailers and between trailers and go
to the snack bar, and shit, you want that experience when you go
to I know, we tried to do that as much as possible. If
at all possible, I would throw in that John Waters no smoking ad remember
that, remember of beauty? Yeah? Yeah, I think yeah, And
I love it when I think Deadpool doing some of that now, like they're
doing the cell phone ad in front and whatnot, so like, yeah,
that's great, and that's cinema history, like that's stuff that like now that
has gone and you can't even go to the Hollywood Museum here and see that.
So yeah, oh man, let's let's okay, let's just start at
the top. Let's talk Crimson Permanent Insurance. Everyone knows Monty Python and they
don't need to get into it further into that, but this is just a
lovely end to their careers. No, I mean, this is a lovely
end to Monty Python. Yeah, because everything else is just you know,
the Contractual Obligation album and this and that and Little Specialists and stuff and it's
cute and all CD ROMs, but like this is their last thing together.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, Crimson Permanent Assurance. What are your thoughts on
Crimson Permanent Assurance, sir? I mean, first of all, well,
I think before we even get into this, you said this is the first
comedy anthology that you're doing. Yeah, man, is this also the first
musical anthology that you're doing, because this is really a musical film as well.
I agree with you on that, and this is our first musical as
well. Even had a musical segment of a thing there you go. Yeah,
and very Monty Python too. They've always been good with the songs.
Yeah, I mean stands on its own, It's its own little thing.
There's moments within the Crimson short that I'm thinking, if this is all there
is, like, I'm fired with that. Pirates and corporators, this is
fantastic. I wanted a sequel, Yeah, for sure. I love that
they reprised them too, that we get to that we get to see just
moments before the big, you know, finale of through. But so there's
so much that goes on, and that just the the very big Corporation of
America. I mean it's almost like you gotta go frame by frame to kind
of hit all these jokes, and I ended up rewalking. Now, I
haven't seen this one as many as you have. I'm under a dozen with
with us what, which makes me sound like a nube. But the more
that you go through the like, the more that I watched these, the
more there's jokes with between the jokes. So catching some of those is pretty
fun on these on these reviewings. So I think my favorite bits from it
are the using the environment to create their own weapons, the fan blades that
become swords, and the I don't even have the note sticky thing that you
tack notes to and then put a little stamp on the end of it.
Yeah, just fantastic. He would do that like throughout this is that was
going to be when they're when they are fashioning those little weapons out of the
little note spindles, and and I remembered, uh, there was a sketch
he had done for Fisher King when he was trying to figure out who a
parry character was going to look like. And it was the shot of what
was drawing of him like on one knee holding up his sword, and the
sword itself you could tell was the emblem of a buick. That's awesome.
Yeah, so the obvious this is on Gilliam's mind, the repurpose, Yeah,
trash becoming or different things becoming different things. Yeah, which yeah is
probably you know, I probably should have started there with time Bandits and its
preceded this. Yeah, twelve Monkeys, those are in my pantheon of some
of the greatest epp And well you can't I mean Brazil saying yeah, yeah,
do you know, speaking of our time at the New Wheelshure, the
their first film I projected was the reissue of Brazil. Yeah, so that
we must have screened that again or something, I feel likely did it became
a yeah, yeah that was magnificent. What what a fucking fantastic movie,
mister. You know, look, he could have done nothing else but that,
and he'd be secure. See the pieces of everything else in Brazil.
Right, there's almost a oh I figured it out finally, Like here's the
story I'm trying to Yeah, yeah, it makes me want to weep.
It's so good, you know. Okay, so this is Crimson Permanent Assurance
is. First of all, we started started out animated. I guess it
was just a regulatory gilliame thing, and then asked well could I just do
this as a short and they said yeah, that's fine, and then he
just kept it like like whoops, what did I do? Like, come
on, man, like, did I make my own movie? Yeah?
You took a sizeable person, made this short film for yourself, you know,
just testing ship out in between time bandits and fucking so a little side
project. Yeah, I mean you say it started as animated. I caught
this time around. It's acme stone cutting is on the sales, so like
there's a little like hey cartoon nod right out the gate. Yeah right,
we're a little quite honestly, they do kind of you know, if you
put together the ministry of silly walks and slapping people off the dock with a
fish, they are kind of the Looney Tubes, you know, they're the
human British Looney Tunes, and police might be the bugs, you know,
yeah, man. And that's what always delights me about their comedy is there
are so many points of view there and they're all sort of equally good at
different types of comedy, like some might shine higher than others, but like
they can all do it. I today really sent my mind to figure out
who my favorite Python is. Now seems to be an obvious answer, but
then you think and you go, well yes, and it all no,
there's no thinking. It's I'm picking this one and then whatever the next one
you think of, you go, oh no, but him, oh no,
but him. And I think at the time that this movie came out,
it was Eric Idel, Eric Idol for me, because he's the fucking
the musical one. He seems incredibly clever, just like like you, you
just want to I don't know, you want him as a friend man.
He would be like hanging out with a cartoon character, but a refined cartoon
character could also do the silliest things on earth. He has my favorite line
of dialogue from any of Monty Python, which is back in Flying Circus,
and it's a stupid non secretary joke where he comes on and says what's brown
and sounds like a bell dung every time. That's the delivery too, because
it's a silly joke, but it's his delivery. The joke is worthless without
the how debonair, he always seems to be doing things. Yeah, it
was Eric Idle then, but I think I've come around to Terry Jones.
Really. There's just something so disarming about him. And when I think of
his work outside Python, he wrote Labyrinth, he wrote it. Yeah,
I didn't know that. Yeah. And then he made Eric the Viking.
H's is so good. And then he's all those like medieval documentaries and he's
he just seems sweet and funny and Welsh. He got a lot of Welsh.
It might be the nice one, yeah, but like and then he
directs this and I think of their movies. I mean, I love the
look of Holy Grail, But I think this is the best directed mood.
That is a tough call. It might be with the some of the dance
numbers that they have in there. I think I'm thinking specifically, I'm thinking
of every sperm as sacred h that sequence. I could watch it over and
over again. It's as good as anything that came out of Hollywood in the
Golden Age, I would agree. I Yeah, I was thinking to myself
that, like, as far as you're talking to musical anthologies, I was
like, this kicks Singing in the rains ass Man is a disjointed mess.
Like I mean, that's all good pieces, but like there, come on,
do you remember Singing in the Rain played at our theater And Meryl Streep
came in with her daughter and they went and sat in theater. Meryl Streep
came out and got candy, and then she went back in, and then
she came back out and got popcorn. She went back in, she came
back out and got like a hot dog. And I was standing at the
counter and I said, well, you're a big eater, and she gave
me the dirtiest look and said, this is all from my daughter, and
then went back into the Venner, Terry Jones direction of the movie, which
the musical portion of the of the movie, like like that sequence is fantastic.
And here's the thing, Like the other movies are fantastically directed, but
they are more narratives. So I'm more impressed with Jones on his own here
because he's given dozens of genres that he has to hop through. We go
to World War, We're fighting the Zulu battles in Africa at one point,
very seamless going between one to the other. It's, you know, kid
cover and head and then oh now we're in war, you know, and
the same pulling out of the same guy. You know. Yeah, as
cinematic as anything that Gilliam's doing, except it doesn't have that sheen of fairytale
on top of it. Yeah, yeah, I'd agree. I think they
do play. Like I said, I'm a big chaplain and old school sylent
movie guy too, and I think Python is always understood that, and maybe
Terry specifically, And I think of things like where you set the camera up
and you let the actors and the comedy do its thing, and it doesn't
have to be about quick cutting and moving around. And there's things like the
jumping to the end now, but like the death coming off the cliff,
and it's just this upshot from the grave, everybody in the rim and everybody's
got their little behavior, and it's that you get a lot of comedy in
one shot. And it's pick your composure, you know, pick your shot.
Yeah, but not agree with more that. Yeah, like that shot,
just the holding while Death is making his way to the cabin. Just
the sort of sparse and lonely footage that we can jump around. It doesn't
matter. I mean, life is full of choices. We when we get
to the death, we'll get to the initial portion of death. But the
main bit of it is here at this English sort of cabin and a dinner
party being thrown. Death shows up. It's as look, it's a hilarious
sequence, but the scene itself is as tense and as well directed as anything
that was coming out of Hammer or Amicus in the seventies. It really feels
eerie and some and like a great easy practical effect that Stow worts to this
day of death crossing through the table in the middle of the room to kind
of prove that I am dead. Oh, just from the way you frame
it, it looks like he's walking through a table. You know, it's
great. We don't need to see the skull and the flaming eyes. It's
just a fucking skeleton. He's got skeleton hands. Man. They were so
proud of the articulation of those hands when they figured out that they could make
it squeeze the balls. Yeah. Do you know how dumb I am?
I hadn't. I did not realize that that was John Clee says death.
I figured it out this last time around. There was one. There was
I can't even remember the word, but there was a word in there where
I went, oh, that's Clee's And of course it is, because where
is he in the scene? That was one thought follows the other exactly like,
oh, it's Clease, Oh yeah, where is he? Yeah,
Gilliam is in the scene, and Clease isn't in the scene. I wonder
who's my favorite gigantic death? What Gilliam as the dumb American is kind of
my favorite thing in that scene of just let me ask you something here.
For so many years I had no idea who that human was, just because
I started watching it at eleven, and then you go, when I started
watching Flying Circus. He's not on Flying Circus, but a few times he's
mostly the animator. Yeah. So seeing this guy, I'm like, well,
he's just might be one of these actors they work with from time to
time. But no, no, that's of course co Python And he's great
in the scene. Mister death, mister death, shut up you. I
love this thought of the English of us. You Americans. You always talk.
You Americans just talk and you say and I just want to say this
one thing, it dead now to shut up. And it's kind of a
perfect takedown, like yeah, I mean he goes after the English as well,
the English as well. For me watching it today, I realized it
was Cleee on the line. Wow when she just missed her death. It
was like, oh, that's clease, that's what it is. Yeah,
because he's the yes, he's the yes whatever, like in the birth scenes.
Yeah, o my god. The mother the World War One sequence,
man fighting against man demonstrated his you bastard. Nobody says bastard better than John.
Please. If I could have him say it to someone once in my
life, I would never say the word again, you know, just if
he was with me, just retire it, you know. I go okay,
I promise I'll never use the word again. Thank you for that.
I kind of wanted. I wanted him in full Faulty Towers mode, doing
like a GPS for me. Take a right, no, the on the
right. You know, Oh it's not too late. Somebody makes that happen.
Angry John Clie, you always seem the angriest of the group. Yeah,
I already seemed to agree that he was all right, heard it?
What's your favorite sequence in this movie? I'm wondering, Oh, good god,
you're gonna make me pick right? You do? Do you know?
I've been listening to a few podcasts about this movie, and the consensus seems
to be that it's not all that funny. I would defy everyone to go
to it. Yeah, go fuck yourself, man, because I every scene
in this movie makes me laugh, with the exception of one, and I've
never liked it, which is middle age middle age where where they're having a
conversation about philosophy. This conversation isn't very good. That's equal okay, that
bad? Yeah? Yeah, because the organ transplant I think starts middle age.
Yeah yeah, no, that's amazing and very classic classic Python, even
with a blood Spray. Do you know my favor I'll give you that.
I was trying to, Yeah, that that does seem to be this kind
of talking point that people throw out as like, oh, this is the
lesser of their films. And I mean I may have thought that too on
the first viewing or so, because in comparison at the end, yeah,
you know, but in reviewing you go, well, make the list,
like, what are the jokes that killed you? Okay, well, Crimson
Pirate it starts off, so that's fifteen minutes of funny right off the top,
So that part's okay. Then we're into every sperma sacred, so that's
brilliant, you know, And you start going through the legs. I'm an
hour fifteen in and I'm laughing my ass off, and even the goofy like
the tigers eating his leg, like, it's still pretty goddamn funny. That
might be my favorite scene. That one has grown so much on me that
like it on its face, it feels like another kind of this is what
we do. We go, oh, you got bit by something, mosquito,
Oh got the whole leg, you know, and it feels like,
all right, this is just you know, more Monty Python doing its old
stick. But now there's a lot going on in there. There's some break
into the fourth wall there. I mean one of the probably one of my
favorite lines is, oh, we better put together a party. What you
really think there's time for that? No search parties, all right? Right?
Right? And that it's that flip flop that they do that is just
glorious and timed so beautifully every time, not to mention just the practical effect
of the cylinder who's been sliced into pieces sliding apart like something in a Saw
movie these days, or like one of the greatest practicals. It's always startling.
I'm always waiting for it, you know, like, yeah, down
you go, piece by piece. Yeah. And I mean we should probably
shout out to the sheer number of insane extra scenes. You know, we
start with thousands of children dancer, and then we're getting into like fights with
Zulu warriors where they're just constantly battling in the background while they're shaving, Like,
yeah, that had a studio behind them and he utilized it. I
feel like there was a like, what, we still have some money left?
Can we get some more kids? You know? Do you know it's
funny. Evidently he spent a far too large portion of the budget on the
every sperm iss Sacred sequence and withheld that information from the rest of the group.
And so what if that were the only thing that came out of this
experience, it would be worth it. It would still be a viral today
on the Internet. It's gonna be like, oh, have you seen Sperma
Sacred? I mean, you know, Life of Brian is a very wonderful,
sort of damning take on the sort of vagaries of organized religion. But
having grown up Roman Catholic, this one grabbed me right where I lived and
in a lot of ways made me sort of reevaluate how the Bible in God
was being disseminated to me. And absolutely it made me. It turned me
into a Martin Luther. Not that I'm Protestant, but not only this scene,
but then we get a slice of Protestantism, not only in the sort
of dialogue between how sex between Graham Chapman and Eric Idol about how sexless they
are, but we get that chapel scene, which is my other favorite joke
in the movie, the prayer that Michael Palin is doing. It made me
think about that that really is every prayer, isn't it. It's just ooh
you are so great, You're absolutely huge. Gosh, we're all really impressed
down here, I can tell you. I know you think we're sucking up,
but really it's just because you're that great. Yeah. Yeah. And
then the complete opposite of that when they go to the is it the final
prayer? The final song is we're terrified of you? Yes, please don't
boil us and smash us. The better absurdity and like that's all Jones.
But you know, back to every sperm is sacred, so that one is,
like I said a little more pointed, it's very much about the Roman
Catholic idea that you shouldn't wear a prophylactic to stop procreating, which is absolutely
ridiculous, making sperm sacred, and then turning it into a musical number using
the children who have to be sold off to medical experiments because they're so plentiful
that they can no longer afford to feed them. At the end of all
that absurdity, the dragon comes into it, speaking of you. It's so
gluten, so good you're here, Because that is my favorite part of that
sequence, when the fucking dragon comes out into the parade of Every Sperm is
safety. Oh my god, it kills every time here all of a sudden.
It's a Chinese dede to anyone who says this movie is not funny,
man, go jumping a lake. It's for real to turn that's sort of
like, you know, religioso political hot potato into one of the funniest things
and also again one of the better musical sequences from the nineteen eighties. Anyway,
Oh at least yeah, And I mean you might need to stack it
up to some other like real leal musicals. I think it holds. I
think it holds itself in that department. It beats anything in best little whorehouse
in Texas. I'll say that for sure. Little Shop of Horrors. Maybe
that's that's a tough fun because that's yeah, but any other like Annie,
get me, come on, I got a soft spart in my heart frame.
We all do. And we all love John Houston, come on,
man, come on, Every sperm And then I love the kids trying to
argue them out of selling them off the medical experiments too of like, well,
can't you just cut them off? I mean, isn't it no God
knows every trick. Evidently a lot of adr in that scene because there were
so many kids python being sensitive to that, they just had them say on
their lines in eighty yard it later really so that kid didn't say, can't
you have your balls cut off? And Michael Palin did not say if I
could wear a little rubber thing on the end of my cock, He said
like on the end of my sock or something like that. Yeah. Yeah,
so they did the whole vacuum fuck you kind of thing. Yeah,
yeah, that's great. Well, that's I see. And you can tell
that there's a little bit of you know, social consciousness to them or whatnot.
There's a couple of there's a couple of actually very forward thinking jokes throughout
the movie that you're like, wow. Uh. The one in particular that
comes to mind is at the end with the maid cleaning up the slop,
who his great speech and there's something so off color that he has to take
the bug at a slop and dump on her head and Goro, sorry,
didn't know we had a racist and there I know, it's such a wonderful
scene. And then and there again it's it's Terry Jones with the horrible racist
getting the bucket dumped on his head. And what is being swamped up is
Terry Jones, who is the most vile character in cinema history. It somehow
survives the explosion. He fucking lives. Is he in the end scene?
I don't think he's in the end He's not in heaven. I mean they
were like, we're not rebuilding that rib cage, yeah, carding it to
a new location. Are you out of your fucking minds? It's not going
to survive the day. We've got the damn Orphans and the Blue Warriors were
fine, you know what? Okay, let's you know, can we let's
talk about the end of the movie when everyone goes to heaven. Let's talk
about getting to heaven when everyone dies because they've all been poisoned at the same
time except Michael Palin, who in the film's only ad lib, I didn't
eat the salmon. Yeah, I'm still a mystery there she's spirting out.
Another spectacular joke is should we take our cars? Why? I don't see
why not? Yea better than walking? And then cars up into the turtle
tunnel of life. Oh, really, the most absurd thing ever. And
I don't know. I can't. I can't. It must be what I
think. It's what I don't know. I don't understand what younger folks are
thinking about this movie other than dad jokes. I heard that a few times
in reference to this film Ghost Cars going to Heaven. It's not I should
just trying toscend time, you know. But when they get to Heaven,
okay, God is played by Graham Chapman. That's God and as the former
on stage okay, supposed to be not back around. I was wondering why
they didn't make him look like Burt Macarat since they referenced him earlier. Right,
he's more a Tony Bennett looking God, Tony Bennett or I was getting
Burt Convy. Okay, yeah, but the sort of Tony Bennett delivery.
Yeah, here's what I came to. Well, rewatching the scene. Then
this musical number, the film's fifth, sixth, I don't know. Yeah,
I think I counted him at least seven. I think where are my
notes? Six? It's it's a musical. If you have six fucking musical
numbers, you're a musical. The last musical the genre in my mind is
horror. That's there in hell right, you would think. Yeah, it
kind of seems like it. I mean, everybody's still bloodied up. There's
still a separate head from the war. Yea. Nobody's like you messed up
body. Yeah. Yeah. The head on the plant always amused me.
But if every day of eternity is Christmas, that's pretty hillacious and you have
to watch that show every day. Well, now we're getting into the weeds.
Yeah, oh my goodness. This actually so they reprise the transplant song
at the end of the movie, the Galaxy song thank You, and he
says in that scene earlier in the film after the song plays, her reaction
to it is well, I feel pretty insignificant now, and he goes,
yeah, so why don't you give us your liver? Okay, reprise the
song as your audience is walking out of the auditorium. You now need to
feel insignificant. Goodbye? Great and then yeah you kind of yeah. Feeds
into that there, And there is a reading of this movie that could be
made where this is them as much saying fuck you to everybody, including their
audience, as anything else going on. I mean, it's actually pretty contemptuous
at the end because the film technically has a narrator and that Michael Palin shows
up in the middle of the film and then at the end of the film
not only giving us the meaning of life, which I think most people are
taking is really pithy, but really it is the meaning of life. Like
as it turns out all these years later, I go, oh, yeah,
no, that's it really well, And I think contemptuous is like you
really hit it with that when what Yeah, but it's kind of like idiots,
like what were you thinking it was going to be? So yeah,
the actual meaning of life is as simple as can be and you should have
figured it out and you're o. And then he launches into this attack on
we can't get anybody out to the sotting cinema. Yes, they're all He
references Friday the thirteenth. Here Friday the thirteenth. Reference. Oh, he
says, like you know you want like like masked killers, like stabbing with
knitting needles. That's the bloody the bloody video. Jaded audience like fuck you
all bye. Yeah, I mean maybe that's it is pretty good. That's
last like and then we're gonna pull out of our old show to be like
see you late a suckers. Yeah, yeah, exactly, because that could
be seen as sort of elegaic, you know, but that we get,
Oh, here's the taste of the past as we end it all. But
it's also like bye, and is this like maybe this is some sort of
commentary in general, like was this the meeting of our lives? Like we
did this stupid fish walk, silly walk, you know, bullshit, and
that's that and then salmon, that's bad and we're done. Do you know
that the last time Monty Python performed together as a group was the fish scene
at the opening of this movie on camera? Yeah? Yeah, really yep,
them as the fishes, which is also another tie around throughout the movie
that keeps coming back. We're seeing a lot of this through the fishes.
It's the fishes who have been asking the questions. After all, none of
the people in this movie give a shit about the meaning of life. Really,
Yeah, they're just living their lives. The fish are the ones who
are being told the tale I believe, yeah and I And they're in multiple
places. We know they're in heaven, but they're also down on earth because
they see they see wonder where that fish is gone. Yeah, they love
that part. Yeah, they exist in multiple realities are they going once?
What's also greatest that they love the dead middle of the movie where they just
call themselves out and they go, wasn't I supposed to be the meaning of
life? Like we said much about this, I mean, should we talk
about boobies for a second? Like there an inordinate number of movies in this
movie, for we don't see a lot of that these days. And you
know, in true Monty Python fashion, it's not only do they call themselves
out for being gratuitously sexist, for showing some embossing movies and slow mo,
but on one of my favorite scenes is the sex it, you know,
growing and coming off the heels of and I'm assuming these are the same Catholic
kids that were just saying about please don't boil us. Oh no, these
are Protestant kids now, so why would you be doing that in the Catholic
school? Right? Right? The only thing that really remains from the Seven
Stages of Man when it was going to be one narrative is the the prep
school into the war. That's one character, okay, and presumably we would
have followed him coming back from the war and on and on until he died.
But let's talk the sex ed scene, because it's again I find it
funny on so many levels that what they're saying is kind of true. Like,
first of all, it's absurd that they would be performing sex education.
They would before having sex in front of their students in order to educate them.
School still in existence. Yeah, and even funnier though that isn't nobody
is interested at all. It might as well be algebra, right, Yeah,
and that it's kind of the genius of the scene is the disinterested kids.
Are you watching football? The hilarious part is if those kids would listen,
he's actually giving them really good advice forget Yeah, one of my one
of my other favorite wivees, how do we stimulate the glitterists? How do
we do the foreplay stimulate the glittering? How about the kids right for the
glitterists? Like a bowl and a china just racing to the glitterists. Jesus,
he's so gentle in that scene. And if you know what's funny,
is like it's very that agrees. He can hide that anger really well and
make you think he's paternal. But then in the next scene he's going to
fucking trip you. Yeah, yeah, which is the other great, Yeah,
can we have some sort of a reason to show adults beating the shit
out of children? And you know football, and you know, a lot
of them went through that prep school existence. I know, specifically Eric Idle
has spoken about how soul crushing his life was that in there. So I'm
glad that they were, even as late as the nineteen eighty still hammering hard
on that institution. You know, make sure this doesn't rear its ugly against
theere, which I'm sure it exists out there. I'd read or I guess
it was in The Money Python The Truth, one of the documentaries that they
did. When they were talking about this, it sounded like they wrote a
lot of it separately, but you it sounds like there was a little more
cohesion to what I had read. Do you do you have any I know
that they went to Jamaica together to do it. I heard that, and
that's when they sort of came to the impasse. But that was also Jones
bringing them back to the table. That doesn't mean that they were necessarily in
the room together, because I don't think those guys were ever in the room
together. I feel like they wrote alone to begin with. Well, there
were partners. It was Chapman in Clice, it was Palin and Jones,
and it was Idle by himself and gilliam by himself sing a track number six
from the soundtrack, Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis? To get
the lyrics? If I really good to have a dome? Well, it's
a stiffy. It's divine to own a dick. I mean the tiniest little
tajo to the world's biggest prick. So three chances for you, Willie or
John Thomas. Hooray for your one eyed trouser, steak, your pizza of
pork, your wife, best friend, your posse, Oh, your cock.
You can wrap it up in ribbons, you can slip it in your
take it out in public, or they will stick you in the dark and
you won't come a little bit of nol coward. Right before a man explodes
from over eating. Yeah, and while we're on they see him waddling into
the room again. There seems to be a shift in that man exploding scene
where Clice is, you know, being a very good server to the and
probably the greatest two or three of the greatest poop takes ever. The opening
of the menu of spray and it's just gorgeous, and then the folding of
the menu afterward and tucking it under his arm and it's still dripping out.
Come on, I have tried bucket. That's a hurting point. But there's
a moment where you see him go, here's your way. I know you're
going to blow up, as if I've been plotting this for some time.
I've read accounts of that where people think that he was not doing anything,
like he was not in on that, to which I would say, he
runs for cover ye dives like action stunt, and then looks back up and
goes like, I can't find that writing. I'm not gonna look at it.
But that's all good because Chrios said is awesome, and Clason is simmering
anger is fantastic. We haven't really talked about Michael Palin, however. Oh
and then you think, well, maybe he's my favorite, Yeah, because
you know what I do not love right, right, And that's the thing,
right, Okay, So not only that, and now I've said what
my favorite scene in the movie is, which is the Zulu sequence, but
like, honestly, really it's don't stand there, Gop and what like you've
never seen the hand of God before his sergeant major little full metal jacket bit
is it's incredible, don't there goping Hanna go before? Like and then this
is the brilliant like one, two boom, we've segued. We're into something
else. Three absurd stupid things just happen. You're still processing that, and
you're into something new already. To me, this is where I think most
people wanted this for the entire movie, because this is as close to the
old series as you could get, including Chapman as the you know, stop
that it's silly a character, you know, like sort of repurposed here and
then because yeah, the jokes just keep flying here and everything is brief and
great and in and out. But you know, that doesn't mean that the
rest of the movie doesn't work. But this scene, in particular, the
way it's shot with that fucking fish eye lens. When when when when his
face rears up into it, The idea of a Sergeant major who was so
blase at the hand of God appearing and then being the strictest task master in
the world but also the most reasonable. I can't love this character anymore than
I already do. And I don't know, I don't know if this works
if it's not Palin like, there's something about this is one of those bits.
And they do this sometimes too, where they write a bit where you're
like, oh, I see what they're doing from the beginning, I know
what the joke is. Once the first guy goes away, you're like,
here's the stick most comedic troops you kind of I'm ahead of you now,
it doesn't matter. Palin sells every moment to where somehow it just gets funnier.
And some of that is the volume and and I mean we talk about
Clice being angry. Who's the better scringer? Yeah, no, no,
Based on this information and given to us from your scene, it's clearly Michael
Palin, which is so funny because he seems like he's the nicest one in
the in the thing, you know, just like the most personable and like
the charming one. Like when Life of Brian was under attack in England at
the time by like religious and such, it was Palin who was really sort
of bridging the gap between the angrier pythons and the sort of rational conversation that
needed to be happening. But it's good to see, he could also have
done that if he wanted to build the fuck off on those religious leaders,
Like if this Pergeant major had shown up, we could have had a different
story. What went down in the seventies with Python. Yeah, in her
last movie, Yeah all right, Oh you're back out again, back,
you're back. All right. If we're gonna talk, just to take a
quick segue, if we're gonna talk, favorite lines. Yeah, I gotta
say, probably the greatest line Monty Python final answer for me is Life of
Brian. It's the crowd scene. We are all individuals, we are all
individuals, and the one guy I'm not, I'm done. Like that's the
It's the greatest piece of written comedy. One of those slight lines. Right,
we're gonna set it up, you're gonna watch us through it, and
you're still gonna fucking laugh. I'm not my god, Yeah, dad jokes.
Who says that I was the gen zers? You know what? I
wasn't in ourselves now, I wasn't offended so much as sound for that person
that they were. They couldn't see what was going on here. But then
I think, like, look, I've loved this movie since I was a
kid, but this wasn't my favorite Python movie. I don't know that it
is. It might No, it definitely is now, But I think a
lot of that comes from having experienced with those guys had experience which was a
life by that. But you know, it's easy to love Holy Grail.
It's a bunch of angry young men fucking jetting out on their own for the
first time, cinematically fucking with a lot to prove. They don't have a
goddamn thing to prove here, They're just they're ruminating. Yeah, So a
lot of the humor comes from the sort of the overall absurdity of life and
not necessarily something so in your face, And that might be part of the
joy of finding the other depths and levels on it, because it's very much
as a kid. It's a Python and the stuff that's funny to you as
a kid is Yeah. But then you add in this, Okay, there's
stages of life that at twelve, fourteen, twenty we didn't hit yet,
so we don't necessarily know some of the nuance that's going on and some of
what they're doing for these later bits. So yeah, I think as we
grow up, I mean, this definitely hit me different rewatching it to you
know, kind of prep for this show. I went, yeah, I
get to watch it again and went, there's a lot like I was a
little stunned at how I always knew it was deep because it's the meaning of
life, and I knew that they were weaseling stuff in there, and some
of those were my favorite lines, but this was really like, wow,
do kind of they don't back off on the even though they joke about we
haven't told you anything about the meaning of life in the middle of the film,
not they really have. They've hit a lot of stuff coming up to
that point. It's just not been spoon fed. And then they go all
right, now we'll spoonfeeds shit. See how that goes? Yeah, I
go handed to them. Think you grow with the movie, you know,
I feel like I certainly have. Okay, speaking of sort of sequences that
this scene actually helped me out in my life. When I was in eighth
grade, I had a mean old nun as our teacher, and one day
she tried to pull this bullshit where she gave us this science quiz with information
that she had not thus taught us about astronomy, and on the quiz it
was all about the Milky Way, and it just so happens that I had
heard the Galaxy song on a loop in my head. So I fucking aced
her stupid quiz because I know that we were fifty thousand light years from Galactus
for points, I know that the Galaxy Way bulges in the middle sixteen thousand
light years thick, but out by asid it's just three thousand light years wide.
Sorry, sister amadis once again the old science first religion science wis and
the genius of Eric Idol, and no reason I loved him so much as
a kid, Like he wrote the first They Might Be Giants song with Galaxy
song, I was gonna say, it reminds me very much of that.
I didn't not surprise to hear he was involved in that. I no,
no, I'm just saying, like he wrote what they were going to be,
basically making their career on. You're saying they ripped him off. Basically.
I think John and John might owe Eric Idol if you here comes the
science, I would pay it to. Yeah, right, I shouldn't suggest
that. I'm sorry, you just started some ship. Now we're in the
middle of the Python lawsuit. Another one one and you know what now and
now, eric Idol seems like the most reasonable all if you see him,
like he's the he's not taking ship and letting everybody know exactly what's up and
who's doing what to whom? You know. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean there's a big part of me that wish is they were best friends,
just because you'll want him to be. But the chemistry is the chemistry,
And I mean, I don't know if we get what we got if
they liked each other a little more, but we wouldn't have because those five
personalities strengthened up against each other, thank god, you know. But like
it's interesting to see those pairings though, to think of Eric Idol sort of
off on his own doing the same amount of work as a bunch of writing
partners who are doing it's hard on your own. Yeah, you know.
So in a way, he's my favorite Python. Now it's Eric Idol everybody
by the end of the week, Clice, because it always is. Because
as much of a dick as he is, and you know, that bitter,
cranky old man, he's become like there's something about that guy, Yeah,
what is it? I you know, he's he's aera dype, but
willing to fucking roll around in the mud and be stupid, oh for sure.
And you know, I see his tweets all the time, and he's
a pretty conscientious dude who also doesn't take shit and loves calling people out for
their shit. So there's kind of a there's a bit of a warrior to
him that like, maybe you need to be cantankerous and you know whatever,
now you're old and not even be k like be as old man as you
can right now. I feel seated, though, because he got to be
cantankerous his whole motherfucking life, just because he was so talented. Yeah,
right, was on the wall for him from day one. He was like,
I'm sixty five. I just got to get there. I guess.
Yeah, he was one of those guys born born that aide. But you
know what, let's talk my favorite python Graham Chapman, all right, I
have to say, and this is I would guess that Graham would have it
no other way. My favorite Graham Chapman moment of all time is the moment
where he wasn't actually live, but it was the live show and they had
his urn of ashes sitting on the table and I think it's Clease that crosses
his legs and kicks it over and spills them all over the play even after
death. Do you remember that incredibly dangerous club he belonged to. It was
a it's a group of British adventurers, and most of them, including Chapman,
I think at that point, knew he was terminal. And they do
things like bring double decker buses to mountains and then ski down the mountain while
riding inside the double decker bus venture Club. Yeah you know, I mean
really it's jackass, just like stylish. Yeah, check ass. Uk Graham
Chapman was the perfect front man for or rather leading man for Python. I
think I think there's no question that you would want him over Clee to be
King Arthur to be Bryan. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, No, there's a he's got much more of an everyman you know,
old school ever man tol him for sure. Yeah, there's a depth
just looking into that guy's eyes. Yeah, and I know he was a
drunk and everything, but like, who fucking gives a shit, you know
what I mean? Like the man was living, go do dramatic stuff.
Because I feel like he's the guy that would have like killed it in some
dramatic roles as well. He absolutely would have. Like it's kind of a
shame because the only other real sort of big performance we got from him was
Yellow Beard, and that he's great in that movie. But that's a terrible
move. It's not that. Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't live up to
him. Yeah, it's a whiter shade of pale of python. You know,
it's just kind of going through the motions here. Yeah, but you
mentioned boobies and his sequence. How did we get off topic? This man
is about to die. I mean, clearly, when I was thirteen,
there was no better scene in the movie than mister Jarrett's death. Who how
metafucking physical was this that we're watching this guy who has chosen his means of
execution. His crime is the means of execution because it's for making a gratuitous
sexist joke in a movie. This is the gratuitous sexist joke that he's going
to be punished for. I don't know, it's a Mobius strip. Yes,
so snake Ahead eating itself and yeah, and that's yeah, and again
that's kind of the genius of the We're going to call it out while we're
doing it. And you know, a lot of comedians haven't figured this out,
and we are living in an arrow where it's you make some of these
jokes the wrong way, you expose yourself as being somebody who's not very you
know, not very forward thinking or whatnot, or very conscientious or tolerant.
And they named every joke. There's just they know exactly what they're doing and
how to do it. And there you go. Yeah, and speaking just
on a performance level, when we see Graham Chapman for the first time in
his panic, I genuinely feel for that man. He seems terrified, like
that is terror. That's not acting fear well. And this is the other
level of the joke, you know. So we've already got a couple levels
of the joke working on and now he's chosen his own methods and it is
to die by being chased off a Clifton by as many boobies as possible,
and he's terrified of it. Chose it number two. You chose it because
it's boobies. Oh my god, it's the most sophisticated joke about the stupidest,
most sexist thing. It's that is them in a nutshell, my god,
and they exist in a lot of nutshells, but that is what they
existed. That is just yeah, it's brilliant. That's why they are who
they are. And then it does end as you said, just so beautifully
with that body falling through the air into his casket. Jectory that is forty
five degree angle is out of the window. This is not possible that,
yes, stuntman can't fall into a bag with hist accuracy, as mister Jared
falling off of a clip to his death into his own coffin on the sea.
That made me wonder as a child, can you do that? Can
you just be buried on the beach in a coffin like that? I don't
think you can. I don't think you can't either, But I guess if
they give you your choice in that world, evidently that's what all of those
pieces part of the choice was. He like, all right, we need
boobies, the helmets on the women, we need shore. I like the
ocean. I need to be able to make a jump that can end up
in the Guinness Bugle World records. I don't know. And you know what,
in that sequence, we just can't keep talking about the movie I guess
because we get Gilliam at his best in the next sequence, which is these
leaves, the suicidal leaf in autumn. Yes, in the fallout therein when
he's discovered being killed himself and a perfect Python joke. We don't need to
see the foot drop into the frame when all of those leaves give up at
once, right right? Yeah? And this is another thing that I love
about them. They they take a Rando perspective on something. They'll go,
you know, what's what is fall like for a leaf? Isn't that just
mass suicide? Can I see these think tank meetings with them? They're like,
yeah, but this is all Gillium. So it's Gilliam alone in a
room talking to himself, going like trees leaves, it's mass suicide, which,
by the way, brings up a good question. Does Gillium ever become
your favorite? No? I'm sorry, but no, Gilliam is one of
my filmmakers. He's one of my favorite. That would be my distinction if
I said performer versus director. I think here's the thing. When they were
doing Flying Circus, he very well could be my favorite Python member more often
than not. As a kid, probably who was my favorite Python member for
the animations. Yeah, because there's integral to every other performance on in that.
But wait, yeah, once we get into the film, he's behind
the camera and occasionally, you know a little part. He's very funny in
that in Holy Grail, but I don't consider him on the par with any
of the others. Yeah. No, he's there because he's a good animator
and he's really funny. But he's not there because he went. He wasn't
in the foot like parade or whatever the fuck they were doing for Cambridge.
Right, what we're getting into the wage here, But do you know how
he came apart came into the group. I believe he had been running in
San Francisco, I want to say, like sort of humorous magazines and such,
and accepted a job in England basically doing that like you know, like
photo funnies kind of things, you know, and anime without animation kind of
a thing. G Yeah, And I think I know it was like either
Palin or one of them sort of befriended him, and then you know,
these guys all eventually sort of came together and then he got brought along.
So that's I'm not I'm not trying to diminish his role or anything. But
you no, no, not at all. I don't know what I mean.
Like, it's not like he pulled him in and they know he wasn't
good as any of them or anything. It's clearly he made Fisher King,
you know what I mean? Like what am I gonna say? Yeah,
like, yeah, yeah, Fisher Like I said, twelve Monkeys, Fisher
King, Like just with's a one two punch right there. Man. The
eighties general, the eighties for Gillium were fucking great, ridiculous. Yeah,
just yeah, to the point of, you know, not to get off
money in general, but you know, you're probably the same way of like,
who's my favorite director of this decade? Kind of a thing, and
he had a decade for me there it was like everything it does, I
just I'm there. Yeah, there in ways we couldn't be for other filmmakers,
even as good as they were being, there was something fucking unique about
Terry Gillam, and it was something that made me so proud as an American
that he was the American in Python. Yeah, there is a little bit
of there is a little bit of like, see, we can stand with
you guys in the comedy, but in another way, maybe in another way,
And then we got Robin Williams and we were like, okay, maybe
we beat you, but that's a man. King is just absolutely fucking brilliant,
and that, you know, Brazil is his best movie. It's a
fucking achievement. But I'm not gonna watch Brazil as much as I'm gonna watch
Fisher King just for the sweet heartedness of it all, you know. And
yeah, there's I think that's probably his emotional that's where, you know,
the most human he's been was with Fisher King. It's the least cynical,
yeah, for sure. And just yeah that it's probably it is my favorite
Gillian the film is. It just hit so many goddamn levels for me.
Uh yeah, that's hard to beat. So no, he'll never be my
favorite python, but he's just as yeah, man like, he's as hard
as any of those motherfuckers for sure, for sure. Any other notes,
I'm running out of topics with the meaning of life. Yeah, you did
mention one thing which we talked a little bit about, but there is this
and I don't feel like this was much going on a lot in Flying Circus
as much, but there is this educational element doing the mad comply as well,
just like oh yeah, there's a lot of history, and I mean
just the religious conversations with Protestant versus Catholic, and then we get into a
little bit of history of you know, it's these are clearly thinkers doing silly
things, and it's yeah, a perfect mesh. Then again, like this
movie playing to each of their member's strength because as great as they are,
silly at the silly and the physical stuff. And these guys started out as
writers. And so the conversation between the Protestant and his wife is so verbose
and you can feel that I believe that's Chapman writing that stuff, like where
where like you said, he this is a natural conversation that in any other
movie would have been an exposition dump of a character to let us know what
was actually going on in is supremely educational and it's fucking hilarious. Give a
little you realize this poor clueless woman played by Eric Idol, who is more
than twice I didn't realize that sex is the thing, because that's how sexless
the Protestants are, which I loved in comparison to out the window the endless
stream of children during the entire scene. The house is like a clown car
of children, and you know that they just looped them, but the effect
is just awesome, and I feel like they were even they must have been
the Protestants scene going, can we make it just a little longer? Can
he bitch a little bit longer about something? Just so we could see a
few more orphans go by? And Chapman's so good in that scene, like
do you have one of those? Well no, but just you know,
yeah I could, and just clueless that she's kind of getting like, wait
a minute, what's going on over there? But I'm just explaining something to
you, Honey, We're not going to have sex any more than we already
have. Sorry, why don't we? And he's just going, yeah,
black mama Tickler. Now, speaking of Graham Chapman, the image that I
saw of the movie before I saw the movie. It was in a magazine
I believe, was the middle of the film portion the wonder Where's the Fish?
With Chapman in this fucking outrageous you know, of course in Wig while
Terry Jones, God bless him with fucking these like oh my god, Freddy
Krueger like some nightmare arms that are so long but bend in six places but
still has finger mobility. It's a real nightmare sequence. Like and that might
be the scene that ends up turning a few people out where they go.
This is lesser because it is really bizarre, even for them. It's kind
of out there. But the elephants making his way down the hall with the
tray and it's not the worst looking creature mask ever. It's did you wander
off a Star Wars set? To go over here? Yeah? I thought
the Henson people were involved or something, because cartoon comes horrifyingly close to the
camera just there's some random there's some gas blow ground behind him, and like
we're in a manor home but somehow we're in a hallway that's like a steam
tunnel. Like well, I don't know who wrote that one. I was
going to say, who wrote this one? Was this, like, Okay,
we have all these random beasts. What do we do? Put them
together? Let's make a stew all right, the arms alone Terry Jones like
talk about breaking the fourth wall. He's you know, that's the Obviously they
loved their mechanics because not only did we get the ball squeezing specter of death
at the end, but he's really selling the fingers right to the camera.
Yeah. I should have looked up the Mechanical Effects engineering Terrible podcast. Yeah,
I know. And was it the same? Was it like did they
just repurpose for the skeleton hands at the end. I have no idea again,
thing it might be, yeah, exactly, I mean it probably was,
right, like, we've got this. I wonder, yeah, I
wonder if they had filmed the death scene first, and now what do we
do with these? I got an idea, that's your idea. Yeah,
can we make the arm a little longer and then we put another elbow in?
Scene is missing as some kind of David Bowie freak somewhere. Can we
have some stardust come in with spigots over his nipples? It's it's weird and
wonderful. But I do remember looking at that image in a magazine and going
what the fuck is it? I mean, I was python, I'm like
what. I hadn't seen the movie. I'm like, I don't know what
this. I thought it was a scene from Rocky Horror Picture Show. And
so so when I finally saw the movie, I was like, wait,
what is this? Like, where was that right. Oh, but when
it hits hard, yeah, oh yeah, anything else taking home those arms?
Oh yeah, I mean I hope Jones walked around the village in those
late at night, buried me be buried in them. You can't close the
top in lits. It's death proof. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I think that's gonna do it for us here at midnight viewing anthologies. Attack
boy, any any you want to sum up the sum up your thoughts on
meaning of life? Here are any closing remarks. Now we said it all,
but I do want to ask you to tell our listeners once again how
they can get a hold of all of your fucking fantastic stuff. Your book
goodness, have videos out there. You got a website, yeah, all
sorts of stuff, all those socials. Yeah, well, head on over
to Amazon, and that's where that's the best place to go. You get
the last of the Giant Fire Lizards out on ebook, paperback, then audio
book. You can also check out a little bit more if you want to
learn a bit more about the dragon. I'm on Facebook at Giant Fire Lizards.
Website is Giant dash Lizards dot com. And there you go. Everybody
fucking head on over there, right, now and do yourself a favor and
read. You know, you don't even have to read. You can just
listen to it. You can be lazy. We're all lazy these days.
You're listening to this right now. I'm going to be listening to something later.
I'm gonna be listen to that book Motherfuckers Hire Lizards Baby. All right.
For Antonio, I'm gonna speak for him. I want to say thank
you all for joining us here at Midnight Viewing Until next time. Midnight Viewing
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