The Flying Circus
TV series, created by Graham Chapman
1969-1974
Let’s
end on a happy note ! Yes, This blog was meant to show that there was some sad,
depressing and serious stuff about England, but not only. The Monty Python are
probably the main thing that makes people think and say that “British humour”
exists. They were completely ahead of their time, and their humour, based on
absurd situations, but always with a well-thought idea in the end, not just
pure slapstick, is one of their main qualities.
Before
I talk about The Life of Brian, I’m
going to introduce them with their series, The
Flying Circus. They were short sketches they played on stage, but also shot
them and broadcast them on television.
Facts about the series :
Funny
fact, in the documentary about them : The
Monty Python, la vérité (ou Presque, available there : http://vimeo.com/23527571),
they explain that they just wanted to do something, but they didn’t know what
yet. So, as they needed money, they went to the BBC in London, met the director
of programs and told him they wanted to make a series.
And
the guy was like “What is it about ?”. They replied “Well…we don’t know yet, but
it’ll be funny…”. He then replied “but how many episodes, how long ? Did you
write anything yet?!” …. “No, nothing, we’ll see !”. And the guy just ended up
saying yes, just out of trust and out of “Why not anyway !”.
Which
is crazy, but great, and completely unthinkable now.
Another
fact : the BBC burned a lot film reels and series in the 80’s, so they
could re-use the film for new programs. When Terry Gilliam heard about that, he
went there and bought all of their series, and thank God he did, otherwise,
everything would be just gone.
The last
fact : they created their own Youtube Channel as they were sick of seeing bad quality
videos of their work. Everything is available, for free, and in good quality on
Youtube.
One
of my favourite :
It's very difficult to imagine a blog on English media without the Monty's. Glad you included them.
RépondreSupprimerCorrections: their main qualities, broadcast them on television, “What is it about?”, “Well…, “But…Another fact: , film reels, would just be gone, The last fact.