Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl

1982's MONTY PYTHON LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL actually gives viewers a sense of what it was like to attend the titular event. We get a good look at the venue and many of the attendees, all understandably giddy.  Director Terry Hughes provides a nice alternative to the usual point and shoot concert doc.  Graham Chapman and the rest of the Pythons sometimes move about the crowd in their extended skits, not all of which originate from the stage.  When John Cleese hawks a concession of, hmpf, albatross, he barks at a chap smoking marijuana before his scripted tete-e-tete with a man expecting something flavored, at least.

This film is a collection of some of the best known sketches, and may be considered a companion piece to AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from years earlier, which was a greatest hits from the long running television program.  Terry Gilliam's wildly silly animated shorts appear, as well as some other filmed bits (by director Ian MacNaughton), including a football match between teams of philosophers and a strange take on Little Red Riding Hood.  To keep us in the spirit of the night out at the Bowl, we hear the audience's laughter during these bits.

The material remains funny.  Sometimes worthy of a belly laugh, others a wide smile.  I've been a fan since my teens, catching the Flying Circus late on Saturday nights on PBS.  They do get a bit grisly at times, but for this revue there's only a bit of mock gore.  Most of the selections are of the verbal cerebral variety, like the one where the man pays to have an argument.  The "crunchy frog" is in there, as is the "japing" selection, bringing pie tossing to new heights.  ....HOLLYWOOD BOWL is really just a teaser, a sampling of the troupe's (which also includes Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin) totally unique and bizarre sense of humor.

 A must for fans? But of course.  Watching these skits is like hearing some of your favorite songs.  The "Ministry of Silly Walks" is quite amazing and possibly my favorite. We even see Britain's bad boys breaking up, trying to hold it together during "Bishop on the Landing".  Would've loved to have breathed the same air as these guys that night.  Now, piss off!