On the tenth of this month, Monty Python release the DVD of Monty Python Live (Mostly) their live show from earlier this year and I feel there is no more appropriate time to talk about one of my favourite comic troupes, the Beatles of comedy, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Monty Python. So, as a form of tribute I will write about something Python related every day of this month. So without further ado...
In 1967 two relatively unknown young writers called John Cleese and Graham Chapman had been contributing to the show The Frost Report and David Frost approached them along with Tim Brooke-Taylor, future star of The Goodies, about making a new sketch show and they suggested Marty Feldman, future star of Marty and Igor in Young Frankenstein, as a fellow performer and so At Last the 1948 Show was born starring Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor, Feldman and hosted by the lovely Aimi MacDonald.
In 1967 two relatively unknown young writers called John Cleese and Graham Chapman had been contributing to the show The Frost Report and David Frost approached them along with Tim Brooke-Taylor, future star of The Goodies, about making a new sketch show and they suggested Marty Feldman, future star of Marty and Igor in Young Frankenstein, as a fellow performer and so At Last the 1948 Show was born starring Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor, Feldman and hosted by the lovely Aimi MacDonald.
The show was sadly a victim of the common practice at the time before home media releases of erasing tapes to make room for other shows. Supposedly 73% of the original two series survives, but I could only find five episodes to watch, though I am informed more material exists in the shape of compilation episodes and I hope I can find it to watch some day. A recent development is that two more lost episodes have been found and will be aired around Christmas time.
The show is a true predecessor to Python in the style of humour, jokes are irreverent, wicked, not concerned with political correctness and wonderfully funny. However it should be noted that it’s much more straightforward than Python, sketches all have a beginning, middle and end, unlike Python’s tendency to abandon all attempts at a traditional structure.
The show is a true predecessor to Python in the style of humour, jokes are irreverent, wicked, not concerned with political correctness and wonderfully funny. However it should be noted that it’s much more straightforward than Python, sketches all have a beginning, middle and end, unlike Python’s tendency to abandon all attempts at a traditional structure.
Almost all of the sketches in the episodes I got to see were truly hilarious, ranging from the very first sketch of Graham Chapman as a Vicar trying to get his congregation to sing a hymn, then resulting in him conducting a rousing rendition of Oklahoma, a TV studio filled with Arabic visitors, a supremely annoying man on a train carriage and, most famously of all, the Four Yorkshiremen, a sketch that Python would recreate in their stage shows for years to come.
Each of the performers is solid and engaging. No-one is particularly a straight man, as all get to be goofy and unusual to varying degrees, though it is undoubtedly Marty Feldman who steals the show with his impeccable comic timing and downright insane deliveries and physicality. Chapman and Cleese display many of the traits they’d bring to Python, funny policemen, chartered accountants and a whole lot of men in bowler hats just to name a few. All topped off by the lovely Aimi MacDonald setting out to promote herself more than show between every sketch.
In short, I would highly recommend fans of comedy to give At Last the 1948 Show a watch, because even though there is very little of it left, what there is should be seen due to the level of fun involved and just to see the roots of greatness.
Each of the performers is solid and engaging. No-one is particularly a straight man, as all get to be goofy and unusual to varying degrees, though it is undoubtedly Marty Feldman who steals the show with his impeccable comic timing and downright insane deliveries and physicality. Chapman and Cleese display many of the traits they’d bring to Python, funny policemen, chartered accountants and a whole lot of men in bowler hats just to name a few. All topped off by the lovely Aimi MacDonald setting out to promote herself more than show between every sketch.
In short, I would highly recommend fans of comedy to give At Last the 1948 Show a watch, because even though there is very little of it left, what there is should be seen due to the level of fun involved and just to see the roots of greatness.