The Roots of Monty Python

Celebrate the last night of the Pythons on the big screen! - With John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

Discover how six seemingly ordinary but supremely talented men became Monty Python, sketch comedy's inspired group of lunatics who turned such unlikely sources of inspiration as Spam, dead parrots and the Inquisition into enduring punch lines. This entertaining documentary includes interviews with members of the troupe, as well as home movies, photos and rare recordings from Monty Python's early years.

In March 1998 in Aspen, Colorado, the surviving members of the Monty Python team – John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin – shared a stage together for the first time in 18 years. Even more remarkably, Graham Chapman was there too....in an urn! The occasion for this reunion was the US Comedy Arts Festival Tribute to Monty Python, hosted by Robert Klein in front of a live audience.

With unprecedented access, this program reveals the humour, chaos and passion that went into bringing the Flying Circus to the stage cumulating in the legendary One Down, Five To Go.

A discussion between John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones about their film The Meaning of Life

The behind-the-scenes production documentary of Monty Python's 'Meaning Of Life.' This documentary is featured on the 2-disc Special Edition DVD for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, released in September 2003.

King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure. On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight who, despite having had all his limbs chopped off, insists he can still fight. They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as "it is a silly place".

Brian Cohen is an average young Jewish man, but through a series of ridiculous events, he gains a reputation as the Messiah. When he's not dodging his followers or being scolded by his shrill mother, the hapless Brian has to contend with the pompous Pontius Pilate and acronym-obsessed members of a separatist movement. Rife with Monty Python's signature absurdity, the tale finds Brian's life paralleling Biblical lore, albeit with many more laughs.

The LORDS of LAUGHTER--The SAINTS of SATIRE--The HIGH PRIESTS of LOW COMEDY--have sold out once again. Some say you can't take it with you. Others just refuse to go. Graham Chapman--doctor, tall actor, self-wrestler and really famous dead guy--is the latter. Chapman has a least 8 movie and TV appearances to his credit since he passed away in 1989 making him the most prolific corpse since Elvis. This DVD GRAHAM CHAPMAN'S PERSONAL BEST makes 9. In a comprehensive tribute written by the remaining members of the incomparable Monty Python's Flying Circus this program includes the sketches they believe Chapman would have called his very favorites. Of course they could be wrong.

Monty Python perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl, including several from pre-Python days.

A group of down-and-out accountants mutiny against their bosses and sail their office building onto the high seas in search of a pirate's life.

Not The Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) is a comic oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian, which retells the tragic tale of Mandy, impregnated by a Roman soldier, giving birth to Brian, a reluctant revolutionary of the People's Front of Judea who falls in love with Judith, gets mistaken for a Messiah and is arrested by the Romans and sentenced to be crucified. It ranges in reference from Handel, through a naughty Mozart duet, to the Festival of Nine Carols, Bob Dylan, and the classic finale "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise.

A collection of Monty Python's Flying Circus skits from the first two seasons of their British TV series.

The SAINTS of SATIRE, The LORDS of LAUGHTER, The HIGH PRIESTS of LOW COMEDY have sold out once again. Eric Idle--the outrageously successful actor, writer, composer, director, producer and Broadway impresario--is not satisfied yet. Determined to reshape the entire entertainment world in his image, Eric has gathered what he considers to be the very best Monty Python material of the entire four-year run and squeezed it all into one convenient package. This one. He's even created all-new, never-before-seen material exclusively for this DVD. It's amazing what some zillionaire mega-stars will do for a few extra shillings, isn't it?

Comedy from the UK

A fantastical re-imagining of the events of 1979, when Monty Python made Life of Brian and the debate about what is an acceptable subject for comedy was blown wide open.

For the first time ever, comedy legend John Cleese brings his unique comedic perspective to DVD in John Cleese: The Alimony Tour. Best known for his part in 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' and as Basil Fawlty in 'Fawlty Towers,' John Cleese draws on his many years in the limelight as well as some of his own personal interests. In Cleese's very own words: "it is an evening of well honed anecdotes, psychoanalytical tit-bits and unprovoked attacks on former colleagues, especially Michael Palin." Cleese has achieved a lot in his career which started as a sketch writer for BBC Radio's Dick Emery Show and then The Frost Report. After this stardom beckoned, and Monty Python was created with Cleese co-writing and starring in four series and three films. He went on to achieve further great success as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with then wife Connie Booth.

When Death wants to bring the plague to Württemberg in 1349, he has not reckoned with the two guard soldiers Volckel and Utz, who engage him in a heated argument about plague ordinances and entry regulations.

John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam pay tribute to their late Monty Python colleague Graham Chapman in this hilarious, 3-D animated adaptation of Chapman's brazenly fictionalized life story.