Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014) User Reviews

They are just very naughty boys

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 23 July 2014]

The Pythons are in their 70s, they have been one man down for 25 years and they have got back together one last time to make a lot of dosh and help pay for John Cleese's recent divorce.

The last night at the O2 was simulcast around the world and nearly live on British television, I say nearly live so for the early part of the show broadcast in the early evening, the swearing was bleeped out. The unedited version went out the next day.

So here are the remaining Pythons, older croakier and a few with forgetful memories. Terry Jones is the worse with memory issues but old age and ill health catches with us all. Eric Idle is still energetic and he gets to sing his catchy songs including looking at the brighter side of life.

Terry Gilliam known with the Pythons more for his animation and better known these days as a director and battling to raise money to make films throws himself with gusto at the sketches. As with Idle he is giving 100% commitment, his movements are just more snappier as if to tell the rest of the team that he has still got it and tell Hollywood to give him more money to make the movies that he wants to make.

Eddie Izzard and Mike Myers turn up for a spin as fan-boys and Carol Cleveland helps out with the sketches just like in the old days.

It's been a while since I have since the TV shows and I have never seen videos of their live shows such as Live from The Hollywood Bowl. To be honest I was reluctant to see this. In recent years Cleese seems to be a curmudgeon always complaining about something and even Palin in his recent travel shows has become more croakier.

However after a few minutes you get used to the older troupe and once the famous sketches and songs start to arrive you get into the spirit of the thing. There are a few ad-libs, a few forgotten lines and a little mischief here and there. The dancers make the whole thing a little more professional and although I believe that there were a few new sketches they were omitted from the uncensored repeat (I guess they will turn up as DVD extras.) We want to see the old hits. The dead parrot sketch, Spam song, Lumberjack song, Blackmail, Nudge nudge wink wink say no more.

So what if they did it for the money, it keeps the old fans happy, maybe get a younger audience and a nice pension for them

They've done it again, & I hope they'll do it again...

[kayabay · 9/10 · 16 November 2014]

The Monty Pythons are a myth. Not because they're funny, but because they introduced a totally new concept to the audience. And for the last 45 years they've never been forgotten as their last appearance showed to the entire World.

The O2 event is totally a success, and so is the movie/concert/show whatever you call it recorded and distributed.

Some people would suggest that all the jokes and scenes are the copies of the old ones, but they aren't. They've always been different, and say no more, may be we like to watch them over and over again just because they're all brilliant.

This is not only a comedy show, but also a concert in which you'll find all the extraordinary songs & melodies they've put together in all those years.

They call themselves as old farts, but who do you reckon calling themselves old farts after all those years ? They're the living proof of men WHO always feel as a child, act as a child but in the contrary gave you a deductive brief idea of things going around you.

Thanks for the effort of all the amazing team behind and Long Live Monty Pythons !

'Monty Python Live (Mostly)' is a lot of fun.

[bryank-04844 · 7/10 · 12 August 2015]

Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition back all those years ago. And nobody expected a reunion show of one of the greatest comedy troupes to ever grace the screen. That's right. After 34 years, the iconic and brilliant actors of Monty Python, came together once again to give us their unique and loud out loud dose of comedy. This performance, which was broadcast in the US and UK, certainly hits you in all the right nostalgic parts. If you're like me, you grew up watching 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' or any one of their hilarious films whether it be 'The Meaning of Life' or 'The Holy Grail'.

You can rest assure that skits and segments from those movies make it into this excellent performance. The group did 10 live shows at London's famous O2 arena in front of sold out crowds, and did some of their famous skits as well as some new material. This almost feels like a farewell tour and a Greatest Hits album all rolled into one big performance that is almost three hours long. Every member of the Monty Python crew is here, including Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones. And yes, the late Graham Chapman makes a few appearances in the form of some video skits and messages.

It's amazing how all of these men have not lost their comedic beat and continue to entertain and make us laugh still to this day. Full of music, comedy, and vintage skits that we all love, this performance is one for the books for every Monty Python fan. Keeping with their unique brand of humor, which at times can confuse us and go into the wacky and way out weird genre, the live performance starts out with of course, some llamas. It's quite funny in that "what is really happening" kind of way.

Through songs, dances and other comedic skits, we get that old and familiar taste of this unique brand of humor, which is at times, modernized for this day and age, complete with some excellent cameos throughout. Yes, the Yorkshiremen show up, along with the Spanish Inquisition, Bruces, Spam, and even some of Terry Gilliam's animated skits make it into the show. One of the only downsides to this show, which is only relegated to this Blu-ray is that the camera-work is kind of a mess in places, which leaves the home audience missing some of the jokes, because the camera is not focusing on some of the key players during some of the punchlines, hence we miss out. It's not a big problem throughout, but it is somewhat annoying in a few places.

'Monty Python Live (Mostly)' is a lot of fun, yet it kind of sad in a way that we all know in the back of our minds, that this is the last time we will see all these guys perform together again. It's a solid farewell in style and comedy, furthering their legendary status into the entertainment and comedy world.

The Greatest Live Show I've Ever Seen!

[thescifisideoflife · 10/10 · 20 July 2014]

Its been nearly 50 years since the comedic genius that is Monty Python first appeared way back in 1969, with feature films, television series and live stage shows following suit.

Now I will admit that I wasn't that interested in Monty Python in my younger years, although familiar with it I just never got around to watching them. But, I can honestly say after watching their final (possibly) live show only a few hours ago, it was the single greatest comedy show I have ever seen in my entire life!

Jam packed with loads of the well known favourite sketches (The Dead Parrot was absolutely hysterical), musical numbers and clips from the original series, Monty Python is STILL a comedic powerhouse! All the Pythons return in this stage extravaganza (excluding Graham Chapman, may he rest in peace), Palin, Gilliam, Cleese, Idle and Jones and by god what a performance!

These men, who should really be collecting their pensions by now, are still as funny and perfectly timed as seen in Flying Circus and their motion pictures. This show has it all, I mean REALLY has it all....great musical numbers, perfect comedy, celebrity appearances...Michael Palin and Eric Idle in saucy little numbers you'd buy from a sex shop that leaves very little to the imagination.

All in all, the Pythons are still on top form...will this really be their last stage show? I hope not...I want more!!!

10 / 10 - Absolute comedy perfection from the undisputed comedy legends!

Pythons are legends, always

[biba_yu · 10/10 · 19 September 2021]

Yes, those are mostly well known famous sketches you probably know if you are a fan. Adapted and made more glamorous and spectacle for such enormous audience but the core is very well known. But it's never boring or unfunny and it was great to see old (now literally) guys together again. They still have it and they can still make me laugh. They still have the energy and big smiles, so why stop at any age?

A Fittingly Funny Fish. I mean, Farewell

[donaldgilbert · 6/10 · 20 July 2014]

Monty Python has been in my life since my earliest years, starting around the mid 1970s, when my brothers would play their albums. In fact, by the time I saw "Life of Brian" in the theaters in 1979 (I was 12- snuck into my first R-rated film), I already had most of those albums memorized. Once I bought the "Brian" script as a paperback back at the time, I found myself having half the film memorized by the end of the year.

We in the theater all laughed at the familiar sketches, even those of us who knew them word for word, we sang along at the songs, and we applauded with the London audience. They performed some of the greatest hits, tossed in a couple of surprise sketches, mixed them up with clips from the show, and choreographed musical numbers, some of which were led by Pythons. The dance numbers were the least enjoyable for me.

Fun were the moments when you could see them just trying to make each other laugh. Especially Cleese, who seemed less interested in staying on script (though he did for the most part) than just trying to keep himself and his fellow Pythons amused. Terry Jones seemed the least active, delivering his lines a bit slower than the others. Gilliam and Idle on the other hand seemed ageless. Palin was great as well.

I don't know that I could really put this up there with the other Python films. Hollywood Bowl was superior both in content and performance, and that was inferior to their three proper films, "Grail", "Brian", and "Meaning of Life". This was more of an event than a concert or a "movie". There was a moment or two when I found myself slightly tearing up. The first was the "Universe Song" (during the song and what happens after) and again at the final bow. Seeing them waving goodbye not just to the audience but to Monty Python in general was a bit heartbreaking. It was like saying a last goodbye to a dying sibling.

Thanks for the laughs, gents... and keep looking at the bright side of life!

The Curse of Monty Python (Written by their most loyal worshiper)

[tomsuthblack · 9/10 · 8 November 2014]

Imagine having won a competition 40 years ago, then imagine that until now people do not remember you or relate you with anything other than having won that bleeding competition! All your life's journey, all your successes and failures, your whole existence on earth has been reduced into one achievement that happened almost half a century ago...as if all what you've done since then didn't count! That is what a person like, say, Douglas Adams always felt when people remembered him only as the writer of his very first novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, even though he had written 8 other books. That is what people like Arthur C Clark smiled bitterly whenever people remembered him only as the Author of 2001 Space Odyssey.

And that is how the five great geniuses who participated in this show would feel when, after 45 years of amazing achievements and spectacular successes in transforming the humor culture of the whole world in all of its visual, musical and conceptual aspects, they are remembered only as "Pythons", the group they had once belonged to 40 years ago!

People Always kept pestering Douglas Adams to write "another hitchhiker's book", and forcing Arther C. Clark to finish yet another 2001 Space Odyssey sequel, as if writing sequels to those particular works was the only thing those great minds could do, as if the rest of their creations wasn't significant. Similarly, people(myself included) hoped 'The Pythons' would come up with 'new Python material' for this live performance. 'The Pythons', no doubt, were not very excited about doing so. Quite understandably in my opinion.

We don't consider pestering John Cleese to create another Fawlty Towers, or Fish Called Wanda, or even Fierce Creatures. We don't Ask Terry Gilliam to give us another Brazil. We don't believe it is a very good idea that Terry Jones would try his hand in a sequel for Starship Titanic, and only a few of us ever watched Michael Palin's travelogues, but whenever one of those names is mentioned our mind flashes 'Pythons'! Yes, that was great. We want more of that. And the more we want it, the more we prove to the Pythons that they were really nothing else than Pythons. That was their finest hour. And the past half century really didn't count. Do not expect them to be happy about this!!

It is then understandable that they would've never bothered to comply with our sadistic desire to lock them inside the Python's sarcophagus... if it wasn't for money. Especially at this old age when they would've enjoyed their retirement, or at least their attempt to make use of their remaining years in creating something good enough to be remembered for other than their one and only achievement that counts in the past half century!

And since the money they needed wasn't a huge amount, for John's Alimony is almost paid for, and the costly legal dispute that forced the group into reunion would require less than a million quid, then their collaboration can be as brief as possible. In fact they mentioned it several times that they turned down a huge number of offers to perform this show all over the world.

Wouldn't it have been wonderful if they had came up with new material? New sketches? New brilliant Pythonic insights on the social and political dilemmas of our age, and the absurdity of the human condition in general? Of course it would. It would've also been a great farewell from them to their audiences, and a great generator of huge sums of money. But, above all, it would've cemented them in our memory and in the deep bleeding annals of history as nothing but 'The Pythons'.

Think about it.

live

[scotthd63 · 7/10 · 20 July 2014]

it's very hard to go wrong with these guys. they are the funniest comedy group ever! just got back from the live broadcast at my local theater and my only complaint was the sound. the echo was just awful. couldn't catch the lyrics to any of the songs that included more than one voice. wish the whole thing had been subtitled. the good news is that most of the classics are there. I was laughing out loud and clapping along with the rest of the audience. it was especially funny when the cast members messed up or laughed. I can't wait to own the DVD. I'll watch it again and again. hope they can clean up the sound though. MONTY PYTHON IS THE BEST!

Now for something completely different

[abcvision · 10/10 · 21 July 2014]

The five surviving members of the most famous British comedy troop, Monty Python, came together for one last hurrah on stage at London's O2 Arena and broadcast world wide to an estimated 50 million people. I remember as a young boy watching the show and it was my first introduction to high brow British humor who never failed to test the envelope of adult silly fun. I was able to catch the last performance on July 20 in a local theatre in Marietta where I live. The first theatre I went to in at the Kennesaw AMC 24 was sold out and I had to scramble across town to find a seat. A mix of multimedia video and live stage performances the group hit the best known skits that revolve around SPAM, Ministry of Silly Walks, and the dead parrot. Of course no one expects the "Spanish Inquisition" and they came barging in their red vestments. The boys looked a bit older, but we all are a bit older but the laughs continued as they did not miss a beat in their mix of randy humor. The man of international mystery, Austin Power's creator came in to do a cameo for celebrity or everyman and Stephen Hawking also in the audience was there to clarify the wonders of the Universe. The world has changed a lot since 1969 and it was interesting to be able to keep up via social media how folks around the world were enjoying the same thing I was watching in the comfort of my local theatre. Two more opportunities to see the show on participating screens around the world on July 22 and 24 but it will be a rebroadcast. The group has had its last hurrah. Thanks for the laughs and as their closing number reminded us "Always look on the Bright Side of Life". Well done sirs.

Good but you can't go back.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 1 November 2014]

Back in the early 1970s, the Monty Python troop made a wonderful film, "And Now For Something Completely Different", and it consisted of the guys remaking their best skits from their TV show for a movie audience. The production values were a bit better and their accents were deliberately softened and the overall effort is, in my opinion, their second best film (after "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"). Now a similar sort of thing has been created--but instead of shooting it in sets like you would for a typical film, it was presented in front of a live audience (like "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl") and it is, apparently, the group's final performance.

As a HUGE fan of the show, I was actually very disappointed in this film even though I did enjoy it. Much of it is due to the old saying 'you can't go back'--and after many decades the performances seemed a bit flat. Additionally, and I think this is a bigger problem, the skits offer no improvements over the originals. In most cases, it's almost a word-for-word recreation and there is nothing new or energetic about the whole affair. At least with "And Now For Something Completely Different" the skits LOOKED a lot better--but here they didn't. And, oddly, many of the team's best skits were not included in this performance. Not terrible...but it just isn't what I'd recommend to anyone who isn't a die-hard fan.

The greatest concert movie ever made

[pmtelefon · 10/10 · 18 February 2022]

I've seen quite a few concert movies but "Monty Python Live (mostly)" is the only one that made me feel like I didn't miss anything by not being there. They also did a great job making seem like Graham Chapman was part of the show. The boys are in great form. Terry Gilliam is out of his league but that's okay because he's not really a stage performer. I really wish I was at this show. Oh well, maybe next time. Honorable mention John Cleese's giant belly.

Bit of a let down

[happycarrot68 · 6/10 · 6 June 2019]

Too much on screen and musical fillers for me.I understand is hard to do costume changes and sets but would have felt a bit short changed if had bought tickets for this. Their classics are all here but just doesn't work like the Hollywood Bowl show. Dont get me wrong, has great moments which we all know but doesn't quite get going

It's Fun to See the Band Back Together Again, But the Thrill is Gone

[drqshadow-reviews · 5/10 · 31 July 2014]

The mere existence of a Python reunion after all this time is worth celebrating, and I can't say it wasn't cool to see the surviving members side-by-side on that stage, but the ensuing performance left a lot to be desired. Despite all efforts to imply the opposite, this largely felt like a troupe of rusty old-timers stammering their way through the material of their youth, minus the power, sincerity and resounding cultural relevance of their heyday. I snickered with some regularity, but that was mostly due to long-term appreciation rather than of-the-moment admiration. The whole show felt too polished and jazzy, a billion-dollar spit shine that stood at-odds with the quaint, elbow-greased character I'd grown to know and love. Dozens of forced, sharply unfunny dance sets padded out each costume change - of which there were many - and seemed to annoy even the cast members, who varied in mood from ecstatic (Terry Gilliam) to barely-bothered (John Cleese). The show wheeled out all the right skits, but the funniest bits were when the actors would flub a line and go off-script to needle each other. Disappointing.

cool

[syedabbas-52685 · 7/10 · 28 December 2021]

As a HUGE fan of the show, I was actually very disappointed in this film even though I did enjoy it. Much of it is due to the old saying 'you can't go back'--and after many decades the performances seemed a bit flat. Additionally, and I think this is a bigger.

Just as well if this is their last go-round

[kep315 · 5/10 · 26 January 2015]

I found the whole thing to be rather flat and forced. The problem, in my opinion, stems from the Pythons putting on this big, extravagant, over-long show - perhaps to justify the high ticket cost of seeing the show there in London? - with endless dancing and musical numbers, and some celebrity guest stars (on the DVD we only see Mike Meyers and Eddie Izzard on stage with the troupe; Warwick Davis and Stephen Fry, among others, also appeared during the show's run, and can be seen, briefly, in the DVD extras. Brian Cox and Stephen Hawkins appear in a funny taped segment).

The old skits performed here feel tiresome; the clips from Flying Circus are too familiar to be funny. The only genuine laughs occurred when one of the Pythons deviated from the anticipated - either purposely (a new gag scripted into an old skit) or accidentally (because someone has flubbed/forgot a line or ad-libbed an unexpected joke). The longest and best laugh of the entire show came toward the end in the combination Pet Shop/Cheese Shop skit with Michael Palin and John Cleese.

The big thing missing was irreverence, not taking themselves too seriously. Things got off to a good start with a funny piece of animation that revealed Graham Chapman's head - which then got kicked like a football (English football). Unfortunately, this was followed up by the still-unfunny-as-it-was-back-on-MPFC llama skit, with John Cleese and the Pythons addressing the audience in Spanish (not French, as in the original skit, if I recall correctly). There were far too many musical numbers, which I found myself fast-forwarding through. Hey, at least that helped cut down on this DVD's long running time!

Monty Python Live (Mostly) is the troupe taking a victory lap as establishment figures - not the take-no-prisoners comedy radicals that they once were. Besides, "Sit on my Face" seems awfully quaint in comparison to the potty-mouth kids of South Park. The end result here would've been much better if they'd allowed themselves to tweak their known skits and come up with something new and surprising, audience expectations be damned.

(On a side note, the booklet accompanying the DVD gives thanks to Tim Brooke-Taylor for allowing use of The Four Yorkshiremen skit but doesn't credit Marty Feldman as co-writer of the skit. It was originally performed on the At Last The 1948 show by Feldman, Brooke-Taylor, Cleese and Chapman).

A not so fond farewell

[crazydrummer · 5/10 · 24 November 2014]

I really wanted to get tickets to this but they were hugely expensive and very difficult to get hold of also I couldn't attend the 'live' cinema screening of the last night as we were on holiday. For both of these misfortunes I can now in hindsight be very glad.

A re-union after such a long time is always risky and likely to disappoint, just ask many rock bands that tried to re-capture the old magic, and the Pythons pretty much fail in the expected ways. They're old tired-looking men performing material written by bright energetic young men and it shows. In many of the routines they appear to be simply going through the motions, there's no energy or edge to the performances. The sharp comic timing is generally absent and instead there's heavy reliance on the good will of the audience enjoying the familiar favourites.

Eric Idle and his team did put together a cleverly constructed show, with big musical and dance numbers in a Python style to give the Pythons themselves time to change costumes and, presumably, have a little lie down.

Very little of it made me laugh out loud and the bits that did were generally the big-screen inserts showing famous sketches from the TV-era Python, such as Philosopher's Football, and their series of spoofs on the Olympics, the hundred yard dash for people with no sense of direction etc.

It was great that they included Carol Cleveland, the unofficial seventh Python and the only regular female performer in the shows and films, and there are a couple of funny cameos from Professors Brian Cox and Stephen Hawking at the end of one of the few bits that really did still work, Eric Idle's Galaxy Song from the film "The Meaning of Life". The Argument Sketch, the Dead Parrot Sketch and The Cheese Shop Sketch all worked pretty well as did "Nudge Nudge" but aside from that very little of it would have attracted a paying audience if it wasn't part of an established and historic team.

The DVD itself was badly let down by the appalling picture quality; it was often like watching something on YouTube! It was grainy and fuzzy in almost all the close-ups and I wonder if there had in fact been no close-up shots filmed and the close-up was just a computer- enhanced zoom in on an existing wide shot with the usual loss of resolution that this entails? If so then someone from the film production team needed firing.

For die-hard Python fans only, and even then you'd be better off watching "Life Of Brian" or "Holy Grail" again.

To echo

[bruce-watson-161-776058 · 1/10 · 16 November 2014]

Another's review- Monty at its very second best. Sad really.

The musical numbers are contrived and silly but not in a Silly Walks good way.

No offense to the legacy of brilliant material they have given us, but this production is a pale shadow of even the worst past work.

The team are pretty much upfront about this being a last (maybe) cash grab by some talented old men- mind you, from the camera shots of the audience, old was the new young, but this was so crass and shallow that even the inside joke of pumping the well one last time fell flat.

Now sod off and get a download of some original sketches or movies. When they were funny.

Elvis's Jacket

[TheFearmakers · 1/10 · 13 January 2021]

There's an old SNL skit from the original run (a show that borrowed from Python btw) where Elvis Presley's jacket went on tour for sold out performances. Well, this is Elvis's jacket. Had he lived he'd be too old to perform like these guys, who bask so hard on their laurels it's like hearing old comedians explaining why they're funny by trying to still be funny. The opening musical number was so awful and glossy it reeked of commercialism and just plain sucked. The best thing the Python's did was Holy Grail. That was a funny movie, but now overrated and over-quoted. Life of Brian was actually boring and The Meaning of Life had moments, but The Flying Circus is tedious and stretches a creative/funny concept into 20 minute skits, and gets tiresome. But in this case, what's tired are the performers.

Great farewell show...

[paul_haakonsen · 30 January 2022]

Having watched a lot of the Monty Python sketches on TV as a kid, I have always had a particular fondness for the comedy from these English chaps. And the 2014 farewell show definitely is something you have to watch if you enjoy Monty Python.

With 45 years of comedy, the guys certainly have brought a lot of laughs to the audience throughout the years. And what works is the quirkiness of the sketches and their ability to take things a step further out than what you expect and still keep it hilarious and enjoyable.

And the six chaps, being John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman each brought something unique and funny to the troupe, giving the sketches their own personal and memorable touch. And that is what I enjoyed throughout the years.

It was good fun to watch the guy revisit old and classic sketches and songs in this 2014 show, and I will say that they went out with a bang, because "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" was great entertainment.

My rating of "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" lands on a six out of ten stars.