What do you think?
Rate this book
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus #1
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words: Volume 1
***ALMOST CERTAINLY NOMINATED FOR SOMETHING SOMEWHERE***
The complete scripts from the four Monty Python series, first shown on BBC television between 1969 and 1974, have been collected in two companion volumes.
Characters' names, often not spoken, are given as in the original scripts, along with the names of the actual performer added on their first appearance in each sketch.
This first volume contains twenty-three classic episodes, featuring some of the most entertaining writing to have gone into television anywhere. The minister of silly walks, the dead parrot, banter in a cheese shop - here is every silly, satirical skit, every snide insult, every saucy aside.
The complete scripts from the four Monty Python series, first shown on BBC television between 1969 and 1974, have been collected in two companion volumes.
Characters' names, often not spoken, are given as in the original scripts, along with the names of the actual performer added on their first appearance in each sketch.
This first volume contains twenty-three classic episodes, featuring some of the most entertaining writing to have gone into television anywhere. The minister of silly walks, the dead parrot, banter in a cheese shop - here is every silly, satirical skit, every snide insult, every saucy aside.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Graham Chapman
40 books126 followersGraham Chapman was an English comedian, actor, writer, physician and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. He was also the lead actor in their two narrative films, playing King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the title character in Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
October 19, 2020
Getting the adjective Pythonesc connected with one´s name is worth more than a knightly accolade, because what these amazing group has accomplished with their dark comedy postmodernism social criticism slapstick masterpieces is worth a country or even a continent. Or at least a rainy island.
Reading the scripts of shows or, if available, books written by comedians, stand ups, satirist, etc. is such an interesting mental experience, no matter if one knows the show or has never seen it. I am not sure if it would be more appropriate to first watch or read, it´s a bit different as with a movie where much gets lost if one watches it before reading the novel which is close to always better, because it are sketches. However, enjoy this stuff, it´s such a completely different approach towards the laughs than just watching it, and by combining the media consumption methods the Pythons can unleash their full potential.
It would be a long list if all hidden depts, targets, and all that makes their mixture of dirty, disturbing, and very meta humor unique and inspired many works would be counted, but let´s stay with the fact that nobody is safe when they are on the mike.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Reading the scripts of shows or, if available, books written by comedians, stand ups, satirist, etc. is such an interesting mental experience, no matter if one knows the show or has never seen it. I am not sure if it would be more appropriate to first watch or read, it´s a bit different as with a movie where much gets lost if one watches it before reading the novel which is close to always better, because it are sketches. However, enjoy this stuff, it´s such a completely different approach towards the laughs than just watching it, and by combining the media consumption methods the Pythons can unleash their full potential.
It would be a long list if all hidden depts, targets, and all that makes their mixture of dirty, disturbing, and very meta humor unique and inspired many works would be counted, but let´s stay with the fact that nobody is safe when they are on the mike.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
May 24, 2018
Priscilla: Hello.
Host: Hello.
Priscilla: Well, last week we showed you how to become a gynaecologist. And this week on 'How to do it' we're going to show you how to play the flute, how to split an atom, how to construct a box girder bridge, how to irrigate the Sahara Desert and make vast new areas of land cultivatable, but first, here's Mark to tell you all how to rid the world of all known diseases.
Mark: Well, first of all become a doctor and discover a marvelous cure for something, and then, when the medical profession really starts to take notice of you, you can jolly well tell them what to do and make sure they get everything right so there'll never be any diseases ever again.
Priscilla: Thanks, Mark. Great idea. How to play the flute. [Picking up a flute] Well here we are. You blow there and you move your fingers up and down here.
Host: Great, great, Priscilla. Well, next week we'll be showing you how Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace and harmony, and Priscilla will be over in Seoul showing us how to reconcile the Americans and the North Koreans. So, until next week, cheerio.
Priscilla: Bye.
Mark: Bye.
July 28, 2011
Host: With me now is Norman St. John Polevaulter, who for the last few years has been contradicting people. St. John Polevaulter, why do you contradict people?
Polevaulter : I don't!
Host: But you... you told me that you did.
Polevaulter: I most certainly did not!
Host: Oh. I see. I'll start again.
Polevaulter: No you won't!
Host: Ssh! I understand you don't contradict people.
Polevaulter: Yes I do!
Host: And when didn't you start contradicting them?
Polevaulter: I did! In 1952!
Host: 1952.
Polevaulter: 1947!
Bref. Du pur génie :p
Polevaulter : I don't!
Host: But you... you told me that you did.
Polevaulter: I most certainly did not!
Host: Oh. I see. I'll start again.
Polevaulter: No you won't!
Host: Ssh! I understand you don't contradict people.
Polevaulter: Yes I do!
Host: And when didn't you start contradicting them?
Polevaulter: I did! In 1952!
Host: 1952.
Polevaulter: 1947!
Bref. Du pur génie :p
May 19, 2012
I got these two volumes back in high school, and being before things like YouTube, on demand viewing, and even DVD, it was the only way to "see" the entire series in order. Sure, there were showings on PBS and even MTV if I remember correctly, but when you wanted it on demand you couldn't go wrong with a book containing every script from every episode.
By the time they were all released on DVD, I was already familiar with every sketch.
By the time they were all released on DVD, I was already familiar with every sketch.
July 24, 2020
Remember when comedy could just be funny? You didn't HAVE to make a political statement (although I'm sure some British political jabbing was done by these guys that went right past me). My high school buddies and I used to do Monty Python skits randomly at school. After signing friend's yearbooks, I would write the entire word association skit interspersed in the ads in the back of their yearbook. I was home this past winter with an injury that took me out of work briefly, and I watched every single episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus (I have all the DVD's), so I believe I can take credit for reading this book this year. I was taking notes and ranked my top 50. I'll put 25 here:
# S.Ep Sketch Name
1 1.08 The Dead Parrot
2 3.07 Cheese Shop
3 1.09 The Lumberjack Song
4 2.12 Spam
5 2.01 The Ministry of Silly Walks
6 1.03 Nudge Nudge
7 1.04 Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit
8 1.06 Crunchy Frogs
9 2.02 The Spanish Inquisition
10 1.09 Climbing Kilimanjaro
11 3.03 The Argument Clinic
12 1.03 The Dirty Fork
13 2.09 Bruce
14 1.09 The Visitors
15 1.08 Hell’s Grannies
16 1.12 Upper Class Twit of the Year
17 3.13 Oscar Wilde
18 2.05 Blackmail
19 3.03 Wife Swapping
20 2.12 Communist Quiz
21 1.03 Bicycle Repairman
22 1.03 Seduced Milkman
23 2.12 Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook
24 1.01 Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson
25 3.07 Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road
Maybe go watch the top 10:
The Dead Parrot https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
Cheese Shop https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2p...
The Lumberjack Song https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7a7qi
Spam https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
The Ministry of Silly Walks https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
Nudge Nudge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kwh3...
Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n...
Crunchy Frogs https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2o...
The Spanish Inquisition https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31...
Climbing Kilimanjaro https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=201...
And now, for something completely different - the subject of word association...
Tonight's the night I shall be talking about of flu the subject of word association football. This is a technique out a living much used in the practice makes perfect of psychoanalysister and brother and one that has occupied piper the majority rule of my attention squad by the right number one two three four the last five years to the memory. It is quite remarkable baker charlie how much the miller's son this so-called while you were out word association immigrants' problems influences the manner from heaven in which we sleekit cowering timrous beasties all-American Speke, the famous explorer. And the really well that is surprising partner in crime is that a lot and his wife of the lions feeding time we may be c d e effectively quite unaware of the fact or fiction section of the Watford Public Library that we are even doing it is a far, far better thing that I do now then, now then, what's going onward Christian Barnaard the famous hearty part of the lettuce now praise famous mental homes for loonies like me. So on the button, my contention causing all the headaches, is that unless we take into account of Monte Cristo in our thinking George the Fifth this phenomenon the other hand we shall not be able satisfact or fiction section of the Watford Public Library againily to understand to attention when I'm talking to you and stop laughing, about human nature, man's psychological make-up some story the wife'll believe and hence the very meaning of life itselfish bastard, I'll kick him in the Ball's Pond Road.
# S.Ep Sketch Name
1 1.08 The Dead Parrot
2 3.07 Cheese Shop
3 1.09 The Lumberjack Song
4 2.12 Spam
5 2.01 The Ministry of Silly Walks
6 1.03 Nudge Nudge
7 1.04 Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit
8 1.06 Crunchy Frogs
9 2.02 The Spanish Inquisition
10 1.09 Climbing Kilimanjaro
11 3.03 The Argument Clinic
12 1.03 The Dirty Fork
13 2.09 Bruce
14 1.09 The Visitors
15 1.08 Hell’s Grannies
16 1.12 Upper Class Twit of the Year
17 3.13 Oscar Wilde
18 2.05 Blackmail
19 3.03 Wife Swapping
20 2.12 Communist Quiz
21 1.03 Bicycle Repairman
22 1.03 Seduced Milkman
23 2.12 Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook
24 1.01 Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson
25 3.07 Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road
Maybe go watch the top 10:
The Dead Parrot https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
Cheese Shop https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2p...
The Lumberjack Song https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7a7qi
Spam https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
The Ministry of Silly Walks https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
Nudge Nudge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kwh3...
Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n...
Crunchy Frogs https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2o...
The Spanish Inquisition https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31...
Climbing Kilimanjaro https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=201...
And now, for something completely different - the subject of word association...
Tonight's the night I shall be talking about of flu the subject of word association football. This is a technique out a living much used in the practice makes perfect of psychoanalysister and brother and one that has occupied piper the majority rule of my attention squad by the right number one two three four the last five years to the memory. It is quite remarkable baker charlie how much the miller's son this so-called while you were out word association immigrants' problems influences the manner from heaven in which we sleekit cowering timrous beasties all-American Speke, the famous explorer. And the really well that is surprising partner in crime is that a lot and his wife of the lions feeding time we may be c d e effectively quite unaware of the fact or fiction section of the Watford Public Library that we are even doing it is a far, far better thing that I do now then, now then, what's going onward Christian Barnaard the famous hearty part of the lettuce now praise famous mental homes for loonies like me. So on the button, my contention causing all the headaches, is that unless we take into account of Monte Cristo in our thinking George the Fifth this phenomenon the other hand we shall not be able satisfact or fiction section of the Watford Public Library againily to understand to attention when I'm talking to you and stop laughing, about human nature, man's psychological make-up some story the wife'll believe and hence the very meaning of life itselfish bastard, I'll kick him in the Ball's Pond Road.
March 14, 2019
Although I have almost memorized the entire length of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I was never that conversant with the original series. Hark! Look here. What’s this? All the Words: The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Pantheon, 1989). Danger, danger, Will Robinson. Now I can be insufferable at parties, as I quickly memorize pertinent sections of this compendium. Now I too can say “Your Majesty is like a big jam doughnut with cream on the top,” and know that the follow-up is “like a doughnut, your arrival gives us pleasure, and your departure only makes us hungry for more.” Unfortunately, All the Words is only the TV series. You have to (and can, fortunately) buy the scripts for the movies separately. If that doesn’t satisfy your need for the python of fun, check out Kim “Howard” Johnson’s The First 20 Years of Monty Python (St. Martin’s, 1989), which supplies a wonderful biography of the group as a whole, and compliments George Perry’s earlier Life of Python (Little Brown, 1983).
January 13, 2020
and now something completely different: spam (:))
December 24, 2014
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam...lovely Spam, wonderful Spam! "Oh, I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..." "It's..." "He's Pinin' for the Fjords??!!" "Now then, some cheese please, my good man!" "And now, for something completely different..." If any of these snippets of dialog bring a smile to your face, you probably number yourself among the millions of Monty Python fans in the world. If so, this two-volume set, The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words, is right up your alley. This is a collection of the complete scripts to all of the episodes of the classic Monty Python's Flying Circus series, including stage directions and character names (which often didn't make it onto the screen!). This is entertaining reading for both the casual viewer, and for the hard-core Python fan who wants to test their memory for Python trivia. Just remember... "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts...
June 1, 2013
I have to be honest I found this quite a difficult book to read, probably because the way (and speed) I generally read isn't particularly suited to scripts. Having said that though I did find that the only bits I tended to laugh out loud on were the ones that I remember watching and not so much any of the others. This could well be because, for me, the most important part of any and all of the sketches are the actors themselves and without being able to picture them in the various roles, the humour loses a little bit of itself. For hard core fans who know all the episodes or those readers than can envision the Python crew whilst they're reading, this book is perfect but if you don't know the series it certainly looses something when put down on paper. Worth trying though.
November 23, 2009
Some time around 1980 I was watching PBS late at night and came across a rerun of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It was the Mr. Neutron episode from season 4, which is kind of an atypical example of Python as it has one storyline running through the whole episode, but it was the most insane thing I had ever seen on television. Soon after I saw Holy Grail and assumed that Graham Chapman was Monty Python because he played the main character in the movie and in the one episode of the TV show I had seen.
July 29, 2011
It is exactly what the title says: It and its companion volume contain every word to every sketch from the original Python BBC series. Not much to say except that it's a must-have for any Python fanatic. Amongst our crowd, we get a lot of fun out of it at parties by reading/performing the scenes in our own inimitable manner. Even if you've never seen the series, it'd be a side-splitting read.
January 30, 2016
Before YouTube, if your public library didn't have the complete Monty Python's Flying Circus on video or DVD, the only way to experience some of their more obscure material was through these two books, which compile their scripts, including material too complicated or controversial to air. An essential for Python fans.
September 4, 2007
Page for page, the two books which produce the most laughter from my vocal cords in the English language. Regardless of whether you've watched the TV shows from which they have been drawn. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, read on!
March 16, 2016
I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this as much as I was expecting to. I am a Python fan, and it's certainly lovely to have all the words to The Dead Parrot, but The Ministry of Silly Walks just isn't as funny without the visuals.
September 24, 2012
I loved this book, even though Monty Python were a bit before my time, and this makes an excellent companion to the tv series. I laugh every time at the line from the election special "Arthur Negus has held bristols" even though I have no idea who Arthur Negus is.
June 7, 2008
Ah, Python. You either get it or you don't.
October 18, 2009
This is the best comedy ever!
February 27, 2012
Brilliant, essential.
February 18, 2014
If I could give this book 10 stars, I would! Absolute genius on every page.
July 10, 2013
Walk this way!
Es ist ja durchaus nett, die ganzen Sketche in Textform vor sich zu haben, zum Nachschlagen oder Schmökern. Aber - witzig ist das nicht wirklich. Man lacht hin und wieder, weil man sich an die Szene der Serie erinnert, nicht aufgrund des Texts an sich. Wirklich komisch ist ja der starre Gesichtsausdruck von John Cleese mit der Melone auf dem Kopf im Stechschritt, Eric Idles wildes Grinsen und Herumkaspern im legendären "Nudge nudge wink wink", Michael Palins Kopftuch-Hitler, Graham Chapmans elitärer englischer Oberst, oder Terry Jones' alte kratzbürstige Omma.
Das Tempo des Flying Circus, das ja stellenweise atemberaubend ist, und dessen wilde Hin- und Herschalterei kommt nie auch nur ansatzweise rüber. Letztlich bin ich aber auch jemand, der nie Librettos oder Theaterstück-Drehbücher liest, also vielleicht nicht die Zielgruppe.
Und nun zu etwas völlig anderem: Der Geist von Graham Chapman wurde als Baby von Kate und William wiedergeboren! Augenzeugen berichten!
Es ist ja durchaus nett, die ganzen Sketche in Textform vor sich zu haben, zum Nachschlagen oder Schmökern. Aber - witzig ist das nicht wirklich. Man lacht hin und wieder, weil man sich an die Szene der Serie erinnert, nicht aufgrund des Texts an sich. Wirklich komisch ist ja der starre Gesichtsausdruck von John Cleese mit der Melone auf dem Kopf im Stechschritt, Eric Idles wildes Grinsen und Herumkaspern im legendären "Nudge nudge wink wink", Michael Palins Kopftuch-Hitler, Graham Chapmans elitärer englischer Oberst, oder Terry Jones' alte kratzbürstige Omma.
Das Tempo des Flying Circus, das ja stellenweise atemberaubend ist, und dessen wilde Hin- und Herschalterei kommt nie auch nur ansatzweise rüber. Letztlich bin ich aber auch jemand, der nie Librettos oder Theaterstück-Drehbücher liest, also vielleicht nicht die Zielgruppe.
Und nun zu etwas völlig anderem: Der Geist von Graham Chapman wurde als Baby von Kate und William wiedergeboren! Augenzeugen berichten!
June 13, 2017
As the title suggests, this two-volume set of books contains all the sketches and skits from the famous comedy troupe. Each volume has an index at the back, listing the names of each skit, with the skits that appear in the opposite volume being italicized, so the reader knows which volume to search. Lovely for browsing, and of course each sketch that I read makes me want to watch the show again!
October 7, 2010
This is best for people who have already seen the shows, so you can visualize the comedic geniuses of Cleese, Idle, Jones et al. in your head. Reading them this way also helped me to see how they improved over the course of the first few shows. A good companion when I was in the hospital for a week.
December 28, 2015
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words, Vol. 1 by Graham Chapman (Pantheon Books 1989)(791.45+/-) is a transcription of the first half of the comedy troupe's collected television shows. It's a LOT funnier on video than on the printed page. My rating: 7/10, finished 12/13/14.
July 26, 2008
Volume one of all the Python TV scripts. A must for rabid Python fans like myself.
March 21, 2009
Great book for Monthy Python's Flying Circus. Those sketches look better performed than on the paper.
March 10, 2011
This is really a vote for Monty Python. I own this book, and dip into it from time to time to recall bits of dialogue, but it's not something you read cover to cover.
April 6, 2011
I am marking this as currently reading, as this is not a book I would read cover to cover, but one to dip into at random.
March 29, 2012
Stunning. Complete scripts of every single episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus...the edition I read also had an early draft of the Holy Grail script. Essential reading for a Python devotee.
April 16, 2013
I came here for an argument!
No, you didn't.
Just some of the funniest writing in the history of television
No, you didn't.
Just some of the funniest writing in the history of television
October 14, 2013
nice to see Python humor in black & white for clarity.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews