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Monty Python 2015 Round-Up
Monty Python Advert Calendar 2015
A big “thank you” to all who took part in “Monty Python’s Advert Calendar 2015." We had some great responses to the daily Monty Python treats and competitions. The prizes are on their way to our lucky winners.Monty Python & the Holy Grail – 40th Anniversary
We kicked off the 40th anniversary celebrations for “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” with a special screening of the film, followed by a Q&A with Terry G, Terry J, Mike, Eric and John, hosted by John Oliver, at the Beacon Theatre, NYC, as part of the “Monty Python Celebration Weekend at Tribeca Film Festival 2015." The Q&A is the new “extra” on the 40th anniversary release of the film.
The film was re-released in cinemas around the world, accompanied by new messages from each of the Pythons, and a new cinema trailer with new voiceovers from Terry J and Mike, was released.
On 19th August, as part of their celebrations to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and of the glories of the Middle Ages, the British Library hosted a special 40th anniversary screening of “Monty Python and The Holy Grail” (the first-ever cinema screening on the Library’s Piazza) with an “in-conversation with” Michael Palin before the film, hosted by historian Dan Jones.
On the 7th October Knights paraded through the streets of London to promote the new cinema release of the film, and on the 14th October - “Holy Grail Day” - there were special screenings of the film in cinemas around the world, with audiences attending in fancy dress and singing along to the new sing-along version of the film.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment marked the 40th anniversary with a 40th Anniversary Edition, available as a Limited Edition Gift Set and in standard Blu-ray™ packaging.
Both editions include all-new artwork from Terry Gilliam and the all-new 30-minute John Oliver-hosted Python Q&A recorded live at the Beacon Theatre, YC.
The Limited Edition Gift Set features collectible castle packaging with real catapult action and rubber farm animals, plus all-new exclusive introductory letters from Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones.
The 40th anniversary edition of the film was also made available on iTunes.
You can see the new trailer, videos of the Pythons “unboxing” the Limited Edition Castle Box Set, the Knights Parade and more here.
Monty Python – The Meaning Of Live
The Rose D’Or nominated feature length documentary, which offers unprecedented access to the preparations and staging of the Python 2014 reunion shows, gives an insight into what made the Pythons into a global phenomenon and includes all-new interviews with Mike, Terry, Terry, John and Eric, spent the year on the film festival circuit. Screenings took place at film festivals including Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto HotDocs, Vancouver International Film Festival, Sheffield DocFest, Woodstock Film Festival, DMZ Docs South Korea, Copenhagen International Doc Festival and Sao Paolo International Film Festival.
We partnered with Theatrical-On-Demand distribution company, Gathr Films, so individuals llike you have the opportunity to organize and promote screenings of the film at your local movie theatre.
The film is also now available on iTunes.Monty Python Royal Mail Stamp
On 1st April 2015, Monty Python were celebrated on a Royal Mail stamp as part of a set of stamps, “Comedy Greats”, to mark the contribution to the world of entertainment and comedy by some of the nation’s most cherished performers across the decades since the 1950s.“Galaxy Song” Release for Record Store Day
On 18th April 2015, “Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python… Galaxy Song” was released as a limited edition 7” single for Record Store Day 2015. To coincide with the release, we produced an official music video and created a Python version of the classic 1970s arcade game “Asteroids,” featuring all the Pythons, Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox.
Monty Python Official YouTube Channel
This year on the Monty Python YouTube Channel we’ve added over 47 sketches from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” created a variety of new Playlists, including “International Silly Walks" to celebrate all the silly walking that goes on around the world, "Personal Best" from Mike, John, Terry J, Terry G, Eric and Graham and “Music Videos” featuring the official music videos including that for “Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python… Galaxy Song”. We’ve also created long-form videos of your favorite sketches from “Life of Brian” and “The Holy Grail” and added more official Lyric Videos, so you can sing along to Monty Python’s biggest hits and much much more!
We also had our first-ever You Tube competition to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of “Monty Python Live (mostly) – One Down Five to Go”, in which we asked you to send us videos of you acting out one of the sketches that was featured in the show and/or re-enacting one of the song and dance routines from the show. We had a great mix of entries and the Pythons voted for their favorite. The winner was “I’ve Got Two Legs” by Alex Lowes Films.Python Archive
The archive build has continued through the year.
We found some gems, including original artwork from “The Holy Grail” and “Life of Brian” by Terry G, boxes of production paperwork and scripts for “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life”, a mock-up of an idea for a Monty Python album cover and original working scripts from the “Flying Circus” series.
We also had a special delivery of 25 boxes from the BFI, including the original Python-member-faced fish from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life”, boxes labeled “Cardinal cape with cross”, “Dentist tabard, bloody”, “Padded female body form ‘TJ’” and “Male corset with taps” all of which we’ve shared with you on Facebook, Twitter and on the website, and in the “Python Archive Build” photo album.Merchandise
The Monty Python Online Store (UK) and Monty Python Online Shop (US) have been revamped, and include classic and new merchandise lines.
Over the year we have added all-new designs, including special “Holy Grail 40th Anniversary” t-shirts, Halloween t-shirts and two Gumby Christmas sweaters.
Funko released a “Holy Grail” Pop! Movies Range, including vinyl figures of the Black Knight, French Taunter, King Arthur, Tim the Enchanter and Sir Bedevere, with more to come in 2016.
To celebrate Lumberjack Day 2015, 26th September, we launched a competition for you to design a lumberjack-inspired t-shirt. The winning design was from Jay from Manchester and sold on our online store.
On 21st October 2015, we announced the “Monty Python Vintage Merchandise Sale” making available limited edition “vintage” merchandise that had been unearthed from the Python vaults. New ranges were added each week up to Christmas. There are still some items available here.
7th January was International Silly Walks Day! We released a new “Silly Walks” t-shirt to commemorate the day. To find out more about the day visit here.New Releases
On 8th June 2015, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” were released as Limited Edition Steelbooks, with new packaging designed by Terry G.
Spamalot
“Spamalot” celebrated its 10-year anniversary since opening on Broadway with three performances of the show at the Hollywood Bowl from 31st July- 2nd August, starring Christian Slater as Sir Galahad, Prince Herbert’s Father and The Black Knight. The show also starred Merle Dandridge as The Lady of the Lake, Warwick Davis as Patsy, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Sir Robin and Craig Robinson as King Arthur. Eric Idle took on the role as the Historian.
The Pythons
Terry Jones celebrated the release of his science-fiction comedy feature film “Absolutely Anything” on 14th August. The film stars Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Rob Riggle, Eddie Izzard and Joanna Lumley, with the voices of Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Eric Idle and marks Terry’s first film as director in nearly 20 years.
Terry G published his 'pre-posthumous memoir' – “Gilliamesque” - in October, with a limited edition released on 22nd November . To promote the book he did a series of live “in conversation” events in London, New York and LA, including a talk at London’s Southbank Centre. In November, Terry G also took his opera “Benvenuto Cellini” to Barcelona.
Eric has a busy year of working on new projects, his show “What about Dick” was released on iTunes and he took “Not the Messiah” to Hungary.
In October, Eric & John went on tour in the U.S. with their new show “John Cleese and Eric Idle: Together Again At Last… For The Very First Time.” . In December, they announced that they will be taking the show to Australia in February 2016.
This year Michael narrated the 2015 BAFTA-winning “Clangers” series for the BBC, launched his new website and online shop themichaelpalin.com, and completed his “Thirty Years Tour”, a stage show in which Michael, aided and abetted by a rich and often rare archive of film, video, photos and recordings, looks back over three decades of his diaries, to mark the paperback publication of his latest volume, “Travelling To Work – Diaries 1988 to 1998” published in September.Coming up in 2016
NBCUniversal’s new streaming comedy channel, Seeso, will debut in January 2016 and will feature, for the first time ever on SVOD and exclusively on Seeso, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” re-mastered to HD for the first time, along with the Python films, and the complete collection of Python documentaries and specials. The ad-free subscription service will be available at www.seeso.com and on streaming platforms, connected devices and other distribution partners for $3.99 per month.
Look out for new Monty Python merchandise, books and releases, as well as special screenings of the films, and lots of activity from the individual Pythons!
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Finally, thank you to Mr D. P Gumby and the Pepperpots who have been providing us with amusing thoughts throughout the year, for Pythonland and our Facebook page, including some gems:
"We at the Church of the Divine Loony believe in the power of prayer to turn the face purple!"
"I hate all this sex on television… I keep falling off"---IF YOU'D LIKE TO RECEIVE THE MONTY PYTHON NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX CLICK HERE.
More news from Monty Python
19 August 2015
'Monty Python - The Meaning Of Live' Comes to Theaters in the U.S.
8 December 2015
Monty Python Vintage Merchandise Sale
3 July 2017
Monty Python in Politics
