1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,162 WWW.MY-SUBS.CO 1 00:00:06,567 --> 00:00:10,526 And now, a short introduction from the producers' legal representative, 2 00:00:10,567 --> 00:00:12,125 Mr Abe Appenheimer. 3 00:00:12,807 --> 00:00:15,367 Hello, and welcome to this documentary 4 00:00:15,407 --> 00:00:17,716 containing new and exclusive interviews 5 00:00:17,767 --> 00:00:20,600 with the five surviving members of Monty Python. 6 00:00:20,647 --> 00:00:24,196 The producers wish to make it clear that any opinions expressed herein 7 00:00:24,247 --> 00:00:27,637 are those of the individuals speaking and hold no truth whatsoever. 8 00:00:27,687 --> 00:00:32,636 Pursuant, therefore, to clause 46 of the Broadcasting, Video, Television Act, 1989, 9 00:00:32,687 --> 00:00:35,440 subsection 4, 3 and 2, clause... 10 00:00:46,007 --> 00:00:48,475 ..subject to clause 4.123, 11 00:00:48,527 --> 00:00:52,236 no viewer or watcher may copy, repeat, impersonate, mime, 12 00:00:52,287 --> 00:00:54,755 either contextually or noncontextually, 13 00:00:54,807 --> 00:00:57,480 any material whatsoever in any public place, 14 00:00:57,527 --> 00:01:02,442 such as a street, pub, club, hotel, oil rig, Baptist church... 15 00:01:22,487 --> 00:01:24,478 Python 16 00:01:24,527 --> 00:01:28,076 The brand-new documentary of Python 17 00:01:28,127 --> 00:01:31,199 lt's a new documentary 18 00:01:31,247 --> 00:01:34,523 lt's about Monty Python 19 00:01:34,567 --> 00:01:38,480 Unlike other Monty Python documentaries 20 00:01:38,527 --> 00:01:41,360 This is brand-new 21 00:01:41,407 --> 00:01:44,956 lt's a new documentary 22 00:01:45,007 --> 00:01:48,283 lt's not complimentary 23 00:01:48,327 --> 00:01:52,957 But it's better than a hysterectomy 24 00:01:55,487 --> 00:01:59,446 lt's Monty 25 00:01:59,487 --> 00:02:06,563 Python 26 00:02:34,927 --> 00:02:37,361 Meanwhile, how glad and grateful is Britain 27 00:02:37,407 --> 00:02:40,444 that thousands have fought their way out and come home. 28 00:02:40,487 --> 00:02:42,239 And are they glad to be back again? 29 00:02:42,287 --> 00:02:45,324 Well, they'll tell you that after what they've been seeing, 30 00:02:45,367 --> 00:02:47,278 England looks all right. 31 00:02:47,327 --> 00:02:49,761 - You glad to be back, boys? - Sure! 32 00:02:50,767 --> 00:02:52,917 England was in black-and-white after the war, 33 00:02:52,967 --> 00:02:57,438 and until about 1959, l think, we had rationing. 34 00:02:57,487 --> 00:02:59,284 l remember we didn't have enough. 35 00:02:59,327 --> 00:03:02,364 We had butter rations, you can have a piece of butter a week, 36 00:03:02,407 --> 00:03:05,080 and bread rationing and meat rationing. 37 00:03:05,127 --> 00:03:09,086 London was completely composed of holes and bomb sites, 38 00:03:09,127 --> 00:03:13,120 and it was a sort of grey duffel-coat-wearing, 39 00:03:13,167 --> 00:03:16,079 very respectable, everybody talked in received English... 40 00:03:16,127 --> 00:03:19,961 ''Good evening, this is the BBC, and here is the news.'' 41 00:03:20,007 --> 00:03:25,525 On the radio, the news announcers wore black tie to read the news. 42 00:03:25,567 --> 00:03:28,525 So it was that kind of unnecessarily uptight place. 43 00:03:28,567 --> 00:03:30,922 l think l had quite a happy childhood. 44 00:03:33,007 --> 00:03:36,158 My poor old dad gets quite a bad press, 45 00:03:36,207 --> 00:03:39,324 cos l've mentioned him being a bit cantankerous. 46 00:03:39,367 --> 00:03:42,518 Apart from his slight cantankerousness, 47 00:03:42,567 --> 00:03:47,243 he was a fond father, he quite liked jokes, 48 00:03:47,287 --> 00:03:49,039 he liked practical jokes a lot. 49 00:03:49,087 --> 00:03:52,841 ln fact, l've still got a fake dog turd that he bought me. 50 00:03:52,887 --> 00:03:56,562 l mean, how many people's fathers would buy their sons a dog turd? 51 00:03:56,607 --> 00:04:01,362 ''You've got into Oxford. Here's a turd.'' 52 00:04:02,847 --> 00:04:07,557 My mother, she was terrific, my mum. She was absolutely great. 53 00:04:07,607 --> 00:04:10,963 And she was more encouraging what l wanted to do. 54 00:04:11,007 --> 00:04:15,364 My father was obsessed with money, or rather, the lack of it, 55 00:04:15,407 --> 00:04:19,798 and worried that l might follow my sister's progress into acting. 56 00:04:19,847 --> 00:04:25,126 He just didn't want that, he just said... he felt that was the way to rack and ruin, 57 00:04:25,887 --> 00:04:30,438 whereas my mother, l think, understood a little bit of my interest in performing. 58 00:04:30,487 --> 00:04:33,081 My relationship with my father was... 59 00:04:34,967 --> 00:04:38,596 lt was...always at one remove, in a way, because... 60 00:04:38,647 --> 00:04:42,322 l think he must have seen me when l was a few days old, 61 00:04:42,367 --> 00:04:45,996 but he was in the RAF, up in Scotland. 62 00:04:46,047 --> 00:04:49,323 Then he was shipped off to lndia, and spent the war in lndia, 63 00:04:49,367 --> 00:04:52,120 so he never saw me again until l was four and a half. 64 00:04:52,167 --> 00:04:55,876 And l can remember going down to Colwyn Bay railway station 65 00:04:55,927 --> 00:04:58,600 and walking up the steps with my mum and my brother 66 00:04:58,647 --> 00:05:00,365 and standing on the platform, 67 00:05:00,407 --> 00:05:04,195 and then my mother getting terribly anxious that he wasn't there. 68 00:05:04,247 --> 00:05:09,640 Suddenly, as the crowds vanished, there was a man in a forage cap 69 00:05:09,687 --> 00:05:13,475 and a kit bag, a big kit bag, at the end of the platform. 70 00:05:13,527 --> 00:05:17,520 And that was my dad. And so he kisses my mum and my brother, 71 00:05:17,567 --> 00:05:20,035 and then he kisses me, and he's got a moustache! 72 00:05:20,087 --> 00:05:23,204 l'd never been kissed by anybody with a moustache before. 73 00:05:23,247 --> 00:05:25,761 So l've always been... l've always had horrors 74 00:05:25,807 --> 00:05:29,243 about being kissed by men in moustaches ever since! 75 00:05:30,087 --> 00:05:33,124 Graham, as a policeman's son, 76 00:05:33,167 --> 00:05:37,718 had had a very good, solid family background, 77 00:05:37,767 --> 00:05:41,840 but l think, because life was tough when he was growing up, 78 00:05:41,887 --> 00:05:48,156 and for a country copper during the war, it was a very busy time. 79 00:05:48,207 --> 00:05:52,564 There was not a lot of time for the children while they were growing up. 80 00:05:52,607 --> 00:05:55,644 And l think Graham actually missed 81 00:05:55,687 --> 00:05:59,475 a really warm and supportive atmosphere. 82 00:05:59,527 --> 00:06:01,324 Minneapolis, Minnesota, 83 00:06:01,367 --> 00:06:06,157 Minnesota being the furthest north state in America, probably the most middle. 84 00:06:06,207 --> 00:06:08,038 So we're in the middle and at the top. 85 00:06:08,087 --> 00:06:11,716 We lived in a little summer cottage out in a place called Medicine Lake 86 00:06:11,767 --> 00:06:15,442 that my dad had put insulation in so we could get through these winters. 87 00:06:15,487 --> 00:06:18,320 But it was some years before we got an indoor toilet. 88 00:06:18,367 --> 00:06:22,565 So l think the memory of my childhood is one that is really odd, 89 00:06:22,607 --> 00:06:24,996 because l can remember it, but l can't feel it, 90 00:06:25,047 --> 00:06:28,722 was going out in the middle of winter for a dump 91 00:06:28,767 --> 00:06:30,598 in the biffy, as they were known. 92 00:06:30,647 --> 00:06:34,435 And l don't know how we did that, there was no heating, nothing, 93 00:06:34,487 --> 00:06:37,445 you just sat there on a wooden plank with a hole, 94 00:06:37,487 --> 00:06:40,160 and did your business, then you came back in. 95 00:06:40,847 --> 00:06:43,077 lt was a decent world there, 96 00:06:43,127 --> 00:06:46,244 and l was part of that decent world, with a decent family, 97 00:06:46,287 --> 00:06:50,405 and we would go to church on Sunday, and we would go to youth camps. 98 00:06:50,447 --> 00:06:54,281 And, at least in school, and particularly in high school, 99 00:06:54,327 --> 00:06:56,522 the emphasis was on science and maths, 100 00:06:56,567 --> 00:07:00,560 you know, we were engineering for a new future in America. 101 00:07:00,607 --> 00:07:04,885 l was in the Boy Scouts. l did all the things that you were supposed to do. 102 00:07:04,927 --> 00:07:08,283 My dad was born Reginald Francis Cheese, 103 00:07:08,327 --> 00:07:11,444 his dad was John Edwin Cheese. 104 00:07:12,447 --> 00:07:15,007 He stayed a Cheese until 1915, 105 00:07:15,047 --> 00:07:18,596 when he joined the army and he changed the name to Cleese. 106 00:07:18,647 --> 00:07:20,717 l don't know why, cos when l went to school, 107 00:07:20,767 --> 00:07:24,123 l was always called Old Cheese, it made no difference at all. 108 00:07:24,167 --> 00:07:26,397 But anyway, he was the only Cleese. 109 00:07:26,447 --> 00:07:28,517 l went to the Weston-super-Mare post office 110 00:07:28,567 --> 00:07:31,001 and in the phone books, there was no Cleese. 111 00:07:31,047 --> 00:07:33,436 lt's not a proper name of any kind. 112 00:07:33,487 --> 00:07:37,605 And as a result of that, when he married my mother, there were two Cleeses, 113 00:07:37,647 --> 00:07:39,285 when l came along, there were three. 114 00:07:39,327 --> 00:07:42,000 l'm tempted to change it back to Cheese, 115 00:07:42,047 --> 00:07:45,722 cos l think it's a splendid name, and my American friends call me Jack, 116 00:07:45,767 --> 00:07:48,918 l could be Jack Cheese, which is a great name for a comedian. 117 00:07:48,967 --> 00:07:52,880 l think that l had, from what l can figure out, 118 00:07:52,927 --> 00:07:55,122 rather than from what l can remember, 119 00:07:55,167 --> 00:07:57,886 a very difficult early relationship with my mother 120 00:07:57,927 --> 00:08:01,078 that was compensated for, more than compensated for, 121 00:08:01,127 --> 00:08:06,485 by a very warm, very affectionate, very loving relationship with my father. 122 00:08:06,527 --> 00:08:09,644 But with both of them, there was a good comedic connection. 123 00:08:09,687 --> 00:08:12,076 My mother l could connect with 124 00:08:12,127 --> 00:08:15,802 because she had a very black sense of humour, believe it or not. 125 00:08:15,847 --> 00:08:19,157 And l could make her laugh with black humour. 126 00:08:19,207 --> 00:08:22,677 And Dad was much more witty. 127 00:08:22,727 --> 00:08:27,437 l remember watching a particularly inane dance routine with him on television once, 128 00:08:27,487 --> 00:08:31,685 and he said, ''l don't think this will ever replace entertainment, do you?'' 129 00:08:31,727 --> 00:08:34,082 l remember thinking, it's a beautiful phrase. 130 00:08:37,527 --> 00:08:40,883 The interesting thing about the Pythons is we didn't have TV 131 00:08:40,927 --> 00:08:45,478 until we were teenagers, we were the last generation to grow up with radio. 132 00:08:45,527 --> 00:08:48,917 l was an avid listener to radio shows 133 00:08:48,967 --> 00:08:51,925 like Take lt From Here. 134 00:08:51,967 --> 00:08:55,243 Before that, Jewel and Warriss, Hancock, 135 00:08:56,607 --> 00:08:58,086 all sorts of radio shows, 136 00:08:58,127 --> 00:09:02,040 and then later, when l was about 13, 1 4, the Goon Show. 137 00:09:02,087 --> 00:09:05,762 The Goons were very important as being, not just their comedy, 138 00:09:05,807 --> 00:09:09,482 but the fact that they were the first people to really use radio. 139 00:09:09,527 --> 00:09:13,202 The whole point of radio is that you can conjure up anything you like. 140 00:09:13,247 --> 00:09:17,365 lt was that week that Nugent Dirt was taken to court by his wife. 141 00:09:21,087 --> 00:09:23,806 Silence in court! Silence! 142 00:09:24,567 --> 00:09:27,764 The court will now stand for Judge Schnorrer. 143 00:09:28,887 --> 00:09:32,482 And if you'll stand for him, you'll stand for anything. 144 00:09:32,527 --> 00:09:34,836 The Goons can take you anywhere. 145 00:09:34,887 --> 00:09:38,721 So can any... All form of radio is in the imagination and creates all that. 146 00:09:38,767 --> 00:09:40,678 l think that was significant for us. 147 00:09:40,727 --> 00:09:44,925 Here came a show which was not like any of the other shows. 148 00:09:44,967 --> 00:09:47,640 lt didn't have the same kind of rules, or any rules. 149 00:09:47,687 --> 00:09:51,123 lt didn't even like the medium that was putting it out. 150 00:09:51,167 --> 00:09:52,964 lt didn't like the BBC. Wonderful! 151 00:09:53,007 --> 00:09:55,202 There was something that l could relate to. 152 00:09:55,247 --> 00:09:57,886 This is the BBC Home Service. 153 00:09:57,927 --> 00:09:59,804 Thank you. 154 00:09:59,847 --> 00:10:03,635 l was introduced to the Goons when l was about 1 1 , 12 years old. 155 00:10:03,687 --> 00:10:09,842 And l just remember discovering this strange, odd, weird and wonderful show 156 00:10:09,887 --> 00:10:15,757 that was so different from anything you could see on a film, or on television. 157 00:10:15,807 --> 00:10:18,958 And l became almost obsessed with them. 158 00:10:19,007 --> 00:10:22,283 l used to listen to the show, 159 00:10:22,327 --> 00:10:25,922 and then, two nights later, l would listen to the repeat, 160 00:10:25,967 --> 00:10:27,923 because l wanted to catch everything, 161 00:10:27,967 --> 00:10:31,004 and there was so much laughter, you couldn't hear certain lines. 162 00:10:31,047 --> 00:10:35,438 l used to lie on the bed with the radio there and a pillow on my ear, 163 00:10:35,487 --> 00:10:39,605 just to try and get the line that l'd missed two days before. 164 00:10:39,647 --> 00:10:42,719 The Phantom Head Shaver of Brighton, Part Three. 165 00:10:42,767 --> 00:10:44,359 By now, the position was serious. 166 00:10:44,407 --> 00:10:47,126 All told, 300 men had been balded by the Phantom. 167 00:10:47,167 --> 00:10:50,045 l mean, listening to the Goon Show on Sunday lunch time 168 00:10:50,087 --> 00:10:51,998 was a ritual in our family. 169 00:10:52,047 --> 00:10:55,278 Come out, Phantom Head Shaver, you're surrounded! You hear? 170 00:10:55,327 --> 00:10:58,717 We're all heavily armed. lf you don't come, we'll come to the door, 171 00:10:58,767 --> 00:11:01,122 and so help me, we'll knock! 172 00:11:01,727 --> 00:11:04,002 Yeah! That's telling him, yeah! 173 00:11:04,047 --> 00:11:07,596 lf you don't come out, we'll come and we'll knock! 174 00:11:07,647 --> 00:11:08,966 - Shut up! - Shut up! 175 00:11:09,007 --> 00:11:12,682 There was nothing like these people just being very ridiculous and silly 176 00:11:12,727 --> 00:11:17,403 and strange voices, and long pauses and, you know, 177 00:11:17,447 --> 00:11:21,360 playing around with this whole sort of form of radio show 178 00:11:21,407 --> 00:11:24,479 in a way that felt genuinely kind of subversive at the time. 179 00:11:24,527 --> 00:11:27,519 - Bluebottle? - l heard you call, my Captain. 180 00:11:27,567 --> 00:11:30,365 l heard my little ragged Captain call me. 181 00:11:30,407 --> 00:11:33,558 Enter Bluebottle. Pauses for audience applause. 182 00:11:33,607 --> 00:11:36,041 As usual, not a sausage. 183 00:11:36,087 --> 00:11:39,523 At the same time, my parents were listening to mainstream stuff, 184 00:11:39,567 --> 00:11:43,003 like Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, and Take lt From Here, 185 00:11:43,047 --> 00:11:46,357 which were the sort of shows which we all sat and listened to together, 186 00:11:46,407 --> 00:11:48,841 that was what bound the family together. 187 00:11:48,887 --> 00:11:52,243 So l'd be listening to those, whilst at the same time, on whenever it was, 188 00:11:52,287 --> 00:11:57,077 Tuesday night or something, having my own fix of this new show, the Goons. 189 00:12:01,767 --> 00:12:05,476 l don't know what my folks wanted me to be. 190 00:12:05,527 --> 00:12:10,237 l can remember one day some man l'd met insisting on walking me home 191 00:12:10,287 --> 00:12:13,802 and telling my parents that l ought to become a dentist. 192 00:12:13,847 --> 00:12:15,758 Well, thank God, l never did. 193 00:12:15,807 --> 00:12:17,320 l thought, ''What a terrible idea.'' 194 00:12:17,367 --> 00:12:22,725 Dad was very keen that l should join Grace, Derbyshire and Todd, 195 00:12:22,767 --> 00:12:27,682 a firm of chartered accountants on Whiteladies Road, 196 00:12:27,727 --> 00:12:31,640 and l remember he said to me, ''My boy, if you join them, 197 00:12:31,687 --> 00:12:37,239 ''by the time you're 21 , you will have the initials ACA after your name, 198 00:12:37,287 --> 00:12:38,879 ''and the world will be your oyster.'' 199 00:12:38,927 --> 00:12:42,203 ln other words, he was, in a sense, very petit bourgeois. 200 00:12:42,247 --> 00:12:46,843 My father wanted me to get a good job and make a lot of money, 201 00:12:46,887 --> 00:12:49,037 so l wouldn't be dependent on him. 202 00:12:49,087 --> 00:12:51,920 l don't think he had any idea of what he wanted me to do. 203 00:12:51,967 --> 00:12:54,481 He just had a lot of ideas of what he didn't want me to do, 204 00:12:54,527 --> 00:12:59,396 which was mainly, sort of, acting and performing, writing, all that sort of stuff. 205 00:12:59,447 --> 00:13:03,520 And he sent me away to public school, Shrewsbury, 206 00:13:03,567 --> 00:13:07,560 which had a good reputation, l think he felt, ''They'll sort him out there.'' 207 00:13:07,607 --> 00:13:09,677 One of Michael's great talents, 208 00:13:09,727 --> 00:13:13,276 which was perfectly easily arrived at, 209 00:13:13,327 --> 00:13:17,081 was, sort of, taking off the character of the masters. 210 00:13:17,127 --> 00:13:22,485 Michael had a natural way of drawing their character out, 211 00:13:22,527 --> 00:13:24,006 their little mannerisms. 212 00:13:24,047 --> 00:13:27,517 From quite early on, l could entertain people, in a small way. 213 00:13:27,567 --> 00:13:32,595 And l remember, in 1953, when it was the time of the Coronation, 214 00:13:32,647 --> 00:13:36,765 l would do an improvised little show at milk break in the morning, 215 00:13:36,807 --> 00:13:40,083 at 1 1 o'clock, for anyone that wanted to come, in this tiny room, 216 00:13:40,127 --> 00:13:44,996 and l'd play all the different characters, and it was all very silly and low-level, 217 00:13:45,047 --> 00:13:48,926 but it was things like, you know, the Duke of Edinburgh being caught short, 218 00:13:48,967 --> 00:13:51,527 during the actual Coronation, looking round 219 00:13:51,567 --> 00:13:54,400 and having to fish out a toilet roll. 220 00:13:54,447 --> 00:13:56,165 Oh, it was funny when l was ten! 221 00:13:56,927 --> 00:14:00,044 Growing up in Wolverhampton, that's not something anybody did - 222 00:14:00,087 --> 00:14:02,726 trying to escape is what you did. 223 00:14:02,767 --> 00:14:04,644 lt was a miserable fucking place, 224 00:14:04,687 --> 00:14:08,760 but l was abandoned there about the age of seven, in a playground, 225 00:14:08,807 --> 00:14:10,957 and my mum left, thinking it would be nicer 226 00:14:11,007 --> 00:14:14,124 if she just slipped away, rather than say goodbye, 227 00:14:14,167 --> 00:14:16,362 so l hadn't got it that l was going to stay, 228 00:14:16,407 --> 00:14:19,240 l knew we'd taken the suitcase, it had all my names on it, 229 00:14:19,287 --> 00:14:21,403 on the underwear and six pairs of socks, 230 00:14:21,447 --> 00:14:23,324 but l hadn't got the concept, 231 00:14:23,367 --> 00:14:25,801 ''Wait, wait, no, l'm ready to leave now.'' 232 00:14:25,847 --> 00:14:28,202 Too late. So that was a bummer. 233 00:14:28,247 --> 00:14:31,000 The Royal Wolverhampton School is based on the fact 234 00:14:31,047 --> 00:14:34,119 that you must have lost one or other of your parents. 235 00:14:34,167 --> 00:14:38,558 ln Eric's case, his father, who was in the RAF and was air crew, 236 00:14:38,607 --> 00:14:40,802 went all through the war, and then, l think, 237 00:14:40,847 --> 00:14:43,236 within 12 months of taking a civilian job, 238 00:14:43,287 --> 00:14:46,643 died in a road crash on the way home from work. 239 00:14:46,687 --> 00:14:49,804 There's hundreds of memories, mainly nightmares. 240 00:14:49,847 --> 00:14:53,760 l was there from seven. l didn't escape till l was 19. 241 00:14:53,807 --> 00:14:56,275 You escape into, you know, various things. 242 00:14:56,327 --> 00:15:00,366 l was in a little skiffle group. First of all, l played harmonica. 243 00:15:00,407 --> 00:15:04,036 We identified with the black slave movement in America, 244 00:15:04,087 --> 00:15:07,204 because we felt like we were oppressed. 245 00:15:07,247 --> 00:15:10,125 And l was once in a drama. 246 00:15:11,047 --> 00:15:14,437 l played Second Fieldmouse in Toad Of Toad Hall. 247 00:15:15,887 --> 00:15:19,766 Which... l was offered the part of First Fieldmouse, 248 00:15:19,807 --> 00:15:22,605 but l realised that Second Fieldmouse had more words, 249 00:15:22,647 --> 00:15:24,444 so l held out for that part. 250 00:15:24,487 --> 00:15:27,797 His headmaster at that time was Owen Dickinson. 251 00:15:27,847 --> 00:15:31,886 And Owen always said, ''ldle by name, idle by nature.'' 252 00:15:31,927 --> 00:15:34,441 This idle bastard left that school 253 00:15:34,487 --> 00:15:39,845 with ten O levels, three A levels and two S levels, so... 254 00:15:39,887 --> 00:15:42,355 and going to Cambridge on a scholarship, 255 00:15:42,407 --> 00:15:44,796 so not quite so fuckin' idle! 256 00:15:47,447 --> 00:15:50,837 High school, you know, l did all the right things there. 257 00:15:50,887 --> 00:15:53,481 l didn't actually know l was doing the right things. 258 00:15:53,527 --> 00:15:57,281 Most things come to me as surprises, because l ended up... 259 00:15:57,327 --> 00:16:01,002 by the end of it, l was student body president, valedictorian, 260 00:16:01,047 --> 00:16:03,766 head cheerleader, it was crazy, l don't know how it happened, 261 00:16:03,807 --> 00:16:06,560 because l never applied myself for any of these things, 262 00:16:06,607 --> 00:16:08,518 they just kind of happened around me. 263 00:16:08,567 --> 00:16:11,798 There was a thing in the '50s, you got inundated 264 00:16:11,847 --> 00:16:14,281 with all this right-wing material. 265 00:16:14,327 --> 00:16:19,276 But anti-communism seemed to go hand-in-hand with racial discrimination, 266 00:16:19,327 --> 00:16:22,399 so you'd get all these pictures of black guys being lynched, 267 00:16:22,447 --> 00:16:25,086 because they'd been seen talking to a white girl. 268 00:16:25,127 --> 00:16:27,482 This was the right thing, in America. 269 00:16:27,527 --> 00:16:30,837 You had the Ku Klux Klan and the anti-communists 270 00:16:30,887 --> 00:16:34,436 inundating every student body leader at the time. 271 00:16:34,487 --> 00:16:38,765 l was just shocked by it, l thought it was horrifying, awful stuff. 272 00:16:38,807 --> 00:16:43,164 On one hand, you had drag racing, and cool things like in American Graffiti, 273 00:16:43,207 --> 00:16:46,358 on the other hand, you had this undercurrent of the Klan 274 00:16:46,407 --> 00:16:48,841 and the right-wingers. 275 00:16:58,167 --> 00:17:00,203 We did feel in the early '60s 276 00:17:00,247 --> 00:17:04,638 that life was changing and that we'd never go back. 277 00:17:05,527 --> 00:17:08,644 You felt that religion was becoming a bit of a dodo 278 00:17:09,727 --> 00:17:13,276 and that people were questioning religious authority 279 00:17:13,327 --> 00:17:16,956 as well as class authority, as well as any kind of authority. 280 00:17:17,007 --> 00:17:21,398 The most significant moment in my life was when, 1962, 281 00:17:21,447 --> 00:17:24,883 l was down in London and we went to see Beyond The Fringe, 282 00:17:24,927 --> 00:17:27,839 and we couldn't get tickets, only standing tickets, 283 00:17:27,887 --> 00:17:31,402 which l was so grateful for, cos l just rolled around the wall, 284 00:17:31,447 --> 00:17:33,403 l wouldn't have stayed in a seat. 285 00:17:33,447 --> 00:17:35,039 They made me laugh so hard, 286 00:17:35,087 --> 00:17:38,523 Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore. 287 00:17:38,567 --> 00:17:41,525 l didn't realise you could be that funny. 288 00:17:41,567 --> 00:17:45,446 lsn't that fantastic? Children under ten, twelve-and-six. 289 00:17:54,247 --> 00:17:56,158 That's very cheap, you know? 290 00:17:56,207 --> 00:18:00,359 l agree. lt's very cheap. l think they're probably imported. 291 00:18:01,527 --> 00:18:04,121 - Probably frozen, l should think. - Or foreign. 292 00:18:04,167 --> 00:18:08,604 Foreign or frozen. You wouldn't get local children at that price. 293 00:18:08,647 --> 00:18:11,081 l wonder how they prepare them. 294 00:18:11,127 --> 00:18:15,598 l shouldn't think they do. l should think they spring it on them. 295 00:18:16,607 --> 00:18:21,761 The influence of Peter could hardly, hardly be exaggerated, 296 00:18:21,807 --> 00:18:27,723 cos this was a guy who'd had, l think, two separate West End revues running, 297 00:18:27,767 --> 00:18:30,804 totally his material, while he was still at Cambridge. 298 00:18:30,847 --> 00:18:34,476 l mean, they were so brilliant, and they attacked everything 299 00:18:34,527 --> 00:18:37,280 that l'd just spent 19 years being oppressed by. 300 00:18:37,327 --> 00:18:41,286 Royalty, police, authorities, teachers, 301 00:18:41,327 --> 00:18:46,924 every single authority figure was completely pilloried and destroyed. 302 00:18:46,967 --> 00:18:48,923 And that just... My life just changed. 303 00:18:48,967 --> 00:18:52,164 Peter Cook playing Harold Macmillan on the stage. 304 00:18:52,207 --> 00:18:56,120 Macmillan came to the show one night, and Peter goes right off the script 305 00:18:56,167 --> 00:18:58,840 and starts talking, as Macmillan, to Macmillan. 306 00:18:58,887 --> 00:19:00,798 People said, ''He's playing the Prime Minister!'' 307 00:19:00,847 --> 00:19:03,156 lt sounds quaint now, because everybody does. 308 00:19:03,207 --> 00:19:05,641 The government had been in power 13 years, 309 00:19:05,687 --> 00:19:08,247 and the slogan was, ''You've never had it so good.'' 310 00:19:08,287 --> 00:19:11,757 And so when Peter Cook did Harold Macmillan on stage, 311 00:19:11,807 --> 00:19:15,959 he completely made them a figure of fun and redundant, 312 00:19:16,007 --> 00:19:20,319 and not up-to-date, and it was no longer possible to take them seriously. 313 00:19:20,367 --> 00:19:24,440 And l think that satire, occasionally, can do things like that. 314 00:19:24,487 --> 00:19:29,117 We shall receive four minutes' warning of any impending nuclear attack. 315 00:19:29,167 --> 00:19:31,078 Some people said, ''My goodness me, 316 00:19:31,127 --> 00:19:33,436 ''four minutes, that's not a very long time.'' 317 00:19:33,487 --> 00:19:37,366 l would remind those doubters that some people in this great country of ours 318 00:19:37,407 --> 00:19:39,796 can run a mile in four minutes. 319 00:19:40,767 --> 00:19:44,077 And the government was thrown out and then Harold Wilson came, 320 00:19:44,127 --> 00:19:46,960 smoking his pipe, and there were satire shows on telly, 321 00:19:47,007 --> 00:19:53,640 and the whole loosening of... the way of being of England was changed. 322 00:19:53,687 --> 00:19:57,726 We went from this almost 1950s deferential society 323 00:19:57,767 --> 00:20:01,521 to a society where, suddenly, people were making jokes about the Queen 324 00:20:01,567 --> 00:20:03,876 and the Prime Minister and this kind of thing, 325 00:20:03,927 --> 00:20:07,363 it was a completely different atmosphere, an enormous release of energy. 326 00:20:08,167 --> 00:20:11,204 College was a wonderful time, it was Occidental College, 327 00:20:11,247 --> 00:20:12,805 very classy little college. 328 00:20:12,847 --> 00:20:16,556 Kids tended to be rich there, or smart, like l was. 329 00:20:16,607 --> 00:20:19,883 l was there on a scholarship, a Presbyterian scholarship, 330 00:20:19,927 --> 00:20:21,440 l went on a church scholarship 331 00:20:21,487 --> 00:20:24,160 because at one point, l was going to be a missionary, 332 00:20:24,207 --> 00:20:25,481 and then l got smart. 333 00:20:25,527 --> 00:20:29,486 At that time, in America, there was a magazine called Help! 334 00:20:29,527 --> 00:20:32,439 Harvey Kurtzman, who was the guy that began Mad comics, 335 00:20:32,487 --> 00:20:36,560 was the idol of all of us, of my generation, the cartoonists, anyway. 336 00:20:36,607 --> 00:20:41,158 l was doing this magazine and l started emulating Help! with Fang. 337 00:20:41,207 --> 00:20:44,165 He wanted to take over the magazine and he had all these plans, 338 00:20:44,207 --> 00:20:46,437 it was going to be four issues instead of two 339 00:20:46,487 --> 00:20:51,003 and it was going to be this, that... l don't know if he had a budget. 340 00:20:51,047 --> 00:20:53,800 Fang magazine lost money all the time, 341 00:20:53,847 --> 00:20:57,886 and Terry said, ''We can make a change on that.'' 342 00:20:57,927 --> 00:21:00,487 This is the very first edition. 343 00:21:00,527 --> 00:21:03,803 That was one of his last-minute cartoons. 344 00:21:03,847 --> 00:21:07,203 There wasn't time for him to do it in pen and ink, so this is pencil, 345 00:21:07,247 --> 00:21:10,842 so he was disappointed that it didn't come out better than it did. 346 00:21:10,887 --> 00:21:13,355 Before Terry took it over, it was pretty boring. 347 00:21:13,407 --> 00:21:17,241 lt was poetry, and a few cartoons, 348 00:21:17,287 --> 00:21:20,723 and essays and things like that. 349 00:21:20,767 --> 00:21:24,646 Terry wanted to transform it into something exciting 350 00:21:24,687 --> 00:21:27,042 and really do something with it. 351 00:21:27,087 --> 00:21:29,885 One thing we did, which l suppose is the beginning 352 00:21:29,927 --> 00:21:33,044 of what eventually became either animation or film for me, 353 00:21:33,087 --> 00:21:38,480 was we would do fumetti, which basically is ltalian for little puffs of smoke. 354 00:21:38,527 --> 00:21:42,805 And Help! magazine was doing these and we started doing them in our magazine. 355 00:21:42,847 --> 00:21:46,442 We'd go out and you'd find locations, you would cast the parts, 356 00:21:46,487 --> 00:21:49,923 you'd get costumes and you'd go and shoot these little photographs 357 00:21:49,967 --> 00:21:52,720 that tell a story, and then put bubbles. 358 00:21:52,767 --> 00:21:57,477 We just generally used the magazine to cause mayhem wherever possible, 359 00:21:57,527 --> 00:22:01,520 because one thing about the university was it was quite a conservative place. 360 00:22:01,567 --> 00:22:05,116 So our job was to dismantle all of that as quickly as possible. 361 00:22:05,647 --> 00:22:10,004 On graduation, the dean, when handing me my diploma, 362 00:22:10,047 --> 00:22:13,437 said, ''Gilliam, you deserve a good spanking.'' 363 00:22:13,487 --> 00:22:15,717 l don't know what he really meant, really. 364 00:22:17,567 --> 00:22:21,685 l first met Graham when we came up as freshers 365 00:22:21,727 --> 00:22:25,686 to Emmanuel College in 1959. 366 00:22:25,727 --> 00:22:28,116 Graham was doing an undergraduate course 367 00:22:28,167 --> 00:22:32,126 in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pathology, 368 00:22:32,167 --> 00:22:37,241 prior to going to do three clinical years in a London medical college. 369 00:22:37,287 --> 00:22:40,757 l think, because it seemed the simplest course for me at the time. 370 00:22:42,327 --> 00:22:45,637 Writing essays and doing anything artistic in school 371 00:22:45,687 --> 00:22:47,837 for me, called for a little more effort. 372 00:22:47,887 --> 00:22:51,960 Whereas anything to do with science meant l had to learn things, 373 00:22:52,007 --> 00:22:54,362 and l was reasonably good at learning things. 374 00:22:54,407 --> 00:22:57,717 l didn't have to create anything. So it seemed simpler to do that. 375 00:22:57,767 --> 00:22:59,439 l was a little afraid of creating. 376 00:22:59,487 --> 00:23:02,081 l think it's a good training ground for anything. 377 00:23:02,127 --> 00:23:06,359 You meet all sorts of people, naturally, in very strange predicaments. 378 00:23:06,407 --> 00:23:09,683 And you do strange things to them sometimes. 379 00:23:09,727 --> 00:23:12,799 He was also eccentric and rather zany, 380 00:23:12,847 --> 00:23:14,485 and he liked to entertain. 381 00:23:14,527 --> 00:23:17,963 We always had the feeling that he liked to entertain almost a bit... 382 00:23:18,007 --> 00:23:20,646 He showed off, almost, a little bit. 383 00:23:20,687 --> 00:23:23,520 But he was very amusing, he would lie down in the road, 384 00:23:23,567 --> 00:23:29,119 smoking his pipe, and refuse to get up when the cars couldn't get by. 385 00:23:29,167 --> 00:23:30,919 Things like that. 386 00:23:32,567 --> 00:23:35,843 l first met John in 1961 . 387 00:23:35,887 --> 00:23:38,845 He'd come up as a freshman in 1960 from Clifton. 388 00:23:38,887 --> 00:23:42,721 l supervised him in 1962, 1963. 389 00:23:42,767 --> 00:23:45,839 Oh, John was an admirable, excellent lawyer. 390 00:23:45,887 --> 00:23:48,799 And l'm bound to say it's a loss to the legal profession 391 00:23:48,847 --> 00:23:51,042 that he didn't qualify as a lawyer. 392 00:23:51,087 --> 00:23:54,477 l can just see him at the bar, which he never joined, 393 00:23:54,527 --> 00:23:58,645 and then one could equally see him being elevated to judicial office, 394 00:23:58,687 --> 00:24:00,359 which he never aspired to. 395 00:24:00,407 --> 00:24:03,205 l didn't really enjoy Oxford that much. 396 00:24:03,247 --> 00:24:05,203 l found it a bit daunting, l think. 397 00:24:05,247 --> 00:24:07,522 l sort of liked saying hello to people. 398 00:24:07,567 --> 00:24:10,400 You'd say hello to somebody and they'd just brush past. 399 00:24:10,447 --> 00:24:14,963 lt was also daunting cos you thought, ''Oxford! Everybody's going to be so bright. 400 00:24:15,007 --> 00:24:17,475 ''They're going to be so much cleverer than me.'' 401 00:24:17,527 --> 00:24:20,997 And then you gradually realise it's all an illusion, 402 00:24:21,047 --> 00:24:23,117 nobody's cleverer than anybody else. 403 00:24:23,167 --> 00:24:25,397 When Michael got up to Oxford 404 00:24:25,447 --> 00:24:29,122 l think he was very certain that he wanted to act 405 00:24:29,167 --> 00:24:31,044 and wanted to do revue. 406 00:24:31,087 --> 00:24:36,400 And he teamed up with another Brasenose chap called Robert Hewison 407 00:24:36,447 --> 00:24:39,359 and they made a very good early team. 408 00:24:39,407 --> 00:24:43,559 l first met Michael Palin in the autumn of 1962 409 00:24:43,607 --> 00:24:46,724 when l went up to Brasenose College, Oxford. 410 00:24:46,767 --> 00:24:51,966 And it just so happened that Michael Palin was at the same college, 411 00:24:52,007 --> 00:24:55,044 and he was reading the same subject, which was history. 412 00:24:55,087 --> 00:24:59,603 l was really bluffing my way through university, 413 00:24:59,647 --> 00:25:02,559 telling my parents l was studying, and l was studying, 414 00:25:02,607 --> 00:25:04,359 but l used to study in the evening, 415 00:25:04,407 --> 00:25:07,797 and during the day, l was...we were writing, 416 00:25:07,847 --> 00:25:09,678 we were doing cabaret shows, 417 00:25:09,727 --> 00:25:12,480 putting together 30 minutes' worth of material. 418 00:25:12,527 --> 00:25:15,280 Thanks to Robert. l wouldn't have done this myself. 419 00:25:15,327 --> 00:25:17,283 l didn't know what cabaret was, really. 420 00:25:17,327 --> 00:25:20,683 l thought it was something rather naughty, involving ladies... 421 00:25:20,727 --> 00:25:23,161 and suspenders and stockings and all that. 422 00:25:23,207 --> 00:25:26,119 But he said, ''No, cabaret, it's just performing. 423 00:25:26,167 --> 00:25:30,445 ''lf we can put together half an hour's worth of jokes, we can make some money.'' 424 00:25:30,487 --> 00:25:33,843 Robert drew me more into this theatrical world. 425 00:25:33,887 --> 00:25:37,402 And Terry was in a different college, but he was doing theatre. 426 00:25:37,447 --> 00:25:40,564 And l remember this dark, intense figure 427 00:25:40,607 --> 00:25:42,438 with a cigarette, then, l think, 428 00:25:42,487 --> 00:25:45,797 and a very old coat which he wore all the time. 429 00:25:45,847 --> 00:25:50,967 Terry, in those days, wore this brown lumpy overcoat, 430 00:25:51,007 --> 00:25:58,595 and rode a Vespa, you know, kind of Lambretta type little motorcycle thing. 431 00:25:58,647 --> 00:26:00,842 - Terry was very cool at the time. - Really? 432 00:26:00,887 --> 00:26:07,565 Yeah, he was very cool. He had that sort of dark, kind of Surrey-Welsh look 433 00:26:08,567 --> 00:26:11,923 of someone who clearly was not sure where he fitted in. 434 00:26:11,967 --> 00:26:13,446 lt was kind of mysterious. 435 00:26:13,487 --> 00:26:17,560 And it took me quite a long time to realise that actually, 436 00:26:17,607 --> 00:26:20,485 A, he was a very good actor, very talented actor, 437 00:26:20,527 --> 00:26:24,042 and B, he was actually a very, very funny man. 438 00:26:24,087 --> 00:26:27,238 Robert was very pushy at getting us to do anything. 439 00:26:27,287 --> 00:26:28,879 - Yeah. - lt was great. 440 00:26:28,927 --> 00:26:31,122 Without him pushing along, 441 00:26:31,167 --> 00:26:33,965 l don't think l'd probably be doing what l'm doing now. 442 00:26:34,007 --> 00:26:38,159 l suppose, from then on, we were sort of aware 443 00:26:38,207 --> 00:26:42,758 that all three of us liked writing and performing, 444 00:26:42,807 --> 00:26:45,640 but particularly writing as well as the performing. 445 00:26:45,687 --> 00:26:49,043 And l think that some of the first work l did with Terry 446 00:26:49,087 --> 00:26:52,159 was not acting with him so much as writing with him. 447 00:26:52,207 --> 00:26:57,076 There's a difference between Oxford and Cambridge in creating comedy. 448 00:26:57,127 --> 00:27:00,676 And that is that Cambridge, typically, because it's, l think, 449 00:27:00,727 --> 00:27:03,287 a slightly more scientific university, 450 00:27:03,327 --> 00:27:07,400 had a pretty scientific way of producing comedians, 451 00:27:07,447 --> 00:27:12,680 this thing called the Footlights Club which goes back to 1882. 452 00:27:12,727 --> 00:27:17,562 Well, it was an exclusive little club, really, at the time. 453 00:27:17,607 --> 00:27:21,202 lt only had about 25 student, or undergraduate members, 454 00:27:21,247 --> 00:27:23,477 as they're called in Cambridge. 455 00:27:23,527 --> 00:27:28,965 And you had to be asked by a member of the club, 456 00:27:29,007 --> 00:27:31,919 a current member, to do an audition. 457 00:27:31,967 --> 00:27:37,485 And then you did an audition at what they called a smoking concert. 458 00:27:38,407 --> 00:27:41,877 And on the basis of that, if you got enough laughs, 459 00:27:41,927 --> 00:27:43,406 you were asked to join. 460 00:27:43,447 --> 00:27:46,007 l auditioned for Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor. 461 00:27:46,047 --> 00:27:49,483 And they had the good wit and grace and talent to discover me, 462 00:27:49,527 --> 00:27:53,122 and put me in a Pembroke smoking concert. 463 00:27:53,167 --> 00:27:56,682 And the first piece of material l did was written by John Cleese. 464 00:27:56,727 --> 00:28:00,242 And Cleese couldn't be in the show, cos he was in Fitzwilliam, 465 00:28:00,287 --> 00:28:03,962 or one of those little gay universities, l don't know what they're called. 466 00:28:04,007 --> 00:28:06,885 So he couldn't be in it, so the first time l met him, 467 00:28:06,927 --> 00:28:09,760 l'd just performed a piece of his material, 468 00:28:09,807 --> 00:28:12,480 which was a piece called BBC BC, 469 00:28:12,527 --> 00:28:16,440 it was the BBC giving the news, the Old Testament news, 470 00:28:16,487 --> 00:28:17,840 and l did the weather. 471 00:28:17,887 --> 00:28:21,038 There'll be a plague of locusts coming in from the northeast, 472 00:28:21,087 --> 00:28:24,716 followed by frogs and death of all the first-born. 473 00:28:24,767 --> 00:28:26,041 Sorry about that, Egypt. 474 00:28:26,087 --> 00:28:29,124 The great thing about the Footlights was that we had a club room. 475 00:28:29,167 --> 00:28:32,045 The Oxford guys didn't. lf they wanted to put a show on, 476 00:28:32,087 --> 00:28:35,966 they had to hire a hall and hire a stage 477 00:28:36,007 --> 00:28:38,077 and make curtains work, and find lights. 478 00:28:38,127 --> 00:28:39,116 We had all that. 479 00:28:39,167 --> 00:28:41,317 We had our own bar. lt was fantastic. 480 00:28:41,367 --> 00:28:45,042 When everybody else had to go to bed cos the pubs were closing at 10:30, 481 00:28:45,087 --> 00:28:46,645 we went down the Footlights. 482 00:28:46,687 --> 00:28:49,201 ''What'll you have, sir?'' Two or three in the morning, 483 00:28:49,247 --> 00:28:53,877 we could drink as long as we wanted to, there was lunches catered for. 484 00:28:53,927 --> 00:28:56,487 You could live entirely through the Footlights. 485 00:28:56,527 --> 00:29:00,725 Producing Oxford comedians was a much more accidental, 486 00:29:00,767 --> 00:29:03,964 casual, organic way of doing things. 487 00:29:04,007 --> 00:29:06,646 There was a kind of loose organisation, 488 00:29:07,607 --> 00:29:13,204 not nearly as organised as the Footlights, but basically...for the same end, 489 00:29:13,247 --> 00:29:17,160 which was to produce a revue for the Edinburgh Festival. 490 00:29:17,207 --> 00:29:20,722 l'd met Eric ldle in Edinburgh, when he was doing... 491 00:29:20,767 --> 00:29:23,486 l think they did a revue called My Girl Herbert, 492 00:29:23,527 --> 00:29:26,166 and l knew that John Cleese was around, 493 00:29:26,207 --> 00:29:29,597 because l'd written a monologue which l did in revue in 1964, 494 00:29:29,647 --> 00:29:34,277 which was...turned out to be almost identical to something that John had written. 495 00:29:34,327 --> 00:29:35,999 And we'd never collaborated. 496 00:29:36,047 --> 00:29:39,596 Graham and l met auditioning 497 00:29:39,647 --> 00:29:44,846 for the Footlights revue that would have been 1961 . 498 00:29:44,887 --> 00:29:49,517 And we went out afterwards together and sat down and had a coffee. 499 00:29:49,567 --> 00:29:55,085 And the extraordinary thing is, l thought, ''l don't like this guy.'' 500 00:29:56,527 --> 00:30:00,486 And then shortly after, we started writing together on a regular basis. 501 00:30:00,527 --> 00:30:04,202 l must have completely forgotten this intuition that l didn't like him. 502 00:30:04,247 --> 00:30:05,282 lsn't that strange? 503 00:30:05,327 --> 00:30:07,602 The first time l ever saw John and Graham 504 00:30:07,647 --> 00:30:11,162 was actually in their revue at Wyndham's Theatre. 505 00:30:11,207 --> 00:30:13,118 l went along to a matinee. 506 00:30:13,167 --> 00:30:15,806 Graham didn't seem like a performer at all. 507 00:30:15,847 --> 00:30:18,998 lt was like he'd wandered on, and was just sort of on stage 508 00:30:19,047 --> 00:30:21,242 and was wondering why he was there. 509 00:30:21,287 --> 00:30:23,926 ''Well, l suppose l must be acting, l suppose.'' 510 00:30:23,967 --> 00:30:25,878 And then he'd wander off again. 511 00:30:25,927 --> 00:30:28,202 We went to see our rivals, the Oxford Revue, 512 00:30:28,247 --> 00:30:30,238 and Terry Jones was in that. 513 00:30:30,287 --> 00:30:33,962 And that was nice, and then we met them and hooked up, 514 00:30:34,007 --> 00:30:36,237 and, you know, the Oxford-Cambridge... 515 00:30:36,287 --> 00:30:39,836 And a year later, l met Michael Palin, 516 00:30:39,887 --> 00:30:42,526 also in Edinburgh, in Cambridge '64. 517 00:30:42,567 --> 00:30:46,196 And he was really something to watch on stage, 518 00:30:46,247 --> 00:30:49,398 and clearly really special. 519 00:30:49,447 --> 00:30:51,085 Was it love at first sight? 520 00:30:51,127 --> 00:30:54,324 Or did we just fancy each other secretly, and across a crowded room, 521 00:30:54,367 --> 00:30:57,279 wait for another 1 4 or 1 7 years to pass? 522 00:30:57,327 --> 00:30:59,795 lt... You know... 523 00:30:59,847 --> 00:31:04,796 lt was... There's a recognition when you see somebody doing something good. 524 00:31:04,847 --> 00:31:08,601 Watching Terry Jones on stage, it was clear that he was good. 525 00:31:08,647 --> 00:31:11,002 And it was clear he was good in the revue, 526 00:31:11,047 --> 00:31:13,083 and it was clear Michael was good. 527 00:31:13,127 --> 00:31:16,119 Cleese, of course, was outstanding. 528 00:31:16,167 --> 00:31:19,443 l mean, to see Cleese on stage in 1963, 529 00:31:19,487 --> 00:31:21,284 everybody else was being funny. 530 00:31:21,327 --> 00:31:24,842 Cleese was being serious, and that was so funny. 531 00:31:24,887 --> 00:31:28,243 l mean, he was the only one who never broke character, 532 00:31:28,287 --> 00:31:30,596 never indicated to you he was being funny, 533 00:31:31,167 --> 00:31:34,955 and he was head and shoulders, and that's not just height, above the rest. 534 00:31:35,007 --> 00:31:39,125 lt was when we were in Edinburgh, doing that show, 535 00:31:39,167 --> 00:31:43,240 in the hall that we'd hired from the Parks and Burials Department 536 00:31:43,287 --> 00:31:45,960 of Edinburgh Council, that l suddenly realised, 537 00:31:46,007 --> 00:31:51,161 ''This is something l would really quite like to do, after l leave university, 538 00:31:51,207 --> 00:31:54,517 ''there's a slim, slim possibility l might do this as a career. 539 00:31:54,567 --> 00:31:57,525 ''l'm making people laugh, we've got full houses every night, 540 00:31:57,567 --> 00:31:59,842 ''we've written the stuff, we've performed it.'' 541 00:31:59,887 --> 00:32:02,845 But the problem was my parents, my father particularly, 542 00:32:02,887 --> 00:32:06,846 l couldn't go back and say, ''l've decided to go on the stage and entertain.'' 543 00:32:06,887 --> 00:32:08,798 He would have just had a fit. 544 00:32:08,847 --> 00:32:12,203 Well, when l left Cambridge in '63 and was going to be a solicitor, 545 00:32:12,247 --> 00:32:14,715 with Freshfields, solicitors to the Bank of England, 546 00:32:14,767 --> 00:32:18,555 l told them that l was going into show business... 547 00:32:18,607 --> 00:32:21,326 l didn't say that, l said, ''l'm joining the BBC.'' 548 00:32:21,367 --> 00:32:26,646 And that was OK, because the BBC was the same as the Civil Service. 549 00:32:26,687 --> 00:32:31,920 lt was respectable, you got a pension, 550 00:32:31,967 --> 00:32:36,199 you had financial security, and that was fine. 551 00:32:36,247 --> 00:32:40,320 Terry actually had a salaried job at the Beeb, didn't you? ln '66? 552 00:32:40,367 --> 00:32:43,803 - Yeah. Yeah. l don't know... - Script editor? 553 00:32:43,847 --> 00:32:48,079 l don't know what l was doing. lt's one of those mysteries in life. 554 00:32:48,127 --> 00:32:52,166 l'd just accepted a job, l'd been down for about a year. 555 00:32:52,207 --> 00:32:54,641 Suddenly, Frank Muir's office rang up. 556 00:32:54,687 --> 00:32:57,759 So l went along to Frank Muir's office in the BBC, 557 00:32:57,807 --> 00:33:01,959 and he said, ''We'll give you a job, for £20 a week,'' 558 00:33:02,007 --> 00:33:04,521 which was a huge amount of money, it seemed like. 559 00:33:04,567 --> 00:33:07,684 And so l had this job, but l didn't know what it was. 560 00:33:07,727 --> 00:33:11,436 He said, ''Well, you can just have a look around, see what's happening.'' 561 00:33:11,487 --> 00:33:14,047 And l had two tables, two typewriters, 562 00:33:14,087 --> 00:33:17,159 four telephones, and no idea what l was meant to be doing. 563 00:33:17,207 --> 00:33:19,243 - So you were doing that. - Then you... 564 00:33:19,287 --> 00:33:21,164 l was doing a pop show. 565 00:33:21,207 --> 00:33:24,517 l was hosting a pop show on TWW, 566 00:33:24,567 --> 00:33:26,603 in Bristol, actually, where we're going. 567 00:33:31,327 --> 00:33:36,162 l have to thank that programme, now, for keeping me going, 568 00:33:36,207 --> 00:33:41,839 and for me, being able to tell my parents, my father particularly, 569 00:33:41,887 --> 00:33:44,117 that l was working in Bristol. 570 00:33:44,167 --> 00:33:46,203 ''Oh, who's that for?'' ''Television.'' 571 00:33:46,247 --> 00:33:48,078 ''Ah, BBC. Jolly good.'' 572 00:33:48,127 --> 00:33:49,719 ''Well, no, not the BBC. 573 00:33:49,767 --> 00:33:53,601 ''lt's one of the many local independent companies.'' 574 00:33:53,647 --> 00:33:57,356 lf he'd actually seen what was going on, he might have been a bit upset. 575 00:33:57,407 --> 00:34:00,365 But it gave me the chance, the cover, as it were, 576 00:34:00,407 --> 00:34:03,126 to develop a lot of other interests and ideas. 577 00:34:03,167 --> 00:34:05,158 So l was able, during that time, 578 00:34:05,207 --> 00:34:07,926 thanks to the money from this one show called Now, 579 00:34:07,967 --> 00:34:12,961 to start writing with Terry Jones at the BBC. 580 00:34:13,847 --> 00:34:17,283 Graham telephoned me one evening, 581 00:34:17,327 --> 00:34:19,795 and said he wanted a chat. 582 00:34:19,847 --> 00:34:22,919 The reason he wanted to see me was because 583 00:34:22,967 --> 00:34:28,166 he had qualified in medicine, but he had to make a choice. 584 00:34:28,207 --> 00:34:31,165 The choice was whether or not to do a houseman's year, 585 00:34:31,207 --> 00:34:35,485 an intern year in hospital, and become registered with the General Medical Council, 586 00:34:35,527 --> 00:34:40,885 or whether Graham would go to lbiza and write sketches with John Cleese. 587 00:34:40,927 --> 00:34:42,918 He chose to go to lbiza, 588 00:34:42,967 --> 00:34:45,879 and l'm sure, for him, that was the right choice. 589 00:34:45,927 --> 00:34:48,964 Terry decided that, after he graduated, 590 00:34:49,007 --> 00:34:51,919 that he wanted us to keep doing what we were doing, 591 00:34:51,967 --> 00:34:56,119 we could make some money selling stuff to Harvey Kurtzman's magazine. 592 00:34:56,167 --> 00:34:59,603 So he decided he was going to go to New York 593 00:34:59,647 --> 00:35:02,480 and find Harvey Kurtzman, who was our idol. 594 00:35:02,527 --> 00:35:06,156 So l came to New York and managed to have a meeting with him, 595 00:35:06,207 --> 00:35:08,277 l walked in, it was the Algonquin Hotel. 596 00:35:08,327 --> 00:35:11,478 He wasn't there, but it was full of all my favourite cartoonists, 597 00:35:11,527 --> 00:35:14,837 all the people that had worked for Mad and were now working for Harvey. 598 00:35:14,887 --> 00:35:17,401 These were my gods, and they were all in the room, 599 00:35:17,447 --> 00:35:20,280 and Harvey turns up a little bit later, 600 00:35:20,327 --> 00:35:24,878 and Chuck Alverson, who was the assistant editor at that time, was quitting, 601 00:35:24,927 --> 00:35:28,124 and they needed somebody to take his job and that was me. 602 00:35:28,167 --> 00:35:30,442 l just walked into the job out of nowhere. 603 00:35:30,487 --> 00:35:35,880 And that was when he came back, at the beginning of my senior year, 604 00:35:35,927 --> 00:35:39,681 and sat down in the dorm and told us that he had gotten a job, 605 00:35:39,727 --> 00:35:42,082 working for Harvey Kurtzman. 606 00:35:42,127 --> 00:35:45,244 You know, which to me was just like, you know, 607 00:35:45,287 --> 00:35:46,845 ascending Mount Olympus 608 00:35:46,887 --> 00:35:50,596 and getting a job working for Zeus, or something like that! 609 00:35:50,647 --> 00:35:56,040 lt was, like, unthinkable that people like us could be doing things like that, 610 00:35:56,087 --> 00:35:58,601 but Terry just saw, ''Yeah, we can do that.'' 611 00:35:58,647 --> 00:36:02,925 Help! magazine, in that sense, was the beginning of my connection 612 00:36:02,967 --> 00:36:06,516 with what would become Python, because we had written a story 613 00:36:06,567 --> 00:36:09,843 about a man who falls in love with his daughter's Barbie doll. 614 00:36:09,887 --> 00:36:13,675 About that time, Terry and l went to Greenwich Village 615 00:36:13,727 --> 00:36:17,800 to see this show that had opened called Cambridge Circus. 616 00:36:17,847 --> 00:36:21,283 lt was playing in Greenwich Village, it was comedy from England, 617 00:36:21,327 --> 00:36:25,479 and it was supposed to be really funny, so we went, and it was hilarious. 618 00:36:25,527 --> 00:36:29,281 And there was this guy in the show named John Cleese. 619 00:36:29,327 --> 00:36:35,197 Terry met me and he said, basically, ''l like the faces you pull.'' 620 00:36:35,247 --> 00:36:39,525 Which is very, very complimentary. People used to say it to Laurence Olivier. 621 00:36:39,567 --> 00:36:42,604 ''You know, Sir Larry, love the faces you pull.'' 622 00:36:42,647 --> 00:36:46,435 John, of course, stood out in every possible way from the crowd, 623 00:36:46,487 --> 00:36:51,322 and l got him to appear in this, and that was the beginning of a friendship. 624 00:36:51,367 --> 00:36:55,246 And so when Terry, later on, wound up in England, 625 00:36:55,287 --> 00:36:57,926 many years later, he hooked up with John again, 626 00:36:57,967 --> 00:36:59,844 and the rest is history. 627 00:37:07,727 --> 00:37:12,039 l think that the show that really focused us all on television 628 00:37:12,087 --> 00:37:13,964 was That Was The Week That Was, 629 00:37:14,007 --> 00:37:16,077 because it was an extraordinary event, 630 00:37:16,127 --> 00:37:20,837 people now can't realise how epoch-shattering it was 631 00:37:20,887 --> 00:37:25,722 in that very deferential culture that still existed in England. 632 00:37:25,767 --> 00:37:28,042 One you may have missed this week 633 00:37:28,087 --> 00:37:31,921 in the Radio Times, in Woman's Hour, 634 00:37:31,967 --> 00:37:36,404 What l've Been Doing, by Cecilia Bevan, mother of 13 children. 635 00:37:38,447 --> 00:37:41,883 David Frost has always been extremely good to me, 636 00:37:41,927 --> 00:37:44,521 l have to tell you, 637 00:37:44,567 --> 00:37:49,004 and l suppose l had enough talent, but he saved me so much time. 638 00:37:49,047 --> 00:37:51,117 And he used to phone me every couple of months. 639 00:37:51,167 --> 00:37:56,082 We'd stayed not exactly friends but acquaintances, professional friends. 640 00:37:56,127 --> 00:37:59,199 And he'd set up the satire boom, in That Was The Week That Was, 641 00:37:59,247 --> 00:38:01,556 and he's doing this smart Cambridge satire. 642 00:38:01,607 --> 00:38:04,565 l'd written two or three things for That Was The Week That Was, 643 00:38:04,607 --> 00:38:06,518 which was great excitement. 644 00:38:06,567 --> 00:38:09,365 And he used to ring me up, always from the airport, 645 00:38:09,407 --> 00:38:12,922 and l remember him calling and, ''Oh, hello, David,'' l said. 646 00:38:12,967 --> 00:38:15,925 He said, ''Hello, how are you?'' l said, ''Fine, how are you?'' 647 00:38:15,967 --> 00:38:18,003 He said, ''Super, super, super, super.'' 648 00:38:18,047 --> 00:38:22,359 ''Oh,'' he said, ''would you like to be in a television series?'' 649 00:38:22,407 --> 00:38:25,956 And l said, ''What?'' He said, ''Well, l'm doing a new television series, 650 00:38:26,007 --> 00:38:29,443 ''it's going to be super, with Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. 651 00:38:29,487 --> 00:38:32,365 ''You won't know them yet, but it will be great fun. 652 00:38:32,407 --> 00:38:36,161 ''We're going to start in the spring. Would you like to be in it?'' 653 00:38:36,207 --> 00:38:39,244 And l said, ''Yes, please!'' 654 00:38:39,287 --> 00:38:43,758 And he said, ''Super! Super! Oh, l have to go now, they've called my flight.'' 655 00:38:44,807 --> 00:38:49,085 And l said, ''l think you... Did that happen?'' 656 00:38:58,487 --> 00:39:03,003 Whilst the pop show in Bristol was keeping me in funds, 657 00:39:03,047 --> 00:39:06,119 it was actually The Frost Report which gave me, 658 00:39:06,167 --> 00:39:09,557 really, the important breakthrough as a writer. 659 00:39:09,607 --> 00:39:12,917 So we all wrote for that. He came to us as a pool of talent. 660 00:39:12,967 --> 00:39:17,643 And the next thing l knew, l was rehearsing with the Ronnies. 661 00:39:17,687 --> 00:39:21,805 The entire Python team were writing The Frost Report. 662 00:39:23,407 --> 00:39:26,080 And that's really where l knew them all 663 00:39:26,127 --> 00:39:31,599 and what made Ron and l feel part of their outfit. 664 00:39:31,647 --> 00:39:33,319 Does it hurt you if l do this? 665 00:39:35,527 --> 00:39:37,995 - Of course it does, l mean... - You see, it hurts. 666 00:39:38,047 --> 00:39:39,924 - Still... - Quite. But it's not... 667 00:39:39,967 --> 00:39:41,446 No, it isn't, is it? 668 00:39:41,487 --> 00:39:44,718 What was so good about David is, if he trusted you, he trusted you. 669 00:39:44,767 --> 00:39:46,120 He just let you get on with it. 670 00:39:46,167 --> 00:39:51,082 And you would be writing a show that was going out live that night. 671 00:39:51,127 --> 00:39:52,879 l know what adrenaline looks like. 672 00:39:52,927 --> 00:39:55,964 l remember being in the pub, the Sun ln Splendour, on Portobello Road, 673 00:39:56,007 --> 00:39:58,123 writing a joke, putting it in the taxi, 674 00:39:58,167 --> 00:40:00,362 going back and there it is on television. 675 00:40:00,407 --> 00:40:02,796 And l thought, ''Whoa! That was kinda cool.'' 676 00:40:02,847 --> 00:40:04,246 lt was a very good experience. 677 00:40:04,287 --> 00:40:06,676 Mike and Terry wrote, usually, the piece 678 00:40:06,727 --> 00:40:10,402 that was the film insert of the week, sort of three-minute piece, 679 00:40:10,447 --> 00:40:14,326 and Eric often wrote solos for Ronnie Barker, 680 00:40:14,367 --> 00:40:17,962 and Gray and l usually wrote one of the big sketches of the week 681 00:40:18,007 --> 00:40:21,795 which probably all three of us, the Two Ronnies and l, performed together. 682 00:40:21,847 --> 00:40:25,157 What exactly were you doing on the night of the 1 4th of October? 683 00:40:25,207 --> 00:40:27,960 We pulled some birds, slapped 'em back to the drum, 684 00:40:28,007 --> 00:40:30,601 bit of a giggle, all down to larking, all that carry-on. 685 00:40:30,647 --> 00:40:33,286 Now, look here. 686 00:40:33,327 --> 00:40:36,637 l can't understand a word you're saying. 687 00:40:36,687 --> 00:40:39,997 The great thing about The Frost Report, anybody who had any good input 688 00:40:40,047 --> 00:40:43,483 could come in and work, which is why the roller caption was so long 689 00:40:43,527 --> 00:40:45,961 and went spinning through at an enormous rate, 690 00:40:46,007 --> 00:40:47,599 so my parents could never see my name. 691 00:40:47,647 --> 00:40:50,525 Barry Cryer, bless him, used to refer to the writers' credits 692 00:40:50,567 --> 00:40:55,038 going through at the end of the Frost programme as the Dead of World War 2. 693 00:40:55,087 --> 00:40:58,523 Well, it did hold on ''David Frost'' for rather a long time. 694 00:40:58,567 --> 00:41:02,560 There was no danger of David Frost's parents being unable to see his name, 695 00:41:02,607 --> 00:41:03,801 put it that way. 696 00:41:03,847 --> 00:41:07,965 Jimmy Gilbert, who was directing and producing the show, had pity on us, 697 00:41:08,007 --> 00:41:12,478 and started us actually performing, we did these little film inserts. 698 00:41:12,527 --> 00:41:13,801 And he got us... 699 00:41:13,847 --> 00:41:16,202 That was a way of getting us a bit more money. 700 00:41:16,247 --> 00:41:18,124 We got paid more for performing. 701 00:41:18,167 --> 00:41:20,123 - 50 quid a... - Well, 20 quid, l think. 702 00:41:20,167 --> 00:41:22,886 - l don't know. - ..a day, was it? l got 50. 703 00:41:24,247 --> 00:41:28,081 l think there was a sort of little hiatus between David and the Python boys. 704 00:41:28,127 --> 00:41:32,279 l think they sort of resented his entrepreneurial touch. 705 00:41:32,327 --> 00:41:37,720 We gradually began to realise that, along with Michael Palin and Terry Jones 706 00:41:37,767 --> 00:41:42,363 and Eric ldle, we were actually writing about 90 of the programme. 707 00:41:42,407 --> 00:41:47,401 Then they went and did At Last The 1948 Show, 708 00:41:47,447 --> 00:41:52,601 which was the Python team, really, with Tim Brooke-Taylor. 709 00:41:52,647 --> 00:41:55,115 lt was actually David Frost, to give him his due, 710 00:41:55,167 --> 00:41:58,079 who suggested the show, l think to me. 711 00:41:58,127 --> 00:42:00,925 He didn't want John in it because he was doing The Frost Report, 712 00:42:00,967 --> 00:42:03,561 but for me, it was essential that John did it. 713 00:42:03,607 --> 00:42:05,962 - Name? - Gibbon-Posture. 714 00:42:08,567 --> 00:42:11,035 ''Possible loony''. 715 00:42:12,527 --> 00:42:16,964 Tim was terrific, and terribly, terribly funny when he was frightened. 716 00:42:17,007 --> 00:42:19,282 Right, well, what are the problems, then? 717 00:42:19,327 --> 00:42:21,761 Well, it's rather embarrassing to say, really. 718 00:42:21,807 --> 00:42:26,403 l don't like to tell people cos l'm frightened of them laughing at me. 719 00:42:26,447 --> 00:42:28,403 Sometimes l wanted John to react more. 720 00:42:28,447 --> 00:42:32,281 Somebody told him he was a good actor, the last thing you should tell a comedian. 721 00:42:32,327 --> 00:42:34,636 l want you to feel absolutely at your ease. 722 00:42:34,687 --> 00:42:38,282 Of course, anything you say to me will be in the strictest confidence. 723 00:42:38,327 --> 00:42:41,125 l must tell you about the bloke who was in this morning! 724 00:42:41,167 --> 00:42:43,556 l said to Marty, ''He's playing it so subtly.'' 725 00:42:43,607 --> 00:42:46,326 He said, ''Halfway through, just stamp on his foot.'' 726 00:42:46,367 --> 00:42:48,801 What's the matter? You come in here... 727 00:42:48,847 --> 00:42:50,917 Well, l did do that, and he got so angry, 728 00:42:50,967 --> 00:42:53,356 but he had to keep going, because the cameras were going, 729 00:42:53,407 --> 00:42:55,238 and he was absolutely brilliant. 730 00:42:55,287 --> 00:42:57,801 l wouldn't dare do it again. He's bigger than me. 731 00:42:57,847 --> 00:43:01,078 So will you please tell me, once and for all, 732 00:43:01,127 --> 00:43:05,245 in God's name, what's the matter with you? 733 00:43:05,287 --> 00:43:07,676 l think l'm a rabbit. 734 00:43:07,727 --> 00:43:10,116 ''l think l'm a rabbit!'' 735 00:43:11,167 --> 00:43:13,681 lt's one of the funniest moments l've ever seen. 736 00:43:17,527 --> 00:43:20,644 We must have been writing for The Frost Report, 737 00:43:20,687 --> 00:43:23,645 and Humphrey Barclay said to me, ''l want to do a kids' show. 738 00:43:23,687 --> 00:43:26,918 ''l've got this group, the Bonzo Dog Band, l want you to write it.'' 739 00:43:26,967 --> 00:43:31,836 And l said, ''Well, l want to write it with Mike, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, 740 00:43:31,887 --> 00:43:33,445 ''cos l think we'd be great.'' 741 00:43:33,487 --> 00:43:36,638 And he said, ''OK, then.'' So we were a little group of writers. 742 00:43:38,047 --> 00:43:39,560 City editor? 743 00:43:39,607 --> 00:43:41,086 - l've got a great story for you. - Oh, yes? 744 00:43:41,127 --> 00:43:42,765 - A great story. - Let's hear it. 745 00:43:42,807 --> 00:43:45,685 Once upon a time, in the Land of the Wobbly Dum-Dum Tree, 746 00:43:45,727 --> 00:43:48,400 Ricky the Gobbly Pixie sat beneath the magic oak tree... 747 00:43:48,447 --> 00:43:52,281 That's enough! l'm not interested in fairy stories! This is a newspaper. 748 00:43:52,327 --> 00:43:55,603 - Miss Perkins, show this lunatic out. - But l haven't finished. 749 00:43:55,647 --> 00:43:58,957 Come away, ere break of day, to Fairyland! 750 00:43:59,007 --> 00:44:03,000 To the golden shores of Fairyland, l will lead you, my... 751 00:44:03,047 --> 00:44:06,562 lt was kind of a fun show, because we got to write it, 752 00:44:06,607 --> 00:44:09,679 it was only 23 minutes, cos it was an lTV half-hour. 753 00:44:09,727 --> 00:44:11,922 The Bonzo Dogs were on every week, 754 00:44:11,967 --> 00:44:14,720 they were the most bizarre group of people you've ever seen. 755 00:44:14,767 --> 00:44:16,519 There were 1 4 of them the first week, 756 00:44:16,567 --> 00:44:19,035 then they pruned themselves down to seven or eight. 757 00:44:19,087 --> 00:44:21,999 You're wanted in the Twilight Zone now, sir. 758 00:44:22,047 --> 00:44:24,436 Thank you, Rigor. 759 00:44:39,007 --> 00:44:42,363 They said, ''Go and make some children's television.'' 760 00:44:42,407 --> 00:44:46,480 We didn't think about that, we just thought about making silly television. 761 00:44:46,527 --> 00:44:48,518 And what a lot of fun it was. 762 00:44:53,047 --> 00:44:55,880 They play, you know, they play the washboard 763 00:44:55,927 --> 00:44:58,202 and they play the hoover. 764 00:44:58,247 --> 00:45:03,116 And they would do really weird and bizarre situationist songs. 765 00:45:03,167 --> 00:45:06,603 lt was Dada, really. The Doo Dah Band was a Dada band. 766 00:45:06,647 --> 00:45:10,526 And that, l think, influenced us enormously. 767 00:45:10,567 --> 00:45:12,717 l think their influence on Python is huge, 768 00:45:12,767 --> 00:45:18,285 because we were doing little tight little sketches from Cambridge, 769 00:45:18,327 --> 00:45:22,639 but they were doing weird, it was situationally weird. 770 00:45:28,127 --> 00:45:29,765 l was still working on magazines 771 00:45:29,807 --> 00:45:32,401 and illustrating and art-directing, 772 00:45:32,447 --> 00:45:35,996 and l said, ''Come on. l gotta get out of magazine work. 773 00:45:36,047 --> 00:45:38,641 ''lntroduce me to somebody in television.'' 774 00:45:38,687 --> 00:45:41,485 And that person, ultimately, was Humphrey Barclay, 775 00:45:41,527 --> 00:45:43,916 who was producing Do Not Adjust Your Set, 776 00:45:43,967 --> 00:45:45,923 which Mike, Terry and Eric were doing. 777 00:45:45,967 --> 00:45:50,518 And we were on our second series, and this weird guy came in, 778 00:45:50,567 --> 00:45:55,243 with this big...long hair, hairy Afghan coat, 779 00:45:55,287 --> 00:45:57,847 and had been sent by Cleese. 780 00:45:57,887 --> 00:46:02,358 Everybody keeps talking about the legendary moment when l walked in with my coat. 781 00:46:02,407 --> 00:46:05,683 A man and a coat. And Eric loved that coat. 782 00:46:05,727 --> 00:46:09,800 l fell in love at first sight. l just loved that Afghan coat. 783 00:46:09,847 --> 00:46:12,566 And he also had a very cute girlfriend 784 00:46:12,607 --> 00:46:14,518 and there was something about him. 785 00:46:14,567 --> 00:46:17,764 And Michael and Terry went, ''We don't fucking need...'' 786 00:46:17,807 --> 00:46:22,039 Like two little rodents hunched in the corner, all... 787 00:46:22,087 --> 00:46:25,124 You know, their little bit of territory was threatened 788 00:46:25,167 --> 00:46:26,998 by this man in the coat. 789 00:46:29,127 --> 00:46:33,200 And l don't know why, l knew there was something about him, 790 00:46:33,247 --> 00:46:34,999 and we brought him into our group. 791 00:46:35,047 --> 00:46:38,357 He hadn't done any experience, hadn't written sketches, 792 00:46:38,407 --> 00:46:42,719 he'd got a few sketches he'd written which weren't very funny, 793 00:46:42,767 --> 00:46:46,680 but for some wonderful, weird, instinctive reason, 794 00:46:46,727 --> 00:46:48,922 l said, ''He has to be with us.'' 795 00:46:48,967 --> 00:46:51,606 And that was really how it all began, 796 00:46:51,647 --> 00:46:54,480 and then the next series of Do Not Adjust Your Set, 797 00:46:54,527 --> 00:46:59,203 l started doing some animation on that. We were all stuck together by then. 798 00:46:59,247 --> 00:47:02,876 As far as l was concerned, we've all got different versions, of course, 799 00:47:02,927 --> 00:47:07,125 Graham and l were writing, for about 18 months, we just wrote, 800 00:47:07,167 --> 00:47:10,125 cos l'd just married Connie Booth, she was American, 801 00:47:10,167 --> 00:47:13,000 l did not want to be spending a lot of time in a studio 802 00:47:13,047 --> 00:47:15,277 when she was a stranger in London. 803 00:47:15,327 --> 00:47:18,524 So l deliberately worked from home for a year and a half, 804 00:47:18,567 --> 00:47:20,876 and Gray and l wrote a number of scripts. 805 00:47:20,927 --> 00:47:23,157 Our treat for the week was always to turn on, 806 00:47:23,207 --> 00:47:25,721 l think it was Thursday afternoon, about 4:30, 807 00:47:25,767 --> 00:47:29,680 Do Not Adjust Your Set, which, for us, was the funniest thing on television. 808 00:47:29,727 --> 00:47:31,206 lt's time for Party Games. 809 00:47:31,247 --> 00:47:34,398 Here are some exciting games you can play this Christmas. 810 00:47:34,447 --> 00:47:37,837 First, from Terry, here's the A and B game. 811 00:47:37,887 --> 00:47:40,799 Well, all the teams are divided - guests, l should say - 812 00:47:40,847 --> 00:47:42,803 are divided into two teams, A and B. 813 00:47:42,847 --> 00:47:43,996 And B are the winners. 814 00:47:45,447 --> 00:47:48,405 Well, you can make it more complicated if you want to. 815 00:47:48,447 --> 00:47:51,644 We'd done two series of Do Not Adjust Your Set. 816 00:47:51,687 --> 00:47:54,360 There was discussion about doing another series. 817 00:47:54,407 --> 00:47:58,002 l didn't want to do it, cos l was fed up with the way it was being directed. 818 00:47:58,047 --> 00:48:01,835 Eventually, because we knew them from The Frost Report, 819 00:48:01,887 --> 00:48:05,436 we rang them up and said, ''Well, why don't we do something together?'' 820 00:48:05,487 --> 00:48:07,205 And they were a bit snotty, 821 00:48:07,247 --> 00:48:10,922 cos they'd just had an offer from Philip Jones at Thames Television. 822 00:48:10,967 --> 00:48:13,561 They said, ''You've been so good, done two seasons, 823 00:48:13,607 --> 00:48:17,680 ''adults are coming home at 5:25 to see your show, you're getting huge ratings, 824 00:48:17,727 --> 00:48:19,604 ''we want to give you a grown-up show. 825 00:48:19,647 --> 00:48:22,525 ''The only trouble is, we have no studio for two years.'' 826 00:48:22,567 --> 00:48:26,924 So when John suggested doing something together, we said, ''Yes, please!'' 827 00:48:26,967 --> 00:48:30,562 And, ''Can we bring Eric along? And Terry Gilliam?'' 828 00:48:30,607 --> 00:48:32,563 John wanted to work with Mike. 829 00:48:32,607 --> 00:48:35,804 And it's as simple as that. Everybody wanted to work with Mike. 830 00:48:35,847 --> 00:48:38,964 And that was the beginning, and we tagged along. 831 00:48:39,007 --> 00:48:42,556 And l think it's really happenstance that that group came together. 832 00:48:42,607 --> 00:48:45,440 l don't think it was hand-picked or selected in any way. 833 00:48:45,487 --> 00:48:49,241 lt sort of fell onto the table and it worked. 834 00:49:38,727 --> 00:49:40,001 lt's...