rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (09/30/83)
"Monty Python Meets Beyond the Fringe" was originally called "Pleasure at Her Majesty's". It was filmed at a benefit performance organized by (I think) John Cleese for Amnesty International (preceding the Secret Policemen's Ball concept by a few years). All the Pythons except Eric Idle were in attendance, plus Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller from Beyond the Fringe, the Oxbridge troupe that inspired the Pythons. Though the film did drag at times (especially when the extremely non-funny Goodies came on) (Did I just say 'drag'? No pun intended. Seriously!), it had more than its share of great moments, and whoever it was that walked out missed quite an event. The "Anything Goes" courtroom sketch, the parrot sketch and other Python staples were present, along with Peter Cook (sans Dudley Moore) discussing why he became a coal miner instead of becoming a judge, Jonathan Miller calling in an interesting telegram with an interesting illicit acronym based on Norwich, and (if memory serves) the now famous "four rich gentlemen discussing their youthful hardships" sketch. Plus the lumberjack song. I was going to spend some time deriding another Python film that IS bad: Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, but my reasons for despising this film are that: 1) I'd seen it all before---live and on film---done much better, 2) they kept "Americanizing" lines from their sketches, as if condescending to the dumb American audience, and 3) too much material from the dreadful "Contractual Obligation Album". But if you have never seen Python in a live context before, it's not bad, but surely not as good as it once was.