The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words, Vol. 2

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus #2

by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam

***WINNER OF THE 1989 PYTHON PRIZE FOR THEIR OWN BOOKS***

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 second volume contains twenty-two 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.

Genres: Humor, Comedy, Tv, Fiction, Reference, Plays, British Literature

377 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Graham 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.

Reviews

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beauty of human dumbness in each magnitude from one moron to a planet civilization of billions of jerks has hardly ever been shown in such detail.

Just as great as the first collection, All the words, Volume 1, one can see the postmodern destruction of any respected and holy institution in action, while never forgetting to also focus on the immense stupidity and evilness of normal people in groups and individuals.

If people would get and especially learn more out of dark comedy and take it as an advice in real life, the world would be a much better place. And I don´t mean illegal, nasty, and disgusting stuff, cannibalizing, proselytizing and sodomizing another in whatever order, etc, I am talking about thinking about the mechanisms of laughter, pain, tabus, horror, etc., and realizing that there must be terrible reasons for us to suddenly giggle, show the only parts of our skeleton we can see before death in most cases, or even laugh tears about topics we avoid mentioning in real life at any cost.

Monty Python was a groundbreaking group, inspired many others, the wave of ingenious adult animation is a continuation of their work, but the more important sense and purpose of humor is sensitizing and enlightening humans for the dark sides and grievances in human society, because there are still far too many people reacting with bigoted, dishonest bite reflexes whenever something touches their ever so personal ethical faith codex. These humorless, conservative, indirectly evil promoting people, are the ones behind the worst institutionalized madnesses and discriminating authorities that obstruct a societal change. Best to make fun of them so that they don´t dare to open their bitter, pinched mouthes with the affiliated empty brains somewhere behind the self righteous voices.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic companion for the tv series, especially since it's hard to get what they're saying half the time ;). nice to flip through, but you've definately got to have seen the show, as the inflection and tone of voice are often what make the skits so funny in the first place. index is complete, describing each one of the skits within the show, so as long as you know the general description of the skit and have an idea of what episode number it was in, you'll have no trouble finding what you're looking for. all in all, a must-have for all monty python fans.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my review for Vol 1... Highlights in Vol 2:
Cheese Shop https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2p...
Spam https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
The Argument Clinic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpAvc...
Oscar Wilde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uycsf...
Wife Swapping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXJwL...
Communist Quiz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9my...
Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2h...
Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x53s2c
Gumby Brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_AOf...
Dead Bishop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kSP4...
RAF Banter https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3v...
Queen Victoria Handicap https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2v...
The Fish-Slapping Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8XeD...
The Undertaker https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x35...
Dennis Moore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXDOR...
How Not To Be Seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-M2h...
Job Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5Q9...
Boxing Tonight https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2w...
Mrs. Niggerbaiter https://youtu.be/3PuVo5SB5n4?t=1965
Rival Documentaries https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x33...
I'd Like To Buy a Hearing Aid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Uqh...

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally read these books back in high school and loved them-just reread them and laughed so hard! In some ways reading these scripts were better for me than watching the shows initially because trying to follow the quick humor and the accents can get overwhelming. However, if you've read the script and know what's coming, you can relax and enjoy the expressions and etc.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[David Saslav · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[David Bury · Rating 4 out of 5]

found the back to back copy of Vol 1 & 2 that I bought a long time ago. You can just open to a random page a pretty much get a laugh......

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just funny. The sketches can be visualised from the printed word.

[Tomek Gunia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niestety nie wszystkie skecze są tak śmieszne. Aczkolwiek niektóre zwalają z nóg :)

[Ian Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Just the Words’ is the title for the collected scripts from the three series of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ and a further fourth series called simply ‘Monty Python’. These sketches were written and performed by various combinations of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry ones and Michael Palin and they changed the face of comedy on British TV.

The sketches do vary in quality and although some of them miss the mark as is inevitable in ground breaking stuff, the majority of them are classic and known throughout the world. Such obvious classics would be ‘Nudge, Nudge’, ‘Parrot Sketch’, ‘the Lumberjack song’, ‘the Spanish Inquisition’, ‘The Australian Philosophers’, ‘the Cheese Shop Sketch’, ‘Minister for Overseas Development Sketch’ and ‘The Oscar Wilde Sketch’.

TV tie-ins books never really work however this works so much better than the sketch books ‘The Monty Python Big Red Book’ and ‘The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok’ and captures some of the magic of Python without having to look past the big hair, wide trousers, lapels and ties that blighted all TV series recorded in the late sixties and early seventies.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words, Vol. 2 by Graham Chapman (Pantheon Books 1989)(791.45+/-) is just exactly what it says: an exact transcription of the second half of the collected television shows. With the exception of "The Argument Clinic" sketch from the twenty-ninth episode, the Pythons' best work on the show is contained in TCMPFC:ATW Vol. 1.. Still, their particular brand of looniness is timeless as evidenced by the fact that this work won the "1989 Python Prize For Their Own Work" (see back cover). My rating: 7/10, finished 3/31/14.

[goodread]

good book

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

11/15/07

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, it's just the Canadian/Brit version of "All the Words" Volumes 1 and 2.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part two. Excellent until the end - their last season sucked.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes a lot to beat vintage Python. They are the best.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 2 of all the TV episode scripts. A python fan must.

[Iain Watson]

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus : All the Words, Volume 2 by Monty Python (1989)

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better be big fan of Python.

[Rob Hermanowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

R.I.P. Graham

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another 10 star performance from the Flying Circus!

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

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).

[Thomas Radigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is good if you're a Monty Python's Flying Circus completist ad you want to know the words you didn't understand when you saw the TV show. However, this does not compare to seeing the TV show itself.

When you think about it, it was the performances and not the actual jokes which made the program so enjoyable. It was seeing all the performers play everything straight so that they were convincing, such as John Cleese performing the silly walks with an absolutely serious look and manner otherwise. Once you see the words on the printed page, they just are not that funny. It is akin to looking at a videotape without it being played on a video system.

What made Monty Python work was not what they performed but how they performed it.

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was nice to be able to read all the scripts from a show that brought a lot of absurdity to the world. :) times have changed and some things less acceptable but many other things still accurate and funny.

[G. Salter · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Cleese may have had a point that by season 3 the Pythons were rehashing their ideas a little bit, but they're still hilarious, surreal, and yet with little recurring images or bits of dialogue that hold each episode together. Quite fun!

[Chesney1587 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read BEFORE watching!

[Tony Theberge · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[maryam :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great accompaniment to the TV show. Their sense of humour is simply superb!