Pleasure at Her Majesty's

The Amnesty International benefit shows began here - later transmogrifying into the Secret Policeman's Ball. It's essentially a bundle of well-worn Beyond the Fringe skits, Python bits and fragments of stand-up as well as the Goodies doing their single. As a film it's more of a lean piece documentary than anything, capturing moments across the three nights and some behind the scenes capering. It's a fascinating bit of UK comedy history and lovely to watch a wild smorgasbord of luminaries in their element but it has a deeply "random collage" vibe that robs it of some energy and tonally it feels very patchy.

Usually I would give something like this a 10/10. I dock it two for a couple of reasons. First, I was never much for the Dame Edna character by Barry Humphries. Didn't find it too funny. Second, the fact that some of the sketches were chopped up really bothered me. In particular, Peter Cook's "Sitting on the Bench" miner sketch had about half of it cut out. Bothersome...you can see it in the "Beyond the Fringe" DVD in full, though. Other than that, there are moments of unparalleled hilarity. The courtroom sketch is a mish mash of Monty Python's courtroom sketched rolled up into one. And the result is marvelous, with Peter Cook as the defendant. "Dead Parrot" is also a real treat, with Michael Palin cracking up in the middle of the sketch...pure classic. Eleanor Bron's sketch is great. The rendition of "So That's the Way You Like It" was great. It seemed as if Terry Jones was made for that sketch. However, the best part of this whole video is Peter Cook's "Not An Asp" sketch. Once again, he gets the foil (John Fortune) to "corpse." He even corpses a bit himself. He is god, old Cookie... All in all, a great video, probably too short, the backstage bits are great, though. Great stuff, watch more British comedy!!!

The version I saw of this show was much longer than the one mentioned here and in the other reviews. It was 106 minutes and it had quite a few problems that prevent it from being a must-see for fans of British comedy. Part of the problem might just be because in restoring the missing footage, a lot of uninteresting material (especially pre-show preparations) was included. So, instead of a straight filming of the live comedy show (which I'd hoped for), it's more like a documentary of the show. Another problem is no captions or closed captions on the DVD. British audiences may have less need of captioning (as they can probably understand the accents more readily) but this is not the only reason I would have loved captioning--it is because the sound quality is often quite poor and even a Brit might appreciate captions. Finally, the biggest problem is because it is a documentary and not a straight recording of the show, too often the comedy routines are abbreviated or cut in half (inserting irrelevant backstage banter and scenes into the middle of a funny skit--thus ruining the flow). The bottom line it that this is also a pretty lousy looking documentary--seeming random and slapped together.

So is it worth seeing despite these serious problems? Well, it depends on you. If you love British comedy and can accept the show with all its limitations, yes...watch it. There are some very funny skits (my favorite was the scene with the Pope and the painting of the Second to Last Supper). But, if you aren't that familiar with Monty Python, Peter Cooke (who's very good here), the Goodies and the rest, don't bother--you won't appreciate them as much because they simply aren't at their best.

There are some very funny bits in this video, which I just picked up recently to add to the Python collection. Most notably, the Pope meets Michaelangelo sketch, the Peter Cook sketch, and one where a guy moves his fingers around (not sure who he was). But some of the stuff is incredibly dated - the stupid song about a monkey and the over-used "guy dressed as a woman - isn't this funny" sketch was goes too-long. Also, I wondered where Python member ERIC IDLE was... How many more times do we need the parrot sketch and the lumberjack song - they are great, but for a python fan it's a rental not something to buy like I did. 6 1/2 of/10.

"Why in God's name did you paint THREE Christs?" "Well the fat one in the middle balances out the two skinny ones, doesn't he?"

It's been years since I saw this show, but some of it still rings in my memory.

It should be noted that this is a filmed record of a live performance, a benefit for Amnesty International, which became an annual festivity. (There are 2 other documentaries of later installments of this event, "The Secret Policeman's Ball" and "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball".) It was a gathering of most of the famous "Oxbridge" comedians, including several members of the "Beyond The Fringe" troupe of the early 60's (Peter Cook and Jonathan Miller), most of the Pythons, and such other comedy luminaries as Barry Humphries doing his Dame Edna Everedge character. It includes some behind-the-scenes footage (which is good) but it cuts short some of the performances (which, we hope, improves them, but we'll never know.)

Th Python material is mostly familiar, although a few things do happen in Live performance to vary the known script. But the real delight is the other stuff. Jonathan Miller's dry wit, and the late Peter Cook's absolutely devastatingly funny routines, "I Wanted to be a Judge" and "I've a Viper in this Box."

Overall, it is as full of good material as any single Python show ever was, perhaps more full. For a true Python fan, it represents a chance to see where the Pythons drew much of their style and inspiration from. For everyone else, it is an excellent chance to see some of the best British comedians of the 60's and 70's.

"I wanted to be a judge, but I didn't 'ave the Latin. You need a lot of latin to pass the judgin' exams. They're very rigorous. the judgin' exams are. People come staggerin' out, going 'Ow my Gawd, wha' a rigo'ous exam!" So I decided to become a miner instead. A coal miner. They're not near so rigorous, the coal miner's exams. They've only got one question, "What is your name?" And I scored 75%!"