Monthly Archives: May 2014

Mafia Graduates…

I’ve spent the past couple of school years working with the Improv Mafia at Illinois State University, and a more enthusiastic and talented band of ruffians you’ll never meet. They are true to one of the oldest improvisational maxims by making me look good with their work.

The bad part of working with college students is that every spring, you generally lose a batch of them, and you hope that in the fall, you’ll get another group just as talented and enthusiastic. So far, that’s been the case, and I have no reason to think that won’t continue. In the meantime, I wanted to salute this year’s graduating seniors: Omar, Fiona, Kyle, Robert, and Chris. Well done, all!

Lousy Python Song

And this seems to be a good time to post the brand new old Python song and video, originally written for “Contractual Obligation Album,” thanks to Eric Idle and Graham Chapman!

Python Singing Again

In early December of 1989, I was in London for the 20th anniversary party for Monty Python. Graham Chapman had died two months earlier, on October 4, so I was prepared for a bittersweet evening.

Graham’s memorial service had been held that afternoon (the day John Cleese gave his famous and touching “Good riddance, the freeloading bastard” speech), so Graham’s presence was very much in the air. I had the chance to spend time with Graham’s foster son, John Tomiczek, the last time I would ever have a chance to see him. So, it had the potential for a very emotional evening.

Fortunately, it turned out to be emotional in a very good way, the way one would hope a Python event would be. It was held in the hall where, a few years earlier, the Mr. Creosote scene was filmed for Meaning of Life, which gave it the proper credibility. I spent the evening catching up with Pythons, crew members, and family members, several of which I hadn’t seen since Life of Brian ten years earlier. The hours flew by.

At the end of the night, gifts were handed out. There were three or four things to choose from, but I immediately honed in on something I’d never seen before–a brand new Python record album titled Monty Python Sings! It featured most of the great Python music from TV and films, collected on one piece of vinyl, under a beautiful Terry Gilliam cover. I had long been pestering the Python office to put out such an album, and here it was!

Despite knowing what a pain it would be to carry it back in my luggage, I brought it back to the States, and still remember the first time I heard it. In addition to all of the old favorites, there was one special treat. Graham had written and sang Medical Love Song for the Contractual Obligation Album (with Eric Idle) a few years earlier. But Monty Python Sings featured a new version, with additional lyrics, sung by Graham. His voice was noticibly weakened, but it was the last thing he did for Python before he died. I later found out that Eric had walked Graham through it all so that he would have one more piece of work for Python. And Eric immediately shot up to the top of the “Nicest Python List.”

Why do I bring all of this up now?

Because Monty Python Sings (Again) is being re-released on June 9, with new bonus recordings, a few long-lost gems from the Python archives, remixed Terry Gilliam cover artwork, and a special bonus disc of their very first record album, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, recorded live at Camden Town Hall in May 1970. Whether you’re going to the shows in July at the O2 Arena, or watching the final show in theatres, it’s a great way to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Python. It’ll be available on iTunes, or you can order a copy just by clicking here. Sounds like a great deal to me. Knowwhatimean?

Cinco de Palin

And a happy birthday to my globe-trotting friend Michael Palin.

Born May 5, 1943, Michael is still the youngest Python, though that doesn’t really mean as much as it used to. Hope he’s resting up for 10 performances–two months from the moment that I’m writing this, he’ll be on stage with the others at the O2 Arena. making John Cleese laugh during the Dead Parrot Sketch. Happy 71st Michael!

To Spider? Or Not to Spider?…

I can’t understand why I’m not more excited about Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I grew up on Spider-Man back when Spider-Man himself was still growing up.

I started reading The Amazing Spider-Man comic books back when Steve Ditko was still drawing them. If you’re a real comics fan, you know how old that makes me feel. If not, then the less said the better.

If Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t my favorite comic book (it was usually neck-and-neck with Jack KIrby’s Fantastic Four), it was always in the top five.Spidey was brand new then, and being a fan felt like being a member of some exclusive secret society. When you met somebody else who loved Spider-Man, it was like discovering a brother from a different mother.

I saw him at his best (the classic Amazing Spider-Man #33, where he lifts the wreckage and frees himself. If you read it back then, no explanation is necessary; if you didn’t, no explanation is possible).

And, I saw him at his worst (take your pick–from the Spider-Mobile to the Spider-Clone to the whole Gwen Stacy-gets-pregnant-by-Norman-Osborn debacle, which still makes me cringe just to think about it).

Along the way, I watched the cartoons, bought the action figures, bought the hardcover reprints, even (when I could afford it) bought original art.

When the first Toby Maguire Spider-Man movie came out, I was somewhat excited (as much for my son as anything else), and we went to see it the first weekend. My enthusiasm waned slightly for the second and third installments, but I still conjured up enough interest to go and mostly enjoy them.

But when the first Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man was announced, I was strangely apathetic. The idea of re-booting a franchise that had barely begun didn’t really appeal to me (nothing against Garfield, who does a perfectly adequate job). I also wasn’t at all excited about more Green Goblin, a villain who didn’t come along until the second year of the comic books, but was nevertheless retroactively turned into Spidey’s Great Nemesis. Yawn.

And now comes the second Garfield Spidey. I’m sure I’ll see it. I may even see it the first week, but there’s something lacking. Spider-Man fans are no longer a secret society–they ARE society.