Python fans will need to clear a large space on their bookshelf or coffee table for The Pythons--a big, vital autobiography of the comedy troupe. This is an oral history by the six members (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) from birth to--in the case of Chapman--death. We get reminisces about childhood, university days, early successes, and rich details about the landmark Flying Circus TV series and subsequent films. The voices are fresh (with expectation of Michael Palin's insightful diary entries), not just complied from earlier publications. "Due to his insistence of being inconveniently dead," Chapham's voice is heard through his longtime partner David Sherlock, his brother and sister-in-law (and some archival materials). As a whole, the six impart a refreshing ability to deal honestly with the frustrations that arose over the years and it comes out in the text even when events are recalled differently. The book is not a light read (figuratively and literally), perhaps a smaller size would have been better for the amount of text; a cursory glance at the coffee table is tough. What does fill the book is an abundance of photos (over 1,000), most never published and many from the troupe's private collections. Along with concept sketches, Gilliam's drawings and doodles, and a few correspondences, this is a keepsake memento of the legendary group. --Doug Thomas

From Publishers Weekly
This production gives listeners a backstage pass to the interviews McCabe conducted with the Pythons prior to collaborating with them on their coffee-table autobiography. Echoing sound quality, overlapping voices and verbal nods from the interviewer highlight the raw nature of the material and give it a documentary feel, but these aspects also make for some indecipherable moments. The first disc tracks the histories of the troupe members (the deceased Graham Chapman's story is told by his partner and by his brother) and disc two describes how they got together and changed the face of comedy. McCabe uses narration sparingly and well, introducing each new theme and always noting who's talking. The interviews themselves lack drama and, surprisingly, humor. Occasional sparks of Python wit brighten up the presentation--such as when the Pythons shout down McCabe's introduction--but these moments are brief and randomly inserted, as are the clips from the group's various sketches. Anyone looking for a good laugh should pass on this audio, but ardent fans will enjoy hearing the Pythons' tale straight from their own mouths.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
A companion to the author's coffee-table book by the same name, THE PYTHONS is a mildly madcap audio documentary. We hear noisy, off-the-cuff interviews with each surviving Python, which provide a "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" familiarity that a more formal recording might have destroyed. Host Bob McCabe apparently collared each comedian as he could, and this insider approach turns out to be entertaining, especially when peppered with short outtakes from Python shows. Needless to say, the Pythons are alternately erudite and profane as they reminisce about leaner times of virtual anonymity and their slow, rocky climb to fame. We finally learn who wrote "Eric the Half-bee" and other favorite songs and sketches. A fun listen. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The six men who were Monty Python get billed above the guy who put together this coffee-table tome on their achievement, but this is film critic and broadcaster Bob McCabe's book. He wove together the words of the late Graham Chapman (excerpted from his writings), John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and a very few others, principally Chapman's life partner, David Sherlock. And he got the lot to share the memorabilia that decorate the book, stem to stern, ranging from baby pictures to that foot that crushed the closing credits of every episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the British TV show that launched the six writer-performers' long collaboration. The layout of pictures and text is un-Pythonly restrained (Gilliam, the artist Python whose animation and sets have given new meaning to the word baroque, obviously had nothing to do with the book's design), and the oral history purveyed is genuinely fascinating, so that this is no mere browser's delight but a readable book. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
For the first time all surviving Pythons have agreed to create the definitive, official, "completely-different-than-anything-done-before" audiobook on the Monty Python's Flying Circus and the 'genius' who created it.

Over thirty years ago a group of five Englishmen and one wayward American rewrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python's Flying Circus, an unheralded half-hour of sketches, hilarities, inanities, and animations first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its impact on the world has been felt ever since. This audio edition is a complilation of unique never-before-heard interviews with the Python team conducted by Bob McCabe while he researched the Python book, plus clips from the famous Monty Python sketches, including "The Parrot Sketch", "Nudge, Nudge, Wink Wink", "Spam" and the "Ministry of Silly Walks." Narration will be by Bob McCabe with Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin, and featuring, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Jones.

Here is a unique glimpse at arguably the most important comic team of the modern age. Do you want Spam with that?


About the Author
John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman (estate) are all lifelong (so far) members of Monty Python.

Bob McCabe is a noted film critic and author of over a dozen books on movies.

FROM THE PUBLISHER