Topic: Monty Python and George (Read 10881 times)

harihead · « **on:** April 08, 2007, 05:10:13 PM »

As most of you no doubt know, George Harrison was a big fan of Monty Python. I'm reading Monty Python's "Autobiography by the Pythons" and there was a satisfying sequence about George Harrison singing in the first American show that Monty Python ever did.  It was at New York at the City Center in April 1976. The Pythons say:

Eric Idle: George Harrison was a great pal of mine, and one night he came and asked if he could do the "Lumberjack Song" and we said, "Yeah, of course".  So he came on stage at City Center and he did the "Lumberjack Song" as a Mountie, and nobody knew it was George.  Harry Nilsson found out George had done it and so the next night Harry is going to do it but Harry is p*ssed as a f*rt, and makes a big display. ... Nobody ever recognized it was George, which was really cool and very typically George.

John Cleese: George was wonderful.  He came up on stage with us as a Mountie and sang the "Lumberjack Song" impeccably and I don't suppose 10 percent of the audience knew he was up there.  And then Harry Nilsson came up and tried to take the show over, just one huge inflated ego, he wouldn't do his Mountie's jacket up properly, and insisted on wearing dark glasses.  A Mountie in dark glasses?  And then at the end of the show he started shaking hands with the audience and obviously just wanted as much attention as he could get.  I was struck by the extraordinary contrast between George, who did it so beautifully and aesthetically, and Nilsson who was just a sort of egotistical drunk.  It doesn't mean that he wasn't a nice chap but under those circumstances he didn't behave the way he should have done.

Gotta love George. What a class act!

There are several cool George/Monty Python anecdotes, but I just saw this and wanted to share. Cheers!

raxo · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2007, 05:37:23 PM »

Quote from: 551

[...]
Eric Idle: George Harrison was a great pal of mine, [...]

Jim Keltner talking about George ...

"Was it meaningful for you to have spent some time with him at the end of his life?

Oh, God, you can't imagine. My whole deal with George was that I never gave up for a minute, not even till the very last second. We saw him on Sunday, and he died on Thursday, and I didn't believe it. When we left him that day, we were walking three feet off the ground as we got to the car. We had been talking and laughing with him a little bit, and he seemed to have rallied and had his strength, and it was just so wonderful. God, it was just fantastic: "Hi, Jimmy." It just was such a great gift. That's what I'm holding onto. Eric Idle was there one night. When Eric walked in, George just beamed. He started laughing, and he raised his hand to Eric and held his hand, and was actually laughing. I will never forget that moment in my entire life. He was such a huge Eric Idle fan. Just the thought of Eric made him laugh. He was always quoting Eric. And so to see Eric walk in and have George just brighten up like that and start laughing, it was just fantastic.

He seemed to die as he lived, with remarkable dignity."

P.S. Thanks for this thread, harihead!

raxo · « **Reply #2 on:** April 08, 2007, 05:53:47 PM »

Quote from: 551

[...]
Eric Idle: George Harrison was a great pal of mine, and one night he came and asked if he could do the "Lumberjack Song" and we said, "Yeah, of course". [...]

George Harrison produced the song the year before:
Lumberjack Song / Spam Song
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Released November 14, 1975 in the UK

from here: http://www.hariscruffs.com/discography2.html

raxo · « **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2007, 06:02:57 PM »

This is what I've read about that show ...

"Tuesday April 20, 1976
Still in America, George, wearing the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, appears unannounced with his friends the Monty Python comedy team at New York's City Center, at West 55th Street, during their performance of 'The Lumberjack Song'. He had, in fact, been watching the first half of the show from the audience and went backstage at the interval. The Python team, starting a three-week run at the venue, invited him to join the cast during the song. "George is a lumberjack freak. He used that song on his tour to introduce the show," says Nancy Lewis, Monty Python's American manager. (Incidentally, the former Beatle is such a fan of the song that, when George and Olivia go on holiday during the late Seventies and early Eighties, he will use the name "Jack Lumber" as an alias.)"

... here: http://wingspan.ru/bookseng/diary2/b09_1976.html

Andy Smith · « **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:00:27 PM »

Now this is what i call a good thread!!

Nice one Harihead!!!!

Hope you are loving the Python biography! i thought you might like
to know that i've heard that all the Python tv series will be remastered
on dvd soon! I always found it odd that you can't buy every episode on dvd
but just a best of boxset i had. But i do have an import boxset with all the
series on.
I'm always quoting Python!

raxo · « **Reply #5 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:06:53 PM »

Quote from: 551

[...]there was a satisfying sequence about George Harrison singing in the first American show that Monty Python ever did. It was at New York at the City Center in April 1976. [...]

Few months before ...

"Saturday December 13, 1975
Today, at the BBC Television Centre in Wood Lane, London, George, as pirate "Bob", records a special Boxing Day edition of Rutland Weekend Television, featuring his exclusive performance of the Harrison/Eric Idle composition 'The Pirate Song' which appears at the very end of the show with the credits running over the top. George also makes further cameo appearances in the 31-minute programme, including one where he is dressed as a pirate. The show, which also features such comic delights as How To Ski In Your Own Home and the Christmas play entitled Santa Doesn't Live Here Anymore, is broadcast for the first time on BBC2 on December 26 between 10:55 and 11:26pm. (Rutland Weekend Television, besides being the show that first introduced The Rutles to the nation, is a comedy series centred around a small TV station in Rutland and was created by Eric Idle, one of the brains behind The Rutles and a founder member of the Monty Python comedy team)"

from here: http://wingspan.ru/bookseng/diary2/b08_1975.html

raxo · « **Reply #6 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:18:17 PM »

You can see that clip here:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSIjlUMV6Is" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSIjlUMV6Is</a>

But it's uploaded here (13,7 Mb) for you:
http://rapidshare.com/files/24969915/George_Harrison_-_Pirate_Song.wmv.html

raxo · « **Reply #7 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:26:49 PM »

And the lyrics ...

tangerine · « **Reply #8 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:30:49 PM »

excellent!! one of the most amazing things about George was his modesty I reckon

I like that quote from John Cleese- I've often wondered how well George and John Cleese knew each other or how well they got on because I've heard things about George and Eric Idle or Michael Palin but never John Cleese- and then I wondered why John Cleese didn't attend 'concert for George' - anyone know??

I love George's pirate song!! If you look here, someone has kindly posted all the individual rutland clips of George as a pirate including the pirate song at the end. It really cracks me up- especially the clip when he's out of character trying to get the other guy to get his pirate scene in haha. He really was quite the actor!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AarhZScyuz0&mode=related&search=" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AarhZScyuz0&mode=related&search=</a>

tangerine · « **Reply #9 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:34:01 PM »

and just because I love george so much and though I'm sure we've all seen this but let's watch it again!- George's cameo in the rutles film 'all you need is cash'

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YViPPlvR1kQ&mode=related&search=" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YViPPlvR1kQ&mode=related&search=</a>

raxo · « **Reply #10 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:37:01 PM »

Quote from: 553

[...] I wondered why John Cleese didn't attend 'concert for George' - anyone know??
[...]

The Pythons in 2002 for Concert for George, recreating the famous 'Lumberjack song'

"Idle has responded to queries about a Python reunion by adapting a line used by George Harrison in response to queries about a possible Beatles reunion. When asked in the early 1990s about such a possibility, Harrison responded: "As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a Beatles reunion as long as John Lennon remains dead." Idle's version of this was that he expected to see a proper Python reunion, "just as soon as Graham Chapman comes back from the dead", but then he added a classic Python spin: "we're talking to his agent about terms."

[...]

"Four of the remaining Pythons (excluding John Cleese) reunited along with Python associate Neil Innes for a Concert for George salute to Harrison on the first anniversary of Harrison's death in 2002."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python#Python_.28Monty.29_Pictures

raxo · « **Reply #11 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:41:55 PM »

Quote from: 553

and just because I love george so much and though I'm sure we've all seen this but let's watch it again!- George's cameo in the rutles film 'all you need is cash'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YViPPlvR1kQ&mode=related&search=

Great, tangerine!!!

"The Rutles were played by Idle, John Halsey, Ricky Fataar, and Neil Innes, with Fataar replacing David Battley who had appeared as Stig O' Hara in the original sketch. Former Beatle George Harrison appeared in the film as a reporter."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Cash

A driving force behind Python in the late 1970s was George Harrison, who not only funded Life of Brian but guest-starred as Mr. Papadopolous (though his voice is dubbed by Palin), and also produced a number of their songs from that period, including "The Lumberjack Song" single. He also made a cameo appearance in Idle and Neil Innes' cult Beatles parody All You Need Is Cash (aka The Rutles), which also featured cameo appearances by three members of America's Saturday Night Live team - produced by Broadway Video, SNL's production company. Harrison even claimed in an interview that "Monty Python helped me get over the trauma of the breakup of the Beatles."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python#Python_.28Monty.29_Pictures

Andy Smith · « **Reply #12 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:43:44 PM »

Tom Hankes took John Cleese place but i've no idea why he didn't attend.
Another one i always wondered was ehy Bob Dylan didn't attend :-/(as he was
probley George's fav songwriter of all time).

raxo · « **Reply #13 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:46:14 PM »

Quote from: 614

Tom Hankes took John Cleese place but i've no idea why he didn't attend.
Another one i always wondered was ehy Bob Dylan didn't attend :-/(as he was
probley George's fav songwriter of all time).

It seems that he was touring :

... but who knows the reason?
http://dmbeatles.com/forums/b-harrison/m-1163234885/

Andy Smith · « **Reply #14 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:46:26 PM »

Quote from: 297

Great, tangerine!!!

Former Beatle George Harrison appeared in the film as a reporter."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Cash

Yes, he was Eric Manchester taking off Derek Taylor ( i did come in once & found
my office had been nicked!!

)

Andy Smith · « **Reply #15 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:47:45 PM »

Quote from: 297

It seems that he was touring : ...

Ah, that would explain it!

raxo · « **Reply #16 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:49:17 PM »

... but who knows the reason? :

http://dmbeatles.com/forums/b-harrison/m-1163234885/

Andy Smith · « **Reply #17 on:** April 08, 2007, 09:50:15 PM »

Quote from: 297

Great, tangerine!!!

Former Beatle George Harrison appeared in the film as a reporter."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Need_Is_Cash

Yes, he was Eric Manchester taking off Derek Taylor ( i did come in once & found
my office had been nicked!!

)

raxo · « **Reply #18 on:** April 18, 2007, 09:06:48 PM »

"George Harrison, who became friends with several members of the cast, said that he regarded Monty Python as 'continuing the spirit' of The Beatles.

[...]

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

[...]

The project was saved by George Harrison, who immediately set up Handmade Films to finance Brian - budgeted at that time at J5 million. He later quipped that he did so because having read the script he simply wanted to see the film. The Pythons have joked that it is the most anyone has ever paid for a cinema ticket.

Brian also featured brief cameos from George Harrison

A driving force behind Python in the late 1970s was George Harrison, who not only funded Life of Brian but guest-starred as Mr. Papadopolous (though his voice is dubbed by Palin), and also produced a number of their songs from that period, including "The Lumberjack Song" single. He also made a cameo appearance in Idle and Neil Innes' cult Beatles parody All You Need Is Cash (aka The Rutles), which also featured cameo appearances by three members of America's Saturday Night Live team - produced by Broadway Video, SNL's production company. Harrison even claimed in an interview that "Monty Python helped me get over the trauma of the breakup of the Beatles."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python

"The film would not have been made without George Harrison, who set up Handmade Films to help fund it, after the subject matter scared off the original backers, EMI Films. Terry Gilliam later said, "They pulled out on the Thursday. The crew was supposed to be leaving on the Saturday. Disastrous. It was because they read the script... finally." Harrison appears in a cameo role as Mr. Papadopoulos, owner of "The Mount", who shakes hands with Brian."

from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Life_of_Brian

Andy Smith · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2007, 09:10:59 PM »

I've always thought of comparisons between the Beatles & Python, George said
that the two groups were so alike in many ways,
for instance:

the beatles broke up when Python started so that some-what
beatle spirit passed on.

Beatles wrote classic songs while Python wrote classic sketches.

Both groups wrote their own material. (lennon-mcCartney, - Cleese-chapman,
palin-jones) (or wrote on own Eric Idle - George harrison)

the first beatles single came out on 5th october 1962 while
the first python episode transmitted on 5th october 1969! Neither the
single or episode were huge successes at first.

Both groups either sang or spoke about important issues (life, love, death, etc)

Both the beatles & python were & still are very funny! & cheecky!

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Author Topic: Monty Python and George (Read 10881 times)