Monty Python Add Four More Reunion Shows
Tickets to Monty Python‘s “one-off” London reunion show sold out in 43.5 seconds, according to the BBC, so the comedy quintet has added four more engagements. The performances, now being billed as “Monty Python Live (Mostly),” will now run from July 1st to July 5th, 2014 at London’s O2 Arena, which accommodates up to 20,000 audience members at any given event. The group claimed last week that it intends to film the initial show to be released as a film or DVD at a later point. Tickets for all of the performances are on sale now.
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The comedy troupe announced their reunion at a press conference last week. The shows will be the first time John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin have all performed together since a 1980 run at the Hollywood Bowl. Group member Graham Chapman died in 1989.
The ensemble wryly acknowledged Chapman’s absence in artwork announcing their performances as Monty Python Live (Mostly). Beneath an image of the foot from the opening credits of the troupe’s TV series, Monty Python’s Flying Circus – which is touching down in the middle of a graveyard – is an inscription that reads, “One down, five to go.”
Cleese told reporters last week that the reunion shows will consist of new and old material. Regarding their older bits, he said the group will present classic sketches, like the Dead Parrot and the Crunchy Frog, with twists to liven them up. “People really want to see the old hits, but we don’t want to do them in a predictable way,” he said. “The main danger we have is that the audience know the scripts better than we do.” But the 74-year-old said there are a few things comedy fans can count on from the group at the performances: “comedy, pathos, music and a tiny bit of ancient sex.”