Original Broadcast Date: Nov. 23, 1969
Attempted Synopsis: "The greatest name in German baroque music" is so long that nobody can pronounce it; a group of gangsters goes to elaborate lengths to do nothing illegal; the Whizzo Chocolate Company gets knicked; the dull life of a city stockbroker, only it's the stockbroker who's dull, not his life; a stereotypical American Indian is surprisingly well-versed in theater; a Scotsman on a horse; a rambling movie producer drives his staff to ruins.
Review: Talk about your peaks and valleys--brilliant comedy side-by-side with "Wha-?" The "Johann Gambolputty+etc." routine appears to be the first of numerous Python attempts to grate on their audience rather than amuse them. Then there's the first appearance of the "crunchy frog" sketch (hilarious, though pretty sedate compared to the later Hollywood Bowl version). The stockbroker sketch is, forgive me, kind of dull (though I'd love to find that shop with the nude cashier). But Graham Chapman's hyper-parody of a Hollywood producer closes the show wonderfully. (Chapman was impressed enough with it to include it as a clip in his later one-man shows.)
Priceless Gag: Terry Gilliam's cartoon take-off on the Twentieth-Century Fox logo (re-used as the opening for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl).
Our rating: 
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