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Monty Python only played the Hollywood Bowl because they avoided writing The Meaning of Life

1982s Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowlis one of the greatest comedic concert films of all time and perfectly captures the legendary troupe's electrifying stage presence, back when they were all still alive and didn't hate each other.

The Pythons spent four nights headlining the famous venue they themselves adored in September 1980. “There was just something about performing at the Hollywood Bowl that appealed to all of us.” Michael Palin once confessed“Because we all grew up with Live at the Hollywood Bowl LPs, whether it was Sinatra or Errol Garner or the big bands that played on stage there.”

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Terry Jones remarked that it was “kind of a party” and the relaxed atmosphere even infected well-known weirdo John Cleese. “I loved every minute of it and had a wonderful time,” Cleese later admitted. The rock concert atmosphere also comes across well in the film.

But it turns out that the legendary show only came about thanks to good old-fashioned writer's block.

After the success of Monty Python's Life of BrianThe group quickly began work on a follow-up film – not because they had an idea for it, but because their then-director claimed that otherwise they would “never have to work again”. did. (Which didn't quite work out.)

According to Cleese, “We sat down to write without really having any idea what we were going to write about.” Early pitches included Monty Python's Third World Warwho would have imagined a hypothetical modern conflict with soldiers branded into corporate advertising logos.

The frustrating writing process resulted in a number of different sketches, but as Graham Chapman put it, there was no “order” or “form” to anything.

When the Pythons played the Hollywood Bowl in 1980, Cleese was silent approved Rolling Stone magazine that this creative hurdle was the secret motivation behind the concerts.

“The real reason we're playing the Hollywood Bowl is because we're stuck on our next movie,” Cleese whispered to the reporter. “We spent 13 weeks writing, but we just don't have a central theme. We have scenes set in England and British India in the 1980s and 1880s, but nothing brings them together. That’s why I requested that we abandon the project for a longer period of time and when we start it again next September we may have found a plan.”

Cleese also noted that they were desperate to make some money after struggling to write the film project. “It took away our freedom,” he continued, “at the prospect of having worked for three months without making a dime.” It made sense to do these shows: We can come to Los Angeles, a vacation spend time in the sun and make enough money to tide us over.”

Less than two years later, in early 1982, the Pythons took a writing trip to Jamaica, where they came up with the idea of ​​basing all of their sketches on one person's life, then on the “Seven Ages of Man,” and finally on “The Meaning of of life.”

But we would never have gotten these classical concerts if the team had gotten together sooner.

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