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Monty Python: A Celebration by Richard Topping PDF

"Nudge nudge, wink wink". "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay". "This bird is deceased". Funny? Maybe. But 25 years ago all of the above would produce almost uncontrollable fits of hysterical laughter in student bars, sixth form common rooms and among the gaggle of time wasters who hang around office coffee machines.

Richard Topping, in this exhaustive trawl through Monty Python's salad days, is particularly perceptive on the "Day After The Show Was Broadcast Public Recitals" that took place up and down the country. His contention that "this sense of mass involvement means there's a bit of Python in everyone, a shared comedic experience that we all refer to", is overwhelmingly vindicated. The book provides a thorough overview of every show, all the films and the stage shows as well as filling in the Oxbridge context and the early years when the team were writing and performing at the BBC.

The lengthy biographies are informative and the whole thing comes together as a terrific celebration of a remarkable collection of talent.

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