Eric Idle Movies

Mr. and Mrs. Attila the Hun star in a sitcom with their kids Robin and Jennie, and Uncle Tom the butler. Later, Attila visits Charles Crompton, the stripping doctor, whose "peeling" skills are matched by the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs. Leslie Ames, the Council Ratcatcher, matches wits with an army of killer sheep, who subsequently rob the Westminster Bank. In "News for Parrots," a parrot performs part three of A Tale of Two Cities, followed by Village Idiot Arthur Figgis explaining the rigors of his job. A green Chesterfield sofa takes on the Icelandic cricket team, just before the opening gun of the Epsom furniture race. And Mrs. Scum is a contestant on "Spot the Brain Cell." Carol Cleveland (as Mrs. Attila the Hun) and Ian Davidson are guest-stars in this November 11, 1970, episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The five Gumbies tortuously announced "The Architect Sketch," wherein Mr. Wiggin designs a lethal apartment house. The BBC apologizes not only for this sketch, but also for the "Insurance Sketch," featuring Mr. Devious, the Straight Man, the Vicar, and an unseen Nude Lady. An episode of the thrilling espionage series "The Bishop" finds the hero vainly attempting to prevent an exploding baptism. Mr. and Mrs. Potter refuse to participate in a documentary, lest the cameramen discover who is hiding in Mr. Potter's bathtub. Door-to-door poetry reader Wombat Harness hits sexual pay dirt when he quotes from Wordsworth. And a chemist looks on while a customer is arrested for telling an after-shave joke. Sandra "Buzz" Richards and Stanley "Buzz" Mason appear on "The Buzz Aldrin Show," which first aired October Buzz Twentieth, Nineteen Buzz Seventy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this episode, 18th Century highwayman Dennis Moore steals lupins from the rich to give to the poor. He later changes his M.O., stealing from the poor to give to the rich. In other developments, boxer Jack Bodell squares off against Sir Kenneth Clarke for the heavyweight championship; astrologers Mrs. Once Off and Irene Trepidacius foretell the future with audio-visual aids; and a doctor robs his patients, only to lose the cash to a man-headed frog. Also featured are an episode of "Victoria Regina," anachronistically invaded by Dennis Moore; the 15th Annual Ideal Loon Exposition; and "Prejudice," in which the host runs out of ethnic epithets and stages a "Shoot the Poof" contest. First seen on January 4, 1973, "Dennis Moore" features Carol Cleveland, Nosher Powell, and a cast of dozens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A Scotsman threatens to blow up an airliner, only to be ejected from the sketch by the show's director. A discussion of the significance of the Nude Organ Player is set aside in favor of "New Housing Developments," which depicts a British housing project populated entirely by literary characters from Dickens, Bronte, Milton, Hardy, and Samuel Butler -- most of whom end up working on a new highway system. Ken Very Big Liar and Clement Onan hire the Amazing Mystico to hypnotize people into thinking that they're living in a new building. Superintendent Harry "Boot In" Swalk discusses the recent wave of unauthorized hangings. A pair of morticians conduct a guided tour of their digs, during which the Lord Mayor's brain comes loose. Paraguay's Francisco Huron and Britain's Don Roberts compete in the Men's Hide and Seek Olympic Finals. The Cheap Laughs invade the home of Roger and Beatrice Robinson. And Prof. Herman Khan, director of the Institute for Split-Crotch Panties, investigates the financial structure of the planet Algon. Carol Cleveland, Marie Anderson, and Mrs. Idle made brief appearances in "The Nude Man," which first aired December 14, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The centerpiece of this November 30, 1972, episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus is a grisly slow-motion sequence from Sam Peckinpah's production of the musical comedy Salad Days, replete with tennis-racket impalements and blood-soaked pianos. Also on the docket is "The Adventures of Biggles," in which the aviator hero tries to dictate a letter to King Haakon of Norway and Princess Margaret during a WWI dogfight (or, in this case, a sheep fight). Bert Tagg leads a mountain-climbing expedition along the north face of the Uxbridge Road. The resident of 24 Parker Street insists that her house is not a lifeboat. A Good Fairy from BBC program control turns into a frog. And, in the episode's other "money scene," Mr. Mousebender tries to make a purchase at Mr. Wensleydale's cheese shop. Nicki Howorth was featured in the unusually large cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The titular event includes a swimsuit and evening-gown competition, and a 15-second summary of Remembrances of Things Past, performed as a madrigal by The Fred Tomlinson Singers. Col. Sir John Teasy Weasy Butler describes the International Hairdresser's Expedition of Mt. Everest. After coming attractions for "A Magnificent Festering," the fire brigade waits until Friday to answer a call from Mrs. Little and her headhunter son Eamon. Veronica Smalls offers advice as to throwing a party during a Communist uprising. Mrs. Tick takes a tour of a language laboratory, which ends with a performance of Sandy Wilson's musical version of The Devils. Mr. Smoketoomuch tries to book a world tour from Mr. Bounder. And a discussion of the Brontosaurus by Anne Elk (Miss) is interrupted with a reprise of the Proust Madrigal, even though the Competition has already been won by the Girl With the Biggest Tits. First telecast November 16, 1972, this Monty Python's Flying Circus episode was graced with another prominent appearance by Carol Cleveland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The programme begins with Episode Thlee of Erizabeth L, featuring Sir Flancis Dlake and the Spanish Almada. The Fraud Film Squad arrests a man for impersonating Lucino Visconti, and the Salvation Fuzz likewise swings into action. An old lady prepares a dead-rat dessert for her husband, while her son reports the presence of a dead bishop. This leads to an impromptu jungle expedition, where a deadly battle with a gorilla is replaced by a scene from "Ken Russell's Garden Club -- 1958." Once the identity of the phony Visconti is established, police remain baffled by a man who claims to be Michelangelo Antonioni. And after the closing credits roll, it's off to The Argument Clinic (no, it isn't!) and a surprise appearance by Inspector Fox of the Light Entertainment Police (Comedy Division, Spec. Flying Squad). Also featuring Rita Davies, Carol Cleveland and The Fred Tomlinson Singers (who perform "The Money Song"), "The Money Programme" was originally broadcast November 2, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Created in 1969 as the British Broadcasting Corporation's answer to America's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (one of its guiding forces was BBC executive and former Laugh-In writer Barry Took), Monty Python's Flying Circus was both the title of the series and the name of the comedy troupe appearing in the show. (The name was chosen precisely because it didn't mean anything!) The cast -- Cambridge and Oxford graduates all -- included John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. A sixth Python, American-born Terry Gilliam, provided the series' zany, non sequitur animated sequences and occasionally appeared on camera. Most of the female roles were handled by Connie Booth (Cleese's then-wife) and Carol Cleveland. Virtually indescribable to anyone who hasn't seen it, the series (which opened each week to the tune of John Philip Sousa's "Liberty Bell March") was a wild, irreverent collection of open-ended comedy sketches, sometimes tenuously tied in with a single theme. The individual sketches were usually connected only by the sonorous announcement, "And now for something completely different," which also served as the title for the group's first theatrical feature film. Favorite Python targets included dull BBC talk shows and documentaries, idiotic legal restrictions, bean-counting bureaucrats, incomprehensible foreigners, and venerated British traditions. For some curious reason, all of the Pythonites enjoyed dressing up in women's clothing, usually portraying frumpy, strident-voiced suburban housewives. Among the series' more famous bits were "The Pet Shop," "The Lumberjack Song," "The Spanish Inquisition," "Department of Silly Walks," "The World's Deadliest Joke," "Hell's Grannies," "The Annual Twit of the Year Awards," and a lengthy science fiction movie parody in which evil aliens (who looked like French pastries) transformed all British subjects into Scotsmen, the better to win the annual Wimbledon tennis match (a premise which, in context, makes perfect sense). Though the 45-episode series enjoyed an enormous following in England, it didn't arrive in America until 1974, when the package was picked up by PBS (ABC had evinced interest in the property, but insisted upon cutting all the "naughty bits" and arbitrarily inserting commercials). In addition to making stars out of virtually all its cast members, Monty Python's Flying Circus has spawned several comedy record albums, movie spin-offs, and many solo projects like Fawlty Towers. In 1999, the series, long available on videocassette, was picked up for yet another go-round by the Arts and Entertainment cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Part 2: The Llama Live From Golders Green" is followed by a man with a tape recorder up his nose (he later returns in stereo). Double-visioned Sir George Head hires Arthur Wilson for a mountain-climbing expedition, then hires Arthur Wilson for a mountain-climbing expedition. Incompetent Bevis the barber never wanted to be Bevis the barber, as he and the Mountie Chorus explain in "The Lumberjack Song." Ken Buddha and his Inflatable Knees fill in for Harry Fink. And sweethearts Victor and Iris play host to Arthur Name, Brian and Audrey Equatol, an Old Man and His Goat, and six singing Miners. One of the most famous of all episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus (thanks in great part to the vocal stylings of The Fred Tomlinson Singers, not to mention Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth), "The Ant -- an Introduction" made its British TV bow on December 21, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this episode, listeners protest as the sounds of the Warsaw Concerto are heard wafting from the bathroom. "The World of History" introduces a solemn team of undertakers who wend their way throughout the rest of the episode. The murder of Inspector Tiger is investigated by Assistant Chief Constable There's a Man Behind You and Constable Fire. Football player Jimmy Buzzard is interviewed, sort of. This week's cast of "Interesting People" includes Mr. Howard Stools, half an inch tall; Ali Bayan of Egypt, who's stark raving mad; the Rachel Toovey Bicycle Bell Choir; a cat with influenza; the invisible Mr. Thomas Waters; and the self-explanatory Keith Maniac of Guatemala. And "The World of History" features a reenactment of the Battle of Pearl Harbor, performed by Mrs. Rita Fairbanks and her Townswomen's Guild. Carol Cleveland and Ian Davidson make significant appearances in this January 4, 1970, episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A desperate suburban couple summons Confuse-a-Cat, Ltd. ("Thank God we've arrived in time!") A Customs Official bypasses a confessed smuggler in favor of strip-searching a vicar, leading to a round-table discussion of customs enforcement with a duck, a cat, and a lizard. Actor Sandy Camp surrenders an illicit bag of sandwiches. A BBC newsreader incriminates himself. "Edited Highlights of Tonight's Romantic Movie" offers a montage of such phallic symbols as a tossed caber. The Head of the Careers Advisory Board is no help at all. And a burglar suffers the fate reserved for all encyclopedia salesmen. Also featuring Carol Cleveland, this episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus was originally broadcast November 23, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An unsuccessful yeti spotter becomes an unsuccessful camel spotter. Dracula stops being fun anymore when his fangs drop out. Nor is Wilkins any fun when he embezzles a penny from the one-shilling gross of the Multi-Million Pound Corporation. In "Science Fiction," aliens from the planet Skyron transform all Earthlings into Scotsmen, a voracious Blancmange terrorizes the countryside, and Mr. and Mrs. Brainsample determine the outcome at Wimbledon in 1984. And where is Mr. Subways when you need him? Donna Redding plays the Sexy Girl in "Oh, You're No Fun Anymore," which first aired December 7, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide