Monty Python on Letterman, Part 6: 1988

[@DrumsTheWord]

John Cleese is a marvel. His comic brain is SO fast. Superb improvisation!

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Palin, too. Brilliant

[@untexan]

This first interview with John Cleese is absolute god-tier television. Just two men improvising a segment about made-up British holidays while Dave stuffs Wonder Bread into a GE toaster and John eats some of it. Dave looks delighted at the end of that segment.

[@coryspang7548]

I love that interview the most. I've watched many times, and whenever I watch it, it always gives me a chuckle.

[@sianwarwick633]

Thanks for your name. And, that great adverb I couldn't possibly ever use

[@NxDoyle]

Dave respected the silliness of the Pythons as much as their intelligence. And that's the key to Monty Python, the purity of their silliness.

[@markf5220]

"Sheffield is a suburb of London", even when they aren't trying, members of Monty Python come out with hilarious one liners

[@michaelhilborn4204]

I've been to Sheffield. The locals don't even speak the same language as the rest of the English. 😂

[@christophermacintyre5890]

"Sloth racing, for people who find cricket too exciting." LOL

[@mikemaldonado9960]

John really caught his 2nd wind in the late eighties. awesome

[@wes643]

Every introduction includes the phrase “founding member of Monty Python”. I wasn’t aware there were any members of Monty Python that weren’t originals.

[@danw4490]

John Cleese is a legend. Hilarious!

[@EricBrunoBorgman]

So much different appearance of Cleese here than the first appearance!

[@MorlokKurak]

I remember watching this when it aired. Afterwards I had to look for my butt, because I laughed it off. 😂😂😂😂

[@LisaWatsonFilm]

i love that he always says Michael Palin's name wrong 😂😂

[@TheGrenfellRatio]

Cleese is sort of right about grudges. Many years after this the Duke of Westminster refused to sell the US Embassy land when the lease ran out, unless New York was returned to him.

[@Chucklehound]

The promo for Fish Called Wanda is the best I've ever seen!

[@AndyAcker]

Remember seeing the TV spots for it as a 10-year-old, having no idea who Python were and having no frame of reference for any of the actors. It was bizarre and hilarious. The movie was a bit over my head when I finally saw it- I just had to wait about 10 years to truly get it.

[@combeechan]

Thank you for uploading these!

[@stevencoffman34]

Greatest comedy troupe ever

[@katy3901]

Saddened to find (particularly given the topic of conversation) after reading Palin's diaries that this must have been soon after his sister died.

[@radiomindchatter7994]

John is quick man..very smart man with a poker face.

[@WalterDiamond]

"They don't drown." BAHAHA

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

"Strange, lanky men, with beards and mad, staring eyes ..." Well, that's Graham Chapman.

[@8888-9]

I love the diversity of Comic creation, that their parents were “ methodical “ or small, or quiet.

[@MobiusBandwidth]

Thanks for sharing all of these!

[@debbieramsey-hanks3757]

Brilliant" A Fish Called Wanda"

[@filmguymike]

I love Al Hirt the trumpeter at the end

[@LampoonGoon]

lmao @Michael Palin's 4-time use of the word "turd" (starting at 15:53) being a no-no in America in 1988. That's so perfectly ridiculous, especially considering this went out at 11:30pm. I'm reasonably sure it would have been permissible to use that word in Great Britain in primetime from the early 1970s onwards. I thought Dave might have at least indicated a different opinion about that, but no.

[@BaccarWozat]

It wasn't actually wrong, since obviously it's in the broadcast, so Dave was just being silly by saying it couldn't be said. Also it only went out at 11:30 in the midwest, 12:30 on both coasts.

[@Erik-vp5bm]

I'm more astonished of how Cleese refers to Jesus as "our lord", despite being a strongly outspoken atheist.

[@УгарныйЮМОР.Подписывайся]

I'm like him

[@madarab37]

I didnt know the airwaves were threatened by turds in '88. Did they censor it out on the broadcast???

[@kanealson5200]

Turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd. All day long. Turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd, turd. There should be a sketch or play. Turdalot.

[@JEFFREYcjones-xg2cy]

And now for something completely different..............

[@hairypolack]

Notice when any Monty Python-ers were on Letterman, the outro music is The Beatles?

[@88skisupreme]

Cleese has no respect for spoilers

[@Erik-vp5bm]

Nobody cared about spoilers back then. In my country back then, an advertisement for Star Wars actually told how it ended.

[@RoyRogerer]

To be honest when I watched this before watching the film, i thought he was just fooling around

[@finnibertlunchiken7792]

9:52 In a strange twist John Cleese asks "what do the 'whoops' mean when they make that sound?". In a prior interview with Palin and Gilliam after watching a clip of 'Live at athe Hollywood Bowl' Dave asks the question "I noticed a lot of people making a whooping noise, what is that?".

[@kanealson5200]

It was Gilliam and Chapman. Nobody knew what the hell the people in California were whooping about.

[@kanealson5200]

Don, 21. Michael Palin: April 1, 1993 22. Eric Idle: April 16, 1993. Are they up yet? Can't find them. It sure must be a good feeling to finally be able to do something with all those hours of footage you've amassed over the years. It actually came into perfect use! Thanks again!

[@dongiller]

Thanks! And no, I haven't put them up yet. I'll continue the series after I finish digitizing the shows.

[@eugenemalkin4364]

"This is the stupidest show." Awesome!

[@Sirfev2010]

nice

[@deckofcards87]

Cleese is a national treasure

[@johnjustice9255]

Cleese is a goose. His comedy is nasty, pointed physical or self hating put down of British middle class. Not much witty repartee. Cloest is superior faux comic accusations and criticism of idiosyncratic style.

[@royrowland5763]

@@johnjustice9255 Said no comedian ever.

[@untexan]

@@johnjustice9255Comrade, you are literally following Russia Today, you are the worst trollbot ever

[@knownpleasures]

The only time you will see someone eat toast butter 🧈 and jam on chat shows !!

[@johnjustice8478]

And didn't he wolf it down. It was like he hadn't been fed in a week. He was ravenous. He nearly ate his fingers Cleese is a disgusting hypocritical snob.

[@ArnoldLokman]

8:52 I thought something was running on John's shoulder

[@assignmentearth2899]

And we end with Al Hirt! "Java"!

[@DocHollidayGames]

They weren't aloud to say the word 'turd' on air back in 88?

[@stevensprunger3422]

And even our Lord who could walk on water couldn’t breathe underwater….

[@AndyAcker]

First time I've seen someone compare Christ and the Buddha to fish in order to illustrate how amazing they are.

[@NxDoyle]

There's a lot of truth in the happy whooping/got in for free thing.

[@fatalmodelmadhatter]

It is a pity that you cannot post the remaining parts of the compilation, but I understand how you have no control over that, Don. But allow me a question: have any of the Pythons ever appeared on Late Show?

[@dongiller]

John Cleese: May 18, 1995 cameo; December 9, 1996 guest Terry Gilliam: December 27, 1995 Eric Idle: June 26, 2000

[@fatalmodelmadhatter]

@@dongiller Always delivering the goods. Thanks, kind sir!

[@SoopSoopa]

favorite humanoids ever

[@Eleanor-yc6bw]

Americans always assuming that brits are from London, I’m from very near Sheffield and if anyone assumed I was from London I would be surprised and probably offended.

[@saftpackerl]

or even embarrassed? :D

[@AndyAcker]

Couldn't you just smugly retort that it's a "suburb of London"?

[@davidbull7210]

Cleese went to the US for his therapy. What you're seeing is emotional and psychological release from the UK straitjacket. He takes it a little too far, like any over-reformed person.

[@helveticaification]

What to wear for the "stupidest show"? Jeans + tie.

[@leeshacklock8791]

who's the trumpet bloke?

[@dongiller]

No one reads my descriptions.

[@leeshacklock8791]

@@dongiller i didn't realise "a closing Network Time Killer featuring Al Hirt." meant Al Hirt is the man playing the trumpet at the end of the program, sorry. And I've never heard of him so thank you for the intro!

[@dongiller]

Keep in mind that Hal Gurnee introduces him.

[@leeshacklock8791]

@@dongiller i'm so glad you replied, Al rocks!

[@leeshacklock8791]

@@dongiller I've never heard of him! or Hal! but due to you i've been on youtube and ebay and have the greatest hits cd of Al Hirt on the way to me in the post. Many thanks

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

Please upload more Monty Python Letterman bits!

[@dongiller]

This is Part 6. There are five earlier parts.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@dongiller You mentioned in your description that there were more coming up, I would like to know how their 90s appearances looked like.

[@dongiller]

@@Urlocallordandsavior That was before Pants hired me as a consultant to their Dave channel. As a consequence, there’ll be no additional Dave-related uploads for the foreseeable future.

[@9killerqueen]

Please upload other interviews of monty python

[@dongiller]

Can no longer do after these six parts.

[@MammaApa]

Massive amounts of marmite

[@missusingle]

You couldn’t say “Dog turd” on Letterman in ‘88? Wha?!

[@IamGilgamesh]

We had that exact toaster when I was a kid, and I was born this year. lmao