Monty Python Sketches (partially lost deleted scenes from TV and movies; 1973-1975)

A rare behind-the-scenes photo of the sketch, "Flute Player".

Status: Partially Lost

Monty Python's Flying Circus was an avant-garde TV comedy programme aired from 1969-1974 on the BBC in England, conceived, written and performed by 5 British scholars and one American animator, all of whom happened to be naturally gifted comedians: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam. The show was an immediate hit and the sextet, despite eventually splitting off to pursue solo projects, would forever after become known collectively as Monty Python.

By an extraordinary stroke of luck, the original run of the Flying Circus survived entirely intact through the BBC's policy of wiping/reusing master tapes to save money (victims of which famously include Doctor Who and Not Only...But Also); Terry Jones was tipped off that a wipe was scheduled and the troupe was able to smuggle out the master tapes to make copies. Over the many years and multiple re-edits since, however, various scenes from the show and associated media exist only in fragments if at all.

Flying Circus Sketches (1973-1974)

Three sketches were removed from the Series 3 episode "E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease", the 10th of the series and 36th out of 45 overall.

• Half-A-Bee! Two beekeepers argue over who caught a bee... having both accidentally netted Graham Chapman, who grows increasingly annoyed. The oblivious keepers begin to debate whether his name is Mick or Daryl, then bring in King Solomon to judge who takes him. This of course ends with the king ruling that the 'bee' must be cut in half, and a song follows as they do just that. The sketch was one of a few that got cut due to Chapman, a self-admitted alcoholic, frankly being very drunk.

• Big Nosed Sculpture: John Cleese portrays a mayor who commissions a bust of himself, only to correct an elongated nose carved on it, when the sculptor is too emotional to correct it himself. Chapman again starred in this sketch, and his drunkenness got it cut.

• Revolting Cocktails is an odd one wherein the Pythons request increasingly disgusting drinks at a bar, to the equally increasing distress of the bartender. There is a considerable amount of vomiting. No official reason has been given for its removal, but it seems to have been solely intended to test the boundaries of televised bad taste and was likely cut accordingly.

• Ursula Hitler was technically the last-ever original Python sketch, having been slated to run at the end of episode 45, "Party Political Broadcast" but removed shortly prior to airing. It revolves around respectable British spinster Ursula Hitler, nee Lloyd-George, who had changed her surname numerous times in an effort to avoid the hassle of being named after Prime Ministers before finally settling on Hitler in 1934. This naturally caused some confusion in the mails, and Ms. Hitler (Chapman) explains to an interviewer (Terry Jones) how she accordingly threw out an odd letter ordering her to withdraw her troops from Poland or she would be in a state of war with Britain. She goes on to complain of the disruption that the subsequent war had caused, and reveals her 'revolutionary method' was to 'mark each of them with a red mark and drop them into the pool'... apparently she's talking about salmon farming. The interview concludes with the presenter accidentally shooting himself.

It is unknown exactly why this last sketch was cut, but according to various Pythons in interviews it seems official objections were raised to the handling of the subject matter, and as it was already overlong none of the troupe much minded it being removed altogether. The sketch was deemed "impossible to find" until it was recovered on the 50th anniversary reissue in 2019.

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus

The series proved so wildly popular in West Germany that as early as 1972 the Pythons were invited to tape 2 45-minute specials exclusively for Bavarian television. The troupe members all read phonetically from translated scripts, making this dub of the Flying Circus an especially interesting curiosity as the earliest alt-versions of the classic sketches involved. Unfortunately the specials have themselves become obscure, and has had its share of alternative foreign versions. Four segments are completely missing:

• A version of the "Marriage Guidance Counsellor" sketch.
• A sketch involving a flute player (Chapman) in front of a German sign.
• A version of the "Sir Edward Ross" sketch
• An alternate ending to the first special, in which two stage hands are carrying a giant sign that says ENDE off a huge field. Behind the sign is Terry Jones' singer character from the "Albrecht Dürer" sketch.

Two scenes are known to have been cut entirely; "Swimming Lessons with Arthus Lustgarten" and "Menthol Cigarettes Ad". Both would later resurface on YouTube.

Censorship

Many of the Flying Circus episodes, understandably, were subject to censorship. These sketches were not deleted entirely, but fixed to the best of the troupe's ability. In some cases, re-airings dealt with the issue; famed interviewer David Frost had his actual phone number published in one episode, which was hastily replaced by a fake one in rebroadcast due to his line being spammed. Some elements have simply required removal due to changing mores - various incidences of blackface have been cut for modern streaming - and expired song rights (Girl From Ipanema, Tonight).

Other material was muted. The "Summarize Proust" sketch removed the word 'masturbating' and another sketch had to redub over "what a silly bunt" as the star of the sketch was a man who pronounces 'B's as, erm, 'C's. 'Cancer' was removed twice on the grounds of bad taste, most memorably from Carol Cleveland's narration of a cartoon in the sixth episode, wherein a male voice is dubbed over saying "gangrene". The second and much less dramatic muting happened during the "Conquistador Coffee Campaign" in the eleventh episode... which, as the troupe is never tired of pointing out, still left a reference to leprosy intact.

A few unfixable sketches werre deleted, some of which have been rediscovered. The "Party Political Broadcast (Choreographed)" was axed as too obviously supporting the Labour Party ahead of an upcoming election (the BBC, as the de facto state broadcaster, is bound by very strict impartiality rules) but later resurfaced on American PBS recordings that were subsequently uploaded to YouTube and ended up as extras on later official Python DVD setc. A black/white 16mm reel among a collection in America preserved "Satan", the only animation to be deleted (for obvious reasons). As it happens the 'Conquistador Coffee' sketch fell just before this, so the reel preserves the unedited ' cancer' reference as well.

The films

Among Michael Palin's personal archives are long-lost tapes containing alternate and deleted sequences from the troupe's first and arguably most famous feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. These included a much more "conventional" ending to the film (which was eventually scrapped in favour of the familiar abrupt cut to nowhere), Shakespeare's Hamlet as a "foul-mouthed private detective", a "Pink Knight" scene involving a bridge-guarding knight striking a "camp pose" and informing King Arthur that "None shall cross this bridge unless they give a kiss", and a "Wild West" scene wherein a news reporter enters a saloon (actually the "last bookshop befoe you go to Mexico") and asks for a beer, getting the response, "Not since they started specializing in European authors".

All of these are included in the materials Palin donated to the British Library, where they are readily available. As yet they have not surfaced elsewhere.

Video

The two cut sketches from the 1972 German specials: Swimming Lessons with Arthur Lustgarten and Menthol Cigarettes.

External Sites

• Fliegender Zirkus Sketch (Rare)
• from Holy Grail episode cut scenes