• Monty Python's "Upper Class Twit of the Year"

    From P@1:379/45 to All on Saturday, March 03, 2007 20:51:44
    From: "P" <pnj6@hotmail.com>

    I am intrigued about something in the Upper Class Twit of the Year show sketch as it appears in the Monty Python movie "And Now For Something Completely Different" which aired on Australian television today.

    At the end of the sketch, four pistols are sitting on a table for the participants to shoot themselves through the head (not five, because somehow the organisers already knew that one of the twits would run over himself before
    the end of the competition - a blooper?... but I digress)...

    The twits pick up the guns and begin firing indiscriminately. One shoots another twit. They appear to be real guns, firing blanks (obviously). In the movie, the smoke from the guns can be seen clearly (whereas from memory, the guns in the TV version didn't actually fire). All the twits are wearing hats, and when they hold the gun to their heads and fire, the smoke can be seen coming out of the barrel.

    As we know from the death of actor Jon Erik Hexum in the early 1980s, even a blank fired at close range can be fatal. What I'm wondering is, has it ever been documented how the Pythons did this? i.e., what the hats were lined with?
    Or was the fact that none of them were actually killed in the filming of this segment just good luck?

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    * Origin: FidoNet MONTE <--> alt.fan.monty-python (1:379/45)
  • From Aaron@1:379/45 to All on Sunday, March 04, 2007 05:18:08
    From: "Aaron" <aaronmlb@gmail.com>

    On 3 Mar, 09:51, "P" <p...@hotmail.com> wrote:
    I am intrigued about something in the Upper Class Twit of the Year show sketch as it appears in the Monty Python movie "And Now For Something Completely Different" which aired on Australian television today.

    At the end of the sketch, four pistols are sitting on a table for the participants to shoot themselves through the head (not five, because somehow the organisers already knew that one of the twits would run over himself before the end of the competition - a blooper?... but I digress)...

    The twits pick up the guns and begin firing indiscriminately. One shoots another twit. They appear to be real guns, firing blanks (obviously). In the movie, the smoke from the guns can be seen clearly (whereas from memory, the guns in the TV version didn't actually fire). All the twits are wearing hats, and when they hold the gun to their heads and fire, the smoke can be seen coming out of the barrel.

    As we know from the death of actor Jon Erik Hexum in the early 1980s, even a blank fired at close range can be fatal. What I'm wondering is, has it ever been documented how the Pythons did this? i.e., what the hats were lined with? Or was the fact that none of them were actually killed in the filming of this segment just good luck?

    I don't recall the precise sketch, but it sounds pretty obvious that they had the guns rigged in some way as to just emit smoke, or something of a similar nature. Either way, no blanks.

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  • From Waldo Centini@1:379/45 to All on Sunday, March 04, 2007 13:43:20
    From: Waldo Centini <waldoREMOVESPAMcentini@gmail.com>

    P surprised us with

    Or was the fact that none of them were actually killed in the filming
    of this segment just good luck?


    Wether it was good luck depends on wether you're a Python fan or not.

    Anyway, all Pythons actually *were* killed in the filming of this skit. After that, the BBC used mannequins as stand-ins.

    All later Python movies were made with look-a-likes. Cleese was later revived through the proper use of psychotherapy. He never regained his sense of humour,
    though.

    --
    ∙∙∙ Waldo ∙∙∙
    Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas.

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  • From Alex@1:379/45 to All on Monday, March 05, 2007 13:02:04
    From: Alex <check.sig@for.email.invalid>

    Waldo Centini wrote:

    Anyway, all Pythons actually *were* killed in the filming of this skit. After that, the BBC used mannequins as stand-ins.

    All later Python movies were made with look-a-likes. Cleese was later revived through the proper use of psychotherapy. He never regained his sense of humour, though.

    If you don't believe this, there is some evidence. Recall the cover picture of "Shabby road" in the Rutles movie, which reveals that Dirk has been gone for ages, honestly, since Dirk is depicted as wearing no trousers. This is, of course, a sure sign of the person being dead. Now recall the "sit on my face" song in the beginning of "Live at the Hollywood bowl"... Need I say more?

    Lemon curry?

    --
    Alex
    e-mail: Domain is iki dot fi. Local-part is alext.
    local-part at domain

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  • From Waldo Centini@1:379/45 to All on Monday, March 05, 2007 19:36:54
    From: Waldo Centini <waldoREMOVESPAMcentini@gmail.com>

    Alex surprised us with

    Lemon curry?


    No, thank you. Do you have any fried scotch, by any chance?

    --
    ∙∙∙ Waldo ∙∙∙
    All biography is ultimately fiction.

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