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    Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian
    Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian
    Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian
    Audiobook6 hours

    Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian

    Written by Kim "Howard" Johnson

    Narrated by Johnny Heller and Simon Vance

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    About this audiobook

    In 1978, Kim "Howard" Johnson ran away to join the circus-Monty Python's Flying Circus, that is. The Pythons converged on Tunisia to film their timeless classic Life of Brian, and Howard found himself in the thick of it, doubling for nearly all the Pythons, playing more roles in the film than John Cleese, and managing to ruin only one shot. He became the unit journalist, substitute still photographer, Roman soldier, peasant, near-stalker, and, ultimately, friend and confidant of the comedy legends. He also kept a detailed journal of what he saw and heard, on set and off, throughout those six weeks.

    The result is a unique eyewitness account that reveals the Pythons at work and at play in a way that nothing else written about them could do. Now, for the first time ever, the inside story of the making of the film is revealed through the fly-on-the-castle-wall perspective. Even the most diehard fans will get a fresh take on the comedy greats through some never-before-revealed nuggets of Python brilliance: what John Cleese offered to exchange for suntan lotion; Terry Jones directing in drag; Michael Palin's secret to playing revolutionaries and peasants; Graham Chapman gets naked; Terry Gilliam gets filthy; Eric Idle haggles; the secret of the Thespo-Squat; Mrs. Pilate; talk of George Harrison; the cake-flinging that jeopardized the production; badminton, impromptu cricket, and erotic frescoes; and the first-ever presentation of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."

    Here, uncensored, are the legendary Pythons in their prime. It was a period of comedy history that will never be duplicated, and Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday captures the wit, the genius, and the sheer silliness of the six men that comprised Python.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 8, 2008
    ISBN9781400180431
    Author

    Kim "Howard" Johnson

    Kim "Howard" Johnson is the author of several books on Monty Python, including The First 280 Years of Monty Python, coauthor of the improvisational classic Truth in Comedy, and author of The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close. A writer and comedy performer, he was also personal assistant to John Cleese. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Laurie Bradach, their son, Morgan, and their dogs, Comet and Astro.

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    • 2/5
      When it takes thirty years for a book to be published, one of two things can be true. It might be that the author is a perfectionist, unwilling to allow the document to leave his hand for fear that some minor mistake might slip through. Or, the manuscript may have been shoved to the back of the drawer, only to be dusted off three decades later and published as is.Sadly, the second appears to have been true with Tunisian Holiday. This chronicle of the filming of The Life of Brian may be of interest to rabid fans of Monty Python, but if so, it will be the content, rather than the writing, that carries them through.The book was written by a man who was himself a rabid fan, an American who kept alive a fan community in the US in the days before the internet made that proposition simple. By dint of his efforts, he received an invitation to accompany Monty Python to Tunisia for the filming of The Life of Brian. There, he befriended the cast and served as an extra in the film for a period of about a month.The book appears to be based very heavily on the notes and journal kept by the author on a daily basis. There are variations in tense and tone that prevent the story from forming into a cohesive whole. Other than the Pythons themselves, whose names would be well known to the reader, the personalities tended to blend together. No doubt each was well known to the author, who lived with them day by day, but no real effort was made to make them distinct to the reader.There is a tone of effusion throughout, full of giddy incredulity at the prospect of meeting and working with the author’s heroes. Although it is moderated in later chapters, the feeling never quite goes away that Mr. Johnson was walking among giants, and knew it. We get very little introduction to the scores of other individuals who went to making the film possible. When the crew intrude into the story, they generally went unnamed; mostly, they were ignored.The author did not accompany the Pythons through all of the filming, and as a result, the story kind of peters out at the end, with a feeling of incompletion. We do get an epilogue dealing with the reaction to the film, and its legacy, but this is the only attempt to bring the story into a modern context.For fans of Monty Python who would like to vicariously experience the filming of a Monty Python movie, there is much to enjoy. More casual fans might be better served by simply watching the film with commentary turned on.