Product Description

In the early 1980s, Monty Python’s Graham Chapman embarked upon a second career as a public speaker. Throughout the decade he toured hundreds of North American colleges delivering "comedy lectures" which consisted of tales from his life, adventures with an ad hoc group of adrenaline junkies called the Dangerous Sports Club, equally dangerous friends like the Who’s Keith Moon and, of course, his fellow Pythons. In the spring of 1988 he launched his final college tour before his death in 1989, the best of which is presented here, videotaped under Graham’s supervision and taken from his personal archives. It’s a historical – and hysterical - document, capturing Graham at the peak of his comedic powers, at ease and at home before a crowd of Chapmaniacs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49265 in DVD
• Brand: WEA-DES MOINES VIDEO
• Released on: 2005-04-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com
In what is surely the most laconic comedy concert film ever made, Graham Chapman of the Monty Python troupe entertains worshipful audiences of college students during a 1988 tour of the United States. Chapman proves a warm and delightful raconteur as he recalls skiing down a Swiss mountainside in a wooden gondola, Keith Moon (drummer for rock band the Who) using explosives to chastize a hotel manager, and appeaing naked during the filming of Monty Python's Life of Brian. Be warned: As the packaging is quick to note, the film and audio quality are not professional; this is virtually a home movie. Nonetheless, Chapman's relaxed poise and impeccable deadpan delivery give his stories a dry wit that any Python fan will enjoy. The extras, in addition to having further samples from the question-and-answer sessions with the audience, includes footage of Chapman being hurled into the air by industrial elastic and an Iron Maiden video in which he appears as a stern schoolmaster. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

A Masterclass in Humour
Dr Graham Chapman, MD, delivers in these home movies a set of lectures and demonstrations on how to be funny. Take notes and pay very close attention, because he has it right at every turn. The Pythons were the right mix of personalities and comedic talents. The whole being greater and all that, but in point of fact, were it not for Chapman, it is hard to believe they would ever have coalesced. Inspite of leading the most lascivious of lifestyles, Graham was always the one playing the vicar, the Protestant, the general, Brian, the dowdy women. His window on the ordinary person embraced those characters with a sense of compassion as well as humour, and that's what made it possible for Cleese and Palin to be as off the wall, for Idle to nudge, wink and imply slyly, for Jones to be a perfect foil. It was Chapman, after all, who told Cleese to change his skit about an intransigent appliance salesman to a parrot shopkeeper, and the rest, as they say.... None of them could have pulled off either Arthur or Brian save Chapman. None of them but Chapman could have gotten away with pleading with the German security guards, when they were denied entry to Dachau concentration camp on a German TV project, to let them in because they were Jewish. He had some finger on the essentially dignity of his characters inspite of the prepsoterous silliness, and that touched his colleagues as well as his fans.
In this absolutely terrific and poorly shot film, Chapman holds forth on the college tour cicrcuit about all sorts of misadventures, most of which will thoroughly satisfy you with a great peel of laughter. Knowing how he died, you are aware of the tragic consequences of his carrying on, and perhaps he is as well. Like his skits, in the very peak of the hilarity, something fundamentally frail and human peeks through looking for approval. In the American theatre, I can think of only Red Skelton who could deliver that same sense of silliness and respect, all in an effort to bring you a smile. A brown trouser job? If so, crease mine twice....

Best Comedy DVD 0f The Year!
You'll hear some minor grumblings from techonerds about the picture quality of this DVD, but who cares? The content matters, and this DVD delivers in spades! This is super cool, super rare footage of the one and only Graham Chapman of Python in his prime in the late 80s. This DVD is so funny with so many hilarious bits that it gets my vote as BEST COMEDY DVD OF 2005. If you're a Python fan--buy it without even thinking twice, and if you just love some well-told stories by a really really funny man, buy it too. Great bonus stuff too! This tour released on DVD has been long-anticipated (for almost 20 years) and now here it is--it's a masterpiece!

Skiing In A Wretched Wooden Gondola And Other Dangerous Sports
Graham Chapman was, I believe, the most deranged and probably funniest of all the Pythons, and this DVD, though occasionally marred by technical shortcomings, showcases his amazing sense of humor perfectly. These presentations were taken from various live speaking events at US college campuses in 1988. The first two thirds of the DVD is material that is largely a series of recollections and reminiscences some of which involve Monty Python, and some of which do not.

The breadth of the material is staggering, but my favorite recollections involve his participation in a group called the "Dangerous Sports Club" which sponsored insane activities like hang gliding above active volcanoes, catapult-related events, and downhill skiing whilst attached to inappropriate objects, in Graham's case a "wretched" wooden Italian gondola appropriated from a local restaurant and containing Graham, a dubious member of the aristocracy, and an inappropriate club mascot in boxer shorts. This event gave rise to the DVD title, as it apparently was a real "brown trouser job."

The last third of the DVD is devoted to questions and answers, and Graham really delivers with outstanding spontaneity and wit. The audience asked interesting questions, and the answers were both funny and insightful.

Any fan of Graham Chapman, Monty Python, or humor in general will love this DVD. I give it five stars for some of the funniest comedy material ever released on DVD.