Monty Python: Bignosed Sculptor

[Charles Roberts]

But surely "Revolting Cocktails" (re)surfaced on the "Drury Lane" LP

[Richard Moore]

Just because it never appeared on record doesn't mean it wasn't recorded. Several hours worth of out-takes are reported (by Andre Jaquemin - producer) to exist and were slated for release last year - but cancelled!

Richard M

[Gary C]

I heard an interview with someone (can't remember who now-might have been Neil Innes) on BBC Radio 5 last year, and one of the callers on the phone was one of the engineers on the Pithon LP's. He said he had a load of studio out-takes himself. Why was the re-issue cancelled then, does anyone know??

[RWels]

Charles said:

But surely "Revolting Cocktails" (re)surfaced on the "Drury Lane" LP

Oh, I didn't know that; there are quite a few MP records.

richardm said:

Just because it never appeared on record doesn't mean it wasn't recorded. Several hours worth of out-takes are reported (by Andre Jaquemin - producer) to exist and were slated for release last year - but cancelled!

Richard M

True, it was just a thought. At least those outtakes survive.

[Charles Roberts]

I also heard that there was an unreleased LP of extra audio material?

[RWels]

You mean the hastily cobbled together for a quick buck album?

[Nigel Realaletwat]

Which album is that?

[RWels]

A MP album that was never released. Bot motorhead or some other band had already been given copies because they were recording next door or next floor or something like that. And so it survived. (Correct me if I got it wrong.)
Use your internet browser and you should be able to find the place where you can download both sides.

[Charles Roberts]

From what I gather the page saying that the episode was completed as scripted is bollocks. Apparently only part of the "sculptor" sketch was ever shot, and never completed. If that part that was filmed still survives though, it would make a good DVD extra (alogn with wee-wee wineteasting, provided that survives).

[John Stewart Miller]

Andy said:

When will the Monty Pithon box-set with the complete telly series on DVD be released? ;D

There is a US set available, and also, a Chinese, and a Spanish. No word on the UK yet though....

[Johnny 23]

johnstuartmiller said:

From what I gather the page saying that the episode was completed as scripted is bollocks. Apparently only part of the "sculptor" sketch was ever shot, and never completed. If that part that was filmed still survives though, it would make a good DVD extra (alogn with wee-wee wineteasting, provided that survives).

It's obviously bollocks, as you have to remember *why* the Big Nosed Sculptor sketch was "deleted" in the first place. The photo is obviously from the rehearsal - it's 99.9% certain that this was the sketch that John Cleese claimed had to be abandoned due to Chapman's pissedness.

If you look at the shooting script on SOTCAA, it's clear that a lot of the original show 10 was actually taped. Everything from the opening to "Gay Boys In Bondage" were recorded and obviously still survive. We're pretty sure that the sculptor scene was never completed, so it's debatable whether the "Half A Bee" song was even shot as it follows on from the previous sketch (you can hear Palin's demo for the original song during that section in Python Night where Meat Loaf talks about the LPs).

Pretty much everything from the shooting script was then recorded and ended up as show 10, with two notable exceptions: the Cocktail Bar sketch and the Wee Wee sketch. Both items were almost certainly axed as part of the "Thirty Two Points Of Worry" incident. The only surviving moment of "Wee Wee" is the shot of Palin in the barrel and the silly noises, which appear before the sherry-drinking vicar. My guess is McNaughton probably abandoned that section and intended to restart the show with the cocktails sketch and continue from there.

So: to summarise -and apologies for going over old ground. Chapman nobbled the sculptor sketch, which was never finished. Cocktails and wee-wee were nobbled by the BBC's Head Of Comedy Duncan Wood. The finished show 10 is a bastardised version with bits of shows 5 and 13 added in later on.

Some rushes from series 3 survive, but according to the Python office (when contacted by SOTCAA), "nothing significant" is there, just video inserts of stuff we've already got. These would make a nice DVD, but unless Terry Jones has more in his cellar than he's making out, Cocktails and Wee-Wee are probably gone forever.

[Johnny 23]

Here's a bit of further information... In Michael Palin's diaries, he refers to the recording of the last show of series 3 (show 10 to be broadcast). In his entry, he claims that Chapman was nervous and "drinking again like he had been during the December and January recordings" (this show was recorded in May 1972). Although he notes that Chapman "skidded to a halt" on one sketch, ten minutes of recording time later, they had completed the sketch.

So, was "Half A Bee" really completed? Or was Palin not paying attention to what else was going on in the studio? Or was this an entirely different sketch?

The list of cuts that Duncan Wood wanted to the final two shows also includes, according to Palin, the line "I'm going to get pissed tonight" - I can't for the life of me think which sketch this appears / would have appeared in. I don't think it's the Awful Cocktails sketch (which was to be axed completely anyway).

[David Morgan]

It could refer to Graham as the "bus conductor" singing

"Tonight,
Tonight,
I'm getting pissed tonight."

That was actually edited out of the initial broadcasts here in the States, but when the reruns started up in the 1980s, that line was back in.

[RWels]

By the way, has anyone ever heard more about the video reel supposedly found supposedly containing "Out of the Trees", (definately) by Graham Chapman and Douglas Adams?

[Koen Br]

It was found indeed, and if I'm not mistaken it's going to be screened as part of this year's Missing Believe Wiped. Must have read that somewhere on the Mausoleum Club forum.