Friday Funnies – Ripping Yarns

In keeping with our new Friday tradition of getting you ready for the weekend…it’s time for the Tellyspotting Friday Funnies. This week, Ripping Yarns. Happy weekend! After Monty Python’s Flying Circus ended in 1974, it seemed like a no-brainer that the BBC was eager to find new projects for the now ex-Pythons. Turning first to […]

Read more

Monty Python – All the bits, complete AND annotated

If you get a chance to drop by a newstand in the not-too-distant future (i.e. this month), pick up a copy of The Atlantic for a brilliant article. “The Beatles of Comedy” is a great read and a real treat for British comedy fans worldwide. Working from the premise that the genius of the Monty […]

Read more

Graham Chapman's beyond the grave biopic – Monty Python style

In true Monty Python style, the upcoming self-described ‘animation epic’, A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, tells the story of (surprise) Graham Chapman, probably best remembered as ‘the dead one from Monty Python’. Described in the Hollywood Reporter as unorthodox, freewheeling and, by fellow Python member John Cleese as a […]

Read more

Pythons reveal favorite modern comedies….

After having to suffer for years and years of fans worldwide wanting to know what are the Pythons favorite sketches or what were their early days influences for the brilliant Python sketches, at long last, someone has asked the likes of Terry Gilliam, Carol Cleveland, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, what makes them laugh…non-Python related. […]

Read more

BBC Showcase – Day one: Drama

It’s now down to business at the 2012 BBC Showcase and the opportunity to screen the best of the best when it comes to telly from the BBC. As we make the grueling 50 yard trek over bitter terrain from the hotel lobby to the screening booths for the 2012 BBC Showcase, it’s immediately clear […]

Read more

Bit and Bobs from BBC Showcase – Liverpool

As you slept away the night last night, Tellyspotting landed in Liverpool content to begin working very hard on your behalf, finding the best of British telly for broadcast on public television in the States for the coming year. After a quick 9-hour flight to London followed by a 2.5 hour train journey to Liverpool, […]

Read more

Terry Jones talks about writing Python sketches

Ever since that fateful day in 1974 when KERA, the public television station in Dallas, became the first PBS station in the U.S. to broadcast Monty Python’s Flying Circus I have wondered just what went on in the heads of Oxford graduates, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, and Cambridge graduates, Eric Idle, John Cleese and […]

Read more

Pythons to reunite for Absolutely Anything

There was a time it seemed like members of Monty Python were getting together for ‘almost anything’. Masters of re-versioning their classic material on albums such as The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album, Monty […]

Read more

Celebrate life, the universe and everything in 2012

Sunday, 11 March, 2012 is the day to celebrate the man who gave us life, the universe and everything. The Apollo Hammersmith in London (Planet Earth) is the place to be for the birthday party of all birthday parties. Greats from the world of science, comedy and music will come together for an evening of entertainment […]

Read more

From the British comedy vault of greatness – Ripping Yarns

Over the past several months there seems to have been a number of well-deserved programs revisiting classic British comedy series such as the celebration of the 30th anniversary of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, a look at the early days of Morcambe and Wise and the return of Ronnie Corbett in The One Ronnie. For my […]

Read more