Monty Python's Flying Circus: Michael Palin's Personal Best [DVD]

Features

• Type: DVD
• Studio: A&E
• Language(s): arabic, english, french, german, italian, spanish
• Actor(s): Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, Ian Davidson, John Hughman, The Fred Tomlinson Singers

The sketch selection for this hour-long greatest bits collection would certainly provide fodder for the Argument Clinic (a classic sketch, sadly not included here). But the Fish-Slapping Dance, Michael Palin's self-professed favorite piece of Pythonian silliness is included, as is the absurd, curd-free Cheese Shop sketch and his smarmy turn as the oily host of the game show, "Blackmail." Oddly enough, the bulk of this volume is pretty much as devoid of the amiable Palin as that cheese shop was of cheese. Still, the Tobacconist sketch, the Piranha Brothers sketch, Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth, and the Chemist sketch serve as a nifty Python primer for the uninitiated and a filling sampler for fans who have yet to invest in the complete series. To be totally frank, I was expecting the Spanish Inquisition, the Dead Parrot sketch, an excerpt from "The Cycling Tour," or any number of Monty Python classics in which Palin played a key role. On the upside, in newly filmed material, Palin does take time out from his global travels to serve as a tour guide to the actual site where the Fish-Slapping Dance was filmed, and explicates the three stages of this rather silly ritual. --Donald Liebenson