Rating: 
Summary: Even better live!
Review: Monty Python Live must have been such a treat to those lucky people you see at the beginning of the show, anxiously entering the Hollywood Bowl. It is certainly a treat for anyone who watches this DVD at home. The boys revive their classic sketches, from the Lumberjack Song to Sit on My Face to Crunchy Frog, as only they can.In Disc One of this 2 DVD set, the boys are in perfect form, and the live element to this show makes it even more entertaining. They feed off the audience's reactions, and the audience (and you) find themselves reciting every line along with the cast. It is a really fun time! The Aspen special also included on the first DVD is a tribute to the Monty Python cast as significant contributors to the world of comedy. Even the late Graham Chapman makes an appearance...in a funny fake urn...and the rest of the guys have a ball reminiscing about old times and old sketches, yukking it up with the host and the audience. The second DVD includes "20 Years of Python, a compilation special hosted briefly by Steve Martin. It features clips from all of the most famous sketches from the TV series. The second DVD also features a special episode written specially for German/Austrian audiences ("Fliegander Zirkus"). So, if you love Monty Python, if you love comedy, and/or if you're German or Austrian, buy this DVD! You will not regret it!
Rating: 
Summary: Monty Python Deserves Better Than A&E
Review: OK, I'd like to use this review of the (probably) final entry in the A&E Monty Python DVD line to spout off about A&E's treatment of this classic series. First of all, thanks to A&E for releasing the original Flying Circus shows in chronological order. That's an improvement over video/laserdisc releases in the past. BUT, don't buy A&E's claim that the shows are unedited. That is totally untrue. Several of the shows, particularly in the third season, are missing sketches. And this series presents the censored version of The Summarize Proust Competition sketch -- fans will now the famous controversy behind the sketch. Also, I love DVD extras, but I'd take a bare bones release over a DVD with worthless extras. And I would challenge anyone to find extras more pointless than the ones on ANY of the A&E Python discs. I don't blame A&E if they sought assistance from any of the Pythons and they were unavailable, but I do blame A&E for the absolute stupidity of these extras. Obviously they are meant to be "pythonesque," but they are simply moronic...Now for the Life of Python and Monty Python Live releases. Again, kudos to A&E for making this material available. But again the releases make little or no sense. Here is what they should have done: Life of Python should commemorate anniversary specials:
Disc 1 -- same; Disc 2 -- Life of Python (documentary done at 20-year anniversary, which is still unreleased on DVD) and Parrot Sketch Not Included, which was complied for their 20th anniversary. Monty Python Live:
Single Disc set with Hollywood Bowl and US Comedy Arts Festival (don't get me started on the horrible Bowl transfer A&E has put out). German episodes:
Single Disc set with both shows. Why one is on a "live" DVD makes no sense. Hopefully some day another distributor will get involved in this priceless material and do it justice, maybe with cooperation from the Pythons. Until now, this is what we have. And as great as the content is, the horrible presentation is inexcusable.
Rating: 
Summary: ok.... DISAPPOINTED!
Review: Synopsis: no apparent effort on behalf of A&E has been spent on this DVD. It is a great disappointment, the only consolation being mere presence of Live at Hollywood Bowl, and the Aspen interview. These DVD's leave you with a feeling that A&E just didn't bother putting too much effort into them.
First off, neither one of the two DVDs has subtitles. And with the quality of acoustics of this Live at Hollywood Bowl recording, believe me, you will feel the need for them at times. The first simply doesn't have them, while though the second DVD allows you to set English subtitles, they appear to be either 100% transparent, or 0% opaque.
The choice of material is also quite questionable. While it's great to finally have Live at Hollywood Bowl, it's obvious that it's suffered a letterbox conversion - the "built-in" subtitles (prerecorded ones) are chopped off at the sides, during the Bruces' Beer song. The recording looks like it was directly taken off of a VHS tape.
The Aspen interview is a great piece to have, and has very presentable quality - probably the only recording without flaws (except for lack of subtitles).
Parrot Sketch Not Included is a rather daft "Greatest Hits" bit, basically a continuous bunch of snippets from Flying Circus, and features a very bland and distasteful intro by Steve Martin. Even if one ignores its obvious misplacement (it's not live, and features a 5-second shot [literally] of the Pythons, including Graham Chapman's last appearance), this is nothing the average Python fan hasn't seen, and is nothing but filler.
The German Episode.... Much has been said about A&E's mishandling of these episodes... Not enough, in my opinion. First the obvious - episode 1 does not belong on a Live DVD - for one thing it's not live. Second - it would have been much better to subtitle them properly ("hidden" DVD subtitle format, and NOT permanently altered video). Both episodes (the other one is part of A&E's documentary, and is not on this DVD) would have been much more appropriate as part of the Flying Circus collection.
Back to my original point - these DVDs look like a bad prototype. At least I hope that's what I got (hardly). The extras are hardly useful at all (they're just snippets of FC and usual FC collection biographies). The DVD introduction animation is straight off of the Flying Circus collection, yet another indication of how much effort A&E has spent on this item. The DVD is a significant disappointment, and the only reason I'm giving it two stars is because Live at the Hollywood Bowl finally made it onto a DVD. Also, the Aspen interview presents some interesting insights (as well as a little Python humor on the side). PSNI is practically useless, and the German episode.... well... it's good to have, but it just doesn't belong here.
Rating:
Summary: The Essential Python
Review: The single most common praise one hears from a critical review is: "If you only have one DVD/album/book by [Insert a well-known author here], make it this one!" For Monty Python, this could labelled on this DVD set. Much of the criticism of this package is it's inclusion of 'Dead Parrot Sketch Not Included' (a greatest hits compilation of their [arguably] finest work from 'The Flying Circus' television show). I think it's inclusion is a strength -- It's the Python equivalent of the Beatles '1' record: Yes, there are ommisions, but it's nevertheless a very decent well-rounded collection. The contrary position is certainly understandable. If you bought the entire series on DVD, then 'Dead Parrot' is a pointless addition. However, if you can watch the Architect sketch, the lumberjack song, Salad Days and the communist game show in one sitting, it wouldn't be anything less than a holy disc. But what's missing is certainly made up on the very funny Hollywood Bowl performance. 'Nudge, Nudge,' 'The Bruces,' 'The Philosopher's Song,' 'Crunchy Frog' -- much of the classics 'Dead Parrot' seemed to forget is redeemed here. Unfortunately, the film quality is a bit aged, but still very viewable. The Aspen reunion is an insightful retrospective on Python, from it's history to the behind-the-scenes information on their famous sketches. So there you have it. A complete collection of their essential work ('Dead Parrot'), a live performance ('Hollywood Bowl'), and biographical information ('Aspen'). Viking Press publishes their popular 'Portable' series, books of famous authors containing their most crucial writings alongside critical & biographical annotations (i.e. 'The Portable Kerouac,' 'The Portable Nietzsche'). Likewise, this is the 'Portable Monty Python.' It's a shame that A&E didn't market it that way.
Rating:
Summary: Great comedy but....
Review: This collection of odds, ends, and live performances will be appreciated mostly by die-hard Monty Python fans (like myself.) It contains on disc one "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" and the famous 1998 Aspen Reunion, and on disc 2 "Parrot Sketch Not Included" (hosted by Steve Martin) and the first German episode.
"Hollywood Bowl" is the Woodstock of Python concerts. It is extremely funny, and has some lesser known works like the Lecture in Comedy and several Neil Innes songs. The Aspen Reunion doesn't seem as spontaneous as it should, but has some interesting facts and some funny moments, and its great to see the elderly Pythons together on stage for the first time in many years. "Parrot Sketch Not Included" was released on video several years ago, and I watched it many times. Don't miss the very funny final segment (after the end credits). And the German show is...well, it has its moments.
DVD quality varies. The German show and Hollywood Bowl performance look grainy, the Aspen Reunion is broadcast quality, and "Parrot Sketch Not Included" generally looks a bit soft. The disc includes as special features some clips from the Flying Circus shows, "Pythonisms", and troupe filmographies.
Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Good DVD Set
Review: This set is typical of A&E's handling of the Pythons. Just stick the basics on a set and expect everyone to buy it because they can't get it anywhere else. Obviously the Hollywood Bowl film is great and worth getting but the other features are lacking. The Aspen is show is pretty good, but there's not really much new there and if you've seen Life Of Python you aren't missing much. The German episode is good, but is far less funny than the second German episode. The documentary with Steve Martin is VERY weak, as I think he's only on screen for maybe five minutes. It's only real purpose is to show the last thing the original Pythons ever did together-a five second clip of them sitting in a closet- filmed only a few weeks before Graham Chapman died. The second disc would have been much better suited for their skits from the secret policeman's balls, but maybe their saving that for yet ANOTHER padded 2 disc set. If you can get this cheap((...) range) it's worth picking up.
Rating:
Summary: Great Stuff!
Review: This will be a short one.....If you love Monty Python, the skits are great. Buy it, you'll like it. If you are new to Monty Python, this is a great DVD set to experience their skits. One thing though, not much in the way of bonus stuff, at least nothing I was too impressed with....but so what, Live at the Hollywood Bowl is just amazing! I have been waiting for this for a long time. Also, the transfer is fine, no problems. Sound is great. It is tough to review a comedy team for people who are not familiar with that group, and for those who are, you probably bought this already. The second DVD is not as great, but Hollywood Bowl is worth the price and more! There are too many skits to mention, but if you have any kind of sense of humor you'll find at least a couple of things that make you laugh. My favorite are the candy skit and the philospher sing along. They are very funny! Of course, the argument skit is also great....I could go on and on..... Peace, MD
Rating:
Summary: Three out of four
Review: Three out of the four things on this DVD are great, that being the Hollywood Bowl, the AFI interveiw and the German episode. However, Parrot Sketch not included is a bit of a let down, considering i own all the episodes of Flying Circus on DVD, its the same stuff in a different place (all the sketches are even better in the context of the individual show they were in). I am a huge Python fan and having in the Hollywood Bowl on DVD is fantastic, i have already watched it a bah zillion times, but perhaps it would have been a wiser choice for A and E to replace Parrot Sketch not included with somting like...lets see.. the Second German Epsode? That would have been just peachy.
Rating: 
Summary: how to exploit monty python fans...
Review: What wankers! Like the Life of Python set, here is another bloated two DVD set, so you will spend twice the cash. Features the classic Live at the Hollywood Bowl movie, though the transfer seems rather lazy. Well, I guess you are not gonna watch it for the picture quality anyway, but at least they could try. Then, there is the Live at Aspen interview, if you didnt catch it on HBO a couple of years ago. A nice extra, I guess, but hardly a main reason to purchase. Features classic snipets of old Python stuff, that you, since you are already a fan, already have seen. The second CD has Parrot Sketch Not Included, 20 years of Python, a "greatest hits" from the TV series, made for Showtime 12 years ago. Since you are probably already a fan who may have the TV series DVD, this is pretty pointless filler. Parrot Sketch not Included should have been a stand alone release, for the more casual fan who does not want to purchase all the DVDs. Features unnecessary introduction from Steve Martin, and a short shot of the "troupe" (thereby the rationale of it being a "live" performance) before Graham Chapman died. Then the rest of the DVD is the first Monty Python German Episode. More creative Python silliness. How come the two German episodes were not released on the same DVD? ... other than too try to validate the existance of both Life of Python and Monty Python Live DVD collections. Monty Python should be ashamed (Can't blame Graham Chapman thou... he is long dead).
Rating:
Summary: Mis-titled, Disappointing Package
Review: While it's great to get the ... "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" out on DVD, the rest of this pricey 2-disc set is just a catch-all for other existing Python programs and one of the German episodes...hardly all "live". So, if you were expecting the "Drury Lane" or "Civic Center" shows (which may or may not have been filmed), you'll be disappointed. The "Parrot Sketch Not Included" section is a total waste of time. The Aspen portion is interesting for about 10 minutes...frankly, the boys are hard to take all at once. I've always enjoyed them being interviewed one (or two) at a time; Michael Palin in particular is a joy to hear wax nostalgic.
So, if you love "Hollywood Bowl", this is the only way to get it. Thank goodness it was filmed at all. It's not just a re-hash of classic MP skits, there's lots of new material, film from the (then) lost German episodes and even musical numbers courtesy of the great Neil Innes. Oh, and Carol Cleveland is here for the fun, too. One part of this film actually frightened me: during the "Bruces Philosopher's Song", Eric Idle and Palin were lobbing Foster's Lagers into the audience from a cooler and all I could think was "lawsuit!"...one part of American life they obviously didn't do their homework on! You can kill someone with one of those!
The audience, by the way, is almost half the fun. They treat these silly grown-up comedians like rock stars and come dressed as Gumbys, the Queen, etc. and shout out lines from the skits like song lyrics. You can really see this during John Cleese's "Albatross" sketch, where he and Terry Jones are actually in the crowd and various attendees are shouting "what flavor is it?" and "do you get wafers with it?"
So, if you're a MP completist, bite the bullet and spend the $$ for this compilation for the "Hollywood Bowl", if nothing else.
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