Monty Python at KERA Studios 1975

Python in Dallas, 1975

This is brilliant! KERA engineers unearthed this marvelous PLEDGE DRIVE footage from 1975. It begins with the promo "11 Nights of Great Public TV" - which is borderline Pythonesque in its irony. (11 Nights followed by 354 hum-drum evenings of nature broadcasts & Nova.)

Who would've thought that a Public TV Pledge Drive would be so enjoyable to watch? All you have to do is wait 31 years before you have a look! The telephones are ringing in the background & volunteers pick up the yellow standard-issues while the interview is conducted with the Python gang.

No John Cleese here, but the rest of the players are having a smashing time in Texas. They remark about how large & deserted DFW airport is. (It's still huge, but no longer empty!) They discuss the soon-to-be-released Monty Python & The Holy Grail (and the Dallas studio audience giggles at first hearing the title.) Then they play the Lumberjack scene from Flying Circus & the camera lands on Michael Palin for a reaction shot.

Loved seeing Graham Chapman smoking his pipe. He doesn't chime in until near the end of the footage but his limited moments are masterful.

I'm so proud of my hometown & KERA for having been WAY ahead of the rest of the country in embracing the now legendary troupe of Brit humorists. It's funny to hear how much more distinctive our Texas accents were back then before Dallas was invaded by both coasts.

And we learn just WHO Monty Python is!

Also:

KERA's Online Argument Clinic

I wandered by the D Magazine Frontburner blog & found this link to footage at The Sound of Young America blog.