A joke is a phrase or a paragraph with a humorous twist. It can be in many different forms, such as a question or short story. To achieve this end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devices. Jokes may have a punchline that will end the sentence to make it humorous.

A practical joke or prank differs from a spoken one in that the major component of the humour is physical rather than verbal (for example placing salt in the sugar bowl).

Purpose

Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers. The desired response is generally laughter; when this does not happen the joke is said to have "fallen flat" or "bombed". However, jokes have other purposes and functions, common to comedy/humour/satire in general.

Antiquity of jokes

Jokes have been a part of human culture since at least 1900 BC. According to research conducted by Dr Paul McDonald of the University of Wolverhampton, a fart joke from ancient Sumer is currently believed to be the world's oldest known joke. Britain's oldest joke, meanwhile, is a 1,000-year-old double-entendre that can be found in the Codex Exoniensis.

A recent discovery of a document called ''Philogelos'' (The Laughter Lover) gives us an insight into ancient humour. Written in Greek by Hierocles and Philagrius, it dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes. Considering humour from our own culture as recent as the 19th century is at times baffling to us today, the humour is surprisingly familiar. They had different stereotypes, the absent-minded professor, the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad breath were favourites. A lot of the jokes play on the idea of knowing who characters are:

''A barber, a bald man and an absent minded professor take a journey together. They have to camp overnight, so decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it's the barber's turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says "How stupid is that barber? He's woken up the bald man instead of me."''

There is even a version of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch: ''a man buys a slave, who dies shortly afterwards. When he complains to the slave merchant, he is told: "He didn't die when I owned him."'' Comic Jim Bowen has presented them to a modern audience. "''One or two of them are jokes I've seen in people's acts nowadays, slightly updated. They put in a motor car instead of a chariot - some of them are Tommy Cooper-esque.''"

Psychology of jokes

Why we laugh has been the subject of serious academic study, examples being:

Immanuel Kant, in ''Critique of Judgement'' (1790) states that "Laughter is an effect that arises if a tense expectation is transformed into nothing." Here is Kant's 220-year old joke and his analysis:

"An Englishman at an Indian's table in Surat saw a bottle of ale being opened, and all the beer, turned to froth, rushed out. The Indian, by repeated exclamations, showed his great amazement. - Well, what's so amazing in that? asked the Englishman. - Oh, but I'm not amazed at its coming out, replied the Indian, but how you managed to get it all in. - This makes us laugh, and it gives us a hearty pleasure. This is not because, say, we think we are smarter than this ignorant man, nor are we laughing at anything else here that it is our liking and that we noticed through our understanding. It is rather that we had a tense expectation that suddenly vanished..."

Henri Bergson, in his book ''Le rire'' (''Laughter'', 1901), suggests that laughter evolved to make social life possible for human beings.

Sigmund Freud's ''"Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious"''. (''Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten'').

Arthur Koestler, in ''The Act of Creation'' (1964), analyses humour and compares it to other creative activities, such as literature and science.

Marvin Minsky in ''Society of Mind (1986)''.

:Marvin Minsky suggests that laughter has a specific function related to the human brain. In his opinion jokes and laughter are mechanisms for the brain to learn nonsense. For that reason, he argues, jokes are usually not as funny when you hear them repeatedly.

Edward de Bono in ''"The Mechanism of the Mind"'' (1969) and ''"I am Right, You are Wrong"'' (1990).

:Edward de Bono suggests that the mind is a pattern-matching machine, and that it works by recognising stories and behaviour and putting them into familiar patterns. When a familiar connection is disrupted and an alternative unexpected new link is made in the brain via a different route than expected, then laughter occurs ''as the new connection is made''. This theory explains a lot about jokes. For example: :*Why jokes are only funny the first time they are told: once they are told the pattern is already there, so there can be no new connections, and so no laughter. :*Why jokes have an elaborate and often repetitive set up: The repetition establishes the familiar pattern in the brain. A common method used in jokes is to tell almost the same story twice and then deliver the punch line the third time the story is told. The first two tellings of the story evoke a familiar pattern in the brain, thus priming the brain for the punch line. :*Why jokes often rely on stereotypes: the use of a stereotype links to familiar expected behaviour, thus saving time in the set-up. :*Why jokes are variants on well-known stories (e.g. the genie and a lamp and a man walks into a bar): This again saves time in the set up and establishes a familiar pattern.

In 2002, Richard Wiseman conducted a study intended to discover the world's funniest joke .

Laughter, the intended human reaction to jokes, is healthy in moderation, uses the stomach muscles, and releases endorphins, natural "feel good" chemicals, into the brain.

Jokes in organizations

Jokes can be employed by workers as a way to identify with their jobs. For example, 9-1-1 operators often crack jokes about incongruous, threatening, or tragic situations they deal with on a daily basis. This use of humour and cracking jokes helps employees differentiate themselves from the people they serve while also assisting them in identifying with their jobs. In addition to employees, managers use joking, or jocularity, in strategic ways. Some managers attempt to suppress joking and humour use because they feel it relates to lower production, while others have attempted to manufacture joking through pranks, pajama or dress down days, and specific committees that are designed to increase fun in the workplace.

Rules

The rules of humour are analogous to those of poetry. These common rules are mainly timing, precision, synthesis, and rhythm. French philosopher Henri Bergson has said in an essay: "''In every wit there is something of a poet.''" In this essay Bergson views the essence of humour as the encrustation of the mechanical upon the living. He used as an instance a book by an English humorist, in which an elderly woman who desired a reputation as a philanthropist provided "homes within easy hail of her mansion for the conversion of atheists who have been specially manufactured for her, so to speak, and for a number of honest folk who have been made into drunkards so that she may cure them of their failing, etc." This idea seems funny because a genuine impulse of charity as a living, vital impulse has become encrusted by a mechanical conception of how it should manifest itself.

Precision

To reach precision, the comedian must choose the words in order to provide a vivid, in-focus image, and to avoid being generic as to confuse the audience, and provide no laughter. To properly arrange the words in the sentence is also crucial to get precision.

Synthesis

That a joke is best when it expresses the maximum level of humour with a minimal number of words, is today considered one of the key technical elements of a joke. An example from George Carlin: }}

Though, the familiarity of the pattern of "brevity" has led to numerous examples of jokes where the very length is itself the pattern-breaking "punchline". Numerous examples from Monty Python exist, for instance, the song "I Like Traffic Lights". More recently, ''Family Guy'' often exploits such humour: for example in the episode "Wasted Talent", Peter Griffin bangs his shin, a classic slapstick routine, and tenderly nurses it while inhaling and exhaling to quiet the pain, for considerably longer than expected. Certain versions of the popular vaudevillian joke The Aristocrats can go on for several minutes, and it is considered an anti-joke, as the humour is more in the set-up than the punchline.

Rhythm

The joke's content (meaning) is not what provokes the laugh, it just makes the salience of the joke and provokes a smile. What makes us laugh is the joke mechanism. Milton Berle demonstrated this with a classic theatre experiment in the 1950s: if during a series of jokes you insert phrases that are not jokes, but with the same rhythm, the audience laughs anyway. A classic is the ternary rhythm, with three beats: Introduction, premise, antithesis (with the antithesis being the punch line).

In regards to the Milton Berle experiment, they can be taken to demonstrate the concept of "breaking context" or "breaking the pattern". It is not necessarily the rhythm that caused the audience to laugh, but the disparity between the expectation of a "joke" and being instead given a non-sequitur "normal phrase." This normal phrase is, itself, unexpected, and a type of punchline -- the anti-climax.

Comic

In the comic field plays the 'economy of ideative expenditure'; in other words excessive energy is wasted or action-essential energy is saved. The profound meaning of a comic gag or a comic joke is "I'm a child"; the comic deals with the clumsy body of the child.

Laurel and Hardy are a classic example. An individual laughs because he recognises the child that is in himself. In clowns stumbling is a childish tempo. In the comic, the visual gags may be translated into a joke. For example in ''Side Effects'' (''By Destiny Denied'' story) by Woody Allen: The typical comic technique is the disproportion.

Wit

In the wit field plays the "economy of censorship expenditure" (Freud calls it "the economy of psychic expenditure"); usually censorship prevents some 'dangerous ideas' from reaching the conscious mind, or helps us avoid saying everything that comes to mind; adversely, the wit circumvents the censorship and brings up those ideas. Different wit techniques allow one to express them in a funny way. The profound meaning behind a wit joke is "I have dangerous ideas". An example from Woody Allen: Or, when a bagpipe player was asked "How do you play that thing?" his answer was "Well." Wit is a branch of rhetoric, and there are about 200 techniques (technically they are called tropes, a particular kind of figure of speech) that can be used to make jokes.

Irony can be seen as belonging to this field.

Humour

In the comedy field, humour induces an "economised expenditure of emotion" (Freud calls it "economy of affect" or "economy of sympathy". Freud produced this final part of his interpretation many years later, in a paper later supplemented to the book.). In other words, the joke erases an emotion that should be felt about an event, making us insensitive to it.e.g.: "yo momma" jokes. The profound meaning of the void feeling of a humour joke is "I'm a cynic". An example from Woody Allen: This field of jokes is still a grey area, being mostly unexplored. Extensive use of this kind of humour can be found in the work of British satirist Chris Morris, like the sketches of the ''Jam'' television program.

Black humour and sarcasm belong to this field.

Cycles

Folklorists, in particular (but not exclusively) those who study the folklore of the United States, collect jokes into joke cycles. A cycle is a collection of jokes with a particular theme or a particular "script". (That is, it is a literature cycle.) Folklorists have identified several such cycles: the Helen Keller Joke Cycle that comprises jokes about Helen Keller Viola jokes the NASA, Challenger, or Space Shuttle Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster the Chernobyl Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to the Chernobyl disaster the Polish Pope Joke Cycle that comprises jokes relating to Pope John Paul II the Essex girl and the Stupid Irish joke cycles in the United Kingdom the Dead Baby Joke Cycle the Newfie Joke Cycle that comprises jokes made by Canadians about Newfoundlanders the Little Willie Joke Cycle, and the Quadriplegic Joke Cycle the Jew Joke Cycle and the Polack Joke Cycle the Rastus and Liza Joke Cycle, which Dundes describes as "the most vicious and widespread white anti-Negro joke cycle" the Jewish American Princess and Jewish American Mother joke cycles The Wind-up doll joke cycle

The "Blonde joke" cycle.

Gruner discusses several "sick joke" cycles that occurred upon events surrounding Gary Hart, Natalie Wood, Vic Morrow, Jim Bakker, Richard Pryor, Princess Diana and Michael Jackson, noting how several jokes were recycled from one cycle to the next. For example: A joke about Vic Morrow ("We now know that Vic Morrow had dandruff: they found his head and shoulders in the bushes") was subsequently recycled about Admiral Mountbatten after his murder by Irish Republican terrorists in 1979, and again applied to the crew of the Challenger space shuttle ("How do we know that Christa McAuliffe had dandruff? They found her head and shoulders on the beach.").

Berger asserts that "whenever there is a popular joke cycle, there generally is some widespread kind of social and cultural anxiety, lingering below the surface, that the joke cycle helps people deal with".

Types of jokes

Jokes often depend on the humour of the unexpected, the mildly taboo (which can include the distasteful or socially improper), or playing off stereotypes and other cultural beliefs. Many jokes fit into more than one category.

Subjects

''Political jokes'' are usually a form of satire. They generally concern politicians and heads of state, but may also cover the absurdities of a country's political situation. A prominent example of political jokes would be political cartoons. Two large categories of this type of jokes exist. The first one makes fun of a negative attitude to political opponents or to politicians in general. The second one makes fun of political clichés, mottoes, catch phrases or simply blunders of politicians. Some, especially the "you have two cows" genre, derive humour from comparing different political systems.

Professional humour includes caricatured portrayals of certain professions such as lawyers, and in-jokes told by professionals to each other.

Mathematical jokes are a form of in-joke, generally designed to be understandable only by insiders. (They are also often strictly visual jokes.)

Ethnic jokes exploit ethnic stereotypes. They are often racist and frequently considered offensive.

For example, the British tell jokes starting "An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman..." which exploit the supposed parsimony of the Scot, stupidity of the Irish or rigid conventionality of the English. Such jokes exist among numerous peoples.

Racially offensive humour is often considered funny, but similar jokes based on other stereotypes (such as blonde jokes) are often considered even more funny.

Religious jokes fall into several categories:

Jokes based on stereotypes associated with people of religion (e.g. ''nun jokes'', ''priest jokes'', or ''rabbi jokes'')

Jokes on classical religious subjects: crucifixion, Adam and Eve, St. Peter at The Gates, etc.

Jokes that collide different religious denominations: "A rabbi, a medicine man, and a pastor went fishing..."

Letters and addresses to God.

Self-deprecating or self-effacing humour is superficially similar to racial and stereotype jokes, but involves the targets laughing at themselves. It is said to maintain a sense of perspective and to be powerful in defusing confrontations. A common example is Jewish humour. A similar situation exists in the Scandinavian "Ole and Lena" joke.

Self-deprecating humour has also been used by politicians, who recognise its ability to acknowledge controversial issues and steal the punch of criticism. For example, when Abraham Lincoln was accused of being two-faced he replied, "If I had two faces, do you think this is the one I’d be wearing?".

Dirty jokes are based on taboo, often sexual, content or vocabulary. The definitive studies on them have been written by Gershon Legman.

Other taboos are challenged by sick jokes and gallows humour, and to joke about disability is considered in this group.

Surrealist or minimalist jokes exploit semantic inconsistency, for example: ''Q: What's red and invisible? A: No tomatoes.''.

Anti-jokes are jokes that are not funny in regular sense, and often can be decidedly unfunny, but rely on the let-down from the expected joke to be funny in itself.

An elephant joke is a joke, almost always a riddle or conundrum and often a sequence of connected riddles, frequently operating on a surrealistic, anti-humorous or meta-humorous level, that involves an elephant.

Jokes involving non-sequitur humour, with parts of the joke being unrelated to each other; e.g. "My uncle once punched a man so hard his legs became trombones", from ''The Mighty Boosh'' TV series.

Dark humour is often used in order to deal with a difficult situation in a manner of "if you can laugh at it, it won't kill you". Usually those jokes make fun of tragedies like death, accidents, wars, catastrophes or injuries.

Styles

The question / answer joke, sometimes posed as a common riddle, has a supposedly straight question and an answer which is twisted for humorous effect; puns are often employed. Of this type are knock-knock joke, light bulb joke, the many variations on "why did the chicken cross the road?", and the class of "What's the difference between a _______ and a ______" joke, where the punch line is often a pun or a spoonerism linking two apparently entirely unconnected concepts.

Some jokes require a double act, where one respondent (usually the straight man) can be relied on to give the correct response to the person telling the joke. This is more common in performance than informal joke-telling.

A shaggy dog story is an extremely long and involved joke with an intentionally weak or completely non-existent punchline. The humour lies in building up the audience's anticipation and then letting them down completely. The longer the story can continue without the audience realising it is a joke, and not a serious anecdote, the more successful it is.

See also

Anecdote

Comedy

Comedy genres

Computational humour

East Frisian jokes

Feghoot

Funny

Humour

Internet humour

Irish jokes

Joke chess problem

Mathematical joke

Paradox

Polish joke

Pun

Punch line

Roman jokes

Russian jokes

The Funniest Joke in the World

World's funniest joke

Notes

References

Mary Douglas “Jokes.” in ''Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies.'' [1975] Ed. Chandra Mukerji and Michael Schudson. Berkeley: U of California P, 1991.

Further reading

Grace Hui Chin Lin & Paul Shih Chieh Chien, (2009) Taiwanese Jokes from Views of Sociolinguistics and Language Pedagogies

External links

''Dictionary of the History of ideas'': Sense of the Comic

– An active listing of links to jokes.

Category:Humor *

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Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
name	Monty Python
medium	Television, film, theatre, audio recordings, books
nationality	British
active	1969–1983
genre	Satire, Surreal humour, dark comedy
influences	The Goons, Spike Milligan, Peter Cook
influenced	Douglas Adams, Eddie Izzard, George Carlin, Vic and Bob, Matt Stone, Trey Parker
notable work	''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1969–1974)''And Now for Something Completely Different'' (1971)''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1974)''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979)''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982)''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983)
current members	Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin
website	PythOnline
footnotes	}}

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to Elvis Presley's influence on music.

The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, they changed the way performers entertained audiences. The Pythons' creative control allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of ''Saturday Night Live'' through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.

In a 2005 UK poll to find ''The Comedian's Comedian'', three of the six Pythons members were voted by fellow comedians and comedy insiders to be among the top 50 greatest comedians ever: Cleese at #2, Idle at #21, and Palin at #30.

Before ''Flying Circus''

Palin and Jones met at Oxford University, where they performed together with the Oxford Revue. Cleese and Chapman met at Cambridge. Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Cleese and Chapman. Cleese met Gilliam in New York while on tour with the Cambridge University Footlights revue ''Cambridge Circus'' (originally entitled ''A Clump of Plinths''). Chapman, Cleese and Idle were members of the Footlights, which at that time also included the future ''Goodies'' (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden), and Jonathan Lynn (co-writer of ''Yes Minister'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister''). During Idle's presidency of the Club, feminist writer Germaine Greer and broadcaster Clive James were members. Recordings of Footlights revues (called "Smokers") at Pembroke College include sketches and performances by Idle and Cleese. They are kept in the archives of the Pembroke Players, along with tapes of Idle's performances in some of the college drama society's theatrical productions.

Python members appeared in and/or wrote the following shows before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. ''The Frost Report'' is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles:

''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again'' (radio) (1964–1973) [Cleese: cast member & writer] – [Idle and Chapman: writers]

''The Frost Report'' (1966–1967) [Cleese: cast member and writer] – [Idle: writer of Frost's monologues] – [Chapman, Palin and Jones: writers]

''At Last the 1948 Show'' (1967) [Chapman and Cleese: writers and cast members] – [Idle: writer]

''Twice a Fortnight'' (1967) [Palin and Jones: cast members and writers]

''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' (1967–1969) [Idle, Jones, and Palin: cast members & writers] – [Gilliam: animation] — Bonzo Dog Band: musical interludes]

''We Have Ways of Making You Laugh'' (1968) [Idle: cast member & writer] – [Gilliam: animation]

''How to Irritate People'' (1968) [Cleese and Chapman: cast members & writers] – [Palin: cast member]

''The Complete and Utter History of Britain'' (1969) [Palin and Jones: cast members & writers]

''Doctor in the House'' (1969) [Cleese & Chapman: writers]

Several featured other important British comedy writers or performers of the future, including Marty Feldman, Jonathan Lynn, David Jason and David Frost, as well as members of other future comedy teams, Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker (the Two Ronnies), and Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie (the Goodies).

Following the success of ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'', originally intended to be a children's programme, with adults, ITV offered Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam their own series together. At the same time Cleese and Chapman were offered a show by the BBC, which had been impressed by their work on ''The Frost Report'' and ''At Last The 1948 Show''. Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin and invited him to join the team. With the ITV series still in pre-production, Palin agreed and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn suggested that Gilliam could provide animations for the projected series. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.

''Monty Python's Flying Circus''

Development of the series

The Pythons had a definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore on ''Beyond the Fringe'', and had worked on ''Frost'', which was similar in style. They enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show ''Not Only... But Also''. One problem the Pythons perceived with these programmes was that though the body of the sketch would be strong, the writers would often struggle to then find a punchline funny enough to end on, and this would detract from the overall sketch quality. They decided that they would simply not bother to "cap" their sketches in the traditional manner, and early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline (one scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that "This is the silliest sketch I've ever been in"—they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set). However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, Spike Milligan, recording his groundbreaking series ''Q5'' (1969). Not only was the programme more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy, Milligan would often "give up" on sketches halfway through and wander off set (often muttering "Did I write this?"). It was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate.

After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' called ''Beware of the Elephants'', which had intrigued him with its stream-of-consciousness style. Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series: allowing sketches to blend into one another. Palin had been equally fascinated by another of Gilliam's efforts, entitled ''Christmas Cards'', and agreed that it represented "a way of doing things differently". Since Cleese, Chapman and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the programme, it was Jones, Palin and Gilliam who became largely responsible for the presentation style of the ''Flying Circus'' series, in which disparate sketches are linked to give each episode the appearance of a single stream-of-consciousness (often using a Gilliam animation to move from the closing image of one sketch to the opening scene of another).

Writing started at 9 am and finished at 5 pm. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days, they would join together with Gilliam, critique their scripts, and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a 'writer', rather than an actor desperate for screen time. When the themes for sketches were chosen, Gilliam had carte blanche to decide how to bridge them with animations, using a camera, scissors, and airbrush.

While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In Anagrams). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's". Gilliam's animations, meanwhile, ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship).

Several names for the show were considered before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was settled upon. Some were ''Owl Stretching Time'', ''Toad Elevating Moment'', ''A Bucket, a Horse and a Spoon'', ''Vaseline Review'' and ''Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot''. ''Flying Circus'' stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it. Many variations on the name in front of this title then came and went (popular legend holds that the BBC considered ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' to be a ridiculous name, at which point the group threatened to change their name every week until the BBC relented). "Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus" was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. "Baron Von Took's Flying Circus" was considered as an affectionate tribute to Barry Took, the man who had brought them together. ''Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus'' was suggested, then discarded.

There are differing, somewhat confusing accounts of the origins of the Python name although the members agree that its only "significance" was that they thought it sounded funny. In the 1998 documentary ''Live At Aspen'' during the US Comedy Arts Festival, where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute, the group implied that "Monty" was selected (Eric Idle's idea) as a gently-mocking tribute to Field Marshal Lord Montgomery, a legendary British general of World War II; requiring a "slippery-sounding" surname, they settled on "Python". On other occasions Idle has claimed that the name "Monty" was that of a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub; people would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. The name Monty Python was later described by the BBC as being "envisaged by the team as the perfect name for a sleazy entertainment agent".

Style of the show

''Flying Circus'' popularised innovative formal techniques, such as the cold open, in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements. An example of this is the "It's" man: Palin, outfitted in Robinson Crusoe garb, making a tortuous journey across various terrains, before finally approaching the camera to state, "It's...", only to be then cut off by the title sequence and theme music. On several occasions the cold open lasted until mid show, after which the regular opening titles ran. Occasionally the Pythons tricked viewers by rolling the closing credits halfway through the show, usually continuing the joke by fading to the familiar globe logo used for BBC continuity, over which Cleese would parody the clipped tones of a BBC announcer. On one occasion the credits ran directly after the opening titles. They also experimented with ending segments by cutting abruptly to another scene or animation, walking offstage, addressing the camera (breaking the fourth wall), or introducing a totally unrelated event or character. A classic example of this approach was the use of Chapman's "Colonel" character, who walked into several sketches and ordered them to be stopped because things were becoming "far too silly." Another favourite way of ending sketches was to drop a cartoonish "16-ton weight" prop on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum, or a knight in full armour (played by Terry Gilliam) would wander on-set and hit characters over the head with a rubber chicken, before cutting to the next scene. Yet another way of changing scenes was when John Cleese, usually outfitted in a dinner suit, would come in as a radio commentator and make the formal and determined announcement, "And now for something completely different."

The Python theme music is ''The Liberty Bell'', a march by John Philip Sousa, which was chosen, among other reasons, because the recording was in the public domain.

The use of Gilliam's surreal, collage stop motion animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style. Many of the images Gilliam used were lifted from famous works of art, and from Victorian illustrations and engravings. The giant foot which crushes the show's title at the end of the opening credits is in fact the foot of Cupid, cut from a reproduction of the Renaissance masterpiece ''Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time'' by Bronzino. This foot, and Gilliam's style in general, are visual trademarks of the series.

The Pythons used the British tradition of cross-dressing comedy by donning frocks and makeup and playing female roles themselves while speaking in falsetto. Generally speaking, female roles were played by a woman (usually Carol Cleveland) when the scene specifically required that the character be sexually attractive (although sometimes they used Idle for this). In some episodes and later in ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men (in the stoning scene).

Many sketches are well-known and widely quoted. "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "Spam", "Nudge Nudge", "The Spanish Inquisition", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Cheese Shop" and "The Ministry of Silly Walks" are just a few examples.

End of ''Flying Circus''

Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese left the ''Flying Circus'' at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show, and claimed that only two Cleese-and-Chapman-penned sketches in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts. He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. According to an interview with Idle, "It was on an Air Canada flight on the way to Toronto, when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom."

The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" series before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. The name ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' appears in the opening animation for series four, but in the end credits the show is listed as simply "Monty Python". Despite his official departure from the group, Cleese supposedly made a (non-speaking) cameo appearance in the fourth series, but never appeared in the credits as a performer. Several episodes credit him as a co-writer since some sketches were recycled from scenes cut from the ''Holy Grail'' script. While the first three series contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after six.

Time-Life Films had the right to distribute all BBC-TV programs in America, however they had decided that British comedy simply would not work in the U.S.A. Therefore, it was not worth the investment to convert the Python shows from the European PAL standard to the American NTSC standard, which meant PBS stations could not afford the programmes. Finally, in 1974, Greg Garrison, TV producer for Dean Martin, used a couple of Python sketches ("Bicycle Repairman" and "The Dull Life of a Stockbroker") on the NBC series ''ComedyWorld'', a summer replacement series for ''The Dean Martin Show''. Payment for use of these segments was enough to pay for the conversion of the entire Python library to NTSC standard. At last, they could be sold to non-commercial TV stations, where officially they began airing in October 1974—exactly 5 years after their BBC debut. One PBS station had a program director (Ron Devillier) so eager that he 'jumped the gun' and started broadcasting the 'Flying Circus' episodes in that summer on the unlikely KERA in Dallas. The ratings shot through the roof—and was an encouraging sign to the other 100 stations that had signed up to air the shows. There was also cross-promotion from FM radio stations across the country, whose airing of tracks from the Python LPs had already introduced American audiences to this bizarre brand of comedy.

With the popularity of Python throughout the rest of the 1970s and through most of the 1980s, PBS stations looked at other British comedies, leading to UK shows such as ''Are You Being Served?'' gaining a US audience, and leading, over time, to many PBS stations having a "British Comedy Night" which airs many popular UK comedies.

Life after the ''Flying Circus''

Filmography

''And Now for Something Completely Different'' (1971)

The Pythons' first feature film (directed by Ian MacNaughton, reprising his role from the television series). It was composed of sketches from the first two seasons of the ''Flying Circus'', reshot on a low budget (and often slightly edited) for cinema release. Material selected for the film includes: "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "Upper Class Twit of the Year", "Hell's Grannies", "Self-Defence Class", "How Not To Be Seen" and "Nudge Nudge". Financed by Playboy's UK executive Victor Lownes, it was intended as a way of breaking Monty Python into America, and although it was ultimately unsuccessful in this, the film did good business in the UK (this still being in the era before home video would make it much more accessible to view the material again). The group did not consider the film a success.

''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1974)

In 1974, between production on the third and fourth seasons, the group decided to embark on their first "proper" feature film, containing entirely new material. ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' was based on Arthurian Legend and was directed by Jones and Gilliam. Again, the latter also contributed linking animations (and put together the opening credits). Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film, but it was Chapman who took the lead as King Arthur. Cleese returned to the group for the film, feeling that the group were once again breaking new ground. ''Holy Grail'' was filmed on location, in picturesque rural areas of Scotland, with a budget of only £229,000; the money was raised in part with investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin—and UK music industry entrepreneur Tony Stratton-Smith (founder and owner of the Charisma Records label, for which the Pythons recorded their comedy albums).

The backers of the film wanted to cut the famous Black Knight scene (in which the Black Knight loses his limbs in a duel) but it was eventually kept in the movie.

''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979)

Following the success of ''Holy Grail'', reporters asked for the title of the next Python film, despite the fact that the team had not even begun to consider a third one. Eventually, Idle once flippantly replied "Jesus Christ – Lust for Glory", which became the group's stock answer once they realised that it shut reporters up. However, they soon began to seriously consider a film lampooning the New Testament era in the same way ''Holy Grail'' had lampooned Arthurian legend. Despite them all sharing a distrust of organised religion, they agreed not to mock Jesus nor his teachings directly. Instead, they decided to write a satire on credulity and hypocrisy among the followers of someone who had been mistaken for the "Messiah," but who had no desire to be followed as such. Chapman was cast in the lead role of Brian.

The focus therefore shifted to a separate individual born at the same time, in a neighbouring stable. When Jesus appears in the film (first, as a baby in the stable, and then later on the Mount, speaking the Beatitudes), he is played straight (by actor Kenneth Colley) and portrayed with respect. The comedy begins when members of the crowd mishear his statements of peace, love and tolerance. ("I think he said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers.'")

Directing duties were handled solely by Jones, having amicably agreed with Gilliam that Jones' approach to film-making was better suited for Python's general performing style. ''Holy Grail's'' production had often been stilted by their differences behind the camera. Gilliam again contributed two animated sequences (one being the opening credits) and took charge of set design. The film was shot on location in Tunisia, the finances being provided this time by former Beatle George Harrison, who together with Denis O'Brien formed the production company Hand-Made Films for the movie. He had a cameo role as the 'owner of the Mount.'

Despite its subject matter attracting controversy, particularly upon its initial release, it has (together with its predecessor) been ranked among the greatest comedy films. A Channel 4 poll in 2005 ranked ''Holy Grail'' in sixth place, with ''Life of Brian'' at the top.

''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982)

Filmed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles during preparations for ''The Meaning of Life'', this was a concert film (directed by Terry Hughes) in which the Pythons performed sketches from the television series in front of an audience. The released film also incorporated footage from the German television specials (the inclusion of which gives Ian MacNaughton his first on-screen credit for Python since the end of ''Flying Circus'') and live performances of several songs from the troupe's then-current ''Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album''.

''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983)

Python's final film returned to something structurally closer to the style of ''Flying Circus''. A series of sketches loosely follows the ages of man from birth to death. Directed again by Jones solo, ''The Meaning of Life'' is embellished with some of Python's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers. The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of black humour, garnished by some spectacular violence (including an operation to remove a liver from a living patient without anaesthetic and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote exploding over several restaurant patrons). At the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone."

Besides the opening credits and the fish sequence, Gilliam, by now an established live action director, no longer wanted to produce any linking cartoons, offering instead to direct one sketch—''The Crimson Permanent Assurance''. Under his helm, though, the segment grew so ambitious and tangential that it was cut from the movie and used as a supporting feature in its own right. (Television screenings also use it as a prologue.) Crucially, this was the last project that all six Pythons would collaborate on, except for the 1989 compilation ''Parrot Sketch Not Included,'' where they are all seen sitting in a closet for four seconds. This would be the last time Chapman appeared on-screen with the Pythons.

''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows

Members of Python contributed their services to charitable endeavours and causes—sometimes as an ensemble, at other times as individuals. The cause that has been the most frequent and consistent beneficiary has been the human rights work of Amnesty International. Between 1976 and 1981, the troupe or its members appeared in four major fund-raisers for Amnesty—known collectively as the ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' shows—which were turned into multiple films, TV shows, videos, record albums and books. These benefit shows and their many spin-offs raised considerable sums of money for Amnesty, raised public and media awareness of the human rights cause and influenced many other members of the entertainment community (especially rock musicians) to become involved in political and social issues. Among the many musicians who have publicly attributed their activism—and the organisation of their own benefit events—to the inspiration of the work in this field of Monty Python are U2, Bob Geldof, Pete Townshend and Sting. The shows are credited by Amnesty with helping the organisation develop public awareness in the USA where one of the spin-off films was a major success.

Cleese and Jones had an involvement (as performer, writer or director) in all four Amnesty benefit shows, Palin in three, Chapman in two and Gilliam in one. Idle did not participate in the Amnesty shows. Notwithstanding Idle's lack of participation, the other five members (together with "Associate Pythons" Carol Cleveland and Neil Innes) all appeared together in the first ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit—the 1976 ''A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick)''—where they performed several Python sketches. In this first show they were collectively billed as ''Monty Python''. (Peter Cook deputised for the errant Idle in one major sketch ''The Courtroom''.) In the next three shows, the participating Python members performed many Python sketches, but were billed under their individual names rather than under the collective Python banner. After a six-year break, Amnesty resumed producing ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows in 1987 (sometimes with, and sometimes without variants of the iconic title) and by 2006 had presented a total of twelve such shows. The shows since 1987 have featured newer generations of British comedic performers, including many who have attributed their participation in the show to their desire to emulate the Python's pioneering work for Amnesty. (Cleese and Palin made a brief cameo appearance in the 1989 Amnesty show; apart from that the Pythons have not appeared in shows after the first four.)

Going solo

Each member has pursued various film, television and stage projects since the break-up of the group, but often continued to work with one another. Many of these collaborations were very successful, most notably ''A Fish Called Wanda'' (1988), written by Cleese, in which he starred along with Palin. The pair also appeared in ''Time Bandits'' (1981), a film directed by Gilliam, who wrote it together with Palin. Gilliam directed ''Jabberwocky'' (1977), and also directed and co-wrote ''Brazil'' (1985) and ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' (1988), which featured Palin and Idle respectively. ''Yellowbeard'' (1983) was co-written by Chapman and featured Chapman, Cleese and Palin alongside many of their English contemporaries, including Peter Cook, Spike Milligan and Marty Feldman.

Palin and Jones wrote the comedic TV series ''Ripping Yarns'' (1976–79), starring Palin. Jones also appeared in the pilot episode and Cleese appeared in a non-speaking part in the episode "Golden Gordon". Jones' film ''Erik the Viking'', also has Cleese playing a small part.

In 1996, Terry Jones wrote and directed an adaption of Kenneth Grahame's novel ''The Wind in the Willows''. It featured four members of Monty Python: Jones as Mr. Toad, Idle as Ratty, Cleese as Mr. Toad's lawyer, and Palin as the Sun. Gilliam was considered for the voice of the river.

In terms of numbers of productions, Cleese has the most prolific solo career, having appeared in 59 theatrical films, 22 TV shows or series (including ''Cheers'', ''3rd Rock from the Sun'', Q's assistant in the James Bond movies, and ''Will & Grace''), 23 direct-to-video productions, six video games, and a number of commercials. His BBC sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' (written by and starring Cleese together with his then-wife Connie Booth), is considered the greatest solo work by a Python since the sketch show finished. It is the only comedy series to rank higher than the ''Flying Circus'' on the BFI TV 100's list, topping the whole poll.

Idle enjoyed critical success with ''Rutland Weekend Television'' in the mid-1970s, out of which came the Beatles parody The Rutles (responsible for the cult mockumentary ''All You Need Is Cash''), and as an actor in ''Nuns on the Run'' (1990) with Robbie Coltrane. Idle has had success with Python songs: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" went to no. 3 in the UK singles chart in 1991. The song had been revived by Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 1, and was consequently released as a single that year. The theatrical phenomenon of the Python musical ''Spamalot'' has made Idle the most financially successful of the troupe post-Python. Written by Idle, it has proved an enormous hit on Broadway, London's West End and also Las Vegas. This was followed by ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'', which repurposes ''The Life of Brian'' as an oratorio. For the work's 2007 premiere at the Luminato festival in Toronto (which commissioned the work), Idle himself sang the "baritone-ish" part.

Post-Python reunions

Since ''The Meaning of Life'', their last project as a team, the Pythons have often been the subject of reunion rumours. The final reunion of all six members occurred during the ''Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python'' special. The death of Chapman in 1989 (on the eve of their 20th anniversary) put an end to the speculation of any further reunions. There have been several occasions since 1989 when the surviving five members have gathered together for appearances—albeit not formal reunions.

In 1996, Jones, Idle, Cleese and Palin were featured in a film adaptation of ''The Wind in the Willows'', which was later renamed ''Mr. Toad's Wild Ride''.

In 1998 during the US Comedy Arts Festival, where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the American Film Institute, the five remaining members along with what was purported to be Chapman's ashes, were reunited on stage for the first time in 18 years. The occasion was in the form of an interview called Monty Python Live At Aspen, (hosted by Robert Klein, with an appearance by Eddie Izzard) in which the team looked back at some of their work and performed a few new sketches.

On 9 October 1999, to commemorate 30 years since the first ''Flying Circus'' television broadcast, BBC2 devoted an evening to Python programmes, including a documentary charting the history of the team, interspersed with new sketches by the Monty Python team filmed especially for the event. The program appears, though omitting a few things, on the DVD ''The Life of Python''. Though Idle's involvement in the special is limited, the final sketch marks the only time since 1989 that all surviving members of the troupe appear in one sketch, albeit not in the same room.

In 2002, four of the surviving members, bar Cleese, performed "The Lumberjack Song" and "Sit on My Face" for George Harrison's memorial concert. The reunion also included regular supporting contributors Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland, with a special appearance from Tom Hanks.

In an interview to publicise the DVD release of ''The Meaning of Life,'' Cleese said a further reunion was unlikely. "It is absolutely impossible to get even a majority of us together in a room, and I'm not joking," Cleese said. He said that the problem was one of business rather than one of bad feelings. A sketch appears on the same DVD spoofing the impossibility of a full reunion, bringing the members “together” in a deliberately unconvincing fashion with modern bluescreen/greenscreen techniques.

Idle has responded to queries about a Python reunion by adapting a line used by George Harrison in response to queries about a possible Beatles reunion. When asked in November 1989 about such a possibility, Harrison responded: "As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a Beatles reunion as long as John Lennon remains dead." Idle's version of this was that he expected to see a proper Python reunion, "just as soon as Graham Chapman comes back from the dead", but added, "we're talking to his agent about terms."

2003's ''The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons'', compiled from interviews with the surviving members, reveals that a series of disputes in 1998, over a possible sequel to ''Holy Grail'' that had been conceived by Idle, may have resulted in the group's permanent fission. Cleese's feeling was that ''The Meaning of Life'' had been personally difficult and ultimately mediocre, and did not wish to be involved in another Python project for a variety of reasons (not least amongst them was the absence of Chapman, whose straight man-like central roles in the original ''Grail'' and ''Brian'' films had been considered to be essential performance anchorage). Apparently Idle was angry with Cleese for refusing to do the film, which most of the remaining Pythons thought reasonably promising (the basic plot would have taken on a self-referential tone, featuring them in their main 'knight' guises from ''Holy Grail'', mulling over the possibilities of reforming their posse). The book also reveals that a secondary option around this point was the possibility of revitalising the Python brand with a new stage tour, perhaps with the promise of new material. This idea had also hit the buffers at Cleese's refusal, this time with the backing of other members.

March 2005 saw a full, if non-performing, reunion of the surviving cast members at the premiere of Idle's musical ''Spamalot'', based on ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. It opened in Chicago and has since played in New York on Broadway, London and numerous other major cities across the world. In 2004, it was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won three: Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Mike Nichols and Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for Sara Ramirez, who played the Lady of the Lake, a character specially added for the musical. Cleese played the voice of God, played in the film by Chapman.

Owing in part to the success of ''Spamalot'', PBS announced on 13 July 2005, that it would begin to re-air the entire run of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' and new one-hour specials focusing on each member of the group, called ''Monty Python's Personal Best.'' Each episode was written and produced by the individual being honoured, with the five remaining Pythons collaborating on Chapman's programme, the only one of the editions to take on a serious tone with its new material.

Eric Idle and John Cleese appeared on stage together singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" with the rest of the performers for the climax of Prince Charles 60th Birthday Show.

In 2009, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the first episode of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', a six part documentary entitled ''Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)'' was released, featuring interviews with the surviving members of the team as well as archive interviews with Graham Chapman and numerous excerpts from the television series and films.

Also in commemoration of the 40th anniversary Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam appeared in a production of ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'' at the Royal Albert Hall. The European premiere was held on 23 October 2009. An official 40th anniversary Monty Python reunion event took place in New York City on 15 October 2009 where the Team received a Special Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

In June 2011, it was announced that Monty Python have begun production on their first film project since ''the Meaning of Life'' in 1983. Their next film, ''A Liar's Autobiography'', is an animated 3D movie based on the memoir of the late Python member, Graham Chapman, who died in 1989 at the age of 48. ''A Liar’s Autobiography'' was published in 1980 and details Chapman's journey through medical school, alcoholism, acknowledgement of his gay identity and the toils of surreal comedy.

Asked what was true in a deliberately fanciful account by Chapman of his life, Terry Jones joked: "Nothing . . . it’s all a downright, absolute, blackguardly lie."

The film will use Chapman's own voice - from a reading of his autobiography shortly before he died of cancer - and entertainment channel EPIX announced that the film will be released in early 2012 in both 2D and 3D formats. Produced and directed by London-based Bill Jones, Ben Timlett and Jeff Simpson, the new film has 15 animation companies working on chapters that will range from three to 12 minutes in length, each in a different style.

John Cleese has recorded new dialogue which will be matched with Chapman’s voice and Michael Palin will voice Chapman’s mother and father. Terry Gilliam plays various roles. Among the original Python group, only Eric Idle has not become involved, though Timlett said the filmmakers are “working on” him.

Python members

Graham Chapman was originally a medical student, joining the Footlights at Cambridge. He completed his medical training and was legally entitled to practice as a doctor. Chapman is best remembered for the lead roles in ''Holy Grail'', as King Arthur, and ''Life of Brian'', as Brian Cohen. He died of spinal and throat cancer on 4 October 1989. At Chapman's memorial service, Cleese delivered an irreverent eulogy that included all the euphemisms for being dead from the Dead Parrot sketch, which they had written.

John Cleese is the oldest Python. He met his future Python writing partner, Graham Chapman in Cambridge.

Terry Gilliam, an American, was the only member of the troupe of non-British origin. He started off as an animator and strip cartoonist for Harvey Kurtzman's ''Help!'' magazine, one issue of which featured Cleese. Moving from the USA to England, he animated features for ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' and was then asked by its makers to join them on their next project: ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. He co-directed ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' and directed short segments of other Python films (for instance "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", the short film that appears before ''The Meaning of Life'').

When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin. That left two in their own corners: Gilliam, operating solo due to the nature of his work, and Eric Idle. Regular themes in his contributions were elaborate wordplay and musical numbers. After ''Flying Circus'', he hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' four times in the first five seasons. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film ''Splitting Heirs'' (written, produced by and starring him) and 1998's ''An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn'' (in which he starred), which was awarded five Razzies, including 'Worst Picture of the Year'. He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. He also wrote the Broadway musical ''Spamalot'', based on the ''Holy Grail'' movie. He also wrote ''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'', an oratorio derived from the ''Life of Brian''.

Terry Jones has been described by other members of the team as the “heart” of the operation. Jones had a lead role in maintaining the group's unity and creative independence. Python biographer George Perry has commented that should you "speak to him on subjects as diverse as fossil fuels, or Rupert Bear, or mercenaries in the Middle Ages or Modern China... in a moment you will find yourself hopelessly out of your depth, floored by his knowledge." Many others agree that Jones is characterised by his irrepressible, good-natured enthusiasm. However, Jones' passion often led to prolonged arguments with other group members—in particular Cleese—with Jones often unwilling to back down. Since his major contributions were largely behind the scenes (direction, writing), and he often deferred to the other members of the group as an actor, Jones' importance to Python was often underrated. However, he does have the legacy of delivering possibly the most famous line in all of Python, as Brian's mother Mandy in ''Life of Brian'', "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!", a line voted the funniest in film history on two occasions.

Michael Palin attended Oxford, where he met his Python writing partner Jones. The two also wrote the series ''Ripping Yarns'' together. Palin and Jones originally wrote face-to-face, but soon found it was more productive to write apart and then come together to review what the other had written. Therefore, Jones and Palin's sketches tended to be more focused than that of the others, taking one bizarre situation, sticking to it, and building on it. After ''Flying Circus'', he hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' four times in the first ten seasons. His comedy output began to decrease in amount following the increasing success of his travel documentaries for the BBC. Palin released a book of diaries from the Python years entitled ''Michael Palin Diaries 1969–1979'', published in 2007.

Associate Pythons

Several people have been accorded unofficial "Associate Python" status over the years. Occasionally such people have been referred to as the ''7th Python'', in a style reminiscent of associates of The Beatles being dubbed "the Fifth Beatle." The two collaborators with the most meaningful and plentiful contributions have been Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland. Both were present and presented as ''Associate Pythons'' at the official Monty Python 25th anniversary celebrations held in Los Angeles in July 1994. Neil Innes is the only non-Python besides Douglas Adams to be credited with writing material for the ''Flying Circus''. He appeared in sketches and the Python films, as well as performing some of his songs in ''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl''. He was also a regular stand-in for absent team members on the rare occasions when they re-created sketches. For example, he took the place of Cleese at the Concert for George. Gilliam once noted that if anyone qualified for the title of the "Seventh Python," it would certainly be Innes. He was one of the creative talents in the off-beat Bonzo Dog Band. He would later portray Ron Nasty of the Rutles and write all of the Rutles' compositions for ''All You Need is Cash'' (1978). By 2005, a falling out had occurred between Idle and Innes over additional Rutles projects, the results being Innes' critically acclaimed Rutles "reunion" album ''The Rutles: Archaeology'' and Idle's straight-to-DVD ''The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch'', each undertaken without the other's participation. According to an interview with Idle in the ''Chicago Tribune'' in May 2005, his attitude is that he and Innes go back "too far. And no further." Innes has remained silent on the dispute.

Carol Cleveland was the most important female performer in the Monty Python ensemble, commonly referred to as the "Python Girl." Originally hired by producer/director John Howard Davies for just the first five episodes of the ''Flying Circus'', she went on to appear in approximately two-thirds of the episodes as well as in all of the Python films, and in most of their stage shows as well. Her common portrayal as the stereotypical "blonde bimbo" eventually earned her the sobriquet "Carol Cleavage" from the other Pythons, but she felt that the variety of her roles should not be described in such a pejorative way.

Other contributors

Cleese's wife Connie Booth appeared in, amongst others "The Lumberjack Song" and as the "witch" in ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. Cleese and Booth later co-wrote and co-starred in ''Fawlty Towers''.

Douglas Adams was "discovered" by Chapman when a version of the ''Footlights Revue'' (a 1974 BBC2 television show featuring some of Adams' early work) was performed live in London's West End. In Cleese's absence from the final TV series, the two formed a brief writing partnership, with Adams earning a writing credit in one episode for a sketch called "Patient Abuse". In the sketch, a man who had been stabbed by a nurse arrives at his doctor's office bleeding profusely from the stomach, when the doctor makes him fill out numerous senseless forms before he can administer treatment. He also had two cameo appearances in this season. Firstly, in the episode ''The Light Entertainment War'', Adams shows up in a surgeon's mask (as Dr. Emile Koning, according to the on-screen captions), pulling on gloves, while Palin narrates a sketch that introduces one person after another, and never actually gets started. Secondly, at the beginning of ''Mr. Neutron'', Adams is dressed in a "pepperpot" outfit and loads a missile onto a cart being driven by Terry Jones, who is calling out for scrap metal ("Any old iron..."). Adams and Chapman also subsequently attempted a few non-Python projects, including ''Out of the Trees.'' He also contributed to a sketch on the soundtrack album for ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''.

Stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard, a devoted fan of the group, has occasionally stood in for absent members. When the BBC held a "Python Night" in 1999 to celebrate 30 years of the first broadcast of ''Flying Circus'', the Pythons recorded some new material with Izzard standing in for Idle, who had declined to partake in person (he taped a solo contribution from the US). Izzard hosted a history of the group entitled ''The Life of Python'' (1999) that was part of the ''Python Night'' and appeared with them at a festival/tribute in Aspen, Colorado, in 1998 (released on DVD as ''Live at Aspen'').

Cultural influence

By the time of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Monty Python in 1994, the point was already being made that "the five surviving members had with the passing years begun to occupy an institutional position in the edifice of British social culture that they had once had so much fun trying to demolish". A similar point is made in a 2006 book on the relationship between Monty and philosophy: "It is remarkable, after all, not only that the utterly bizarre ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was sponsored by the BBC in the first place, but that Monty Python itself grew into an institution of enormous cultural influence" Matt Groening, creator and co-developer of animated series the Simpsons, names Monty Python as an influence and pays tribute through a couch gag used in seasons five and six.

Space

In 2010 the commercial space company SpaceX, launched a wheel of cheese into low earth orbit and returned it safely to the earth. Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX, claimed this was done as a tribute to Monty Python.

World records

On St George's Day, 23 April 2007, the cast and creators of Spamalot gathered in Trafalgar Square under the tutelage of the two Terrys (Jones and Gilliam) to set a new record for the world's largest coconut orchestra. They led 5,567 people "clip-clopping" in time to the Python classic "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" for the Guinness World Records attempt.

'Pythonesque'

Amongst the more visible cultural influences of Monty Python is the inclusion of terms either directly from, or derived from, Monty Python, into the lexicon of the English language. The most obvious of these is the term 'pythonesque', which has become a byword in surreal humour, and is included in standard dictionaries. Terry Jones commented on his disappointment at the existence of such a term, claiming the initial aim of Monty Python was to create something new and impossible to categorize and that "the fact that Pythonesque is now a word in the Oxford English Dictionary shows the extent to which we failed".

The term has been applied to animations similar to those constructed by Gilliam (e.g. the cut-out style of ''South Park'', whose creators have often acknowledged a debt to Python, including contributing material to the aforementioned 30th anniversary theme night).

''Good Eats'' creator Alton Brown cited Python as one of the influences that shaped how he created the series, as well as how he authors the script for each episode. Recent episodes even include Gilliam-style animations to illustrate key points.

Things named after Monty Python

Beyond a dictionary definition, Python terms have entered the lexicon in other ways.

The Python programming language by Guido van Rossum is named after the troupe, and Monty Python references are often found in sample code created for that language. Additionally, a 2001 April Fool's Day joke by van Rossum and Larry Wall involving the merger of Python with Perl was dubbed "Parrot" after the Dead Parrot Sketch. The name "Parrot" was later used for a project to develop a virtual machine for running bytecode for interpreted languages such as Perl and Python. Also, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote some spacecraft navigation software in Python, which they dubbed "Monty". There is also a python refactoring tool called bicyclerepair ( ), named after Bicycle Repair Man sketch.

In 1985, a fossil of a previously unknown species of gigantic prehistoric snake from the Miocene was discovered in Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia. The Australian palaeontologist who discovered the fossil snake was a Monty Python fan, and he gave the snake the taxonomic name of ''Montypythonoides riversleighensis'' in honour of the Monty Python team. (Transliterated from Greek Μοντυπυθωνοειδής back to English, Montypythonoides means "like Monty Python".) In 2006, Ben & Jerry's, known for their "celebrity flavours", introduced to the lineup "Vermonty Python", a coffee liqueur ice cream with a chocolate cookie crumb swirl and fudge cows. The name "Minty Python" had been suggested before in 1996 in a contest to select the quintessential British ice cream flavor. In 1999, Black Sheep Brewery released an ale named "Monty Python's Holy Grail Ale."

The band Toad the Wet Sprocket drew its name from the Eric Idle monologue "Rock Notes" on Monty Python's ''Contractual Obligation Album'' from 1980.

The band Boxhamsters, which is the German translation of Brook-Hamster, the winner of the Upper Class Twit of the Year. A philosophy lecture series entitled ''Themes in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy as Reflected in the Work of Monty Python''. The term "spam" in reference to bulk, unsolicited email is derived from the programme's 1970 "Spam" sketch.

In the book ''The Reptile Room'' by "Lemony Snicket", the character Uncle Monty was named after Monty Python, in a joke referring to his obsession with snakes.

Seven asteroids are named after Monty Python: 9617 Grahamchapman, 9618 Johncleese, 9619 Terrygilliam, 9620 Ericidle, 9621 Michaelpalin, 9622 Terryjones, and 13681 Monty Python .

The endangered Bemaraha woolly lemur (Avahi cleesei) is named after John Cleese.

''Dead Parrot Society'' is the title of a comedy CD released in 1993 featuring sketches from ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' as well as Graham Chapman, Peter Cook, John Cleese, Dudley Moore, and The Portsmouth Sinfonia The title is also a play on the 1989 film ''Dead Poets Society''.

Media

Television

''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1969–74)

:The show that started the Python phenomenon. See also List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes

''Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus'' (1972)

: Two 45-minute specials made by WDR for West German television. The first was recorded in German, while the second was in English with German dubbing.

''Monty Python's Personal Best'' (2006)

:Six one-hour specials, each episode presenting the best of one member's work.

Films

There were five Monty Python productions released as theatrical films:

''And Now for Something Completely Different'' (1971)

:A collection of sketches from the first and second TV series of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' purposely re-enacted and shot for film.

''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1974)

:King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering humorous obstacles along the way. Some of these turned into standalone sketches.

''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979)

:Brian is born on the first Christmas, in the stable next to Jesus'. He spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.

''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982)

:A videotape recording directed by Ian MacNaughton of a live performance of sketches. Originally intended for a TV/video special. Transferred to 35mm and given a limited theatrical release in the US.

''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983)

:An examination of the meaning of life in a series of sketches from conception to death and beyond.

''Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)'' (2009)

:This film features interviews with all the surviving Python members, along with archive representation for the late Graham Chapman.

''A Liar's Autobiography: Volume IV'' (2012)

:This is an animated film which is based on the memoir of the late Monty Python member, Graham Chapman.

Albums

''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1970)

''Another Monty Python Record'' (1971)

''Monty Python's Previous Record'' (1972)

''The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief'' (1973)

''Monty Python Live at Drury Lane'' (1974)

''The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1975)

''Monty Python Live at City Center'' (1976)

''The Monty Python Instant Record Collection'' (1977)

''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979)

''Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album'' (1980)

''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983)

''The Final Rip Off'' (1988)

''Monty Python Sings'' (1989)

''The Monty Python Instant Record Collection, Volume 2'' (1991)

''The Ultimate Monty Python Rip Off'' (1994)

''The Instant Monty Python CD Collection'' (1994)

''Spamalot'' (Broadway version of ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' with Tim Curry as King Arthur) (2005)

''The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album'' (unreleased)

Theatre

''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' – Between 1974 and 1980 (Live at the Hollywood Bowl was released in 1982, but was performed in 1980) the Pythons made three sketch-based stage shows, comprising mainly material from the original television series.

''Monty Python's Spamalot'' – Written by Idle directed by Mike Nichols, with music and lyrics by John Du Prez and Idle, and starring Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and David Hyde Pierce, ''Spamalot'' is a musical adaptation of the film ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''. It ran in Chicago from 21 December 2004 to 23 January 2005, and began performances on Broadway on 17 March 2005. It won three Tonys.

''Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)'' – The Toronto Symphony Orchestra commissioned Idle and John Du Prez to write the music and lyrics of an oratorio based on ''Monty Python's Life of Brian''. Entitled ''Not the Messiah'', it had its world premiere as part of Luminato, a "festival of arts and creativity" taking place 1–10 June 2007 in Toronto. ''Not the Messiah'' was conducted by Peter Oundjian, Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, who is Idle’s cousin. It was performed by a narrator, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, with guest soloists and choir. According to Idle, "It will be funnier than Handel, though not as good".

Books

''Monty Python's Big Red Book'' (1971) ISBN 0-413-29520-6.

''The Brand New Monty Python Bok'' (1973) ISBN 0-7493-1170-3.

''Monty Python and The Holy Grail (book) – Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Gräilen (Bøk)'' (1977) ISBN 0-413-38520-5.

''MONTYPYTHONSCRAPBOOK/ The Life of Brian'' (1979) ISBN 0-413-46550-0.

''Monty Python's Flying Circus – Just The Words'' Volume 1 (1989) ISBN 0-413-62540-0.

''Monty Python's Flying Circus – Just The Words'' Volume 2 (1989) ISBN 0-413-62550-8.

''The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus'' Volumes 1 & 2

''The Fairly Incomplete & Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book'' (1994) ISBN 0-413-69000-8

''Michael Palin Diaries 1969–1979''

''The Pythons: Autobiography by the Pythons''

''The Life of Brian/Jesus'' (2011) ISBN 978-184876-628-0.

Games

''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1990) a computer game released by Virgin Games for 8-bit systems such as the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum

''Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time'' (1994) released by 7th Level for PC / DOS

''Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail'' (1996), official game released by 7th Level. It used footage and imagery from the film, as well as audio clips (some new) and featured an animated version of a scene never filmed entitled "King Brian The Wild".

''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1997), also released by 7th Level. According to the jewel case description, it's based on the film by the same name, but it's really something completely similar yet entirely different.

''Python-opoly'' (2007), a Monty Python-themed property game released by Toy Vault Inc. ''Monty Python Fluxx'' (2008), a card game released by Looney Labs

''Blazing Dragons''

See also

Beyond the Fringe

List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes

List of recurring characters in Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time

Python (Monty) Pictures

Spamalot

The Goodies

The Goon Show

References

Further reading

The Secret Policeman's Balls, 3-DVD set (2009)

Monty Python: 40 Years of Insanity

The Life of Python – 20 Greatest Monty Python Sketches (40th Anniversary)

External links

Pythonline.com – Monty Python's sort-of official site, actively maintained by Eric Idle

Monty Python – Official YouTube page

Monty Python Videos – Monty Python's best videos and movies

Python at ifilm.com

Pythonisms: Python quotes as figures of speech

The SOTCAA Monty Python Pages

Release of the 3-DVD Secret Policeman's Balls

40 Years of Monty Python – photo essay by ''TIME'' magazine

Monty Python Reunion event, New York, 15 October 2009

Category:British comedy troupes Category:British television comedy Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Arista Records artists Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Charisma Records artists

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Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
Name	Norm Macdonald
Birth date	October 17, 1963
Birth place	Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Birth name	Norman Gene Macdonald
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	Canadian
Active	1987–present
Genre	Satire, political satire, current events, observational comedy
Subject	American culture, American politics, current events, pop culture, sports, mass media/news media/media criticism
Influences	Bob Newhart
Spouse	Connie Macdonald (?-?) (divorced) 1 child
Notable work	Weekend Update anchor on ''Saturday Night Live''Norm Henderson on ''The Norm Show''Lucky in ''Dr. Dolittle''Norm the Genie in ''The Fairly Oddparents''Host of ''Sports Show with Norm Macdonald'' }}

Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald (born October 17, 1963) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'', which included anchoring ''Weekend Update'' for three years. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom ''Roseanne'' and made appearances on shows including ''The Drew Carey Show'' and ''NewsRadio''. He also starred in ''The Norm Show'' from 1999 to 2001. Comedy Central named him #83 on the five-part miniseries ''100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time''. He is noted as one of Conan O'Brien's favorite and most frequent guests on his various talk shows.

Starting February 26, 2011, Macdonald became the new host of ''High Stakes Poker'' on Game Show Network. He also hosted ''Sports Show with Norm Macdonald'' on Comedy Central, which began airing on April 12, 2011. It was announced on June 7, 2011, that the ''Sports Show'' would not be renewed for a second season, reportedly due to low ratings, even though ''Sports Show'' steadily averaged one-million viewers per episode.

Early life

Macdonald was born and raised in Quebec City. In the early 1970s, Macdonald attended grade school where his parents taught at Alexander Wolff School, on Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, outside Quebec City. Macdonald has said that he was a student in his father's class, and that he had to call him "Mr. Macdonald" while in class. His father, often described as a very strict man, was his homeroom teacher for two years (grades 6 and 7). After completing 7th grade, Macdonald attended Quebec High School in Quebec City. Canadian CBC News journalist Neil Macdonald is his brother.

Early career

Macdonald began performing stand-up at clubs in Ottawa. His first big break was at the 1987 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.

''Saturday Night Live''

Macdonald joined the cast of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') television program in 1993, where he performed impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole, among others. Following Kevin Nealon's departure from ''SNL'', Macdonald anchored the segment ''Weekend Update''. Chevy Chase, the first anchor of ''Weekend Update'', has opined that Macdonald was the "best Weekend Update anchor since - well - Chevy Chase".

Macdonald's version of ''Weekend Update'' often included repeated references to prison rape, crack whores and the Germans' love of ''Baywatch'' star David Hasselhoff. Macdonald would occasionally deliver a piece of news, then take out his personal compact tape recorder and leave a "note to self" relevant to what he just discussed. He also commonly and inexplicably used Frank Stallone as a non sequitur punchline. Macdonald repeatedly ridiculed public figures such as Michael Jackson and O. J. Simpson. Throughout Simpson's trial for murder, Macdonald constantly pilloried the former football star, often heavily implying Simpson was guilty of the brutal slaying of his wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman. In the broadcast following Simpson's acquittal, Macdonald opened ''Weekend Update'' by saying: "Well, it's official: murder is legal in the state of California." During the February 24, 1996 episode, Macdonald made a controversial joke about the sentencing of John Lotter, one of the two men who committed the notorious murder of Teena Brandon: "In Nebraska, a man was sentenced to death for killing a female crossdresser, who accused him of rape, and two of her friends. Excuse me if this sounds harsh, but in my mind, they all deserved to die."

After the announcement that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on ''Weekend Update'': "She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a homosexual pedophile." He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer's recent collapse and hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant photographs of Shirley Temple, Macdonald remarked that viewers should not get the wrong idea, adding, "We'd like to remind you that Michael Jackson is, in fact, a ''homosexual'' pedophile." The joke elicited audible gasps from some audience members. He responded to this by saying, "What? He ''is'' a homosexual pedophile."

Macdonald's time with ''Saturday Night Live'' effectively ended in late 1997, when he was fired from the ''Weekend Update'' segment upon the insistence of NBC West Coast Executive Don Ohlmeyer, who pressured the producers to remove him, explaining that Macdonald was "not funny." Some believe that Don Ohlmeyer's friendship with O.J. Simpson — a celebrity whom Macdonald often antagonized on the show — may have fueled Ohlmeyer's decision, but Macdonald has been quoted as saying that he "finds that thesis 'weird' and takes Ohlmeyer's explanation at face value".

On February 28, 1998, one of his last appearances on ''SNL'' occurred as host of a fictitious TV show called ''Who's More Grizzled?'', who asked questions of "mountain men" played by that night's host Garth Brooks and special guest Robert Duvall. In the sketch, Brooks's character said to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replied, "A lot of people don't."

In a ''Late Show with David Letterman'' interview, Macdonald said that after being fired, he could not "do anything else on any competing show."

Macdonald went on the ''Celebrity Jeopardy!'' sketch on the 34th season finale of ''SNL'' when Will Ferrell hosted. Macdonald reprised the impression of Burt Reynolds that he did when he was a regular cast member.

Characters on ''SNL''

Stan Hooper, a cynical man who exploits other people. (The short-lived FOX sitcom ''A Minute With Stan Hooper'' featured a version of this character).

Celebrity impersonations

Al Michaels

Andy Rooney

Allen Funt (as his character Todd Deal)

Barry Scheck

Bill Cosby

Bob Dole

Bob Uecker

Burt Reynolds (Turd Ferguson)

Charles Kuralt

Clint Eastwood

Craig Reid from The Proclaimers

David Letterman

Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Flea

George Burns

John Gray

Juan Peron

Slim Pickens

Larry King

Lou Gehrig

Marv Albert

Michael Richards

Quentin Tarantino

Rod Serling

Rowan Atkinson (as his character Mr. Bean)

Burton Gilliam, though erroneously referred to as Slim Pickens

Tommy Lee

Later work

Soon after leaving ''Saturday Night Live'', Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the "revenge comedy" ''Dirty Work'' (1998), with Jack Warden, Don Rickles, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Artie Lange and Adam Sandler. Later that year, Macdonald voiced the character of Lucky the dog in the Eddie Murphy remake of ''Dr. Dolittle.'' He reprised the role in both ''Dr. Dolittle 2'' (2001) and ''Dr. Dolittle 3'' (2006). Macdonald voiced the character of Death on an episode of ''Family Guy''. Due to a conflict with his stand-up comedy schedule, he was unavailable to voice the character for his next appearance; Death has since been voiced by Adam Carolla. In 1999, Macdonald starred in the sitcom ''The Norm Show'' (later renamed ''Norm''), co-starring Laurie Metcalf, Artie Lange and Ian Gomez. It ran for three seasons on ABC. Macdonald voiced Hardee's restaurants' (Carl's Jr. on the U.S. west coast) costumed mascot, the Hardee's star in advertisements. Macdonald also appeared on several Miller Lite commercials that year. He appeared on the September 1999 ''Saturday Night Live'' primetime special celebrating the program's 25th year on the air. Macdonald was one of only three former ''Weekend Update'' anchors to introduce a retrospective on the segment (the others being Chevy Chase and Dennis Miller).

Macdonald returned to ''Saturday Night Live'' to host the October 23, 1999 show. In his opening monologue, he expressed resentment at having been fired, then concluded that the only reason he was asked to host was because "the show has gotten really bad" since he left. The next episode, airing November 6, 1999 and hosted by Dylan McDermott, featured a sketch where Chris Kattan, as the androgynous character Mango, is opening letters from celebrity admirers and, after opening the last one, says "[the letter is from] Norm Macdonald, who is that?" Also in 1999, Macdonald made a cameo appearance in the Andy Kaufman biopic ''Man on the Moon''. When Michael Richards refused to portray himself in the scene re-enacting the famous ''Fridays'' incident where Kaufman throws water in his face, Macdonald stepped in to play Richards, although he is never referred to by name.

On Macdonald's first appearance on ''The Daily Show'' after Jon Stewart took over, he caused controversy when he said "I'm really glad to see you're hosting the show, man. I hated that other guy." In a previous interview, Macdonald retorted: "I hate that . . . [expletive] 'Daily Show.' I know you critics love it, but it just seems like the most obvious type of comedy." After Jon Stewart got the job he explained his previous comments. "I was joking," he contended. "I love 'The Daily Show.' And I love Jon Stewart. But in print, you can't italicize irony, know what I mean? It's all just words. A guy could say right now: 'I hate David Letterman. I really hate him.' And you could print that. But don't print it."

In 2000, Macdonald starred in his second motion picture, ''Screwed'', which, like ''Dirty Work'', fared poorly at the box office.

On November 12, 2000, Macdonald appeared on the Celebrity Edition of ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' winning $500,000.00 for Paul Newman's Charity Camp. Macdonald could have won a million dollars, but admitted he was too nervous to go for it. Had he done so, his initial guess at the million dollar question (The Greenbrier) would have been correct. Prior to entering the Hot Seat, he got his own personalized Fastest Finger question, which asked him to "Put the following letters in order to spell a popular man's name", with the four answers being all four letters in his name, spelled out in order as the correct order.

Macdonald continued to make appearances on television shows and in films, including ''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo'', ''Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'' and ''The Animal'', all of which starred fellow ''Saturday Night Live'' alumnus Rob Schneider and were produced by Adam Sandler.

In 2005, Macdonald signed a deal with Comedy Central to create a new sketch comedy pilot called ''Back to Norm'', which debuted that May. The pilot was never turned into a series. Its infamous cold opening parodied the suicide of Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania politician who, facing decades of incarceration, committed suicide on live television in 1987. Rob Schneider appeared in the pilot. Also in 2005, Macdonald performed as a voice actor, portraying a genie named Norm, on two episodes of the cartoon series ''The Fairly Odd Parents''. But he could not return for the third episode, "Fairy Idol", due to a scheduling conflict. In 2006, Macdonald again performed as a voice actor, this time in a series of commercials for Canadian cellphone services provider Bell Mobility, as the voice of "Frank the Beaver". The campaign had a commercial tie-in with the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and with the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The ads ran heavily on CBC during the Olympics and throughout the National Hockey League's postseason. Due to its success, the campaign was extended throughout 2006, 2007 and into 2008 to promote offerings from other Bell Canada divisions such as Bell Sympatico Internet provider and Bell TV satellite service. In August 2008, the new management at Bell decided that they would go in a different direction with advertising, and would no longer be using the beavers.

In September 2006, Macdonald's sketch comedy album, ''Ridiculous'', was released by Comedy Central Records. It features appearances by Will Ferrell, Jon Lovitz, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon and Artie Lange. On September 14, 2006, Macdonald appeared on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' to promote ''Ridiculous''. During the appearance, Macdonald made some jokes about the recent death of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Stewart, holding back laughter, asked Norm to change the subject, but he kept going and Stewart kept trying to hold back the laughter. Macdonald was a guest character on ''My Name Is Earl'' in the episode "Two Balls, Two Strikes" as "Lil Chubby", the son of "Chubby" (played by Burt Reynolds), similar to Macdonald's portrayals of Reynolds on ''SNL''.

In the 2007 World Series of Poker, he came in 20th place out of 827 entrants in the $3,000 No Limit Texas Hold 'em event, winning $14,608. He also made it to round two of the $5,000 World Championship of Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em. On the comedy website, Super Deluxe, he has created an animated series entitled "The Fake News". Norm has filled in during Dennis Miller's weekly ''O'Reilly Factor'' "Miller Time" segment on January 2, 2008, and guest-hosted Dennis Miller's radio show on January 3, 2008. Norm had also been a regular contributor on Miller's show every Friday, prior to an unexplained absence that left Miller wondering on-air if the show had somehow miffed Norm. Macdonald returned after many months on May 30, 2008, but not before missing a scheduled appearance the day before. He also hosted Miller's radio show for the second time on July 16, 2008, along with friend Stevie Ray Fromstein.

On June 19, 2008, Macdonald was a celebrity panelist on two episodes of a revived version of the popular game show ''Match Game'', which was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The new version featured the same set used in the early years of the 1970s version and also starred comedienne Sarah Silverman as a fellow celebrity panelist. On August 17, 2008, Norm was a participant in the ''Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget'', performing intentionally cheesy and G-rated material that contrasted greatly with the raunchy performances of the other roasters. In AT&T; commercials around Christmas 2007 and 2008, Macdonald voiced a gingerbread boy wanting a prepaid mobile phone from his dad (voiced by Steve Buscemi), who repeatedly rebuilds his house because "people won't stop eating it". The ad was for AT&T;'s GoPhone. Norm is working on a program for the FX network called ''The Norm Macdonald Reality Show'', in which he plays a fictional, down-on-his-luck version of himself. On the May 16, 2009, episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', Macdonald reappeared as Burt Reynolds on ''Celebrity Jeopardy!''. He also appeared in another sketch later on playing the guitar. On May 31, 2009, he appeared on ''Million Dollar Password''.

Macdonald became a frequent guest on ''The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien'' during its 2009 and 2010 run. Norm was among the first guests on O'Brien's Tonight Show, and appeared also during the show's final week. Initially, The Tonight Show faced network opposition to bringing Norm on so early in the show's run, and Norm having nothing but local stand-up appearances to promote on-air. Despite this, O'Brien's insistence prevailed and Norm's first and subsequent appearances were highlights of O'Brien's brief Tonight Show run. Norm was a guest on Conan's new TBS show, "Conan" on May 17, 2011. Macdonald has also made frequent appearances on the internet talk show ''Tom Green's House Tonight'', and on May 20, 2010, he guest hosted the show.

In September 2010, it was reported that Macdonald was developing a new series for Comedy Central that he described as a sports version of ''The Daily Show''. As of April 2011, the show was titled ''Sports Show with Norm Macdonald'' and premiered on April 12 on Comedy Central. The ''Sports Show'' was not renewed, reportedly due to low ratings, after all nine ordered episodes were broadcast. Macdonald's first stand-up special, ''Me Doing Stand-Up'', aired on Comedy Central on March 26. On May 23, 2011 Comedy Central announced the release an audio CD and DVD of the special on June 14 on Comedy Central Records, and Home Entertainment. The CD will be made available digitally and physically. Both releases will contain uncensored and unseen material from the special, and the DVD features will include the sitcom pilot ''Back To Norm'', an animated featurette ''The Twelve Days Of Christmas'', and Norm's appearance on ''The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget''.

Macdonald is currently the commentator and co-host of the 7th season of High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network along with Kara Scott.

Politics

Despite referring to himself as apolitical, Macdonald has made controversial references to politically-charged issues. At the end of the last ''Weekend Update'' segment before the 1996 presidential election, Norm urged viewers to vote for Bob Dole (of whom Macdonald frequently performed a comic impersonation), though hinting that he had solely said it so that he could continue impersonating him.

On the November 16, 2000 episode of ''The View'' Macdonald said that he thought George W. Bush was "a decent man" and he called Bill Clinton a "murderer" (regarding the Vince Foster case). Macdonald later stated in ''Maxim'' magazine that he is completely apolitical, and that he was joking when he said Clinton "killed a guy" (he further explained on ''The Adam Carolla Show'' that the comments were simply designed to anger Barbara Walters). In a phone interview he later clarified his views on George W. Bush and the Iraq war thusly: "I wish there was another president, a different president engaging the war, since we're in the war because I don't think Bush did a very good job with it. The war itself, you know, if it works it was worth it. But I don't know if it's going to work, so I don't know."

In 2003, Macdonald appeared on Barbara Walters's program ''The View'', publicly renouncing his Canadian citizenship as a joke over his home country's decision not to participate in the Iraq War, stated his belief that Ronald Reagan was the greatest president ever and said that he would be becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. Later he affirmed that he was joking about renouncing his Canadian citizenship, stating in a telephone interview that "I'm not an American citizen. I'm a Canadian citizen. I just keep renewing my green card... I don't want to be American." He further burnished his apolitical stance in regards to both America and Canada saying that he was not eligible to vote in American elections and never voted in Canadian elections either: "I figured since I never did when I was in Canada... I never voted because I don't want to make a mistake. I'm so uninformed that I don't want that on my hands, you know?"

On the January 2, 2008 episode of ''The O'Reilly Factor'', Macdonald stated that he is "very pro-life, but against the death penalty." His friend Artie Lange would soon afterwards confirm these opinions as sincere on ''The Howard Stern Show''.

Views on comedy

Speaking about Canada's homegrown comedy industry, Macdonald reflected that he would have liked there to have been more opportunity for him to stay in the country early in his career, stating: :"Now I know there's more of, like, an industry there. Like, I was happy that Brent Butt got that show. Because he's a really funny guy. But there wasn't that opportunity when I was there. I remember Mike McDonald had one short-lived series, but that was about it. Otherwise there was nothing to do. But it was great with standup. It was way, way better with standup than in the States. Like, I think the standups are generally much better in Canada. Because, like, when I was in Canada, none of us had any ambition to movies or TV because there were no movies or television. So it was all standup and we just assumed we'd be standups for our whole lives and that was what was fun. And then when I came to the States, I realized, whoa, they don't take their standup very seriously here because they're just trying to do something other than standup and using standup as, like, a springboard to something else that they're generally not as good at."

Reflecting on the state of modern comedy, Macdonald bemoans the influx of dramatic actors into comedy and comedians into dramatic acting: :"What young, handsome person is funny? I remember on ''Saturday Night Live'' hosts would come in. You know, like handsome hosts. They'd be dramatic actors generally. And the publicist would always be like, 'This is a big chance for this guy because he's really a funny guy and people don't know it. He's hilarious!' And then he'd just suck, you know?...I always liked Steve Martin when he was crazy. Because dramatic actors know how to be likeable and stuff. To me, if you've got a guy like Steve Martin or Jim Carrey or something, who are unbelievably funny, I don't know why they'd want to be dramatic actors when they have no chance. They're completely outclassed by actual dramatic actors. How many funny comedy actors are there? There's like a million great dramatic actors. I don't know why they'd want to switch. I guess to get respect or something, I don't know."

Filmography

Year !! Title !! Role
1993	''The Jackie Thomas Show'' (TV series)	Jordan
1993–1998	''Saturday Night Live'' (TV series)
1995	''Billy Madison''
1996	''The People vs. Larry Flynt''
1996	''The Drew Carey Show'' (TV series)
1997	''NewsRadio'' (TV series)
1998	Dirty Work (1998 film)>Dirty Work''
1998	Dr. Dolittle (film)>Dr. Dolittle''
1999	''Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo''
1999	Man on the Moon (film)>Man on the Moon''
1999	''The Norm Show'' (TV series)
2000	''Family Guy'' (TV series)
2000	Screwed (2000 film)>Screwed''
2001	''The Animal''
2001	''Dr. Dolittle 2''
2003	''A Minute with Stan Hooper'' (TV series)
2004	''Oliver Beene'' (TV series)
2005	''Back to Norm'' (TV)
2005	''Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo''
2005	''The Fairly OddParents'' (TV series)
2006	''Farce of the Penguins''
2006	''Dr. Dolittle 3''
2007	Senior Skip Day (film)>Senior Skip Day''
2007	''My Name Is Earl'' (TV series)
2008	The Roast of Bob Saget>The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget''
2008	''Dr. Dolittle: Tail To The Chief''
2009	''Funny People''
2009	''My Name Is Earl'' (TV series)
2009	''The Norm Macdonald Reality Show'' (TV series)
2010	Grown Ups (2010 film)>Grown Ups''
2011	''High Stakes Poker'' (TV series)
2011	''Sports Show with Norm Macdonald'' (TV Series)

Footnotes

External links

Norm Macdonald on Myspace

Norm Macdonald on Twitter

Norm Macdonald on ''Tom Green Live'', 10 February 2007

Norm Macdonald on ''Tom Green Live'', 31 January 2007

Category:1963 births Category:Actors from Quebec Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Canadian comedians Category:Canadian expatriate actors in the United States Category:Canadian film actors Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent Category:Canadian stand-up comedians Category:Canadian television actors Category:Carleton University alumni Category:Living people Category:People from Quebec City Category:Poker commentators Category:Quebec comedians

de:Norm MacDonald es:Norm Macdonald fr:Norm Macdonald it:Norm MacDonald no:Norm MacDonald fi:Norm Macdonald sv:Norm MacDonald

Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
name	Bee Gees
origin
background	group_or_band
genre	Pop, soft rock, blue-eyed soul, disco
years active	1958–2003, 2009–present
label	Polydor, RSO, Warner Bros.
associated acts	Andy Gibb
website
current members	Barry GibbRobin Gibb
past members	Maurice GibbColin PetersenVince MelouneyGeoff Bridgford }}

The Bee Gees are a musical group that was originally made up of three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a foremost act of the disco music era in the late 1970s. The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; Robin's clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B; falsetto became their signature sound during the late 1970s and 1980s. The brothers co-wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.

Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived their first few years in Chorlton, Manchester, England, then moved in the late 1950s to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where they began their musical careers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia with "Spicks and Specks" (their 12th single), they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. It has been estimated that the Bee Gees' career record sales total more than 220 million, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the presenter of the award to "Britain's first family of harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, a "family act" also featuring three harmonising brothers. The Bee Gees' Hall of Fame citation says "Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees".

Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003, Barry and Robin Gibb ended the group after 45 years of activity. In 2009, however, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would reform and perform again.

History

Early years

Barry Gibb (born 1946) and twin brothers Robin (born 1949) and Maurice Gibb (1949–2003) were born on the Isle of Man, but the family returned to father Hugh Gibb's home town of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England where they went to Oswald Road Primary School, in the early 1950s where the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks) and as they were running to the theatre, the heavy 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career.

In 1958, the Gibb family, including infant brother Andy (1958–1988), emigrated to Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The young brothers began performing where they could to raise pocket money. First called ''the Rattlesnakes'', later ''Wee Johnny Hayes & the Bluecats'', they were introduced to radio DJ Bill Gates by racetrack promoter Bill Goode (who saw them perform at Brisbane's Speedway Circuit). Gates renamed them the "Bee Gees" after his and Goode's initials – thus the name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief.

By 1960, the Bee Gees were featured on television shows, and in the next few years began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Barry drew the attention of Australian star Col Joye for his songwriting, and Joye helped the boys get a record deal with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records in 1963 under the name "Bee Gees." The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists.

A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP ''The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs''. However, by 1966 Festival was on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. It was at this time that they met American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R; manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for Festival being granted the Australian distribution rights to the group's recordings.

Through Kipner, the Bee Gees met engineer-producer Ossie Byrne. He produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small self-built St Clair Studio, in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966 and the group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that would become their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda) – as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as The Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son.

Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs decided to return to England in late 1966. Ossie Byrne travelled with them, and Colin Petersen, who eventually became the group's drummer, followed soon after. While at sea in January 1967, they learned that "Spicks and Specks", a No. 1 hit in October 1966 had been awarded Best Single of the Year by ''Go-Set'', Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper.

Late 1960s – first international fame

Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein who managed The Beatles and was director of NEMS, a British music store and promoter. Brian Epstein had passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees were signed to a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would be the Bee Gees' record label in the United Kingdom, and ATCO Records would be the United States distributor. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Robert Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release.

Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The Most Significant New Talent Of 1967" and thus began the immediate comparison to The Beatles. Their second British single (their first UK 45 rpm issued was "Spicks and Specks"), "New York Mining Disaster 1941", was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new Beatles' single and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the Top 20 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' second single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody" was a soulful ballad sung by Barry, which has since become a pop standard covered by hundreds of artists including Gram Parsons, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Tyler, Janis Joplin, The Animals, Nina Simone, and Michael Bolton. Another single, "Holiday" was released in the United States, peaking at No. 16. The parent album, the erroneously titled ''Bee Gees 1st'', peaked at No. 7 in the United States and No. 8 in the United Kingdom.

Following the success of ''Bee Gees 1st'', the band (which now consisted of Barry on rhythm guitar, Maurice on bass, Vince Melouney on lead guitar and Colin Petersen on drums),. began work on the act's second album. Released in late 1967, ''Horizontal'' repeated the success of their first album, featuring the No. 1 UK single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit), and the No. 7 UK single "World". The sound of the album ''Horizontal'' had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, though ballads like "And The Sun Will Shine" and "Really And Sincerely" were also prominent. The ''Horizontal'' album reached No. 12 in the US, and No. 16 in the UK promoting the record, the Bee Gees made their first appearances in America, playing live concerts and television shows such as ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''Laugh In''.

Two more singles followed in early 1968, the ballad "Words" (No. 15 US, No. 8 UK) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" b/w "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" was the Bee Gees' least successful single to date only reaching No. 57 in the US, and No. 25 in the UK. The Bee Gees felt that "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands, who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" (No. 8 US, No. 1 UK) and "I Started A Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album ''Idea''. ''Idea'' was another Top 20 album in the US (No. 17) and the UK (No. 4). Following the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, feeling that he wanted to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees—his composition "Such A Shame" (from ''Idea'') is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother.

By 1969, the cracks began to show within the group. Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called ''Masterpeace'', evolved into the double-album ''Odessa''. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 60s, with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and signature ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First Of May"; the last of which became the only single from the album, and was a minor hit. Feeling that the flipside, "Lamplight" should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. Robin Gibb saw brief success in Europe with the No. 2 hit "Saved By The Bell" and the album ''Robin's Reign''. Barry and Maurice continued as the Bee Gees, even recruiting their sister Lesley to appear with them on stage.

The first of many Bee Gees compilations, ''Best of Bee Gees'' was released, featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks" The CD release replaces "Spicks and Specks" with another non-LP single "Tomorrow Tomorrow", because Polydor could no longer secure the rights to the Australian track. "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was a moderate hit in the UK reaching No. 23, but stalled at No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the Top Ten in both the US and the UK.

While Robin was off on his own, Barry, Maurice, and Colin continued on as the Bee Gees, recording their next album, ''Cucumber Castle''. There was also a TV special filmed to accompany the album, which aired on the BBC in 1971. Colin Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album, but was fired from the group after filming began and his parts were edited out of the final cut of the film. After Colin was fired, Australian drummer Geoff Bridgford was recruited to complete the recording of songs for Cucumber Castle. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember" was a big hit in the UK reaching No. 2, but a disappointment in the US, only reaching No. 73. The next 2 singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else" barely scraped the charts, and following the release of the album, Barry and Maurice parted ways. It seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release, though "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single, without much interest. Meanwhile, Maurice released the single "Railroad", and starred in the West End musical ''Sing A Rude Song''.

Early 1970s

The three brothers reunited in the later part of 1970 penning a series of songs about heartache and loneliness. During this period they became a four piece band joined again by Australian drummer Geoff Bridgford who after playing on the 2 Years On album and Trafalgar album became the last non-Gibb brother to be a member of the Bee Gees. Although they had lost traction on the British charts, the Bee Gees hit No. 3 in America with "Lonely Days" (from the reunion LP ''2 Years On'') and had their first US No. 1 with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (from ''Trafalgar''). The trio's talents were included in the soundtrack for the 1971 film ''Melody'' as they performed several songs for the title. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in America with the single "My World" and "Run To Me" from the LP ''To Whom It May Concern''; the latter also returned them to the British top ten for the first time in three years.

By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album, ''Life in a Tin Can'', released on RSO Records and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning," sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as ''A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants''). A second compilation album, ''Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2'' was released in 1973, though it did not repeat the success of Volume 1.

On the advice of Ahmet Ertegün, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with famed soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, ''Mr. Natural'', included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B; direction of the rest of their career. But when it too failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work with the soul music style.

The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971, but did not have much to do until ''Mr. Natural''. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the late 1970s "Bee Gees band". Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, organ, mellotron, and bass guitar, as well as exotica like mandolin and Moog synthesiser, now confined himself to bass onstage.

At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers relocated to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood and crafted more rhythmic disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway." The latter featured Barry Gibb's first attempts at singing falsetto based on Arif Mardin's suggestion, in the backing vocals toward the end. Robin also began singing some passages in a falsetto pitch. The band liked the resulting new sound, and this time the public agreed, sending the LP ''Main Course'' up the charts. This was their second album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's ''Idea''. ''Main Course'' also became their first charting R&B; album. Mardin was unable to work with the group afterwards, but the Bee Gees enlisted Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson who had worked with Mardin during the ''Main Course'' sessions. This production team would carry the Bee Gees through the rest of the 1970s.

The next album, ''Children of the World,'' was drenched in Barry's newfound falsetto and Weaver's synthesiser disco licks. Led off by the single "You Should Be Dancing," it pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B;/disco sound was not as popular with some die hard fans from the 1960s. The Bee Gees' band was now closer to a rock act, with rhythm guitar and real drums behind the falsetto.

Late 1970s: ''Saturday Night Fever''

Following a successful live album, ''Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live'', the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the ''Saturday Night Fever soundtrack''. It would be the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was seismic, not only in the United States but in the rest of the world, bringing the nascent disco scene mainstream.

The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at France's Château d'Hérouville studio. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos:

Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that ''Saturday Night Fever'' did not begin the disco craze; rather, it prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, ''Fever'' is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing–-it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying."

Three Bee Gees singles ("How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", and "Night Fever") reached No. 1 in the United States and most countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You" which became a No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-Side of "Stayin' Alive." Such was the popularity of ''Saturday Night Fever'' that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. The Gibb sound was inescapable. During an eight-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, the brothers wrote six songs that held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 25 of 32 consecutive weeks—three under their own name, two for brother Andy Gibb, and the Yvonne Elliman single.

Fueled by the movie's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, ''Saturday Night Fever'' is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. It is currently calculated as the 9th highest-selling album worldwide.

During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a Top Ten hit (the Bee Gees sang back-up vocals). Barry also wrote the title song to the movie version of the Broadway musical ''Grease'' for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. During this period, the Bee Gees' younger brother Andy followed his older siblings into a music career, and enjoyed considerable success. Produced by Barry, Andy Gibb's first three singles all topped the US charts. In March 1978, The Bee Gees held the top 2 positions on the US Charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top ten at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance hadn't been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number one hits in the US breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever", "If I Can't Have You".

The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in the movie ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1978) loosely inspired by the classic 1967 Beatles album. The film had been heavily promoted prior to release, and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, the disjointed film was savaged by the movie critics, and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. Previously, the Bee Gees had recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "Sun King" – for the transitory musical documentary ''All This and World War II''.

The Bee Gees' follow-up to ''Saturday Night Fever'' was the ''Spirits Having Flown'' album. It yielded three more No. 1 hits: "Too Much Heaven", "Tragedy", and "Love You Inside Out." This gave the act six consecutive No. No. 1 singles in America within a year and a half (a record surpassed only by Whitney Houston). "Too Much Heaven" ended up as the Bee Gees' musical contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979, a benefit organised by the Bee Gees, Robert Stigwood, and David Frost for UNICEF that was broadcast worldwide. The brothers donated the royalties from the song to the charity. Up to 2007, this song has earned over $11 million for UNICEF. During the summer of 1979, The Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track of "Too Much Heaven" directed by Miami-based film-maker, Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers.

The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love On Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made Top 40 on the country charts. In 1981, Conway Twitty's version of "Rest Your Love On Me" topped the country charts.

The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around America began promoting "Bee Gee Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act would have only one more top ten single in the US, and that would not come until 1989. The Bee Gees' international popularity sustained somewhat less damage. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse:

1980s

Robin and Barry Gibb released various solo albums in the 1980s but only with sporadic and moderate chart success. However, the brothers had continuing success behind the scenes, writing and producing for several artists. In 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album ''Guilty''. He co-produced and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand, and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No.1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date.

In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No.2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her album of the same name written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No.3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US where it was certified Gold.

A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US No. 1 hit and Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, ''Eyes That See In The Dark'', was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum.

In 1985, Diana Ross released the album ''Eaten Alive'', written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No.1 hit.

In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album ''Living Eyes'', their last release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show ''Tomorrow's World''. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40. Two singles from the album fared little better - "He's a Liar" reached No. 30 in the US and "Living Eyes" reached No. 45, breaking the Bee Gees' Top 40 streak which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". In 1983, the Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to ''Staying Alive'', the sequel to ''Saturday Night Fever''. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You".

In 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed that the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.

The Bee Gees released the album ''E.S.P.'' in 1987, which sold over 3 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including Britain, but was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75. The Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the States.

On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy died at the age 30 as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. His brothers acknowledge that Andy's past drug and alcohol use probably made his heart more susceptible to the ailment. Just before Andy's death, it was decided by the group that Andy would join them, which would have made the group a four piece. This did not come to pass, however. The Bee Gees' following album, ''One'' (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US top ten hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One". After the album's release, they embarked on their first world tour in ten years.

1990s

In 1990, Polydor Records issued the box set ''Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song'', which contained all of the group's singles (except 1981's "Living Eyes"), rare B-sides, unreleased tracks, solo material, and live performances. Many songs received new stereo mixes by Bill Inglot with some songs making their CD debut. At the time of its release, ''Tales'' was one of the first box sets issued in the music business and it was considered an honour for a group to have one. In the UK, Polydor issued a single disc hits collection from ''Tales'' called ''The Very Best of the Bee Gees'', which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best selling albums in that country, eventually being certified Triple Platinum.

Following their next album, ''High Civilization'' (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he also suffered from arthritis, and at one point, it was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label, and released the album ''Size Isn't Everything'', which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love" only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the parent album stalled at No. 153.

In 1997, they released the album ''Still Waters'', which sold over four million copies, and reached No.2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No.11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. ''Still Waters'' would be the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era.

On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called ''One Night Only''. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The CD of the performance sold over 5 million copies. The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to an audience exceeding 105,000.

In 1998, the group's soundtrack for ''Saturday Night Fever'' was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998 the brothers recorded ''Ellan Vannin'' for Isle of Man charities. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth.

The Bee Gees closed the decade with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as ''BG2K'', on 31 December 1999.

2000s

In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material as a group, ''This Is Where I Came In''. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The album gave each each member of the group a chance to write in his own way, as well as composing songs together. For example, Maurice's compositions and leads are the "Man in the Middle" and "Walking on Air," while Robin contributed "Déjà Vu," "Promise the Earth," and "Embrace," and Barry contributed "Loose Talk Costs Lives," "Technicolour Dreams", and "Voice in the Wilderness". The other songs are collaborative in writing and vocals. They performed many tracks from ''This Is Where I Came In'', plus many of their biggest hits, on the live televised concert series ''Live by Request'', shown on the A&E; Network. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the ''Love and Hope Ball'' in 2002.

Maurice, who had been the musical director of the Bee Gees during their final years as a group, died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003 at the age of 53 from a heart attack, while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory. But as time passed they decided to retire the group name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together.

The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album ''Magnet'' was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony.

Although there was talk of a memorial concert featuring both surviving brothers and invited guests, nothing materialised. Barry and Robin continued to work independently, and both released recordings with other artists, occasionally coming together to perform at special events.

After the Bee Gees

In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old," the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album ''Guilty Pleasures'', released as ''Guilty Too'' in the UK as a sequel album to the previous ''Guilty''. Robin continued touring in Europe. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single.

In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since the death of brother Maurice. Barry and Robin also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006.

In October 2008, Robin performed a couple of songs in London as part of the BBC Electric Proms ''Saturday Night Fever'' performance. This involved various other performers and the BBC Concert Orchestra and was screened on the BBC and BBC interactive services.

Return to performing

On 1 September 2009, Barry Gibb, in an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough, mentioned on the subject of future tours that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin Gibb disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry Gibb and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again".

Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's ''Strictly Come Dancing'' on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's ''Dancing with the Stars'' on 17 November 2009.

On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth season finale of ''American Idol''.

In October 2010, Robin Gibb was interviewed by the ''Daily Mail'', and confirmed that the story of the Bee Gees is to be made into a Hollywood movie by Steven Spielberg. The Oscar-winning director believes the group’s journey from unknowns in Manchester to worldwide fame will prove box-office gold. Robin told the ''Daily Mail'': "The movie is going to be done by some very important people. It will be our life story. Barry and I will be involved in the technical side". One of the challenges for Spielberg will be replicating the brothers’ distinctive three-part harmonies and Barry’s falsetto voice. Robin said: "I’d like our original recordings to be used because it’s very hard to emulate them."

Songwriting success

The Bee Gees have sold in excess of 220 million records worldwide. At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing 9 of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40.

At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Their most popular composition is "How Deep Is Your Love", with 400 versions by other artists in existence. Among the artists who have covered their songs are Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Al Green, Eric Clapton, Lulu, Elton John, Tom Jones, Nina Simone, John Frusciante (who has covered "How Deep Is Your Love" during Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts), Feist, Billy Corgan, Michael Bolton, Robert Smith, Ardijah, Jinusean, Faith No More, The Flaming Lips and Destiny's Child. The band's music has also been sampled by dozens of hip hop artists.

Songs written by the Gibbs, but largely better known through versions by other artists, include:

"Immortality" by Celine Dion

"If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman

"Chain Reaction" by Diana Ross

"Spicks and Specks" by Status Quo

"Emotion" by Samantha Sang and by Destiny's Child

"Come On Over" by Olivia Newton-John

"Warm Ride" by Graham Bonnet and by Rare Earth

"Guilty" and "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand

"Heartbreaker" & "All The Love In The World" by Dionne Warwick

"Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

"Grease" by Frankie Valli

"Hold On To My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin

"Only One Woman" by The Marbles

"Morning of My Life" by Abi and Esther Ofarim

"Rest Your Love on Me" by Conway Twitty

"Buried Treasure" by Kenny Rogers (backing vocals The Gatlin Brothers)

"Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" by Teri DeSario

"I Will Be There" by Tina Turner

Awards and recognition

Inductions

1979 Hollywood Walk of Fame

1994 Songwriters Hall of Fame

1995 Florida's Artists Hall of Fame

1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

1997 ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame

2001 Vocal Group Hall of Fame

2004 Dance Music Hall of Fame

2005 London's Walk of Fame

Grammy Awards

1978 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Group – "How Deep Is Your Love"

1979 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group – "Saturday Night Fever"

1979 Best Arrangement Of Voices – "Stayin' Alive"

1979 Album Of The Year – "Saturday Night Fever"

1979 Producer Of The Year – "Saturday Night Fever"

1981 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal – "Guilty" (Barry Gibb with Barbra Streisand)

2000 Lifetime Achievement Award

2003 Legend Award

2004 Hall Of Fame Award – "Saturday Night Fever"

World Music Awards

1997 Legend Award

American Music Awards

1979 Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo Or Group

1979 Favorite Soul / R&B; Album – "Saturday Night Fever"

1980 Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo Or Group

1980 Favorite Pop / Rock Album – "Spirits Having Flown"

1997 International Artist Award

BRIT Awards

1997 Outstanding Contribution To Music

BMI Awards

On 15 May 2007, The Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards.

Commemorative stamps

In October 1999 the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of 6 stamps honouring their native sons' music. The official launch took place at the London Palladium where the stage show of ''Saturday Night Fever'' was playing. A similar launch was held in New York shortly after to coincide with the show opening across the Atlantic. The songs depicted on the stamps are "Massachusetts", "Words", "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive" and "Immortality".

Civic honours

In 1978, following the success of ''Saturday Night Fever'', and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the Governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time.

All three brothers (including Maurice, posthumously) were appointed Commanders in the Order of the British Empire, one level underneath knighthood, in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place on 27 May 2004.

On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice, thereby conveying the award of the town of their birth to all three brothers. On 20 November 2009, Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1965 | style="text-align:left;"|''The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs'' | — | — |- | 1966 | style="text-align:left;"|''Spicks and Specks'' | — | — |- | 1967 | style="text-align:left;"|''Bee Gees 1st'' | 7 | 8 |- | 1968 | style="text-align:left;"|''Horizontal'' | 12 | 16 |- | 1968 | style="text-align:left;"|''Idea'' | 17 | 4 |- | 1969 | style="text-align:left;"|''Odessa'' | 20 | 10 |- | 1970 | style="text-align:left;"|''Cucumber Castle'' | 94 | 57 |- | 1970 | style="text-align:left;"|''2 Years On'' | 32 | — |- | 1971 | style="text-align:left;"|''Trafalgar'' | 34 | — |- | 1972 | style="text-align:left;"|''To Whom It May Concern'' | 35 | — |- | 1973 | style="text-align:left;"|''Life in a Tin Can'' | 68 | — |- | 1974 | style="text-align:left;"|''Mr. Natural'' | 178 | — |- | 1975 | style="text-align:left;"|''Main Course'' | 14 | — |- | 1976 | style="text-align:left;"|''Children of the World'' | 8 | — |- | 1979 | style="text-align:left;"|''Spirits Having Flown'' | 1 | 1 |- | 1981 | style="text-align:left;"|''Living Eyes'' | 41 | 73 |- | 1987 | style="text-align:left;"|''E.S.P.'' | 96 | 5 |- | 1989 | style="text-align:left;"|''One'' | 68 | 29 |- | 1991 | style="text-align:left;"|''High Civilization'' | — | 24 |- | 1993 | style="text-align:left;"|''Size Isn't Everything'' | 153 | 23 |- | 1997 | style="text-align:left;"|''Still Waters'' | 11 | 2 |- | 2001 | style="text-align:left;"|''This Is Where I Came In'' | 16 | 6 |}

Live albums

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1977 | style="text-align:left;"|''Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live'' | 8 | — |- | 1998 | style="text-align:left;"|''One Night Only'' | 72 | 4 |}

Soundtrack releases

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1977 | style="text-align:left;"|''Saturday Night Fever'' | 1 | 1 |- | 1978 | style="text-align:left;"|''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' | 5 | 38 |- | 1983 | style="text-align:left;"|''Staying Alive'' | 6 | 14 |}

Catalogue reissue

The Gibbs recently gained ownership rights to their back catalogue, and set up a new distribution arrangement with Warner/Rhino/Reprise Records where they have since reissued digitally remastered versions of ''Saturday Night Fever'', their later ''Bee Gees Greatest'' album, and a new boxed set: ''The Studio Albums: 1967–1968''.

Additionally, more recent titles such as ''Still Waters'' and ''This Is Where I Came In'' were among the first batch of re-releases. The band's three Warner Bros. releases, ''E. S. P.,'' ''One'' and ''High Civilisation'' were also made available on iTunes for the first time since the albums went out of print in North America in the mid-90s.

According to Robin Gibb's website, three more reissues were planned for the 2008 holiday season: ''Best of Bee Gees'', ''Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2'' and ''Love Songs''. The double album ''Odessa'' was released on 13 January 2009 in a special 3-disc deluxe edition complete with the original red velvet cover with remastered stereo and mono versions of the album as well as alternate versions and unreleased tracks.

Limited edition

was recorded in 1997 as a 1,000 quantity limited edition single for Isle of Man charities. The song was featured in the Bee Gees World Tour and on ITV's "An Evening With ..." but to date has not been released generally. The single was subsequently also available as part of the 1999 Bee Gees Stamp issue.

50th anniversary collections

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of The Bee Gees (when they started calling themselves 'Bee Gees' in 1959), Rhino Records is releasing two new collections. ''Mythology'' is a four-disc collection highlighting each brother, including Andy, with tracks personally selected by Barry, Robin, Maurice's wife Yvonne (with his children Adam and Samantha), and Andy's daughter Peta. Maurice's disc contains two unreleased tracks called "Angel Of Mercy" and "The Bridge". Andy's disc contains the unreleased track "Arrow Through The Heart". ''Mythology'' also features a scrapbook of family photos, many never-before published, along with tributes from artists such as George Martin, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Graham Nash and the band's longtime manager Robert Stigwood.

The second collection, ''The Ultimate Bee Gees'' is a more modest two-disc, 40-track collection highlighting their biggest hits which will include a bonus DVD of unreleased videos, previously unreleased television appearances, live performances, and promo videos. Each disc is themed with the first disc being the more upbeat songs called 'A Night Out' and the second disc being more ballad focused called 'A Night In'.

Band instrumentalists

Barry Gibb played rhythm guitar.

During the early 1970s, Robin Gibb played piano and violin occasionally, but most of the time he only sang. Although he keeps on playing strings and keyboards privately, he has not played any instrument on stage since mid-'70s.

Maurice Gibb played bass guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, piano, organ, harpsichord, electric piano, mellotron, and electronic keyboards, synthesisers and drum tracks. From 1966 to 1972 he played multiple instruments on many records. During the late 1970s he played mainly bass guitar. From about 1986 onward he usually played keyboards and guitars. Maurice was credited by the brothers as being the most technologically savvy member of the band, and had built his own home studio. The bootleg CD ''ESP Demos'' allegedly includes rough versions of tracks from the album of the same name that were recorded at that studio.

These musicians were considered members of the band:

Colin Petersen – drums 1967–69

Vince Melouney – lead guitar 1967–68

Geoff Bridgford – drums 1969–72

Alan Kendall – lead guitar 1971–80, 87–01

Dennis Bryon – drums 1974–80

Blue Weaver – keyboards 1975–80

Here are some other musicians who backed up the Bee Gees live and in the studio:

Carlos Alomar – guitar

Ray Barretto – bongos

Reb Beach – guitar

David Foster – keyboards

Steve Gibb – guitar

Scott Glasel – Synthesizer and Drum Programming

Steve Jordan – drums

Manu Katché – drums

Jim Keltner – drums 1973

Rhett Lawrence – Synthesizer Programming

Marcus Miller – bass guitar

Pino Palladino – bass guitar

Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Jeff Porcaro – drums

Russ Powell—bass guitar

Steve Rucker – drums

Raphael Saadiq – bass guitar, guitar, drum programming, vocals

Stephen Stills – percussion

Peter-John Vettese – keyboards

Waddy Wachtel – guitar

Joe Walsh – guitar

Filmography

1969: ''Cucumber Castle''

1978: ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''

1979: ''The Bee Gees Special''

1990: ''One For All Tour''

1997: ''Keppel Road''

1998: ''One Night Only''

2001: ''This Is Where I Came In''

2002: ''Live By Request''

2010: ''In Our Own Time''

In pop culture

Australian music quiz show ''Spicks and Specks'' takes its name from the Bee Gees song of the same name, and features the song in its opening titles

A TV sketch by Kenny Everett in which he played all three Gibbs as well as an interviewer, had the Bee Gees answering all of his questions with song quotes

They were parodied by Philip Pope, Angus Deayton, and Michael Fenton Stevens recording as The Hee Bee Gee Bees, singing "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)"

In an episode of ''The Simpsons'' while at a yard sale Homer and Disco Stu perform the "Staying Alive" parody "Table Five"

In 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011 Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake parodied Barry and Robin Gibb on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the show's ''Barry Gibb Talk Show'' sketches.

The pop punk band Blink 182 parodied the Bee Gees in their "First Date" video

A ''MADtv'' parody shows Barry Gibb, portrayed by Michael McDonald, making an American soundtrack with Randy Newman and other celebrities like Chaka Khan (Aries Spears) and Destiny's Child (Debra Wilson)

In 1998, the British television comedy sketch show ''Big Train'' featured a sketch starring Simon Pegg, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon as the Bee Gees depicted as outlaws being killed by lawman Chaka Khan in a Western-style shoot-out

In ''The Mighty Boosh'' episode "The Legend of Old Gregg", The Bee Gees are one of the bands who wanted a piece of The Funk

In ''The Goodies'' episode "Saturday Night Grease", Tim imitated the high-pitched voices of the Bee Gees used in the soundtrack ''Staying Alive''

In ''The Fairly OddParents'', Cosmo refers to the untrue history of the Bee Gees, and mentions that "there's too much Bee Gees".

References

External links

Bee Gees – official website

Barry Gibb – official website

Robin Gibb – official website

Bee Gees at ''Rolling Stone''

Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage

Bee Gees at bmi.com

* Category:Musical groups established in 1958 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Category:ARIA Award winners Category:ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Category:Australian rock music groups Category:Disco groups Category:English dance music groups Category:English rock music groups Category:Family musical groups Category:Grammy Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musical groups from Manchester Category:Manx musical groups Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Queensland musical groups Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sibling musical trios Category:UNICEF people

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Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
name	Love Like Blood
background	group_or_band
origin	Germany
genre	Gothic rock, Dark Wave (1989-1992)Hard rock, Gothic metal (1992-2001)
years active	1989-2001
label	Deathwish OfficeHall of Sermon
current members	Yorck EyselGunnar Eysel
notable instruments	}}

Love Like Blood is a German gothic rock/gothic metal band.

Biography

Its nucleus consists of Eysel brothers (Yorck-vocals, lyrics and Gunnar - bass). The band was active in the years 1989-2001 and is now on (indefinite) hiatus. Its early sound reminisces the style of The Fields of the Nephilim. They made their breakthrough with the 1992 album “An Irony of Fate”, which marked the debut of the English guitarist Mark Wheeler. This album showcased a transition to a more hard-rock-influenced style.

In the middle of the 1990s, Love Like Blood turned to Gothic metal with the album "Exposure".

On their 2000 album, "Enslaved + Condemned", Love Like Blood made a rendition of Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry's song "''Seven Seconds''", giving the pop song a more ragged metal-oriented cover.

In January 2010 it was announced that Love Like Blood would be performing live for the "first and only" time since 1999 at the Twentieth Anniversary Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival in Leipzig.

Discography

Albums

''Flags of Revolution'' (1989)

''An Irony of Fate'' (1992)

''Sinister Dawn/Ecstasy'' (1992)

''Odyssee'' (1994)

''Exposure'' (1995)

''Snakekiller'' (1998)

''Enslaved+Condemned'' (2000)

''The Best of Love Like Blood [Swordlilies]'' (2000)

''Chronology of a Love Affair'' (2001)

Singles

"Sinister Dawn" (1989)

"Ecstasy" (1991)

"Kiss & Tell" (1992)

"Demimondes" (1992)

"Flood of Love" (1993)

"Heroes" (1993)

"Stormy Visions" (1993)

"Taste of Damocles" (1997)

''The Love Like Blood E.P.'' (1998)

"Love Kills" (2000)

References

External links

Official webpage

Unofficial polish Love Like Blood webpage

Category:Gothic rock groups Category:German gothic metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1989 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2001

de:Love Like Blood fr:Love Like Blood pl:Love Like Blood pt:Love Like Blood