And Now For Something Completely Different

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And Now For Something Completely Different is a film spinoff from the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring favourite sketches from the first two seasons. The title was used as a catchphrase in the TV show.

The film, released in 1971, consists of 90 minutes of the best sketches seen in the first two series of the TV show. The sketches were remade on film without an audience, and was intended for an American audience which had not yet seen the series. The announcer uses the phrase "and now for something completely different" several times during the film, in situations such as being roasted on a spit and lying on top of the desk in a small, pink bikini.

This movie is somewhat similar to the 1974 film "The Best of Benny Hill" which was a film spinoff from the television comedy series "The Benny Hill Show" featuring favourite sketches from the first five years. The difference in both films are that the Pythons recreated all the sketches while Benny used clips from the Thames years and edited them together to make the film.

The film did not offer anything extra for British fans, except the opportunity to see the sketches in colour at a time when many viewers still had black and white sets, and indeed many were disappointed that the film seemed to belie its title. It was funded by Victor Lowndes of Playboy magazine. The budget of the film was horribly low at the time. It was £80,000! It is referenced in the Killer Cars animation in the film when the cat first appears and eats the building, then, an old man (voiced by Eric Idle) mentions "a scene of such spectacular proportions that it could never in your life be seen in a low budget film like this." He then references that the audience should notice that his mouth isn't moving as well. The film was shot both on location in England and inside an abandoned dairy instead of a more costly soundstage.

The film is rated PG in the UK and the U.S..

Origins of phrase

The phrase is derived from the kind of phrase used to link items in a TV "magazine show" such as the BBC's Tonight, which alternated current affairs and interviews with lighter human interest material. It was often used on the BBC system, especially during its years of near-monopoly over British broadcast media, as a transition or bridge (or segue) between programs or program segments. Presumably, it struck the Monty Python humorists as funny that a boring talk show about growing nasturtiums would be described as "completely different" from a boring talk show about hunting for mushrooms. Thus, besides contributing to the general sense of absurdity, the use of this phrase also struck a note of parody.

Many of the early episodes of the show feature a sensible-looking announcer (played by John Cleese) dressed in a sensible black suit and sitting behind a sensible wooden desk, which in turn is in some out-of-context location such as behind the bars of a zoo cage or in mid-air being held aloft by small attached propellers. The announcer would turn to the audience and announce "and now for something completely different", launching the show's opening credits starting with second series of the show.

The phrase was also used as a transition within the show. Often it would be added to in order to better explain the transition, for instance, "And now for something completely different: a man with a tape recorder up his nose." In later episodes the credits-launching was reduced to a split-second stock footage of the announcer saying "And now..." in a similar fashion as was done with its predecessor (the "It's" man). It was replaced by a nude organist.

Skits

1. How Not To Be Seen: A government film showing why not being seen is important.
2. A Man With a Tape Recorder Up His Nose: After the main title sequence animated by Terry Gilliam, which comes after the above sketch, a "The End" screen appears, but a stage emcee (Terry Jones) apologizes for the film's length and says that there will be an interval. In the meantime, the cinema shows two films: One starring a man with a tape recorder up his nose and another starring a man with a tape recorder up his brother's nose.
3. Hungarian Phrasebook Sketch: After the above mentioned interval ends, a sketch plays in which a Hungarian immigrant (John Cleese) is arrested, but the author (Michael Palin) of immigrant's phrasebook is arrested instead.
4. Animation-Hand Plants and Things: An animation by Terry Gilliam depicting cut-out hands as plants and animals.
5. Animation-A Barber's Suicide: A barber puts shaving cream over his head and cuts it off.
6. Marriage Guidance Counsellor: The marriage guidance councellor (Eric Idle) flirts with the attractive Dierdre Pewtey (Carol Cleveland) and her husband (Palin) feels depressed.
7. Animation-The Cannibal Baby: A man carries a baby in a carriage that eats old ladies, but the man ends up being chased by the baby.
8. Animation-The Statue: After the above animation ends, an animated arm tries to take off a statue's leaf, covering his penis, but an old woman's head tells that smut like this won't be shown on screen.
9. Nudge, Nudge: The above animation ends and leads into a bar, where a man (Idle) asks another man (Jones) about his wife with sexual innuendos.
10. Self-Defense Class: A teacher (Cleese) educates his students (Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle) how to defend themselves from anyone armed with fresh fruit.
11. Hell's Grannies: A military officer (Chapman) warns the film not to get silly again after the above sketch. He then tells the director to cut to a new scene, which is discovered to be about grannies and old ladies beating up young men and women. Other gangs referenced are the Baby Snatchers and "Keep Left" signs, at which point the officer stops the sketch.
12. Military March: A military squad does a effeminate chant.
13. Animation-Rampage of the Cancerous Black Spot: The officer sees the above sketch, thinks it is suspect and says it is time for a cartoon. The animation depicts a prince getting a spot on his face and dying of cancer. The spot then goes out to seek its fortune and gets married to another spot.
14. Expedition to Mt. Kilamarjaro: Arthur Wilson (Idle) goes to Sir George Head (Cleese) to join an expedition to Mt. Kilamarjaro, but problems occur when things go wrong because of Head's unusual case of double vision.
15. Girls in Bikinis: Sexy women are seen in bikinis, ending with John Cleese in a pink bikini and bow tie saying the phrase, "And now for something completely different!"
16. Would You Like To Come To My Place?: A man (Palin) uses a false excuse to get a policeman (Cleese) to come back to his place.
17. The Flasher: A man (Jones) appears to be revealing himself to women on the streets. It turns out he is wearing a sign that says "Boo!"
18. Animation-American Defense: American Defense (a.k.a. Crelm Toothpaste, a.k.a. Shrill Petrol) is advertised.
19. Animation-Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth: The 20th Century Frog and MGM-spoofing logos introduce Comrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth, a man with a Jeremy Ironsesque appearance and dancing teeth!
20. Musical Mice: Arthur Ewing (Jones) has musical mice, causing his audience to attack him.
21. Sir Edward Ross: The audience chases Ewing into a TV studio where an interviewer (Cleese) calls Sir Edward Ross (Chapman) by a number of inappropriate names, such as "Eddie Baby ", "pussycat", etc.
22. Seduced Milkmen: A milkman (Palin) gets seduced by a lovely woman (Cleveland) but then gets locked in her closet with other milkmen, some of whom are very old.
23. The Funniest Joke in the World: Ernest Scribbler (Palin) writes a lethal joke and is used for the war.
24. Animation-The Old Woman Who Cannot Catch a Bus: An old woman tries to catch a triple decker bus.
25. Animation-The Killer Cars: Cars take the law into their own hands and a mutated cat scares them off, but at what cost?
26. Dead Parrot: Mr. Praline (Cleese) attempts to tell the shop owner (Palin) that he gave him a dead parrot.
27. The Lumberjack Song: The shop owner tells of how he wanted to be a lumberjack instead in a song. He discloses his secret life in his song, however, disturbing his best girl (Connie Booth) and the background singers, causing them to leave and throw fruit at him.
28. The Restaurant Sketch: The employees of a restaurant (Jones, Palin, Idle, and Cleese) dramatically react to a dirty fork belonging to a dining couple (Cleveland and Chapman).
29. Animation-Musical Interlude: A statue depicting a man and woman making love plays a wind instrument.
30. Animation-How To Build Certain Interesting Things: Garbage is placed and a hammer bangs on it loudly.
31. Bank Robber: A bank robber (Cleese) tries to rob a lingerie shop, thinking it is a bank. Cleese then appears as the "Completely Different" man and says his phrase.
32. People Fall Out of High Buildings: A worker (Idle) sees people going past the window downwards, but his co-worker (Cleese) is uninterested.
33. Animation-The Bug: A bug with humanlike features goes to sleep and wakes up as a butterfly.
34. Animation-The Three People: Three people walk in snow singing the title of the next skit.
35. Vocational Guidance Councellor: Herbert Anchovy (Palin) does't want to be a chartered accountant, but a lion tamer. The councellor (Cleese) thinks that Anchovy should work his way up, via banking.
36. Blackmail!: A fairy (Idle in a drag) grants Anchovy's wish of wanting to be famous. He is the host of the TV show Blackmail! (with a self-explanatory title).
37. The Battle of Pearl Harbor: A group of Python men in a drag led by Idle hit each other with their purses, "re-enacting" Pearl Harbor.
38. Romantic Interlude: A husband (Jones) and wife (Cleveland) are making love and images are seen, but the husband is showing films.
39. Upper Class Twit of the Year: Twits go through obstacles to get the title, Upper Class Twit of the Year.
40. Animation-End Titles: The medium amount of end titles are done in Gilliam animations, including a man bouncing on a fat woman and a pig landing on a man.

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DVD Releases

The film originally was on DVD in Region 1 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; however, in 2005, it has been repacked in a new collector's pack called And Now For Something Completely Hilarious! which features the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in Region 1 format from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

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