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The Guardian (London)
January 28, 1994
THE GUARDIAN WEEKEND PAGE; Pg. 36
THEY SNIPPED THAT BIT OUT: A SNAKE IN THE GRASS
JOHN HIND
THE Meaning Of Life (1983) is seen as the Monty Python team's last
collaboration. John Cleese called the film "a dog's breakfast", and one
whole sketch had to be cut.
The deletion occurred after Graham Chapman's Mr Blackitt decried Catholics
who "never made the great leap out of the Middle Ages". The unseen scenes
explored Protestantism, headed by The Adventures Of Martin Luther. Played by
Terry Jones in his Dirty Vicar character, Luther tried to gain entry to a
Jewish home, with excuses such as, "Where's the John?" and "How's about
showing me the cutlery?". "Listen," he says, "cutlery is really my thing
now. Girls with round breasts is over for me." The scene nearly carried a
safety warning comprising Terry Gilliam animations of Protestants inventing
condoms.
But The Meaning Of Life was not the team's final collaboration. In 1989,
comedian Steve Martin hosted a 20th anniversary special. A shot of the
ex-Pythons stuffed in a cupboard, circa 1989, was broadcast. But an all-new
sketch, filmed that year, has never appeared. In it, the Pythons, dressed as
school kids, learned about humour and life from Steve Martin. Each Python
thought the script had been written and approved by one of them; instead,
they found themselves performing Martin's material. So they did it, then
said, "Snip it".
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