The Brand New Monty Python Bok
The Brand New Monty Python Bok was the second book to be published by the British comedy troupe Monty Python.[1] Edited by Eric Idle, it was published by Methuen Books in 1973 and contained more print-style comic pieces than their first effort, Monty Python's Big Red Book.
The white dust jacket was printed with some realistic looking smudged fingerprints on the front, leading to several complaints and returned copies from booksellers. These complaints paled in comparison to the fuss created about the cover printed on the actual book. The title of the fake cover was Tits 'n Bums, appearing as a pornographic magazine with a background photo of several intertwined naked women, but purporting to be a church magazine with articles such as "Are you still a verger?", and a 'weekly look at church architecture'.[2] As Michael Palin remembered: "Our publisher Geoffrey Strachan told the story of an elderly lady bookseller from Newbury who refused to believe the fingerprints were put there deliberately. 'In that case I shall sell the books without their jackets', she said and slammed the phone down so quickly that Geoffrey was unable to warn her that beneath each dust-cover was a mock soft-core magazine".[3]
The book contained an amalgamation of print-style pieces and material derived from Flying Circus sketches. Examples of the former include an interconnected series of jokes based on figures of speech and an advertisement for the fictional Welsh martial art of Llap Goch, which claims to be able to teach students how to grow taller, stronger, faster, and more deadly in a matter of days. Examples of the latter include Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" and the Travel Agent sketch, a collection of stereotypes about annoying tourists and the perils of inter-country air travel.
In 1974 a paperback edition was issued as The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok, containing the same contents minus the Tits 'n Bums book cover. In 1981 both this book and Monty Python's Big Red Book were reissued as a hardback book entitled The Complete Works Of Shakespeare And Monty Python: Volume One - Monty Python. Paperback editions of both these books were reissued again in 1986 as The Monty Python Gift Boks, sold together inside an outer cover which folded out into a mini poster.
Contents
Covers
- Tits 'n Bums: A Weekly Look at Church Architecture (Front cover, under dust jacket)
- What People Have Said About The Brand New Monty Python Bok / What Other People Have Said About The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Inside front flap)
- The Author's Friend by Michael Palin, Age 8 (Inside back flap)
Inside
- Ferdean School Library Check-out History
- Safety Instructions
- The Old Story Teller
- Biggles
- Page 6: Film Rights Still Available
- Llap-Goch Advertisement
- Edward Woodward's Fish Page
- The Python Book of Etiquette
- Famous First Drafts
- Advertisements / My Garden Poem
- A Puzzle
- The Bigot Newsletter
- The London Casebook of Detective René Descartes
- Wallpapers
- 16 Magazine
- Summer Madness
- Masturbation: The Difficult One
- Coming Soon: Page 71!
- Python Panel
- The Adventures of Walter the Wallabee
- Mr. April (I've Got Two Legs)
- Competition Time
- World Record Attempt
- World Record Results / Invitations
- The Oxford Simplified Dictionary
- Drawing Hands
- Film Review: Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days"
- Rat Recipes
- Rat Menu
- Overland to the World
- This Page is in Colour
- Contents
- African Notebook: "A Lucky Escape"
- How To...
- Only 15 Pages to Page 71
- Norman Henderson's Diary (Insert)
- Sex-Craft (Insert)
- How to Take Your Appendix Out on the Piccadilly Line
- Join the Dots
- Directory
- The British Apathy League
- Let's Talk About Bottoms
- Advertisements / Hobbies
- Page 71
- Reviews of Page 71
- Through the Looking Glass
- The Hackenthorpe Book of Lies
- Fairy Tale
- Ferndean School Report
- The Stratton Indicator
- Play Cheese Shop
- The Official Medallic Commemoration of the History of Mankind
- Anagrams
- Your Stars
- Hamsters: A Warning
- Teach Yourself Surgery
Credits
- Authors - Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
- Additional material - Connie Booth
- Illustrator - Terry Gilliam
- Additional illustration - Peter Brookes
- Editor - Eric Idle
- Design/Graphics - Kate Hepburn, Lucinda Cowell
- Photography - Roger Perry, Roger Last, Reinholdt Binder
- Additional photography - Camera Press, Hulton Picture Library, Barnaby Picture Library, The Mansell Collection, Graphic House Inc.
References
- v
- t
- e
- Another Record
- Previous Record
- Matching Tie and Handkerchief
- Holy Grail
- Life of Brian
- Contractual Obligation
- The Meaning of Life
- Flying Circus
- Live at Drury Lane
- Live at City Center
- The Pythons
- Life of Python
- Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut)
- And Now for Something Rather Similar
- The Meaning of Live
- Spamalot
- Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)
- An Evening Without Monty Python
- Live (Mostly)
- Big Red Book
- Brand New Bok
- Holy Grail (Book)
- Life of Brian/SCRAPBOOK
- The Meaning of Life
- Just the Words
- Song Book
- A Pocketful of Python
- The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons
- Live!
- Flying Circus
- Complete Waste of Time
- Quest for the Holy Grail
- The Meaning of Life
- Cow Tossing
- The Ministry of Silly Walks
- Mr Praline
- The Colonel
- Mr Creosote
- Rabbit of Caerbannog
- Other characters
- Albatross!
- Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses
- Architects
- Argument Clinic
- Bruces
- Cheese Shop
- Colin "Bomber" Harris vs Colin "Bomber" Harris
- Crunchy Frog
- Dead Parrot
- Dirty Fork
- Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook
- Election Night Special
- Fish Licence
- Fish-Slapping Dance
- Four Yorkshiremen
- The Funniest Joke in the World
- How Not to Be Seen
- Kilimanjaro Expedition
- Lifeboat
- Marriage Guidance Counsellor
- Ministry of Silly Walks
- Mouse Problem
- Nudge Nudge
- Patient Abuse
- Philosophers' Football Match
- Piranha Brothers
- Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days"
- Seduced Milkmen
- Spam
- Spanish Inquisition
- Undertakers
- Upper Class Twit of the Year
- Vocational Guidance Counsellor
- World Forum/Communist Quiz
- "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
- "Brian Song"
- "Bruces' Philosophers Song"
- "Decomposing Composers"
- "Eric the Half-a-Bee"
- "Every Sperm Is Sacred"
- "Finland"
- "Galaxy Song"
- "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio"
- "I Like Chinese"
- "I've Got Two Legs"
- "The Lumberjack Song"
- "Medical Love Song"
- "Oliver Cromwell"
- "Sit on My Face"
- List of Monty Python projects
- The Foot of Cupid
- Cambridge Circus
- I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
- The Frost Report
- At Last the 1948 Show
- Twice a Fortnight
- Do Not Adjust Your Set
- We Have Ways of Making You Laugh
- Broaden Your Mind
- How to Irritate People
- The Complete and Utter History of Britain
- The Fred Tomlinson Singers
- Teach Yourself Heath
- Python (Monty) Pictures
- Tiny Black Round Thing
- Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls
- Rutland Weekend Television
- Fawlty Towers
- Ripping Yarns
- Out of the Trees
- A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
- Monty Python v. ABC
- Python On Song
- All You Need Is Cash
- The Secret Policeman's Ball
- A Liar's Autobiography: Volume VI
- The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album
- The Wind in the Willows
- Monty Python Live
- Concert for George
- Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years
- The Seventh Python
- Holy Flying Circus
- A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman
- Absolutely Anything