Wit

John Cleese’s Early Days on ‘I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again’

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When John Cleese looks back on his life in the first volume of his memoir, So, Anyway…, he doesn’t say that the happiest time in his life was starring in an immensely popular sit-com with his then-wife. It’s not working on Monty Python’s Flying Circus, or being in a Bond film, or performing comedy on the road in New Zealand or any of that. It was teaching for two years, before going to Cambridge. In a talk with fellow Python Eric Idle he explains that the reason for that is because “it was so wonderfully unstressful.” This would change rather quickly once Cleese went to university where he would become involved with Cambridge’s comedy revue group, where he would meet Graham Chapman. His final show with the group would then go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which would then lead to a run at the West End under the name Cambridge Circus, which would then lead to a radio show, then a TV show [ . . . ]

Source: John Cleese’s Early Days on ‘I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again’ – Splitsider

The Beatles, “You Know My Name” from ‘Past Masters’ (1970): Deep Beatles

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Since I began writing “Deep Beatles,” readers have challenged me to write about “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” one of the strangest tracks in the Beatles catalog. Never one to back down from a dare, I gladly accept the challenge! While the song can be dismissed as a throwaway or novelty, its roots can be traced back to music hall as well as the flourishing 1960s British comedy landscape. In addition, it was almost released not as a Beatles single, but as a Plastic Ono Band track.The majority of “You Know My Name” was recorded just after the Sgt. Pepper sessions. The Beatles were in a highly experimental mood musically and technically, with the recording studio becoming their artistic playground. According to Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now, John Lennon arrived at the recording studio chanting a kind of mantra: “You know my name, look up the number.” Paul McCartney told Miles that he thought the statement may have been aimed at Yoko Ono, but Lennon never verified that. “He brought it in originally as a 15-minute chant when he was in space-cadet mode,” McCartney remembered, “and we said, ‘Well, what are we going to do with this then?’ and he said, ‘It’s just like a mantra.’ So we said, ‘Okay, let’s just do it.’”

https://vimeo.com/223977258

In his 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon agreed that the song was meant to be humorous, but did not suggest an Ono connection. “That was a piece of unfinished music that I turned into a comedy record with Paul. I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with the words, ‘You know the name, look up the number.’ It was like a logo, and I just changed it. It was going to be a Four Tops kind of song – the chord changes are like that – but it never developed and we made a joke out of it.” [ . . . ]

Read Full Story: The Beatles, “You Know My Name” from ‘Past Masters’ (1970): Deep Beatles

 

The Full Monty at 20: how a ‘straight-to-video’ Sheffield stripping film became a global hit

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Twenty years ago, a film about a group of unemployed Sheffield steel workers became an international pop culture phenomenon.

The Full Monty took off at cinemas around the world, garnered critical acclaim, and was a dark horse come red carpet season.But it very nearly didn’t end up that way.“It was a tough shoot,” recalled lead actor Robert Carlyle, speaking earlier this year. “When Fox Searchlight saw the first cut they went: ‘straight-to-video’.”

According to Carlyle, after producer Uberto Pasolini begged for the film to be given a chance, a new editor was brought in to cut the final version.It was a good thing Fox gave it another shot.The Full Monty went on to make more than $250 million at the global box office and was nominated for four Oscars. It was one of the ten highest-grossing films of 1997 [ . . .  ] More: The Full Monty at 20: how a ‘straight-to-video’ Sheffield stripping film became a global hit