2) Graham Chapman’s funeral
Much missed during the subsequent appearances the shadow of Graham Chapman will forever be cast over the Python’s work and there is a tangible loss in their subsequent collaborations. Chapman’s high intelligence and downright silliness made for a potent combination and it is in his own work, A Liar’s Autobiography (loosely made into a film last year), in which the many facets of his comedic nature become apparent.
He led the search for the Holy Grail as Arthur, he was Brian, whose life we enjoy over and over, a sketch-stopping Colonel, he was Larry Saltzberg – the angriest Producer in Hollywood and a man of many more faces. When he died at the age of 48 Monty Python was no more and everyone knew it. The on-stage reunion announced today will have to address his absence and honour him in a typically loving and contemptuous fashion, just as they did in 1989.
If you’ve never seen this clip of John Cleese at Chapman’s funeral remember that this is a man who worked with Chapman for many years, and whose love for him and understanding of him comes through in every carefully delivered word.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHk9WC7fnQ
