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Terry Jones has died

Started by Tony Yeboah, January 22, 2020, 12:48:04 PM

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PinkNoise

This news has rather taken the shine off the enormous Python Blu-Ray box set that's sitting in my front room. Ah, fuck it - no it hasn't - it's just a  shame that Terry J wasn't able to appreciate the work that went into it. He was the Python archivist, he kept everything... If the BBC had wiped the tapes, only Terry's sneakily-dubbed off copies would exist today. I'm going to go through the whole lot again and really savour it.

I went to a few dates at the BFI Python 50th anniversary season last September and it's already feeling like its was a wake rather than a celebration. Only Gilliam turned up as Cleese couldn't appear for tax reasons, Palin was having heart surgery and Jones wasn't in any fit state. Dunno what Idle's excuse was. Nancy Lewis introduced And Now For Something Completely Different - she died before Christmas. Neil Innes introduced The Rutles - he died right after Christmas.

The last one I went to was the "Oddities & Rarities" on a Monday night. We got to hear Palin talking through footage of the Pythons filming Dennis Moore in Jersey in 1971, then it ended, the lights came up and we all shuffled out of the theatre in silence.

idunnosomename

Terry Jones is the best Python

Probably because he wrote books on Chaucer rather than shitting on his career by doing loads of terrible films in the 90s

bgmnts

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 22, 2020, 07:22:48 PM
Terry Jones is the best Python

Probably because he wrote books on Chaucer rather than shitting on his career by doing loads of terrible films in the 90s

Wind in the Willows? Although even that has a lovely little charming quality about it. There's a lovely little moment when he plays Toad getting excited by bubble and squeak that I adore.

idunnosomename

I thought of that and while it's not the best film and I dont think it works visually, Terry Jones is still very much Toad to me. Even if toad is a cunt and he wasn't.

Dewt

I loved the Python Wind in the Willows.

Brundle-Fly

"What do you mean?"

Loved him. Terry Jones R.I.P.

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: Shaky on January 22, 2020, 02:07:35 PMHopefully Cleese breaks out some even ruder words at this Python's funeral.

He posted a very nice tweet today, then ended it with "Two down, four to go" which made me smile.

Aw, Terry was great. And poor Mike.

PinkNoise

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on January 22, 2020, 07:40:26 PM
"What do you mean?"

This made me laugh a lot. Loved the fact that he could go from that sort of haughtiness to a screeching pepperpot.

QuoteOr Lobster Thermidor au Crevette with a Mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam.


Revelator

The heart of Python--he was the guy who stayed late in the editing room making sure Flying Circus held together, and later he was the man behind the camera on the films. As a performer he was the earthiest and most Rabelaisian of the group while off-stage he was the most scholarly. His solo career was the least flashy of the Pythons but had the largest number of substantial achievements.

During the Python reunion shows in 2014 his timing was slightly off and he was reliant on cue cards (which contributed to one of the funniest moments of the show, when Cleese began reading from them during the Whizzo chocolate sketch). In retrospect these were early signs of his encroaching dementia, one of the cruelest varieties imaginable. I can only imagine what eclectic projects he'd have bestowed on the world if he'd spent his last years in good mental health.

Palin will be on Front Row tonight to memorialize Terry: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dgz0

kalowski

He was The Bishop! Just magic.
RIP

Revelator

#40

buttgammon

As someone who grew up watching Python (and I'm sure most of us did), it's hard to really put Terry Jones's importance into words without being hit by a flood of images and memories. That's the best gift he could have given the world, that fountain of seemingly neverending humour. As others have said, he was the beating heart of the group and as I grew older and started to appreciate different things about Monty Python, he became my favourite.

idunnosomename

Reminded by Paul Rose (Mr Biffo) on Twitter that he was in his Comedy Lab episode of his comic strip Knife and Wife. He played Knife, who is a giant psychotic chicken.

It wasn't brilliant, but it wasn't bad either, such was the point of Comedy Lab. But what a testament that he agreed to do it, he can't have been paid much.

Gurke and Hare


All Surrogate


bgmnts

Year I started welling up at "dear Terry", obviously great mates. Imagine having a mate for around 55 years.

tookish

Dementia is such a cruel illness. I think I've mentioned here a couple of times that my late grandmother had dementia, and although I always steer clear of thinking of people suffering from dementia as 'already gone', it is one of the few illnesses where I think there is a real sense of relief that the suffering is at an end - it's terrible to witness somebody experiencing the mental effects of it, the memory loss and the misery and aggression that can go with it. I hope those who knew him and loved him, and those who loved his work, can take comfort in the fact that he left a stunning legacy behind him.

idunnosomename

as mentioned in at least the BBC bulletins i heard, this was a rather unusual type of dementia, that attacks the frontal lobes of the brain that make up your personality rather than Alzheimer's that affects short-term memory.

I mean just have a look at this I guess
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/frontotemporal-dementia/

edit sorry I dont mean to diminish your grandmother's condition of course. all dementia is horrible

pigamus

Quote from: All Surrogate on January 22, 2020, 09:21:01 PM
Oh, jeez, I'm crying.  I can't say any more.

Me too. It's as if it hits him right at that moment, isn't it? God bless the pair of them.

Dewt

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 22, 2020, 09:09:36 PM
Reminded by Paul Rose (Mr Biffo) on Twitter that he was in his Comedy Lab episode of his comic strip Knife and Wife. He played Knife, who is a giant psychotic chicken.

It wasn't brilliant, but it wasn't bad either, such was the point of Comedy Lab. But what a testament that he agreed to do it, he can't have been paid much.
I remember Biffo's diaries of working on it at the time, Biffo was rightly chuffed to have him as the voice. And of course the voice was the best part of it (not that it was terrible). Produced by Robert Popper, BTW. I have a copy if anybody wants to see it.


idunnosomename

Quote from: Dewt on January 22, 2020, 09:52:49 PM
I remember Biffo's diaries of working on it at the time, Biffo was rightly chuffed to have him as the voice. And of course the voice was the best part of it (not that it was terrible). Produced by Robert Popper, BTW. I have a copy if anybody wants to see it.
it really isn't bad at all but it didn't quite land, I think everyone agrees. but then channel 4 used to take chances like that.

Jones really did elevate it though


Dewt

Quote from: idunnosomename on January 22, 2020, 10:03:27 PM
it really isn't bad at all but it didn't quite land, I think everyone agrees. but then channel 4 used to take chances like that.
It was fine for a pilot of a serviceable adult comedy, but really bad as a continuation of Knife & Wife because they didn't keep him being a big sadistic pervert.

kalowski

Quote from: Revelator on January 22, 2020, 08:32:54 PM
More comments on Terry from Palin and Cleese: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51209872

And make sure to watch this lovely clip:
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-51215814/terry-jones-michael-palin-pays-tribute-to-monty-python-star
Christ, that's powerful.
Palin and Jones were towering beasts to me. Utter genius comedians. To see Palin crack like that is hard.

idunnosomename

#55
yeah true it was nowhere near as nasty as the bubblegun strips. still though. Terry Jones!!!

edit: of course he also got Kevin Eldon and Paul Putner who were great coups in themselves. but Terry Jones!!!!!!

Mr_Simnock

Watching Palin nearly break down, almost got to me that did, very rare these days to see a genuine emotive response to losing someone in an interview like that.

RIP


Twit 2

Really sad about this. I've been watching Python since I was about 8, really shaped whatever comedic sensibility I have. Feels like a grim world without people like him in it. What have we got now? Just sick and dead koalas. Bah.


Nowhere Man

Add me to the list of people that got teary eyed seeing Palin like that.

God, one day, probably not as far into the future as we'd like, they're all gonna be gone. The comedic equivalent of The Beatles. But their legacy will grow and grow forever more.