（由本blog作者terryoy翻译，转载请注明）

The Full Monty

巨蟒六壮士

Monty Python gathers to discuss its history – The five surviving members

of the British comedy troupe come together to talk about the highs and lows of their collaboration.

Monty Python聚首谈论他们的历史——著名英国喜剧团的五个在世成员重聚到一齐，讲述着他们过去合作生涯的人生起落。

url: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1039069,00.html By Chris Nashawaty Chris Nashawaty Chris Nashawaty is a senior writer for EW, and author of EW.com’s DVD Insomniac columnChris

Nashawaty是EW(Entertainment Weekly)的高级撰稿人，同时是EW.com的“DVD失眠者”专栏的创办人。

On the night of Oct. 5, 1969 a strange sketch-comedy show called Monty Python’s Flying Circus debuted on the BBC. Perhaps strange is the wrong word. After all, the show opens with a shot of an old man with scraggly hair, a mangy beard, and tattered clothing walking out of the ocean. Was he a castaway? A comedian? Did he have anything to do with a circus whatsoever? As he staggered onto the beach and collapsed on the sand, he managed to mutter one strained word. . . ‘’ It’s. . .’’

在1969年10月5日的晚上，一部稀奇的以短剧为特色的名为“蒙蒂派森飞行马戏团”的电视节目在BBC首映。大概“稀奇”还不足以形容它。毕竟，该片是以这样特殊的方式作为开始：镜头对着一个开阔的海滩，一个蓬头垢面，衣衫褴褛的老人蹒跚着从海里面走出来。他是一个漂流者？一个喜剧演员？他到底和“马戏团”能有什么关系呢？等他有气无力地走到海滩上时，趴倒在沙滩上，然后喘了一大口气才说出一个词：“It’s…（这是…）”

Then, a voice-over announced, ‘’ Monty Python’s Flying Circus.’’ Absurd title animation unspooled. The rousing marching-band overture of ‘‘The Liberty Bell’’ kicked in.

然后，一把播音员的声音宣布：“Monty Python’s Flying Circus。(蒙蒂派森飞行马戏团。)”随后便是一大堆荒谬的动画跃上屏幕，伴随的是“自由钟进行曲(The Liberty Bell March)”的背景音乐。

For the next 30 minutes, Monty Python rained a machine-gun fusillade of skits about Mozart, Genghis Khan, and men in Viking helmets with only the slightest of strings connecting them all. There was almost no laughter from the live audience. In fact, they had no clue what the hell they were witnessing. Monty Python was made up of five Cambridge and Oxford grads (John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Eric Idle) and one American (Minneapolis-born animator Terry Gilliam). And they knew more about television than they let on. They’d all been writers and performers on shows like David Frost’s The Frost Report and the kiddie program Do Not Adjust Your Set. Still, it wasn’t until the Pythons banded together during their four seasons on the BBC that they were able to desconstruct and reassemble TV comedy on their own terms, revolutionizing the medium — and comedy — forever.

接下来的三十分钟内，Monty Python连珠炮般送出了一系列包含有莫扎特，成吉思汗还有戴着维京人头盔的怪人的短剧，只用一种很松散的方式把它们连在一起。现场观看的观众几乎没发出一点笑声。实际上，他们当时完全被搞懵了，一点都不明白眼前所见的到底是什么东西。Monty Python是由五位牛津剑桥的高材生（John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, 和Eric Idle）和一位美国人（来自明尼阿波利斯的动画家Terry Gilliam）。他们出人意料般了解电视节目。他们都曾作为创作者和表演者参与过BBC的节目制作，如David Frost的《The Frost Report（“Frost”报道）》，儿童节目《Do Not Adjust Your Set（请勿调台！）》。然而，直到BBC让这几位Python成员们组合到一起制作出四季经典的节目，他们才有机会以他们自己的方式把电视喜剧解构和重组，创造出电视媒体——乃至现代喜剧的伟大改革——影响深远。

Now, after three decades of nearly messianic devotion on both sides of the Atlantic, the Pythons are storming Broadway (though not in person) with Idle’s musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot , inspired by the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Here, the five remaining troupe members (Chapman died from a cancer-related stroke in 1989) relate the Python story in their own words.

如今，在经过了大西洋两岸几近弥赛亚式崇拜的三十年之后，Python们再一次凭借着Eric Idle的音乐剧《Monty Python’s Spamalot（蒙蒂派森火腿骑士，改编自他们1975年的电影《Monty Python and the Holy Grail(巨蟒骑士与圣杯)》）》来到百老汇的舞台带来一场轰动。在这里，五位幸存的成员（Chapman由于咽喉癌死于1989年）用他们自己的声音讲述他们当年的故事。

Eric Idle John Cleese was already a star in England. And the BBC wanted him to do a show because he was on The Frost Report. John should by all accounts have done The John Cleese Show.

Eric Idle ： John Cleese 那时在英国早已是一位明星了。当他还在 The Frost Report 的时候， BBC 就想让他自己做一套节目。那时大家都说他当初应该做的是 The John Cleese Show( “ John Cleese 秀” ) 而不是 The Frost Report 。

Terry Jones When we went in to the BBC, all the executives asked, ‘‘Well, what’s the show going to be about?’’ Well, we don’t know. ‘‘Well, who’s it going to be aimed at?’’ Well, we don’t really know. ‘‘Is it going to have music in it?’’ Well, we don’t really know. ‘‘Well, what’s it going to be called?’’ Well, we don’t really know. And then they said, ‘‘Okay, we can only let you have 13 shows.’’

Terry Jones ：当我们走进 BBC 会议室时，那些高层问我们：“好吧，这部节目是关于什么的？”我们回答说：“呃……我们也不知道。” **
**“那这套节目要面向什么观众？” **
**“呃……我们真的不知道。” **
**“那是不是会有音乐在里面呢？” **
**“呃……我们真的不知道。” **
**“那你们叫这个节目什么名字？” **
**“呃……我们真的不知道。” **
**然后他们说，“好吧，那我们只能让你们做 13 集了。”

Michael Palin It was on at 11 at night. In Britain, everyone’s gone to bed by nine. Insomniacs and burglars are the only people up at that time. But because no one was watching us, we could break rules. We didn’t have to have beginnings of sketches, or middles, or ends. We could run the titles upside down if we wanted to.

Michael Palin：当时我们的节目是在晚上11点播。在英国，所有人都是九点钟就睡觉了。只有失眠者和乞丐会在那个时候仍然醒着。不过正好因为没人会看我们，所以我们可以随心所欲地打破常规。我们可以没有短剧的开头，或者中间，甚至结尾。我们可以将所有东西倒过来做，只要我们想要。

John Cleese I remember saying to Michael just before we went out to record that first show, ‘‘We could be the first comedy team in history to record a program to complete silence.’’

John Cleese：我还记得当初正要出去拍第一集的时候，我对Michael说：“我们可能是历史上第一个要为完全沉默的观众拍摄节目的喜剧团体了。”

Palin My memories of the first show are borne out by the soundtrack. There are very few laughs. A lot of people’s jaws are dropping. What is going on here? Sheep falling from trees?!

Palin ：我对第一集的记忆都在那个现场录音的音轨上了。当时真的很少笑声。很多人都是惊讶得张大嘴巴。“这是发生什么事？从树上掉下来的绵羊？？”

The Pythons wrote their sketches in teams. Chapman and Cleese, friends since Cambridge, wrote together. Palin and Jones, who’d met doing plays and revues at Oxford, were another team. Idle and Gilliam worked on their own. Every few days, they’d meet back up at Jones’ house to review skit ideas — skits that often featured middle-class British housewives whom they enjoyed playing themselves. A bit too much, perhaps.

Python成员们通常会以小组的形式写作。Chapman和Cleese是自剑桥大学就一起写作的老朋友。Palin和Jones在牛津大学的时候曾一齐表演话剧，形成了另一个小组。Idle和Gilliam则会各自独立创作。每隔几天，他们就会回到Jones家里回顾他们的短剧构思——这些构思经常以他们喜欢自己扮演的中产阶级家庭主妇为特色。或者是，真的太多了一点。

Palin Eric was good at songs and music and very adept at wordplay — people who could talk only in anagrams and things like that. John and Graham wrote more of the violent stuff — that sort of scream-and-shout stuff. Terry and I were more on the whimsical side. We were slightly interested in more surreal situations — going on location and shooting on film. Like the sketch with the hermits who live together.

Palin ： Eric 擅长于写歌和 WordPlay （文字游戏）——比如那个喜欢把单词倒过来说的人诸如此类的。 John 和 Graham 则会写一些稍激烈的题材——那些大叫大喊的东西。 Terry 和我则会随意一些。我们都有点喜欢处于超现实的位置——去到什么地方决定拍什么东西。比如像那个在郊外群居的隐居者的短剧。

Cleese Mike and Terry used to write pieces that always started with a long panning shot of the countryside with a voice-over.

Cleese：Mike和Terry以前写的短剧总是喜欢以一个郊外乡村的长焦镜头配上播音员解说的开头。

Idle Comedy writers are usually in pairs so they can bounce ideas off each other. But I don’t like talking in the mornings.

Idle：喜剧作家通常会结对写作，这样他们而已就对方的点子相互交流激发灵感。可是我就不喜欢在早晨讲那么多东西。

Terry Gilliam Everyone else in the group had to submit their material to the group. I didn’t have to. I just turned up on the day with a can of film. With me being an American, it allowed them to feel superior to somebody. That was my role.

Terry Gilliam：组里面的每个人都必须向其他成员提交出他们写出来的材料，唯独我不需要。我只需要在那天带着一套录影带出现就行了。我作为唯一的一个美国人身份，可以让他们有一种优于别人的感觉，那才是我的角色。

Idle It’s always competitive. You’re trying to make the others laugh. And if you have a writing partner, it’s a lot easier obviously. There were violent arguments about what’s funny and not funny. People take comedy very seriously. You couldn’t argue that something was funny. If you didn’t make the others laugh, it was out.

Idle：这个过程是很有竞争性的。你必须要尝试令其他人笑。而如果你有一个写作伙伴的话，就会容易得多。关于什么是好笑的什么是不好笑的有过很多争论，人们对喜剧都要求极高。你很难辩论出什么样的东西才是好笑的。但如果你没能引起其他人笑，那就是失败的。

Jones We did try to get women to play some of the parts, but it didn’t seem quite as outrageous.

Jones：我们的确曾尝试过让女演员去演其中一些部分，但看起来就是没那么疯狂。

Palin Terry looked like his mother in drag. And she was a lovely lady. John looked pretty terrifying in drag. A night of passion with that would probably leave you pretty traumatized.

Palin：Terry穿起女装的时候就像她妈妈一样，当然那是一位很可爱的女士。John穿起女装的时候看起来很吓人。如果跟那样一个人温存一晚的话恐怕要受到严重的精神创伤。

After a few episodes, a small but enthusiastic Python fan base started to develop. It’s safe to say that BBC brass were not among that fan base. Still, the group had no delusions of crossing over to America.

播出了几集之后，一个规模小但是很狂热的爱好者基础群体建立起来了。可以确切地说， BBC 高层们并不在那群人里面。而且，这个团体对大洋彼岸的美国还没有任何的憧憬。

Gilliam After the fourth show, the BBC pulled it off of the air. They were totally confused by it.

Gilliam：从第四集开始，BBC就将该节目拉下来。 他们已经被这个节目搞懵了。

Palin Every now and then they would cut the program and run The Horse of the Year Show. But it meant that we could plod away unnoticed, plotting more outrageous things. After about two or three shows, it was clear there was a cult. There were people who liked it because so many other people didn’t.

Palin：他们常常会中止我们的节目而改播《The Horse of the Year Show（年度赛马）》。不过那正意味着我们可以不引人注意地变换，增加更多疯狂荒谬的东西。而经过了两三集之后，有一种崇拜（Cult）已经明确地出现了。有一些人喜欢它的原因正是许多其他人不喜欢它。

Idle We really annoyed a vast quantity of middle-class England. Now we’re all lovable, in the mists of history, and nonthreatening old farts.

Idle：我们当时真的被英国到处都是的中产阶级惹烦了。而我们则是一帮在历史的迷雾里，没有威胁地放着屁的可爱的家伙。

Jones The show nearly got wiped [erased]. The BBC had a policy in those days to wipe shows after a while. And we got a tip-off from our video editor that they were about to wipe the Python shows. And we snuck in and actually stole the tapes and dubbed them.

Jones：我们的节目几乎要被清洗掉。那时候BBC有一项政策定期会把一些节目清理掉。幸好我们从我们的视频剪辑师口中提前得知他们准备清掉我们的Python节目，于是我们就偷偷走进去把我们的录像带拿出来配音。

Gilliam I remember when we did the first film, [1971’s] And Now for Something Completely Different , which was our attempt at breaking into the States, we had a big fight with Columbia Pictures because the film ends with the sketch ‘‘The Upper-Class Twit of the Year,’’ and they didn’t understand it.

Gilliam: 我记得我们做第一部电影的时候, [1971年的]《And Now for Something Completely Different(以下是一套完全不同的节目)》, 这是我们进入美国市场的第一次尝试，我们与哥伦比亚影业公司有一段很激烈的争吵。因为电影结尾有一段叫“上层阶级年度笨蛋” 短剧, 而他们完全不能理解其中的含义。 **

**Palin** We hoped and we prayed, but had very little real hope that it would work in the States. When it began to take off [after PBS began airing the BBC shows in 1974], it was extremely exciting. What amazed me was that it played in America with all the English terms about cricket and vicars. But that seemed to work in its favor. People liked it because it was English.

Palin: 我们希望而且祈祷，但是我们真不敢抱太大期望它能在美国收到相应的效果。但当它真正开播的时候[在1974年PBS开始播放BBC的节目之后]，结果让人相当振奋。让我感到惊喜的是，我们所用到的所有英国英语关于板球和牧师的术语似乎刚好符合他们的口味。大家喜欢它正因为它是“英语”的。

Idle It was always axiomatic in Python that the show would never be understood in America because we were snobs. . .and wrong! One of its big appeals is Terry Gilliam being American. He introduced those two American popular elements — tits and violence.

Idle: 在我们Python当中有一种共识就是，我们的节目在美国不可能被理解的，因为我们都是外行人，我们所想在他们那里是错的！幸好有唯一一个最大的吸引力，就是Terry Gilliam是美国人。他把美国最流行的元素引入了进来——暴力，和女人的胸部。

Building on their American success, Python decided to send up the Knights of the Round Table with 1975’s _ Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ . But during their Hollywood heyday, the Pythons were slowly unraveling due to Chapman’s drinking and Cleese’s decision to leave the show.

建立在他们在美国的成功之上，Python们决定以1975的这部《蒙蒂派森与圣杯》的电影戏说英国历史上的圆桌骑士传奇。但正当他们在美国影坛的鼎盛时期，Python们却由于Chapman的酗酒和Cleese离开团体的决定渐渐地产生了解散的意思。

Gilliam Directing The Holy Grail [with Jones] was my lucky break. All I ever wanted to do was make movies. Terry Jones and I literally learned on the job. On day one, we were up in the highlands in Scotland at this great precipice shooting ‘‘The Bridge of Death’’ and the camera sheared its gears on the first shot.

Gilliam: （与Jones一起）执导《圣杯》是我幸运的突破。我一直以来最想做的就是拍电影。当时只有我和Terry Jones真正学过导演。在开镜第一天，我们就在苏格兰高地上的一个悬崖边拍“死亡之桥”的场景，我们的摄影机正式拍摄第一个镜头。

Jones It was a nightmare. We had such a small budget — 150,000 or 200,000 pounds — and everything went wrong. Our leading man, Graham Chapman, was having DTs because he was taking himself off the alcohol. He was going cold turkey.

Jones: 那是一场噩梦。我们只有很小的预算——150000到200000英镑——而且所有东西都乱套了。我们的主角，Graham Chapman，由于正处于戒酒瘾的过程中有点精神错乱（DTs, [医] 震颤性谵妄）。 **

Cleese Graham was a tremendously good actor who basically ruined his ability with the booze. When you look at some of his performances in the first series before he really started to drink, they’re superb. But once he started to drink, he couldn’t remember the words. We were not very good about confronting people.

Cleese: Graham是一位极其优秀的演员，可惜因为酗酒而毁掉自己的能力。如果你看回他在第一季时的表演，那是一流的，那时他还没有真正开始酗酒。但一旦他开始酗酒，他就经常会忘记台词。我们那时还不是十分擅长于向他表达不满。

Palin I always thought there was a good physical thing — there were two tall Pythons and three medium-sized Pythons, and then there was Terry Gilliam, who’s positively stunted. There was something about the height thing in Graham that he used very well. He looked like the Thoughtful Man puffing the pipe and all of that, and then he’d completely let rip, like in the ‘‘Argument’’ sketch. There were things he could do that none of the others could do as well. Life of Brian is a terrific performance: ‘‘I’m not the messiah!’’

Palin: 我以前总是想到我们有一个很好的身高搭配——有两个高个子和三个中等身材，然后是Terry Gilliam刚好是矮小的。在有些情形Graham的身高优势用得恰到好处。他看起来就像那个一边抽着烟斗的思考状的人物，然后又有像在“争论(Argument)”短剧里面那个咧开嘴大喊大叫的形象。他可以做一些其他成员都做不到的东西。《布莱恩一生》里面有个很精彩的片段：“我不是救世主！(I’m NOT the messiah!)”

Jones After The Holy Grail , John Cleese didn’t really want to do it anymore. So we decided to do one series [season 4] without John. It was a bit odd.

Jones: 在我们拍摄《圣杯》之后，John Cleese并不想再做下去了。所以我们决定做一季没有John的（第四季）。结果出来有点怪异。

Cleese I felt we were repeating ourselves. And also I was writing with the alcoholic, and no one else wanted to.

Cleese: 我觉得我们当时有点重复自己了。而且另一个原因是我要与一个酗酒者一起写作，没有人会希望这样。

Idle John had been doing sketch comedy for far longer than any of us. And he was through with playing with that form — and bored with it. The others of us were just getting our stride.

Idle: John做喜剧的时间比我们任何一个都长。他已经完全精通了如何玩那种形式——而且也厌倦了。而我们其他人则仍然处在各自的进步状态中。

Palin John felt a little claustrophobic. He and Graham had written some wonderful sketches, but they were not writing such good stuff by the third series. It was just the desire to go off and try something with other people, like Fawlty Towers. That’s when I felt rather lost. And I felt, we’re never going to get anything as good again. Some of us got quite angry.

Palin: John感到一点幽闭恐惧症。他和Graham曾写出过不少绝妙的短剧，但他们到第三集的时候已经写不出这么优秀的东西了。于是产生了离开并尝试一下与其他人合作写东西的意愿，像《弗尔蒂旅馆(Fawlty Towers)》(John Cleese和前妻Connie Booth合作的情景剧)。并且我感觉到，我们再也不会得到像MPFC这样好的东西了。我们有些人因此而感到很生气。

Gilliam I had a theory that on the last season we should have been doing shows that were less and less funny so that people were switching off all over the country. And so by the time we were done with the last show, only two people would be watching somewhere up in Scotland, and then we would do the funniest show we’d ever done. I was outvoted.

Gilliam: 我还曾提出一个理论，说我们应该在最后一集做得越来越没趣，然后全国人民可以关闭电视了。于是到我们做完最后一集的时候，只剩下在苏格兰某处的两个人在看我们的节目，然后我们就做出我们有史以来最有趣的节目。不过可惜我的点子被否决了。

After Python disbanded, the group reunited for two more movies: 1979’s _ Life of Brian_ and 1983’s _ The Meaning of Life_ , which finally earned them some overdue riches. But despite their post-Python success, it’s sometimes been hard to live up to the show’s legend.

自 Python 们解散了以后，他们又重新联手过两次，分别是两部电影： 1979 年的《布莱恩一生 (Life of Brian) 》和 1983 年的《人生七步曲 (The Meaning of Life) 》，最终为他们赚得了迟来的富裕。但尽管他们后 Python 时代获得了成功，但是是很难的达到他们那套节目的传奇高度了。 **

Cleese If you had a success, you begin to realize how Citizen Kane was a kind of boulder on Orson Welles’ back. Because whatever you do, people say ‘‘It was good, but not as good as that.’’

Cleese: 当你获得过成功之后，你就会意识到《公民凯恩》是怎样成为了Orson Welles所背负的沉重压力了。因为不管你做什么，人们都会说：“干得不错，不过还是不如那个好。”