 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2023) |
 First edition | |
| Author | Terry Jones |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Ryan Gillard and Keira Kinsella |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy literature |
| Publisher | 2011 Unbound |
| Pages | 248 (special edition) |
| ISBN | 978-1-908717-01-6 |
Evil Machines is a 2011 book of fantasy stories written by Monty Python's Terry Jones. The book has a cover design and illustrations by Ryan Gillard and Keira Kinsella.
Evil Machines contains thirteen short stories about various devices that begin to show odd behavior. The stories generally feature a sting in the tail; for example, the UK city of Swindon is lampooned in "The Lift That Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go". The concept for the stories came to Jones in a car. He said: "I was actually driving across London and I think I got held up by a red traffic light and suddenly the phrase, 'Evil machines', drifted across my mind and I thought, 'Well that's a good title and I could use that', so I went home and started writing the stories."[ citation needed ]
Evil Machines was the first book published by Unbound, a crowdfunding startup. [1] According to Unbound's co-founder John Mitchinson, Jones chose the startup because he didn't think the book could be marketed easily as either children's or adult fiction. Jones received more than 1,000 pledges for Evil Machines, with an average pledge amount of £31.20. [2]
The book's launch took place on Friday 4 November 2011 at the Adam Street Club, London, UK. At the launch Jones indicated that "The Nice Bomb" and "The Lift That Took People to Places They Didn't Want to Go" were probably the two stories of which he was most fond.[ citation needed ]
The stories were adapted for opera in Lisbon in 2008, with a libretto by Jones. [3]
The Guardian gave the collection a mixed review, comparing Jones' prose style to Roald Dahl's but writing that "a surprising number of the jokes fall flat, considering Jones's talent as a comedian." [1]
Graham Chapman was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two Python films, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979).
Monty Python's Life of Brian is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python. It was directed by Jones. The film tells the story of Brian Cohen, a young Jewish-Roman man who is born on the same day as—and next door to—Jesus, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.
Monty Python were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. Their work then developed into a larger collection that included live shows, films, albums, books, and musicals; their influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. Their sketch show has been called "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy".
Sir Michael Edward Palin, is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 British comedy film satirizing the Arthurian legend, written and performed by the Monty Python comedy group and directed by Gilliam and Jones in their feature directorial debuts. It was conceived during the hiatus between the third and fourth series of their BBC Television series Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Terrence Vance Gilliam is an American–born British filmmaker, comedian, collage animator and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman. Together they collaborated on the sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) and the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983). In 1988, they received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. In 2009, Gilliam received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.
Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, popular historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
Eric Idle is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He reached stardom when he co-created and acted in the sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) and the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983) with John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman.
"The Lumberjack Song" is a comedy song by the comedy troupe Monty Python. The song was written and composed by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Fred Tomlinson.
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, also known simply as The Meaning of Life, is a 1983 British musical sketch comedy film written and performed by the Monty Python troupe, directed by Terry Jones. The Meaning of Life was the last feature film to star all six Python members before the death of Graham Chapman in 1989.
And Now for Something Completely Different is a 1971 British sketch comedy film based on the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring sketches from the show's first two series. The title was taken from a catchphrase used in the television show.
Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album is the final studio album by Monty Python, released in 1980. As the title suggests, the album was put together to complete a contract with Charisma Records. Besides newly written songs and sketches, the sessions saw re-recordings of material that dated back to the 1960s pre-Python shows I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, The Frost Report, At Last The 1948 Show and How To Irritate People. One track, "Bells", dates from the sessions for Monty Python's Previous Record, while further material was adapted from Eric Idle's post-Python series Rutland Weekend Television. The group also reworked material written but discarded from early drafts of Life Of Brian, as well as the initial scripts for what would eventually become The Meaning Of Life.
Monty Python's Lifeboat (Cannibalism) sketch appeared on Monty Python's Flying Circus in Episode 26. It was also performed on the album, Another Monty Python Record, retitled "Still No Sign Of Land". The sketch was inspired by the famous 1884 English criminal law case of R v Dudley and Stephens which involved survival cannibalism among castaways after a shipwreck.
"Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook" is a Monty Python sketch. It first aired in 1970 on Monty Python's Flying Circus as part of Episode 25, and also appears in the film And Now for Something Completely Different. Atlas Obscura has noted that it may have been inspired by English as She Is Spoke, a 19th-century Portuguese–English phrase book regarded as a classic source of unintentional humour, as the given English translations are generally completely incoherent.
Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls is a humorous book first published by Methuen in 1974 which purports to have been written by a psychopathic character, Dr. Fegg. In fact, the book is the work of Terry Jones and Michael Palin, who adapted a range of material from scripts written for the television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus. Some material was later used in the duo's later TV series, Ripping Yarns (1975–78). The first edition was sold bearing a sticker on the front cover which read "A Monty Python Educational Product".
Unbound, the online trading name of United Authors Publishing Ltd, is a privately held international crowdfunded publishing company. It is based in London, UK. The company was founded by John Mitchinson, director of research for the British television panel game QI; Justin Pollard, historian and QI researcher; and author Dan Kieran.
Absolutely Anything is a 2015 British science fantasy comedy film directed by Terry Jones, and written by Terry Jones and Gavin Scott. It stars Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Rob Riggle, Eddie Izzard and Joanna Lumley, with the nonhuman characters' voices provided by John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Jones, Michael Palin and Robin Williams. It was the first movie to feature all living Monty Python members since Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983), and the first without Graham Chapman, who died in 1989. Principal photography and production began on 24 March 2014 and ended on 12 May that year. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2015 by Lionsgate UK, and in the United States on 12 May 2017, grossing $6.3 million worldwide.
A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman is a 2012 British animated semi-biographical comedy film that is a portrayal of the life of Monty Python alumnus Graham Chapman. The film is loosely based on A Liar's Autobiography: Volume VI, a book written by Chapman and David Sherlock. It received a limited theatrical release on 2 November 2012 in the United States, and aired on the Epix TV channel on the same day.
A Pocketful of Python is a series of five books by the Monty Python team, in which each of the surviving members selects their favourite material from the group’s TV series, films, records and books. The first two volumes, by Terry Jones and John Cleese, were released in 1999 as part of the team’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Two further volumes, by Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin, followed in 2000 while the final volume, by Eric Idle, was eventually released in 2002. Each team member’s volume includes a preface written by one of the other Pythons. In 2006 all five volumes were released as a single paperback edition, entitled The Very Best of Monty Python.
 | This article about a collection of short stories for children published in the 2010s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a collection of fantasy short stories published in the 2010s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |