The Seventh Python is a 2008 musical documentary film about the career, music and philosophy of pop satirist and songwriter Neil Innes, [1] who has been known as the "seventh" member of the six-man Monty Python comedy troupe. The film, however, shows how Innes' influence and experience goes far beyond that chapter, to include his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, The Rutles and other work. The Frozen Pictures film had its premiere at the American Cinematheque's Mods & Rockers Film Festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood in June 2008. [2] [3] The film was directed by Burt Kearns, and written and produced by Kearns and Brett Hudson. [4]
The film features Innes in performance in Los Angeles, Sussex, England and Melbourne, Australia and features Pythons John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, as well as singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons ), and composer/arranger John Altman, among others. [5] [6]
On 12 April 2009, the director and producer of The Seventh Python received the Las Vegas Film Festival's Golden Ace Award for "superior and standout filmmaking."
Three days later, the film was chosen as the Opening Selection of the 2009 Pacific Palisades Film Festival.
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".
Eric Idle is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. He was a member of the British surreal 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 Rutles were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, later toured and recorded, releasing two studio albums and garnering two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes' death in 2019.
Neil James Innes was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the pioneering comedy rock group Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Python troupe on their BBC television series and films, and is often called the "seventh Python" along with performer Carol Cleveland. He co-created the Rutles, a Beatles parody/pastiche project, with Python Eric Idle, and wrote the band's songs. He also wrote and voiced the 1980s ITV children's cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls.
All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious English rock group called the Rutles. As TV Guide described it, the group's resemblance to the Beatles is "purely – and satirically – intentional".
Rutland Weekend Television (RWT) was a television sketch show written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series were broadcast on BBC2, the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes in 1976. A Christmas special was broadcast on Boxing Day 1975.
Frozen Pictures was a motion picture, television and multimedia production company founded and operated by veteran producers and writers Brett Hudson and Burt Kearns, and is affiliated with Frozen Television. It closed in 2012.
Martin Neil Lewis is a US-based English humorist, writer, radio/TV host, producer, and marketing strategist. He is known for his participation in a variety of projects in the arts and entertainment worlds including his work as the co-creator and co-producer of the Secret Policeman's Balls benefit shows for Amnesty International and as a comedic performer and writer on American TV. He hosts his own daily radio show, heard in America on Sirius Satellite Radio and worldwide on Sirius Internet Radio. He is an occasional contributor to The Huffington Post website.
Burt Kearns is an American author, journalist, and television and film producer, writer and director, whom Vanity Fair referred to as "a show business and pop culture savant."
The American Cinematheque is an independent, nonprofit cultural organization in Los Angeles, California, United States dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the moving image in all its forms.
The Mods & Rockers Film Festival was a Los Angeles film festival that celebrated rock culture. It was presented by the non-profit cultural organization American Cinematheque annually from 1999 to 2010, with the exception of 2004.
The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch is a re-telling of the 1978 mockumentary All You Need Is Cash, in a modern setting. It was premiered at the Don't Knock the Rock film festival on August 16, 2003.
The Rutles is a soundtrack album to the 1978 telemovie All You Need Is Cash. The album contains 14 of the tongue-in-cheek pastiches of Beatles songs that were featured in the film.
Archaeology is the second album by parody band The Rutles. Like their previous release, the album contains pastiches of Beatles songs.
John Altman is an English film composer, music arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
Julian Doyle is a British filmmaker who is best known for his work as a longtime collaborator on the films of Monty Python, including effects photography for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and editing Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, as well as directing the second-unit on the Python affiliated films The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, Erik the Viking, The Wind in the Willows, and Absolutely Anything. He also edited and shot the special effects for Terry Gilliam's films Brazil and Time Bandits.
Brett Stuart Patrick Hudson is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was the youngest member of the musical group the Hudson Brothers, which was formed by his older brothers, Mark and Bill, in 1965. He is now a TV producer and writer.
John Halsey is a rock drummer, best known for his appearance in the television film All You Need is Cash (1978) as Barrington Womble of The Rutles. Previous to this he had played with fellow future Rutle Neil Innes's band Fatso and appeared with them in the BBC Television comedy series, Rutland Weekend Television, fronted by a third Rutle, Eric Idle.
The Fab Four is a California tribute band paying homage to the Beatles. Founded in 1997 by Ron McNeil, a John Lennon impersonator, the group began performing Beatles music throughout southern California. They have played in many places worldwide, including Japan, Malaysia, France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico and Brazil, covering nearly the entire Beatles songbook and material from Beatles members' solo projects.
Michael Kearns is an American actor, writer, director, teacher, producer, and activist. He is noted for being one of the first openly gay actors, and after an announcement on Entertainment Tonight in 1991, the first openly HIV-positive actor in Hollywood.