Mr Creosote
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Mr Creosote is a fictional character in Monty Python's Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Creosote is an impossibly obese man, who gets served an enormous amount of food (and vomits repeatedly) in a restaurant. After being persuaded to eat one more mint he explodes in a very graphic way. The sketch is the first part of "Part VI: The Autumn Years" of the film.
The character is played by Terry Jones, who may be best remembered for the role.[1]
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[edit] Synopsis
In the sketch, Mr Creosote dines at a French restaurant. The entrance of this severely morbidly obese middle-aged man is accompanied by ominous music and is followed by a short dialogue with the maître d', played by John Cleese:
| Maître d' | Ah, good afternoon, sir; and how are we today? |
| Mr Creosote | Better. |
| Maître d' | Better? |
| Mr Creosote | Better get a bucket, I'm gonna throw up. |
Creosote is then led to his table, and once seated starts vomiting, failing to hit the bucket he had requested a moment before. The floor quickly becomes covered in vomit, and so do the cleaning woman and the maître d's trousers. He listens patiently while highlights of the evening's menu are recited to him; after vomiting on the menu held open right in front of him by the maître d', he orders all of the dishes recited by the maitre'd. As a result, he is served moules marinieres, pate de foie gras, beluga caviar, eggs benedictine, a leek tart, frogs' legs amandine and quail's eggs all mixed together in a bucket with the quail eggs on top and a double helping of pate, and for apéritifs he has six bottles of Château Latour 1945, a double jeroboam of champagne, and half a dozen crates of brown ale (considerably less than his usual allowance). He finishes the feast, vomiting profusely all over himself, his table, and the restaurant's workers the duration, causing other diners to lose their appetite. Finally, after being persuaded by the smooth (and possibly vengeful) maître d' to eat a "wafer-thin mint", he explodes, covering the restaurant and diners with innards and partially digested food.
When the explosion clears, Creosote is still alive, but his chest cavity is now blasted open, revealing his spread ribs and still-beating heart. As he looks around, seemingly confused by what has just happened, the maître d' calmly walks up to him and presents "the cheque, monsieur."
[edit] Reception
It has been suggested that the scene is one of the most repulsive in twentieth-century cinema.[citation needed] Director Quentin Tarantino has confessed to being nauseated by this scene,[2] but critics with stronger stomachs have praised its dark humour. (Leonard Maltin noted it as "an unforgettable scene, like it or not.") It was filmed in the Porchester Centre, a public building owned by the City of Westminster on Porchester Road, London.
It was revealed at the "U.S. Comedy Arts Festival - Tribute to Monty Python" that the scene, penned by Jones, was initially not going to be in the film, but Cleese was taken with the unflappable maître d' character. Jones at first thought Creosote should be played by fellow Python Terry Gilliam, but Gilliam persuaded Jones to play it himself.
[edit] References
- ^ Celebrating Two Mad Decades of Pythonmania at the New York Times
- ^ Saxon Bullock for Channel 4 Film. "Quentin Tarantino on Kill Bill Vol.". p. 3. http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/feature.jsp?id=130330&page=1. Retrieved 2009-09-01.
[edit] Bibliography
- Carroll, Noël (2006). "What Mr. Creosote Knows About Laughter". in Hardcastle, Gary L. and Reisch, George A.. Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think!. Open Court Publishing. pp. 25–36. ISBN 0812695933.
- Part of the transcript of the Aspen documentary, with Terry Jones talking about the character
