The Brand New Monty Python Bok
 |
The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Methuen Books, 1973) was the second book to be published by the British comedy troupe Monty Python. It was edited by Eric Idle, and contained more print-style comic pieces than their first effort, Monty Python's Big Red Book.
The white dust jacket was printed with some realistic looking smudged fingerprints on the front leading to complaints from booksellers. These complaints paled in comparison to the fuss created about the cover printed on the actual book.
The title of the fake cover was Tits 'n Bums, which purported to be a church magazine with articles such as "Are you still a verger?", and the by-line a 'weekly look at church architecture'. The background photo for the 'magazine' consisted, however, of several intertwined naked women.
The Bok was released in softcover as The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok. It was later repackaged with Monty Python's Big Red Book as The Complete Works of Shakespeare and Monty Python: Vol. 1 - Monty Python.
The Bok contained an amalgamation of print-style pieces and material derived from Flying Circus sketches. Examples of the former include an interconnected series of jokes based on figures of speech and an advertisement for the fictional Welsh martial art of Llap Goch, which claims to be able to teach students how to grow taller, stronger, faster, and more deadly in a matter of days. Examples of the latter include Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" and the Travel Agent sketch, a collection of stereotypes about annoying tourists and the perils of inter-country air travel.
The content of the first hardback edition of the book is as follows:
- Tits 'n Bums: A Weekly Look at Church Architecture (Front cover, under dust jacket)
- What People Have Said About The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Inside front flap)
- What Other People Have Said About The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Inside front flap)
- Ferdean School Library Check-out History
- Safety Instructions
- The Old Story Teller
- Biggles
- Page 6: Film Rights Still Available
- Llap-Goch Advertisement
- Edward Woodward's Fish Page
- The Python Book of Etiquette
- Famous First Drafts
- Advertisements / My Garden Poem
- A Puzzle
- The Bigot Newsletter
- The London Casebook of Detective René Descartes
- Wallpapers
- 16 Magazine
- Summer Madness
- Masturbation: The Difficult One
- Coming Soon: Page 71!
- Python Panel
- The Adventures of Walter the Wallabee
- Mr. April (I've Got Two Legs)
- Competition Time
- World Record Attempt
- World Record Results / Invitations
- The Oxford Simplified Dictionary
- Drawing Hands
- Film Review: Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days"
- Rat Recipes
- Rat Menu
- Overland to the World
- This Page is in Colour
- Contents
- African Notebook: "A Lucky Escape"
- How To...
- Only 15 Pages to Page 71
- Norman Henderson's Diary (Insert)
- Sex-Craft (Insert)
- How to Take Your Appendix Out on the Piccadilly Line
- Join the Dots
- Directory
- The British Apathy League
- Let's Talk About Bottoms
- Advertisements / Hobbies
- Page 71
- Reviews of Page 71
- Through the Looking Glass
- The Hackenthorpe Book of Lies
- Fairy Tale
- Ferndean School Report
- The Stratton Indicator
- Play Cheese Shop
- The Official Medallic Commemoration of the History of Mankind
- Anagrams
- Your Stars
- Hamsters: A Warning
- Teach Yourself Surgery
- The Author's Friend by Michael Palin, Age 8 (Back Inside Flap)