Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus! on BBC Radio 4

A programme I worked on a while back has just gone out. It really is the last programme from All Out Productions. It is all about how Monty Pyton went over to Germany to make some TV programmes for German TV...

2011 marks the 40th anniversary of one of the Monty Python team's most bizarre and least known television adventures, two forty five minute specials they made exclusively for German television.
Roll up, it's Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus! This is the extraordinary tale of when the Pythons went Bavarian. Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Alfred Biolek, the man who persuaded them to take their comedy to Germany, all talk about how life on set began to imitate a Monty Python sketch.
German Comedy Ambassador, Henning Wehn, tells the story of how in 1971 the Pythons were flown into Bavaria, full of new original ideas for sketches, including pieces about the German artist Albrecht Durer, William Tell and The Merchant of Venice. They also adapted the popular Flying Circus Lumberjack Song into German and planned to sing it with the Austria Border Police Choir.
Only Michael Palin and John Cleese were capable of delivering lines in 'understandable' German. Despite extensive language coaching, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman were virtually incomprehensible. This may have added to the Pythons' trademark absurdity and surrealism, but confused the bejeebus out of the German TV audience. Realising this dream was becoming a nightmare, Alfred Biokek took the decision to make the second programme in English, with German subtitles added later. It proved to be a major hit on German TV, but all concerned decided it best not to repeat the experience. Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus! hears from Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Alfred Biolek about how they came up with the material for these special versions and listening to clips from both programmes, asks whether 'Pythonesque' really works when translated into German.
Presenter: Henning Wehn
Edited: Mike Thornton
Producer: Jo Meek
An All Out production for BBC Radio 4.

We had great fun with this programme adding a number of 'Pythonesque' moments along the way. If you didn't catch it on Saturday then grab it on iPlayer whilst you have the chance. There are some lovely stories of their experiences of their time in Germay as well as the challenges of making Monty Python work for the German humour and how some jokes didn't translate. You will hear that they can still sing the Lumberjack song in German to this day. For any Python fan this programme is a must, and even if you aren't, you will still find it very entertaining.

R.I.P All Out Productions