Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 British concert comedy film directed by Terry Hughes (with the film segments by Ian MacNaughton) and starring the Monty Python comedy troupe (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) as they perform many of their sketches at the Hollywood Bowl. The film also features Carol Cleveland in numerous supporting roles and Neil Innes performing songs. Also present for the shows and participating as an 'extra' was Python superfan Kim "Howard" Johnson.
The show also included filmed inserts which were mostly taken from two Monty Python specials, "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", which had been broadcast on German television in 1972. The performance was recorded on videotape during the show's four-day run starting September 26, 1980 and transferred to film. In the wake of "Life of Brian"s worldwide success, the Pythons originally planned to release a film consisting of the two German shows redubbed and re-edited, but this proved impractical, and so "Hollywood Bowl" was released instead.
Although it mostly contains sketches from the television series, the scripts and performers are not identical to those seen on television. The line-up also includes some sketches that predated "Monty Python's Flying Circus", including the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch", which dated from 1967's "At Last the 1948 Show".
Sketches and songs.
The "Silly Olympics" sketch is from the first "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus" episode, dubbed into English. The original version also featured the events "1500m for people and their mothers" and "Hammer throw to America", whereas the latter acted as a link to the next sketch.
Box office.
A film version of the Hollywood Bowl performances, with direction credited to Terry Hughes, was given a limited theatrical release in North America beginning on 25 June 1982. It grossed a total of US$327,958 during its theatrical run.
Technical and release history.
The show was originally recorded on a specially-made analogue high-definition video system called 'Image Vision', provided by Image Transform from Universal City, California which output a 655 line, 24fps video signal. The show was edited on videotape and a 35mm negative was produced from the tape for the striking of theatrical prints.
In Europe, a 1.85:1 widescreen version was released on DVD in 2007. In North America, the film is available only as the older lesser-quality full-frame version, as part of a two-disc set titled "Monty Python Live", which includes the 1998 retrospective "Monty Python Live at Aspen" and the first (German) episode of "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus". The movie was also released as part of "The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset" and as part of "Almost Everything Ever in One Gloriously Fabulous Ludicrously Definitive Outrageously Luxurious Monty Python Boxset".