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At Last the 1948 Show" triggered a revolution that was destined to change the face of TV comedy forever. Bursting onto the nation's small screens in an explosion of unrelated and often surreal sketches, its main perpetrators were John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and what 'At Last the 1948 Show' began the inestimable Monty Python would one day finish in mind-blowing style....
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THIS DVD IS NEW & FACTORY SEALED - BECOMING VERY COLLECTABLE
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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Don't miss this timeless treat - half the Pythons, Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke Taylor, Jo Kendall, Barry Cryer (occasionally) and Bill Oddie (once)! You will learn that "The Four Yorkshiremen" did NOT originate with Monty Python (and Tim Brooke Taylor co-wrote the sketch) and that Mr Brooke Taylor has immense comic talents. His demonstration of the new dance craze "The Chartered Accountant" and his performance as the NHS automated hospital visitor (used for lonely patient Bill Oddie) will make you want to cheer! Cleese and Feldman are superb, of course, and the extras are interviews with Tim Brooke Taylor and Terry Jones. The latter was in "Do Not Adjust Your Set" (1967 - 1969), which was released as a companion set to this one - both interviews are in both sets.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Missing Link between The Frost Report and Monty Python - indeed, the show's famous Four Yorkshiremen sketch is often misattributed as a Python sketch - this compilation of surviving sketches from the 1967 series teaming Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and the lovely Aimi MacDonald (with bit parts by Eric Idle and a beardless Bill Oddie) veers from the inspired to the silly. Moving away from the satire of the Frost Report into more music hall sketch territory, parts of it can be heavy going. Much of the first episode might even be enough to put you off the rest, though it's worth persevering for the sketches that do work, such as the Chartered Accountant dance demonstration, the Let's Speak English show, Tim Brooke-Taylor guiding a party of Arabs through a live broadcast of a Forsyte Saga-like show while Feldman's randy sheik tries it on with the leading lady as John Cleese adlibs desperately, the belligerent Scottish and English ballet hooligans (a sketch foreshadowing a later episode of The Goodies), the game show where Cleese's fascist host Nosmo Claphanger makes no attempt to disguise his utter contempt for the contestants, and the empty-headed egotistism of Aimi MacDonald - sorry, the Lovely Aimi MacDonald's links.
Although only six of the original 13 episodes survive in variable quality, this two-disc set only includes five 24-minute compilation episodes re-edited for Swedish TV, and those are ordered rather haphazardly - the first episode actually includes part of the last episode while a follow-up gag to the Make Ami MacDonald a Very Rich Lady Appeal appears before the appeal is launched in the subsequent episode.... Read more ›
Although only six of the original 13 episodes survive in variable quality, this two-disc set only includes five 24-minute compilation episodes re-edited for Swedish TV, and those are ordered rather haphazardly - the first episode actually includes part of the last episode while a follow-up gag to the Make Ami MacDonald a Very Rich Lady Appeal appears before the appeal is launched in the subsequent episode.... Read more ›
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Before there was "Monty Python's Flying Circus," there were two other series produced by the legendary comedians later known as Monty Python. One of those was the hilarious "At Last the 1948 Show" -- not quite as funny as the series that came after it, but definitely hilarious and full of weird Pythonian moments.
Each episode (and most skits) are introduced by "The Lovely Aimi MacDonald," a blonde airhead who basically does nothing but pose and self-promote (such as the Make the Lovely Aimi MacDonald a Rich Lady Fund, or Aimi MacDonald songs), and occasionally make out with sailors.
Then there are the hilarious skits: a man visits a shrink because he thinks he's a rabbit, karate-chopping docs, a severely underfunded secret agent who has to burn down the Kremlin, a man who claims to be an underpaid gorilla, snake devourings, a game show where the only answer is "pork," a robotic visitor at a hospital, an invasion of tourists on a soap opera set, and others.
You can definitely see seeds of Monty Python here -- the constant chartered accountant jokes, cross-dressing, surreal sketches, mockery of the BBC, and John Cleese going ballistic ("OF COURSE YOU'RE NOT A RABBIT!"). Well, we don't have Terry Gilliam's weird animation, but at least we have Marty Feldman in a frothy dress and blonde wig.
In fact, the skits themselves are often comedy that could have been lifted from the Flying Circus -- lots of weird scenarios (Feldman desperately trying to answer the question of "Is there free speech?", but not being able to get a word in) and equally weird dialogue ("Just you and me... and an Arab"), which usually ends up in some explosive or strange confrontation.... Read more ›
Each episode (and most skits) are introduced by "The Lovely Aimi MacDonald," a blonde airhead who basically does nothing but pose and self-promote (such as the Make the Lovely Aimi MacDonald a Rich Lady Fund, or Aimi MacDonald songs), and occasionally make out with sailors.
Then there are the hilarious skits: a man visits a shrink because he thinks he's a rabbit, karate-chopping docs, a severely underfunded secret agent who has to burn down the Kremlin, a man who claims to be an underpaid gorilla, snake devourings, a game show where the only answer is "pork," a robotic visitor at a hospital, an invasion of tourists on a soap opera set, and others.
You can definitely see seeds of Monty Python here -- the constant chartered accountant jokes, cross-dressing, surreal sketches, mockery of the BBC, and John Cleese going ballistic ("OF COURSE YOU'RE NOT A RABBIT!"). Well, we don't have Terry Gilliam's weird animation, but at least we have Marty Feldman in a frothy dress and blonde wig.
In fact, the skits themselves are often comedy that could have been lifted from the Flying Circus -- lots of weird scenarios (Feldman desperately trying to answer the question of "Is there free speech?", but not being able to get a word in) and equally weird dialogue ("Just you and me... and an Arab"), which usually ends up in some explosive or strange confrontation.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By John H
Format:DVD
This is a must buy for any fan of Python. It's remarkable how many Python sketches were tried out here first. Regardless of how well they've aged, they were cutting edge in the mid-60s and for that it deserves respect.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By gary shooter
Format:DVD
Wow. Anarchy in the U.K. back when Johnny Rotten was still picking his nose. "At Last the 1948 Show" is absolute must-viewing for all Oxbridge Mafia fanatics. It doesn't have the glossy pop surrealism of "Monty Python," but it certainly has its moments of ragged glory. (The skit with an historical soap opera being interrupted by bands of tourists from other countries could almost have been a Monty Python skit.) My personal favourite is the skit with John Cleese and Marty Feldman on a train - a classic. As you can tell from the evidence of the digital disc, John Cleese and Graham Chapman were, in this show, well on their way to becoming, well, John Cleese and Graham Chapman. It's fun to spot the mannerisms and predelictions in these two that would be given full vent in "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Marty Feldman shows considerably more comic range here than in his later Hollywood work - hilarious. For those of us who think Tim Brooke-Taylor was one of the most underestimated comic talents of his generation(and I count myself one), this DVD contains some of his most glorious comedic moments. Some of his routines here at priceless(especially the accountant dance). Incidentally, it's really funny to watch Tim Brooke-Taylor in that skit where the police officers in drag are preparing to go undercover in a club. The other actors were changing their names and lines to mess with Tim's head and he was clearly at something of an amused loss. The audience furthermore seemed to realize what was going on. It's a great moment in live comedy. Tim should have been much more used in movies than he was. I even get a kick out of Aimi MacDonald's routines - her cheerful egotism and self-promotion. This show was a joy in itself and a harbinger of things to come.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
pre-python
good reminder of some of british comedy's greatest.marty feldman,john cleese,graham chapman,tim brooke taylor,bill oddie( pre-twitching days) & barry cryer... Read more
Published 3 months ago by vance
5.0 out of 5 stars
Long Time No See
I can remember when I was quite small watching this and 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' and some of the early Spike Milligan Q series so, I was very happy to get this on DVD.
OK! Read more
OK! Read more
Published 3 months ago by STATICON
3.0 out of 5 stars
At last the 1948 show
I was just turning 10 or 11 when this was shown on TV. A lot of the humour wouldn't be allowed now, but good to see for nostalgic purposes.
Published 3 months ago by Gordon Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'm glad to have this but what about those 7 other episodes?
The sketches themselves are excellent and should appeal to any Monty Python fan. I found this to be very watchable despite the poor quality. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Varian Beauregard
4.0 out of 5 stars
At last the 1948 show withy John Cleese and others
A great DVD set capturing many of the early skits of the Monty Python-to-be team. Quality was OK given that the original recording technology was not great.
Published 10 months ago by tedsandeman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Essential for historians of Python
If you are a Python geek and have watched all the series and films, got all the books, have followed all the solo post-Python exploits and are still hungry for more, you should get... Read more
Published on 16 April 2011 by Little Eddy
3.0 out of 5 stars
wacky comedy
At last the 1948 show is an earlier show from 1967 and starred Tim Brooke taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Aimi MacDonald, Eric Idle, Marty Fieldman and Bill Oddie. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2011 by Miss M. Potter
2.0 out of 5 stars
oh come on
Old, dated, self aware, pretentious, unfunny, black and white........er,er. This is just embarrasing crap. Infantile, Oxbridge old boys showing off. Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2010 by 70s
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First Flower of 'Monty Python' Begins to Bloom
When watching both 'At Last, The 1948 Show,' and 'Do Not Adjust Your Set,' you could tell that whilst Eric Idle, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Terry Jones were all great writers... Read more
Published on 29 July 2009 by James Uscroft
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fossil but fun
Very dated but with flashes of brilliance. The five recovered episodes on this DVD are sloppily edited, with the Make the Lovely Aimi MacDonald Fund being introduced after... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2008 by John L. Arnold
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