Monty Python's Big Red Book

Monty Python's Big Red Book is a humour book comprising mostly material derived and reworked from the first few years of the Monty Python's Flying Circus BBC television series. It was first published in 1971 by Methuen Publishing Ltd.

It is available in both hardcover and paperback editions. It was published in the United States in 1975 by Warner Books.

As well as the comedy content, the title itself is a humorous reference to Mao's "Little Red Book" — and despite the title, the book has a blue cover.

It was mentioned in the BBC series Doctor Who, in the 2008 episode "Silence in the Library".

Monty Python
  • Graham Chapman
  • John Cleese
  • Terry Gilliam
  • Eric Idle
  • Terry Jones
  • Michael Palin
  • Carol Cleveland
  • Neil Innes
Television series
  • Flying Circus
    • episodes
  • Fliegender Zirkus
  • Personal Best
Filmography
  • And Now for Something Completely Different
  • Holy Grail
  • Life of Brian
  • Live at the Hollywood Bowl
  • The Meaning of Life
Studio albums
  • Another Record
  • Previous Record
  • Matching Tie and Handkerchief
  • Holy Grail
  • Life of Brian
  • Contractual Obligation
  • The Meaning of Life
Compilation albums
  • Instant Record Collection
  • Final Rip Off
  • Ultimate Rip Off
  • Instant CD Collection
  • Sings
Live albums
  • Flying Circus
  • Live at Drury Lane
  • Live at City Center
Specials
  • Parrot Sketch Not Included
  • Live at Aspen
  • Python Night
Documentaries
  • Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut)
Stage productions
  • Spamalot
  • Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)
  • An Evening Without Monty Python
Literature
  • Big Red Book
  • Brand New Bok
  • Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls
Video games
  • Flying Circus
  • Complete Waste of Time
  • Quest for the Holy Grail
  • The Meaning of Life
Characters
  • Mr Praline
  • Gumbys
  • The "it's" man
  • The Colonel
  • Mr Creosote
  • Killer Rabbit
  • Other characters
Sketches
  • Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses
  • Architects
  • Argument
  • Bruces
  • Cheese Shop
  • Colin "Bomber" Harris vs Colin "Bomber" Harris
  • Crunchy Frog
  • Dead Bishop
  • Dead Parrot
  • Dirty Fork
  • Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook
  • Election Night Special
  • Fish Licence
  • Fish-Slapping Dance
  • Four Yorkshiremen
  • The Funniest Joke in the World
  • How Not to Be Seen
  • Kilimanjaro Expedition
  • Lifeboat
  • Marriage Guidance Counsellor
  • Ministry of Silly Walks
  • Mouse Problem
  • Nudge Nudge
  • Patient Abuse
  • Philosophers' Football Match
  • Piranha Brothers
  • Ron Obvious
  • Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days"
  • Seduced Milkmen
  • Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit
  • Spam
  • Spanish Inquisition
  • Bishop
  • Undertakers
  • Upper Class Twit of the Year
  • Vocational Guidance Counsellor
Songs
  • "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
  • "Decomposing Composers"
  • "Eric the Half-a-Bee"
  • "Every Sperm Is Sacred"
  • "Galaxy Song"
  • "I Bet You They Won't Play This Song on the Radio"
  • "I Like Chinese"
  • "I've Got Two Legs"
  • "Knights of the Round Table"
  • "The Lumberjack Song"
  • "Never Be Rude to an Arab"
  • "Oliver Cromwell"
  • "Penis Song (Not the Noel Coward Song)"
  • "Bruces' Philosophers Song"
  • "Sit on My Face"
Related articles
  • Mediagraphy
  • The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set
  • At Last the 1948 Show
  • How to Irritate People
  • Holy Flying Circus
  • Rutland Weekend Television

Famous quotes containing the words monty python, monty, big, red and/or book:

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    Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (TV series)

    This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It’s a stiff!... THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!
    Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (TV series)

    Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.
    Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)

    Iconic clothing has been secularized.... A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)

    If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize, at one effort, the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own—the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple—a few plain words—”My Heart Laid Bare.” But—this little book must be true to its title.
    Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)