Raymond Luxury Yacht - Lost Sketches

Lost Sketches

John Cleese was unhappy with the use of scatological humour in Python sketches. The final episode of the third series included a sketch called "Wee-Wee Wine Tasting", which was censored following the BBC's and Cleese’s objections. The sketch involves a man taking a tour of a wine cellar where he samples many of the wine bottles' contents, which are actually urine. Also pulled out, though for unknown reasons, was a sketch where Cleese had hired a sculptor to carve a statue of him. The sculptor (Chapman) had made an uncanny likeness of Cleese, except that his nose was extremely long, almost Pinocchio size. The only clue that this sketch was cut out of the episode was in the "Sherry-Drinking Vicar" sketch, where, towards the back of the room, a bust with an enormously long nose sits.

Some material originally recorded went missing later, such as the use of the word "masturbation" in the "Summarize Proust" sketch (which was muted during the first airing, and later cut out entirely) or "What a silly bunt" in the Travel Agent sketch (which featured a character who has a speech impediment that makes him pronounce "C"s as "B"s), which was cut before the sketch ever went to air. However, when this sketch was included in the album Monty Python's Previous Record and the Live at the Hollywood Bowl film, the line remained intact.

Some sketches were deleted in their entirety and later recovered. One such sketch is the "Political Choreographer" sketch, where a Conservative Party spokesman (Cleese) delivers a party political broadcast before getting up and dancing, being coached by a choreographer (Idle), and being joined by a chorus of spokesmen dancing behind him. The camera passes two Labour Party spokesmen practicing ballet, and an animation featuring Edward Heath in a tutu. Once deemed lost, a home-recorded tape of this sketch, captured from a broadcast from Buffalo, New York PBS outlet WNED-TV, recently turned up on YouTube. Another high-quality recording of this sketch, broadcast on WTTW in Chicago, has also turned up on YouTube. The Buffalo version can be seen as an extra on the new Region 2/4 eight-disc The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus DVD set.

Another lost sketch is the "Satan" animation following the "Cartoon Religion" piece and preceding to "How Not To Be Seen", which had been edited out of the official tape. Three frames of the animation can be seen at the end of the episode, wherein that particular episode is repeated in fast-forward. A black and white 16 mm film print has since turned up (found by a private film collector in the USA) showing the animation in its entirety.

At least two references to cancer were censored, both during the second series. In the sixth episode ("It's A Living" or "School Prizes"), Rita Davies' narration of a Gilliam cartoon suddenly has Graham Chapman's voice dub "gangrene" over the word cancer (although the word "cancer" was used unedited when the animation appeared in the movie And Now for Something Completely Different). Another reference was removed from the "Conquistador Coffee Campaign" sketch in the second series' eleventh episode "How Not to Be Seen", although a reference to leprosy remained intact. This line has also been recovered from the same 16 mm film print as the above mentioned "Satan" animation.

A restored Region 2 DVD release of Series 1–4 was released in 2007, with no additional features.