Will ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s Re-Release Bring Back the Original’s Gimmick?
Good news for comedy fans — and terrible news for English-French relations — Monty Python and the Holy Grail will be returning to theaters this spring in order to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary. Yes, it’s been five whole decades since the Pythons somehow convinced a bunch of rock stars to fund their groundbreaking parody of Arthurian legends.
On May 4th, the legendary comedy will return to theaters thanks to Fathom Events and Shout! Studios, who acquired the Monty Python catalog last fall. They’ll also be screening it on May the 7th, presumably in case some Python fans already have “Star Wars Day” plans that can’t be canceled.
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But the press release makes no mention of whether or not these screenings will include any complimentary coconuts. Famously, Monty Python and the Holy Grail substituted coconuts for real horses because the production couldn’t afford them. According to John Cleese, the inspired running joke was the brainchild of Michael Palin.
The coconuts became so associated with the Pythons that when Shrek the Third employed a slightly similar joke, Eric Idle flipped out and threatened to sue the makers of the film that he, himself, was in. Which seems especially silly in retrospect, since the Pythons didn’t even invent the joke. In 1956, A Show Called Fred, a sketch comedy series featuring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan of The Goon Show fame, featured a near-identical gag.
While that show may be largely forgotten today, coconuts are forever tied to the Pythons, not because of what we see in the movie, but because real coconuts were a key part of how Monty Python and the Holy Grail was marketed in the U.S.
Notorious arthouse distributor Don Rugoff, who released The Holy Grail in the states, sent his employees around Manhattan dressed in chainmail “clomping coconuts together” to promote the movie. The fake Knights promised that there would be “free coconuts to the first 1,000 guests” at the early screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. According to Idle, the next day he was awoken to the news that there were “2,000 people surrounding Cinema II waiting for free coconuts," many of whom wanted them autographed by the Pythons.
When the movie was released for the 40th anniversary, some theaters similarly handed out promotional coconuts, So the question is: Will the 50th anniversary screenings include free coconuts?
On the one hand, this would be a fun way of honoring Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s theatrical legacy. On the other, should we really be giving out percussive shells to audiences who already can’t be trusted with smartphones?
