Graham Chapman
Encyclopedia
Graham Arthur Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python
comedy troupe.
, the team of Jimmy Jewel
and Ben Warriss
, It's That Man Again
, Educating Archie
, Take It From Here
and Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh. 'I especially liked Robert Morton, although no one else seemed to like him very much. He would do things like tell jokes the wrong way around and switch punch lines. He was obviously a very good comedian and was ahead of his time. The appearance of incompetence was wonderful. He was one of my heroes.' But the show that truly astounded Graham, and was a major influence on his comedy was The Goon Show" (p.xvii). Chapman states "from about the age of seven or eight I used to be an avid listener of a radio programme called The Goon Show. In fact, at that stage I wanted to be a Goon" (p. 23).
and Chapman wrote professionally for the BBC
during the 1960s, primarily for David Frost
, but also for Marty Feldman
. Chapman also contributed sketches to the BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
and television programmes such as The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
(starring Roy Hudd
), Cilla Black
, This is Petula Clark
, and This Is Tom Jones
. Chapman, Cleese, and Tim Brooke-Taylor
then joined Feldman in the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show
. Here Chapman displayed a gift for deadpan
comedy (particularly evident in the sketch "The Minister Who Falls to Pieces
") and for imitating various British dialects. Chapman, and on occasion Cleese, also wrote for the long-running television comedy series Doctor in the House
. Chapman also co-wrote several episodes with Bernard McKenna
and David Sherlock
.
, Terry Jones
, Eric Idle
, and American artist and animator Terry Gilliam
for the BBC television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus
. He most often played characters with personalities close to his own: outwardly calm and authoritative figures barely concealing a manic unpredictability.
In David Morgan's 1999 book Monty Python Speaks, Cleese asserted that Chapman – although officially his co-writer for many of their sketches – contributed comparatively little in the way of direct writing. Rather, the Pythons have said that his biggest contribution in the writing room was an intuition as to what was funny. John Cleese said in an interview that one of Chapman's great attributes was "his weird takes on things." In writing sessions Chapman "would lob in an idea or a line from out of left field into the engine room, but he could never be the engine", Cleese said. In the Dead Parrot
sketch, written mostly by Cleese, the frustrated customer was initially trying to return a faulty toaster
to a shop. Chapman would ask "How can we make this madder?", and then came up with the idea that returning a dead Norwegian Blue parrot
to a pet shop might make a more interesting subject than a toaster.
Chapman played the lead roles in the troupe's only two narrative feature films: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
and Monty Python's Life of Brian
. Cleese complimented his writing partner by saying that he was "very possibly the best actor of all of us".
, Still Crazy Like a Fox
, and the NBC
sketch series The Big Show
.
Upon returning to England he became involved with the Dangerous Sports Club
(an extreme sport
s club which introduced bungee jumping
to a wide audience). Chapman and Douglas Adams
wrote a pilot for a TV series in 1975, Out of the Trees
, but it never went beyond the initial episode. They also wrote an unmade show for Ringo Starr
. Chapman mentored Adams, but they later had a falling out and did not speak for several years.
In 1978 Chapman co-wrote (with Bernard McKenna) and starred in The Odd Job
alongside David Jason
who had previously appeared on Do Not Adjust Your Set
with the pre-Python Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. The film was only moderately successful.
His memoir, A Liar's Autobiography
, was published in 1980 and, unusually for a work of this type, had five authors: Chapman, his partner David Sherlock
, Alex Martin
, David Yallop
and Douglas Adams.
Although writing had begun in the late seventies, by 1982 Chapman was finally able to secure funding for his much cherished pirate project Yellowbeard
. Once again Chapman collaborated with writer Bernard McKenna and for the first time with Peter Cook
. The film which starred Chapman as the eponymous pirate also featured appearances from Peter Cook, Marty Feldman
, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Spike Milligan
and Cheech & Chong. The film marks the last appearance of Feldman who suffered a fatal heart attack during shooting. The movie was released in 1983 to mixed reviews. In a 2001 interview, Cleese described Yellowbeard as "one of the six worst films made in the history of the world." Eric Idle also later dismissed the film although remembered his participation fondly.
After reuniting with the Pythons in 1983 for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Chapman began a lengthy series of U.S. college tours where he would tell the audience anecdotes about Monty Python, the Dangerous Sports Club, Keith Moon
, and other subjects. In 1988, he appeared in the Iron Maiden
video, Can I Play with Madness
. His last project was to have been a TV series called Jake's Journey
. Although the pilot episode was made, there were difficulties selling the project. Chapman was also to have played a guest role as a television presenter in the Red Dwarf
episode "Timeslides", but died before filming was to have started.
In the years since Chapman's death, despite the existence of the "Graham Chapman Archive", only a few of his projects have been released. One of these projects is a play entitled O Happy Day, brought to life in 2000 by Dad's Garage Theatre Company
in Atlanta, Georgia
. Cleese and Palin assisted the theatre company in adapting the play.
.
Chapman was an alcoholic from his time in medical school
. His fellow Pythons noted he felt he needed a drink or two to "face the world" and at times would forget in the afternoon material that had been written the same day. His drinking also affected his performance on the TV recording set as well as on the set of Holy Grail, where he suffered from withdrawal
symptoms including delirium tremens
. He stopped drinking on Boxing Day
1977, having just irritated the other Pythons with an outspoken (and drunken) interview with the New Musical Express
. Before going sober
, Chapman jokingly referred to himself as the British actress Betty Marsden
, possibly because of Marsden's oft-quoted desire to die with a glass of gin
in her hand. John Cleese used Marsden's name in his eulogy at Chapman's memorial service.
Chapman kept his sexuality
a secret
until the 1970s, although he did allude to it in some Monty Python sketches. He publicly came out
as homosexual on a chat show hosted by British jazz
musician George Melly
, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so. Several days later, he came out to a group of friends at a party held at his home in Belsize Park
, where he officially introduced them to his boyfriend, David Sherlock
, whom he had met in Ibiza
in 1966. Chapman later told a story in his college tour that when he went public, a member of the television audience wrote to the Pythons to complain that she had heard a member of the team was gay, adding that the Bible said any man who lies with a man should be taken out and stoned
. With fellow Pythons already aware
of his sexual orientation
, Eric Idle
replied, "We've found out who it was and we've had him shot." In his book Graham Crackers
, Chapman said that this took place just before John Cleese
left the show, and he wondered what the woman thought about his disappearance after getting Idle's response.
Chapman was a vocal spokesman for LGBT rights, and in 1972 he lent his support to the fledgling newspaper Gay News
, which publicly acknowledged his financial and editorial support by listing him as one of its "special friends". In 1971, Chapman and Sherlock adopted John Tomiczek as their son. Chapman met Tomiczek when the teenager was a runaway from Liverpool
. After discussions with Tomiczek's father, it was agreed that Chapman would become Tomiczek's legal guardian, and Tomiczek later became Chapman's business manager. Tomiczek died of a heart attack in 1992.
Among Chapman's closest friends were Keith Moon
of The Who
, singer Harry Nilsson
, and The Beatles
' Ringo Starr
.
. He produced scenes for the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus that month, the last time he would appear on television, but he became ill again on 1 October. Those present at the time of Chapman's death in a Maidstone hospital included his brother, sister-in-law, husband David Sherlock
, and his former Python fellows John Cleese
and Michael Palin
, who had to be led out of the room to deal with their grief
. Terry Jones
and Peter Cook
had visited earlier that day. Chapman's death occurred on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, and Jones called it "the worst case of party-pooping in all history".
The five surviving Python members decided to stay away from Chapman's private funeral, to prevent its becoming a media circus
and to give his family some privacy. They sent a wreath in the shape of the famous Python foot with the message "To Graham from the other Pythons. Stop us if we're getting too silly." They held a private memorial service in St Bartholomew's Hospital
in London on the evening of 6 December 1989, with a chorus of the Chinese version of the hymn "Jerusalem" ("… Bling me my speal, oh crowds unford, bling me my chaliot of file…"). Cleese delivered his eulogy to Chapman, which began as follows:
Cleese continued after a break from laughter in the audience, claiming that Chapman had whispered in his ear the night before while he was writing the speech, saying:
Palin then spoke, saying that he liked to think that Chapman was there with them all that day—"or rather, he will be in about 25 minutes," a reference to Chapman's habitual lateness when they were all working together. Idle, choking back tears, stated that Chapman had thought that Palin talked too much and had died rather than listen to him any more. He also led other surviving Python members along with Chapman's family and close friends in a rendition of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
" from the film Life of Brian. Not to be outdone by Cleese, Idle was heard saying during the song's close: "I'd just like to be the last person at this meeting to say 'fuck'. Thank you very much. God bless you, Graham." On 31 December 1999, Chapman's ashes were rumoured to have been "blasted into the skies in a rocket
". In reality, however, Sherlock scattered Chapman's ashes on Snowdon
, North Wales
on 18 June 2005.
. At the 1998 Aspen Comedy Arts festival, the urn was "accidentally" knocked over by Terry Gilliam
, spilling the "ashes" on-stage. The apparently cremated
remains were then removed with a dust-buster. Asteroid 9617 Grahamchapman
, named in Chapman's honour, is one of six asteroids named after members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
In 1997, Sherlock allowed Jim Yoakum to start the Graham Chapman Archives. Later that year, the novel Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies
was released. It is a semi-sequel to A Liar's Autobiography, with Chapman works compiled by Yoakum. Ojril: The Completely Incomplete Graham Chapman, a collection of previously unpublished material, was released in 1999. It contains scripts Chapman wrote with Douglas Adams and others, such as "Our show for Ringo Starr, a.k.a. Goodnight Vienna". In 2005 Calcium Made Interesting: Sketches, Letters, Essays & Gondolas was published. At one time, the script for "Out of the Trees", written by Chapman and Adams in 1975 (and later extensively rewritten by Chapman with Bernard McKenna), was online. Jim Yoakum had it removed, to the disappointment of co-writer Adams, who had made no objections to it being there.
Recordings of Graham Chapman's college tours in the 1980s have been released over the years. The CD A Liar Live was delayed several times, but was released as A Six Pack of Lies in 1997. Other college tours also came out on CD, such as Spot the Loony in 2001. A DVD of the tours (Looks Like a Brown Trouser Job) was released in 2005. The single episodes for "Out of the Trees", which was wiped but later recovered on an early home video system, and "Jake's Journey" still have not been released. In 2004, there was talk of a movie about Chapman's life, to be called Gin and Tonic, by Hippofilms in cooperation with Jim Yoakum. Auditions were held in March 2004 in California, but the project has been officially abandoned. Its website is no longer online and the Internet Movie Database
page has been deleted; the Graham Chapman Archive's website has disappeared as well.
In June 2011 it was announced that most of the surviving members of the Monty Python ensemble will perform in a 3-D
animated
version of Chapman's memoir A Liar’s Autobiography: Volume VI. The voices of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones will be spliced into commentary recorded by Chapman reading from his memoir and taped shortly before his death. The film is expected to be released in 2012 with a running time of approximately 85 minutes.
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
comedy troupe.
Early life and education
In the introduction to Chapman's (2005/2006) posthumous anthology, Jim Yoakum notes that "the radio shows didn't necessarily make him laugh. Only a select few got chuckles from young Chapman including Frankie HowerdFrankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
, the team of Jimmy Jewel
Jimmy Jewel
James Arthur Thomas J. Marsh, known as Jimmy Jewel, was a British television and film actor.The son of a comedian and actor who also used the stage name Jimmy Jewel, the youngster made his stage debut in Robinson Crusoe in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, at the age of four, performed with his father...
and Ben Warriss
Ben Warriss
Ben Holden Driver Warriss , known as Ben Warriss, was an English comedian, and the first cousin of fellow comedy actor Jimmy Jewel - allegedly being born in the same bed and brought up in the same household at 52 Andover Street, Sheffield...
, It's That Man Again
It's That Man Again
It's That Man Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran from 1939 to 1949. The title was a contemporary phrase referring to ever more frequent news-stories about Hitler in the lead-up to World War II, and specifically a headline in the Daily Express written by Bert Gunn...
, Educating Archie
Educating Archie
Educating Archie was a BBC Light Programme comedy show broadcast from June 1950 to February 1958 on Sunday lunchtimes featuring ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andrews. The programme was successful despite a ventriloquist on radio seeming strange, though in the United States, Edgar...
, Take It From Here
Take It From Here
Take It From Here was a British radio comedy programme broadcast by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starred Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and Joy Nichols...
and Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh. 'I especially liked Robert Morton, although no one else seemed to like him very much. He would do things like tell jokes the wrong way around and switch punch lines. He was obviously a very good comedian and was ahead of his time. The appearance of incompetence was wonderful. He was one of my heroes.' But the show that truly astounded Graham, and was a major influence on his comedy was The Goon Show" (p.xvii). Chapman states "from about the age of seven or eight I used to be an avid listener of a radio programme called The Goon Show. In fact, at that stage I wanted to be a Goon" (p. 23).
Before Python
John CleeseJohn Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
and Chapman wrote professionally for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
during the 1960s, primarily for David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
, but also for Marty Feldman
Marty Feldman
Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young...
. Chapman also contributed sketches to the BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
and television programmes such as The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
The Illustrated Weekly Hudd is a comedy sketch series that ran on the BBC from 1966 to 1967, starring Roy Hudd.The series incorporated myriad comedic styles, elaborate make-up and costume changes, and a diverse array of locations in order to create a singular visual style. The series featured Doug...
(starring Roy Hudd
Roy Hudd
Roy Hudd, OBE is an English comedian, actor, radio host and author, and an authority on the history of music hall entertainment.- Early life :...
), Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
, This is Petula Clark
This is Petula Clark
This is Petula Clark was a six-episode comedy/variety series that aired on the BBC in 1966. In the series, host Petula Clark intermingled her contemporary hits with popular standards, and introduced to the British public international stars who were relatively unknown in the UK. Guests included...
, and This Is Tom Jones
This Is Tom Jones
This is Tom Jones is an ATV variety series starring Tom Jones. The series was exported to the United States by ITC Entertainment and was networked there by ABC....
. Chapman, Cleese, and Tim Brooke-Taylor
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
then joined Feldman in the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...
. Here Chapman displayed a gift for deadpan
Deadpan
Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone, solemn, blunt, disgusted or matter-of-fact voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor...
comedy (particularly evident in the sketch "The Minister Who Falls to Pieces
The Minister Who Falls to Pieces
Also known as "The Minister Who Falls Apart" and "The Disintegrating Minister," this was a surreal British comedy sketch. Though it was heard on radio in 1966 , it is probably best known in the version performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graham Chapman in the later 1960s on television, in At Last...
") and for imitating various British dialects. Chapman, and on occasion Cleese, also wrote for the long-running television comedy series Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House (TV series)
Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...
. Chapman also co-wrote several episodes with Bernard McKenna
Bernard McKenna (writer)
Bernard McKenna is a Scottish writer/producer who has written, or co-written, many hours of British television comedy. He is most noted for his work with Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame as well as his collaborations with Peter Cook and Douglas Adams...
and David Sherlock
David Sherlock
David Sherlock is a British writer and was the life partner of Graham Chapman of Monty Python, whom he met in 1966 in Ibiza.-Biography:David Sherlock was the inspiration for many Monty Python sketches, including "Anne Elk", and was the originator of the Python sketch "Death of Mary Queen of Scots"...
.
Monty Python
In 1969 Chapman and Cleese joined Michael PalinMichael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
, and American artist and animator Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
for the BBC television comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
. He most often played characters with personalities close to his own: outwardly calm and authoritative figures barely concealing a manic unpredictability.
In David Morgan's 1999 book Monty Python Speaks, Cleese asserted that Chapman – although officially his co-writer for many of their sketches – contributed comparatively little in the way of direct writing. Rather, the Pythons have said that his biggest contribution in the writing room was an intuition as to what was funny. John Cleese said in an interview that one of Chapman's great attributes was "his weird takes on things." In writing sessions Chapman "would lob in an idea or a line from out of left field into the engine room, but he could never be the engine", Cleese said. In the Dead Parrot
Dead Parrot
The "Dead Parrot Sketch", alternatively and originally known as the "Pet Shop Sketch" or "Parrot Sketch", is a popular sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus, and one of the most famous in the history of British television comedy...
sketch, written mostly by Cleese, the frustrated customer was initially trying to return a faulty toaster
Toaster
The toaster is typically a small electric kitchen appliance designed to toast multiple types of bread products. A typical modern two-slice toaster draws anywhere between 600 and 1200 W and makes toast in 1 to 3 minutes...
to a shop. Chapman would ask "How can we make this madder?", and then came up with the idea that returning a dead Norwegian Blue parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
to a pet shop might make a more interesting subject than a toaster.
Chapman played the lead roles in the troupe's only two narrative feature films: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1974 British comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
and Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...
. Cleese complimented his writing partner by saying that he was "very possibly the best actor of all of us".
Final years
In the late 1970s, Chapman moved to Los Angeles, where he guest-starred on many U.S. television shows, including Hollywood SquaresHollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
, Still Crazy Like a Fox
Still Crazy Like a Fox
Still Crazy Like a Fox was a 1987 American television movie starring Jack Warden and John Rubinstein as a father and son team of private detectives who become mixed up in a high-level murder case whilst on vacation in England. It is most noted for the appearance of Monty Python Graham Chapman in a...
, and the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sketch series The Big Show
The Big Show (TV series)
The Big Show is an American comedy-variety-musical television series produced and broadcast by NBC for several months in 1980.The series aimed to revitalize the moribund variety television genre, which had been in a downward spiral since the cancellations of the Ed Sullivan Show and The Carol...
.
Upon returning to England he became involved with the Dangerous Sports Club
Dangerous Sports Club
The Dangerous Sports Club, a group of adventurers and extreme sports pioneers based in Oxford and London, were active from the late 1970s for about ten years, during which they developed modern bungee jumping and experimented with a variety of other innovative sporting activities.-Origins:The...
(an extreme sport
Extreme sport
An extreme sport is a popular term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger...
s club which introduced bungee jumping
Bungee jumping
Bungee jumping is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that...
to a wide audience). Chapman and Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
wrote a pilot for a TV series in 1975, Out of the Trees
Out of the Trees
Out of the Trees is a 1975 television sketch show pilot written by Graham Chapman, Douglas Adams and Bernard McKenna that was broadcast on BBC 2 in 1976. The show shared some of the stream-of-consciousness style of Monty Python's Flying Circus, of which Chapman was a member...
, but it never went beyond the initial episode. They also wrote an unmade show for Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
. Chapman mentored Adams, but they later had a falling out and did not speak for several years.
In 1978 Chapman co-wrote (with Bernard McKenna) and starred in The Odd Job
The Odd Job
The Odd Job is a 1978 British comedy film starring Graham Chapman . It tells the story of a man named Arthur Harris who is recently abandoned by his wife. He becomes so depressed that he hires an "odd job man" to kill him...
alongside David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
who had previously appeared on Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....
with the pre-Python Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. The film was only moderately successful.
His memoir, A Liar's Autobiography
A Liar's Autobiography
A Liar's Autobiography humorous, fictionalised account of his life written by Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame. First published in Britain in 1980, it was republished in 1991 and again in 1999...
, was published in 1980 and, unusually for a work of this type, had five authors: Chapman, his partner David Sherlock
David Sherlock
David Sherlock is a British writer and was the life partner of Graham Chapman of Monty Python, whom he met in 1966 in Ibiza.-Biography:David Sherlock was the inspiration for many Monty Python sketches, including "Anne Elk", and was the originator of the Python sketch "Death of Mary Queen of Scots"...
, Alex Martin
Alex Martin
Alexandrea "Alex" Martin is an American actress and producer. She was awarded the title of Miss Golden Globe at the 1994 Golden Globe Awards.She is the daughter of actress Whoopi Goldberg and Alvin Martin.-Filmography:...
, David Yallop
David Yallop
David Anthony Yallop is an agnostic British author who writes chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s he also contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows...
and Douglas Adams.
Although writing had begun in the late seventies, by 1982 Chapman was finally able to secure funding for his much cherished pirate project Yellowbeard
Yellowbeard
Yellowbeard is a 1983 comedy film by Graham Chapman, along with Peter Cook, Bernard McKenna and David Sherlock. It was directed by Mel Damski, and was Marty Feldman's last film appearance.-Plot:...
. Once again Chapman collaborated with writer Bernard McKenna and for the first time with Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
. The film which starred Chapman as the eponymous pirate also featured appearances from Peter Cook, Marty Feldman
Marty Feldman
Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young...
, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and Cheech & Chong. The film marks the last appearance of Feldman who suffered a fatal heart attack during shooting. The movie was released in 1983 to mixed reviews. In a 2001 interview, Cleese described Yellowbeard as "one of the six worst films made in the history of the world." Eric Idle also later dismissed the film although remembered his participation fondly.
After reuniting with the Pythons in 1983 for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Chapman began a lengthy series of U.S. college tours where he would tell the audience anecdotes about Monty Python, the Dangerous Sports Club, Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
, and other subjects. In 1988, he appeared in the Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
video, Can I Play with Madness
Can I Play with Madness
"Can I Play with Madness" was the sixteenth single released by Iron Maiden. Released in 1988, it is the first single from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album and hit number 3 in the UK charts. The song is about a young man who wants to learn the future from an old prophet with a crystal ball...
. His last project was to have been a TV series called Jake's Journey
Jake's Journey
Jake's Journey was a television pilot created in 1988. It is notable as being one of the last projects for both Graham Chapman and Hal Ashby....
. Although the pilot episode was made, there were difficulties selling the project. Chapman was also to have played a guest role as a television presenter in the Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf is a British comedy franchise which primarily comprises eight series of a television science fiction sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999 and Dave from 2009–present. It gained cult following. It was created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, who also wrote the first six series...
episode "Timeslides", but died before filming was to have started.
In the years since Chapman's death, despite the existence of the "Graham Chapman Archive", only a few of his projects have been released. One of these projects is a play entitled O Happy Day, brought to life in 2000 by Dad's Garage Theatre Company
Dad's Garage Theatre Company
Dad's Garage Theatre Company, located in Inman Park near Little Five Points in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in 1995 by Chris Blair, Marc Cram, Sean Daniels, John Gregorio, David Keeton, Joseph Limbaugh, Matt Stanton, and Matt Young. The small theater company has since achieved international...
in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Cleese and Palin assisted the theatre company in adapting the play.
Personal life
Chapman was a tall (6'2"/1.88 m), craggy pipe-smoker who enjoyed mountaineering and playing rugbyRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
.
Chapman was an alcoholic from his time in medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
. His fellow Pythons noted he felt he needed a drink or two to "face the world" and at times would forget in the afternoon material that had been written the same day. His drinking also affected his performance on the TV recording set as well as on the set of Holy Grail, where he suffered from withdrawal
Withdrawal
Withdrawal can refer to any sort of separation, but is most commonly used to describe the group of symptoms that occurs upon the abrupt discontinuation/separation or a decrease in dosage of the intake of medications, recreational drugs, and alcohol...
symptoms including delirium tremens
Delirium tremens
Delirium tremens is an acute episode of delirium that is usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol, first described in 1813...
. He stopped drinking on Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
1977, having just irritated the other Pythons with an outspoken (and drunken) interview with the New Musical Express
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
. Before going sober
Sobriety
Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels, or effects from, alcohol or other drugs that alter ones mood or behaviors. According to WHO "Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms..." sobriety is continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use...
, Chapman jokingly referred to himself as the British actress Betty Marsden
Betty Marsden
Betty Marsden was an English comedy actress.Originally from Liverpool, she attended the Italia Conti Stage School and ENSA.In the radio series Beyond Our Ken, she played Fanny Haddock, a takeoff of Fanny Cradock...
, possibly because of Marsden's oft-quoted desire to die with a glass of gin
Gin
Gin is a spirit which derives its predominant flavour from juniper berries . Although several different styles of gin have existed since its origins, it is broadly differentiated into two basic legal categories...
in her hand. John Cleese used Marsden's name in his eulogy at Chapman's memorial service.
Chapman kept his sexuality
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
a secret
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
until the 1970s, although he did allude to it in some Monty Python sketches. He publicly came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as homosexual on a chat show hosted by British jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so. Several days later, he came out to a group of friends at a party held at his home in Belsize Park
Belsize Park
Belsize Park is an area of north-west London, England, in the London Borough of Camden.It is located north-west of Charing Cross and situated on the Northern Line. It borders Hampstead to the north and west, Kentish Town and Gospel Oak to the east, Camden Town to the south east and Primrose Hill...
, where he officially introduced them to his boyfriend, David Sherlock
David Sherlock
David Sherlock is a British writer and was the life partner of Graham Chapman of Monty Python, whom he met in 1966 in Ibiza.-Biography:David Sherlock was the inspiration for many Monty Python sketches, including "Anne Elk", and was the originator of the Python sketch "Death of Mary Queen of Scots"...
, whom he had met in Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
in 1966. Chapman later told a story in his college tour that when he went public, a member of the television audience wrote to the Pythons to complain that she had heard a member of the team was gay, adding that the Bible said any man who lies with a man should be taken out and stoned
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
. With fellow Pythons already aware
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
of his sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
, Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
replied, "We've found out who it was and we've had him shot." In his book Graham Crackers
Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies
Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies was released in 1997, it is written by Graham Chapman and is a semi-sequel to A Liar's Autobiography....
, Chapman said that this took place just before John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
left the show, and he wondered what the woman thought about his disappearance after getting Idle's response.
Chapman was a vocal spokesman for LGBT rights, and in 1972 he lent his support to the fledgling newspaper Gay News
Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality...
, which publicly acknowledged his financial and editorial support by listing him as one of its "special friends". In 1971, Chapman and Sherlock adopted John Tomiczek as their son. Chapman met Tomiczek when the teenager was a runaway from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. After discussions with Tomiczek's father, it was agreed that Chapman would become Tomiczek's legal guardian, and Tomiczek later became Chapman's business manager. Tomiczek died of a heart attack in 1992.
Among Chapman's closest friends were Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, singer Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
, and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
.
Death and funeral
Chapman died on 4 October 1989 after suffering from throat (specifically tonsil) cancer and secondary spinal cancer. He had several chemotherapy treatments and tumour removal surgeries within the final months of his life, and at one point he used a wheelchair. By September 1989 his cancer was declared terminalTerminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...
. He produced scenes for the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus that month, the last time he would appear on television, but he became ill again on 1 October. Those present at the time of Chapman's death in a Maidstone hospital included his brother, sister-in-law, husband David Sherlock
David Sherlock
David Sherlock is a British writer and was the life partner of Graham Chapman of Monty Python, whom he met in 1966 in Ibiza.-Biography:David Sherlock was the inspiration for many Monty Python sketches, including "Anne Elk", and was the originator of the Python sketch "Death of Mary Queen of Scots"...
, and his former Python fellows John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
and Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
, who had to be led out of the room to deal with their grief
Grief
Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something to which a bond was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions...
. Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
and Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
had visited earlier that day. Chapman's death occurred on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, and Jones called it "the worst case of party-pooping in all history".
The five surviving Python members decided to stay away from Chapman's private funeral, to prevent its becoming a media circus
Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...
and to give his family some privacy. They sent a wreath in the shape of the famous Python foot with the message "To Graham from the other Pythons. Stop us if we're getting too silly." They held a private memorial service in St Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known as Barts, is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London, England.-Early history:It was founded in 1123 by Raherus or Rahere , a favourite courtier of King Henry I...
in London on the evening of 6 December 1989, with a chorus of the Chinese version of the hymn "Jerusalem" ("… Bling me my speal, oh crowds unford, bling me my chaliot of file…"). Cleese delivered his eulogy to Chapman, which began as follows:
Cleese continued after a break from laughter in the audience, claiming that Chapman had whispered in his ear the night before while he was writing the speech, saying:
Palin then spoke, saying that he liked to think that Chapman was there with them all that day—"or rather, he will be in about 25 minutes," a reference to Chapman's habitual lateness when they were all working together. Idle, choking back tears, stated that Chapman had thought that Palin talked too much and had died rather than listen to him any more. He also led other surviving Python members along with Chapman's family and close friends in a rendition of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
"Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is a popular song written by Eric Idle that was originally featured in the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian and has gone on to become a common singalong at public events such as football matches as well as funerals.-History:Whilst trying to come up...
" from the film Life of Brian. Not to be outdone by Cleese, Idle was heard saying during the song's close: "I'd just like to be the last person at this meeting to say 'fuck'. Thank you very much. God bless you, Graham." On 31 December 1999, Chapman's ashes were rumoured to have been "blasted into the skies in a rocket
Space burial
Space burial is a burial procedure in which a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased are placed in a capsule the size of a tube of lipstick and are launched into space using a rocket...
". In reality, however, Sherlock scattered Chapman's ashes on Snowdon
Snowdon
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain"...
, North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
on 18 June 2005.
Legacy
After Chapman's death, speculation of a Python revival inevitably faded. Idle stated: "We would only do a reunion if Chapman came back from the dead. So we're negotiating with his agent." Subsequent gatherings of the Pythons have included an urn said to contain Chapman's ashesCremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
. At the 1998 Aspen Comedy Arts festival, the urn was "accidentally" knocked over by Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
, spilling the "ashes" on-stage. The apparently cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
remains were then removed with a dust-buster. Asteroid 9617 Grahamchapman
9617 Grahamchapman
9617 Grahamchapman is an asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was discovered on 17 March 1993, at the European Southern Observatory during the Uppsala-ESO Survey of Asteroids and Comets . It is named after the British comedian Graham Chapman, who died in 1989...
, named in Chapman's honour, is one of six asteroids named after members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
In 1997, Sherlock allowed Jim Yoakum to start the Graham Chapman Archives. Later that year, the novel Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies
Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies
Graham Crackers: Fuzzy Memories, Silly Bits, and Outright Lies was released in 1997, it is written by Graham Chapman and is a semi-sequel to A Liar's Autobiography....
was released. It is a semi-sequel to A Liar's Autobiography, with Chapman works compiled by Yoakum. Ojril: The Completely Incomplete Graham Chapman, a collection of previously unpublished material, was released in 1999. It contains scripts Chapman wrote with Douglas Adams and others, such as "Our show for Ringo Starr, a.k.a. Goodnight Vienna". In 2005 Calcium Made Interesting: Sketches, Letters, Essays & Gondolas was published. At one time, the script for "Out of the Trees", written by Chapman and Adams in 1975 (and later extensively rewritten by Chapman with Bernard McKenna), was online. Jim Yoakum had it removed, to the disappointment of co-writer Adams, who had made no objections to it being there.
Recordings of Graham Chapman's college tours in the 1980s have been released over the years. The CD A Liar Live was delayed several times, but was released as A Six Pack of Lies in 1997. Other college tours also came out on CD, such as Spot the Loony in 2001. A DVD of the tours (Looks Like a Brown Trouser Job) was released in 2005. The single episodes for "Out of the Trees", which was wiped but later recovered on an early home video system, and "Jake's Journey" still have not been released. In 2004, there was talk of a movie about Chapman's life, to be called Gin and Tonic, by Hippofilms in cooperation with Jim Yoakum. Auditions were held in March 2004 in California, but the project has been officially abandoned. Its website is no longer online and the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
page has been deleted; the Graham Chapman Archive's website has disappeared as well.
In June 2011 it was announced that most of the surviving members of the Monty Python ensemble will perform in a 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
version of Chapman's memoir A Liar’s Autobiography: Volume VI. The voices of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones will be spliced into commentary recorded by Chapman reading from his memoir and taped shortly before his death. The film is expected to be released in 2012 with a running time of approximately 85 minutes.
External links
- Graham Chapman at PythOnline Pythons Page
- Graham Chapman at the BBC Comedy Guide
- Graham Chapman at the Comedy Zone
- Graham Chapman at Gay Greats