Lost John Cleese TV Sketches Found After 47 Years

Cleese and fellow Python Graham Chapman were in a sketch show called 'At Last the 1948 Show'

Lost episodes from a television sketch show that featured John Cleese and fellow member of Monty Python Graham Chapman have been found after 47 years.

The Radio Times reports that two episodes of an ITV sketch series, At Last the 1948 Show, were found in the archives of the late famed television interviewer David Frost. The British Film Institute (BFI) said that both episodes will be aired for the first time since 1967.

At Last the 1948 Show was a satirical sketch comedy show that ran for 13 episodes. Despite the title the show first aired February 1967 and left the screen in November 1968. The show also featured Tim Brooke-Taylor, Marty Feldman as well as Frost.

The find is huge news for Python aficionados, as At Last was among the very first television appearances for Cleese and Chapman. The surrealist sketch nature of the show would also go on to influence Monty Python, which hit television two years after At Last ended. At Last is famous for the first use of the legendary Python catchphrase "And now for something completely different" and also saw the first appearance of the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch.

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The BFI said that the two rediscovered episodes of At Last will be presented at their cinema in December as part of the Institute’s annual celebration of newly recovered television programs, Missing Believed Wiped.

The BFI's Missing Believed Wiped coordinator Dick Fiddy said: “This latest recovery is a crucial find. It represents a key moment in the history of British television comedy featuring the combined talents of some of its greatest exponents. These gifted comedians, all in their 20s and 30s, were let off the leash and allowed to experiment with style and content, resulting in shows which have had an enduring influence on comedy worldwide."

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