The Brand New Monty Python Bok

Cover of The Brand New Monty Python Bok.

Cover of The Complete Works of Shakespeare and Monty Python: Vol. 1 - Monty Python.

The Brand New Monty Python Bok (Methuen Books, 1973) was the second book to be published by the British comedy troupe Monty Python. It was edited by Eric Idle, and contained more print-style comic pieces than their first effort, Monty Python's Big Red Book.

The white dust jacket was printed with some realistic looking smudged fingerprints on the front leading to complaints from booksellers. These complaints paled in comparison to the fuss created about the cover printed on the actual book.

The title of the fake cover was Tits 'n Bums, which purported to be a church magazine with articles such as "Are you still a verger?", and the by-line a 'weekly look at church architecture'. The background photo for the 'magazine' consisted, however, of several intertwined naked women.

The Bok was released in softcover as The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok. It was later repackaged with Monty Python's Big Red Book as The Complete Works of Shakespeare and Monty Python: Vol. 1 - Monty Python.

The Bok contained an amalgamation of print-style pieces and material derived from Flying Circus sketches. Examples of the former include an interconnected series of jokes based on figures of speech and an advertisement for the fictional Welsh martial art of Llap Goch, which claims to be able to teach students how to grow taller, stronger, faster, and more deadly in a matter of days. Examples of the latter include Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" and the Travel Agent sketch, a collection of stereotypes about annoying tourists and the perils of inter-country air travel.

The content of the first hardback edition of the book is as follows: