Subj : Re: Rampage of the Cancerous Black Spot
To   : Nullibicity
From : P
Date : Sat Jan 27 2007 01:49 am

From: "P" <pnj6@hotmail.com>

> I don't think I've ever heard the cancer version.  Actually, I think the
> gangrene version is better, both because the edit is so blatant (I first
> thought it was supposed to be like that) and "gangrene" is a funnier
> word than "cancer."

The "cancer" version has most certainly been aired and is possibly part of one 
of the Python stage shows, German episodes, or something - I can't definitively 
recall, but I know I've heard it.  Coincidentally, it's Graham who overdubbed 
the word "cancer" with "gangrene" on television.  When I first saw the episode 
in the late '70s I assumed the overdubbing was a good old "nudge nudge" joke in 
the best British tradition and that in fact the foolish man HAD died of 
syphillis, gonhorrea or something similar.

The powers that be (were?) at the BBC were very nervous about many aspects of 
Python and flailed the censorship quill many times.  Examples of this are 
outlined in Robert Hewison's brilliant book "Monty Python: The Case Against".  
On this particular occasion, as I recall, someone in upper management deemed 
that the concept of cancer was too serious to be heard uttered in a comedy.  
The reason the Python's used the word in the first place was simply a matter of 
- why SHOULDN'T we put it in?  After all, these were 6 young men whose very 
existence in the public eye was built on a degree of subversion.

There is only one recorded case of self-censorship by the Pythons themselves.  
It was a Terry Gilliam cartoon filmed for an early episode, in which a 
telephone linesman is seen hammering away at a telegraph pole... which, as we 
zoom out, we see is really one of the three crosses of Calvary. Given what the 
boys achieved later on with Life Of Brian it's rather amazing that they, 
particularly Cleese, were so nervous about this cartoon.  But there we are.

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