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55-405: Rutland Weekend Television ( RWT ) was a television sketch show written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes . Two series were broadcast on BBC2 , the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes in 1976. A Christmas special was broadcast on Boxing Day 1975. It was Idle's first television project after Monty Python's Flying Circus , which had ended

110-530: A cast of recurring characters. In North America , contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out of The Second City in Chicago and Toronto , which was built upon the success in Minneapolis of The Brave New Workshop and Dudley Riggs . Notable contemporary American stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City,

165-520: A collection of favourite recipes – some original, some adapted – which were posthumously published by his friend and dealer Maurice Joyant as L'Art de la Cuisine . The book was republished in English translation in 1966 as The Art of Cuisine  – a tribute to his inventive (and wide-ranging) cooking. By February 1899, Toulouse-Lautrec's alcoholism began to take its toll, and he collapsed from exhaustion. His family had him committed to Folie Saint-James ,

220-611: A larger programme. In Britain , it moved to stage performances by Cambridge Footlights , such as Beyond the Fringe and A Clump of Plinths (which evolved into Cambridge Circus ), to radio, with such shows as It's That Man Again and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again , then to television, with such shows as Not Only... But Also , Monty Python's Flying Circus , Not the Nine O'Clock News (and its successor Alas Smith and Jones ), and A Bit of Fry and Laurie . An early, perhaps

275-588: A living of his own. Other artists looked down on the work, but he ignored them. The cabaret reserved a seat for him and displayed his paintings. Among the works that he painted for the Moulin Rouge and other Parisian nightclubs are depictions of the singer Yvette Guilbert ; the dancer Louise Weber, better known as La Goulue (The Glutton), who created the French can-can ; and the much subtler dancer Jane Avril . Toulouse-Lautrec's family were Anglophiles , and though he

330-605: A man "suffering from love song" spoofing The Beatles , singing "I Must Be in Love", a pastiche of some of the early Lennon–McCartney songs. This was followed by the beginnings of a documentary feature about the band, cut short when the camera, mounted on a car, speeds off. This scene was shown in the United States on Saturday Night Live and was later remade in the spinoff film, All You Need Is Cash , featuring Idle, Innes, Ricky Fataar and John Halsey (who also appeared in many of

385-633: A nanny cared for him. At the age of eight, Toulouse-Lautrec lived with his mother in Paris, where he drew sketches and caricatures in his exercise workbooks. A friend of his father, René Princeteau , sometimes visited to give informal lessons. Some of Toulouse-Lautrec's early paintings are of horses, a speciality of Princeteau's and a subject Toulouse-Lautrec later revisited in his "Circus Paintings". In 1875, Toulouse-Lautrec returned to Albi because his mother had concerns about his health. He took thermal baths at Amélie-les-Bains , and his mother consulted doctors in

440-417: A number of spinoff films, including The Blues Brothers (1980), Wayne's World (1992) and Superstar (1999). The idea of running characters was taken a step further with shows like The Red Green Show and The League of Gentlemen , where sketches centered on the various inhabitants of the fictional towns of Possum Lake and Royston Vasey , respectively. In Little Britain , sketches focused on

495-454: A pre- MTV show that wove together strange guests and music videos in a bewildering array of musical styles and visual styles. The premise of Rutland Weekend Television is superficially similar to that of the Canadian comedy series Second City Television ( SCTV ), as both are comedic shows about a small independent low-budget TV network. However, the shows were created independently around

550-515: A prostitute (reputedly sponsored by his friends), which led him to paint his first painting of a prostitute in Montmartre , a woman rumoured to be Marie-Charlet. In 1885, Toulouse-Lautrec began to exhibit his work at the cabaret of Aristide Bruant 's Mirliton . With his studies finished, Toulouse-Lautrec participated in an exposition in 1887 in Toulouse using the pseudonym "Tréclau", the verlan of

605-505: A range of sketches and material to be presented, all as part of the fictional network's hosted programming. Nevertheless, even this very loose concept was frequently ignored, and material was presented with a more stream-of-consciousness approach, with no particular tie-in to the RWT framework. Typically, in addition to sketch material, each episode also featured two music videos (a term not yet coined in 1975) of Neil Innes songs, which were woven into

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660-578: A sanatorium in Neuilly-sur-Seine for three months. While committed, he drew 39 circus portraits. After his release, he returned to the Paris studio and travelled throughout France. Both his physical and mental health began to decline due to alcoholism and syphilis . On 9 September 1901, at the age of 36, Toulouse-Lautrec died from complications due to alcoholism and syphilis at his mother's estate, Château Malromé , in Saint-André-du-Bois . He

715-553: A series of pleasant en plein air paintings of Carmen Gaudin, the same red-headed model who appears in The Laundress (1888). In 1890, during the banquet of the XX exhibition in Brussels, he challenged to a duel the artist Henry de Groux , who criticised van Gogh's works. Paul Signac also declared he would continue to fight for Van Gogh's honour if Lautrec was killed. De Groux apologised for

770-843: A short song titled "The Children of Rock-N-Roll". This 30-second piece was later expanded into a full Rutles song, "Good Times Roll", for the All You Need Is Cash film and album. Aside from the first appearance of the Rutles, the show features some surreal humour in the style associated with Monty Python. One sketch features the Lone Ranger (Idle) transformed into the Lone Accountant, with Innes as Tonto accidentally murdering holdup victims while trying to rescue them ("too many gin-and-tonic at lunch... You think it easy to be Indian and accountant?"). Another scene features Gwen Taylor visiting

825-491: A variant disorder along the lines of osteopetrosis , achondroplasia , or osteogenesis imperfecta . Toulouse-Lautrec's legs ceased to grow when he reached 1.52 m or 5 ft 0 in. He developed an adult torso while retaining his child-sized legs. During a stay in Nice, France , his progress in painting and drawing impressed Princeteau, who persuaded Toulouse-Lautrec's parents to allow him to return to Paris and study under

880-435: A very vocal supporter of him, and his portrait of Oscar Wilde was painted the same year as Wilde's trial. Toulouse-Lautrec was mocked for his short stature and physical appearance, which some biographers have conjectured may have contributed to his abuse of alcohol. Toulouse-Lautrec initially drank only beer and wine, but his tastes expanded into spirits, namely absinthe . The "Earthquake Cocktail" (Tremblement de Terre)

935-472: A young laundress, sold for US$ 22.4 million, setting a new record for the artist for a price at auction. Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa was born at the Château du Bosc, Camjac, Aveyron, in the south of France, the firstborn child of Count Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec Montfa (1838–1913) and Adèle Zoë Tapié de Celeyran (1841–1930). He was a member of an aristocratic family (descended from both

990-400: Is attributed to Toulouse-Lautrec: a potent mixture containing half absinthe and half cognac in a wine goblet. Because of his underdeveloped legs, he walked with the aid of a cane, which he hollowed out and kept filled with liquor in order to ensure that he was never without alcohol. A fine and hospitable cook ( Toulouse-Lautrec Cooking , 1898, Édouard Vuillard), Toulouse-Lautrec built up

1045-588: Is buried in Cimetière de Verdelais , Gironde, a few kilometres from the estate. Toulouse-Lautrec's last words reportedly were "Le vieux con!" ("The old fool!"), his goodbye to his father. After Toulouse-Lautrec's death, his mother, Comtesse Adèle de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, and his art dealer, Maurice Joyant, continued promoting his artwork. His mother contributed funds for a museum to be created in Albi , his birthplace, to show his works. This Musée Toulouse-Lautrec owns

1100-480: Is inexplicably changed to "Kevin" on the RWT soundtrack album.) The original version of "I Must Be in Love", is performed by Neil Innes & Fatso, and is slightly different from the 1978 All You Need Is Cash version. Also of note, on RWT, "The Rutles" are quite clearly a product of Rutland, whereas in All You Need Is Cash , they are relocated to Liverpool. Innes later appeared in another sketch, as "Ron Lennon", performing

1155-531: The Counts of Toulouse and Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec , as well as the Viscounts of Montfa ). His younger brother was born in 1867 but died the following year. Both sons enjoyed the titres de courtoisie of Comte . If Toulouse-Lautrec had outlived his father, he would have inherited the family title of Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec . After the death of his brother, Toulouse-Lautrec's parents separated, and

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1210-592: The Upright Citizens Brigade , and The Groundlings . In South Bend, Indiana , area high school students produced a sketch comedy series called Beyond Our Control that aired on the local NBC affiliate WNDU-TV from 1967 to 1986. Warner Bros. Animation made two sketch comedy shows, Mad and Right Now Kapow . Australian television of the '80s and '90s featured several successful sketch comedy shows, notably The Comedy Company , whose recurring characters included Col'n Carpenter , Kylie Mole and Con

1265-678: The Vingt (the 'Twenties') exhibition in Brussels in February. Theo van Gogh , the brother of Vincent van Gogh , bought Poudre de Riz (Rice Powder) for 150 francs for the Goupil & Cie gallery. From 1889 to 1894, Toulouse-Lautrec took part in the Salon des Indépendants regularly. He made several landscapes of Montmartre. Tucked deep into Montmartre in Monsieur Pere Foret's garden, Toulouse-Lautrec executed

1320-486: The Fruiterer . An early British example is the influential The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959). Sketch films made during the 1970s and 1980s include If You Don't Stop It... You'll Go Blind and the sequel Can I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses? , The Groove Tube , Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) , The Kentucky Fried Movie and its sequel Amazon Women on

1375-586: The Moon , and Monty Python 's And Now for Something Completely Different and The Meaning of Life . More recent sketch films include The Underground Comedy Movie , InAPPropriate Comedy , Movie 43 and Livrés chez vous sans contact . Many of the sketch comedy revues in Britain included seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival . Since 1999, the growing sketch comedy scene has precipitated

1430-460: The basis of a lot of the show's jokes. Idle, in a 1975 Radio Times interview, remarked, "It was made on a shoestring budget, and someone else was wearing the shoe. The studio is the same size as the weather forecast studio and nearly as good. We had to bring the sets up four floors for each scene, then take them down again. While the next set was coming up, we'd change our make-up. Every minute mattered. It's not always funny to be funny from ten in

1485-1003: The cheaper-looking sets added to the show; "It was sometimes a problem but that was in fact the whole raison d'etre of the programme. It was such a cheap budget programme that it worked in our favour. You could actually show how cheap and cheerful it was because it was Rutland Weekend Television . It was made in a studio at the BBC called Presentation B, which is where they do the weather from." Ham sandwich, bucket and water plastic Duralex rubber McFisheries underwear. Plugged rabbit emulsion, zinc custard without sustenance in kipling-duff geriatric scenery, maximises press insulating government grunting sapphire-clubs incidentally. But tonight, sam pan Bombay Bermuda in diphtheria rustic McAlpine splendour, rabbit and foot-foot-phooey jugs rapidly big biro ruveliners musk-green gauges micturate with nipples and tiptoe rusting machinery, rustically inclined. Good evening and welcome. Idle said of his RWT colleagues (in

1540-508: The colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant, and provocative images of the sometimes decadent affairs of those times. Born into the aristocracy, Toulouse-Lautrec broke both his legs around the time of his adolescence and, possibly due to the rare condition pycnodysostosis , was very short as an adult due to his undersized legs. In addition to alcoholism, he developed an affinity for brothels and prostitutes that directed

1595-401: The development of sketch comedy festivals in cities all around North America. Noted festivals include: Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec ( French: [tuluz lotʁɛk] ), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in

1650-508: The doctor to complain of her constantly changing costume and surroundings and being diagnosed with "bad continuity." The prescribed treatment is editing out two weeks of her life, after which she says she feels well, and a bit hungry... though her soundtrack is still off. She then becomes a victim of recurring film flashbacks, eventually disappearing back into her childhood. Innes subsequently created and starred in The Innes Book of Records ,

1705-484: The episodes have been released on DVD – the show has complicated rights issues, belonging in principle both to the BBC and Idle. Innes claimed that Idle has no interest in seeing the series released, as it reminds him of an unhappy time in his life. In 2021 Idle was hopeful of a release but had little time to dedicate to the project. Sketch show Sketch comedy has its origins in vaudeville and music hall , where many brief humorous acts were strung together to form

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1760-491: The family name "Lautrec". He later exhibited in Paris with Van Gogh and Louis Anquetin . In 1885, Toulouse-Lautrec met Suzanne Valadon . He made several portraits of her and supported her ambition as an artist. It is believed that they were lovers and that she wanted to marry him. Their relationship ended, and Valadon attempted suicide in 1888. In 1888, the Belgian critic Octave Maus invited Lautrec to present eleven pieces at

1815-548: The first, televised example of a sketch comedy show is Texaco Star Theater aka The Milton Berle Show 1948–1967, hosted by Milton Berle . In Mexico, the series Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada , created by Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños under the stage name Chespirito , was broadcast between 1968 and 1973, creating such famous characters as El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado . While separate sketches historically have tended to be unrelated, more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect

1870-464: The flow of the show. The show's title alludes to London Weekend Television . A Rutland television station would be pretty small (representing roughly 30,000 people in an area less than 150 square miles), so a Rutland Weekend Television would have to be ridiculously tiny. The joke was doubly meaningful as Idle had to work with the very limited budget of the BBC Presentation department instead of

1925-525: The heart of Montmartre, an area he rarely left over the next 20 years. After Bonnat took a new job, Toulouse-Lautrec moved to the studio of Fernand Cormon in 1882 and studied for a further five years and established the group of friends he kept for the rest of his life. At this time, he met Émile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh . Cormon, whose instruction was more relaxed than Bonnat's, allowed his pupils to roam Paris, looking for subjects to paint. During this period, Toulouse-Lautrec had his first encounter with

1980-548: The hope of finding a way to improve her son's growth and development. Toulouse-Lautrec's parents were first cousins (their mothers were sisters), and his congenital health conditions have often been attributed to a family history of inbreeding . At the age of 13, Toulouse-Lautrec fractured his right femur , and at age 14, he fractured his left femur. The breaks did not heal properly. Modern physicians attribute this to an unknown genetic disorder , possibly pycnodysostosis (sometimes known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome), or

2035-516: The individual figures in his larger paintings could be identified by silhouette alone , and the names of many of these characters have been recorded. His treatment of his subject matter, whether as portraits, in scenes of Parisian nightlife, or as intimate studies, has been described as alternately "sympathetic" and "dispassionate". Toulouse-Lautrec's skilled depiction of people relied on his highly linear approach emphasising contours . He often applied paint in long, thin brushstrokes leaving much of

2090-450: The life of these women. In 1892 and 1893, he created a series of two women in bed together called Le Lit , and in 1894 he painted Salón de la Rue des Moulins    [ it ; nl ] from memory in his studio. Toulouse-Lautrec declared, "A model is always a stuffed doll, but these women are alive. I wouldn't venture to pay them the hundred sous to sit for me, and God knows whether they would be worth it. They stretch out on

2145-423: The mid-1970s. The book has an issue of "Rutland Stone" bound inside. The back page of this issue carries a full-page advertisement for The Rutles' latest album ("Finchley Road"), a single ("Ticket To Rut"), and an assortment of Rutles merchandise. The book also contains the "Vatican Sex Manual" featuring pictures of Eric Idle in various positions in which it is impossible to have sex. Despite many requests, none of

2200-415: The more lavish budgets associated with light entertainment – so the weekly patter about their inability to buy props and sets reflected reality. Indeed, the last show of the first series featured Idle and Innes, stripped and shivering in blankets under a bare bulb, singing about how the power was about to be cut off. Idle spoke bitterly about these conditions years later but his attempts to overcome them formed

2255-406: The morning until ten at night. As for ad-libbing, what ad-libbing? You don't ad-lib when you're working with three cameras and anyway the material goes out months after you've made it." The episode begins with the in-vision announcer, usually with something going wrong or with something unusual, from announcements catching fire to open auditions for the announcer itself. Occasionally the announcement

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2310-541: The most extensive collection of his works. In a career of less than 20 years, Toulouse-Lautrec created: Toulouse-Lautrec's debt to the Impressionists , particularly the more figurative painters like Manet and Degas , is apparent, that within his works, one can draw parallels to the detached barmaid at A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Manet and the behind-the-scenes ballet dancers of Degas. Toulouse-Lautrec's style

2365-650: The musical items in the series) as the "Pre-Fab Four". Innes wrote the music for the film, most of which was parody of well-known Beatles songs. On RWT , "The Rutles" are portrayed by: Eric Idle as the Harrison character, Neil Innes as the Lennon character, David Battley as the McCartney character, and John Halsey as the Ringo character. They are introduced as: "Dirk" (Idle), "Nasty" (Innes), "Stig" (Battley), & "Barry" (Halsey). ("Barry"

2420-437: The portrait painter Léon Bonnat . He returned to Paris in 1882. Toulouse-Lautrec's mother had high ambitions and, with the aim of her son becoming a fashionable and respected painter, used their family's influence to gain him entry to Bonnat's studio. He was drawn to Montmartre , the area of Paris known for its bohemian lifestyle and the haunt of artists, writers, and philosophers. Studying with Bonnat placed Toulouse-Lautrec in

2475-497: The previous year, and was the catalyst for The Rutles . Rutland Weekend Television ostensibly centred on "Britain's smallest television network", situated in England's smallest (and mainly rural) county, Rutland . Rutland had been abolished as a county in April 1974 so, supposedly, there were tax advantages to broadcasting from somewhere that did not legally exist. This framework allowed for

2530-580: The same Radio Times interview): "Neil Innes is superb. I must be his biggest fan. Henry Woolf played Toulouse-Lautrec in the West End . He's the best small philosopher in London at the moment. And David Battley – what can I say? Straight, pale, dead-pan brilliant. Our cameraman, Peter Bartlett, filmed the Queen but says I'm easier to work with." One show introduced The Rutles , a four-piece band fronted by Innes as

2585-464: The same time in 1975 and 1976, and neither show had been seen by the creators of the other at the time of their initial airings—and indeed, for years after. As well as providing the basis for The Rutles, Rutland Weekend Television also spawned its own LP and book. The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book by Eric Idle, 1976 A dense and lavishly illustrated parody of the Television, films and print media of

2640-747: The sketches within a particular show with recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters include Mr. Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus ; Ted and Ralph from The Fast Show ; The Family from The Carol Burnett Show ; the Head Crusher from The Kids in the Hall ; Martin Short 's Ed Grimley , a recurring character from both SCTV and Saturday Night Live ; The Nerd from Robot Chicken ; and Kevin and Perry from Harry Enfield and Chums . Recurring characters from Saturday Night Live have notably been featured in

2695-568: The slight and left the group, and the duel never took place. Toulouse-Lautrec contributed several illustrations to the magazine Le Rire during the mid-1890s. In addition to his growing alcoholism, Toulouse-Lautrec also visited prostitutes. He was fascinated by their lifestyle as well as that of the "urban underclass", and he incorporated those characters into his paintings. Fellow painter Édouard Vuillard later said that while Toulouse-Lautrec did engage in sex with prostitutes, "the real reasons for his behaviour were moral ones ... Lautrec

2750-485: The sofas like animals, make no demand and they are not in the least bit conceited." He was well appreciated by the women, saying, "I have found girls of my own size! Nowhere else do I feel so much at home." When the Moulin Rouge cabaret opened in 1889, Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to produce a series of posters. His mother had left Paris and, though he had a regular income from his family, making posters offered him

2805-430: The subject matter for many of his works, which record details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris. He is among the painters described as being Post-Impressionists , with Paul Cézanne , Vincent van Gogh , Paul Gauguin , and Georges Seurat also commonly considered as belonging in this loose group. In a 2005 auction at Christie's auction house, La Blanchisseuse , Toulouse-Lautrec's early painting of

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2860-510: Was also influenced by the Ukiyo-e genre of Japanese woodblock prints, which became popular in the Parisian art world . Toulouse-Lautrec excelled at depicting people in their working environments, with the colour and movement of the gaudy nightlife present but the glamour stripped away. He was a master at painting crowd scenes where each figure was highly individualised. At the time they were painted,

2915-446: Was not as fluent as he pretended to be, he spoke English well enough. He travelled to London, where he was commissioned by the J. & E. Bella company to make a poster advertising their paper confetti (plaster confetti was banned after the 1892 Mardi Gras ) and the bicycle advert La Chaîne Simpson . While in London, Toulouse-Lautrec met and befriended Oscar Wilde . When Wilde faced imprisonment in Britain, Toulouse-Lautrec became

2970-494: Was sung or performed by more than one person. In one episode, the announcements are performed by "The Ricochet Brothers" (spelled Ricochet but pronounced Rick-ot-chet) who begin the episode as a pair, and expand to a full cast, each group speaking the announcement in unison. The role of the announcer was to announce the "programmes" (typically sketches) – many programmes would lead into, or announce, one of many songs and accompanying strange vignettes by Neil Innes. Innes recalled that

3025-470: Was too proud to submit to his lot, as a physical freak, an aristocrat cut off from his kind by his grotesque appearance. He found an affinity between his condition and the moral penury of the prostitute." The prostitutes inspired Toulouse-Lautrec. He would frequently visit a brothel located in Rue d'Amboise, where he had a favourite called Mireille. He created about a hundred drawings and fifty paintings inspired by

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