New on DVD: Monty Python, Leonard Bernstein and...Meatwad!

Learn more about one of the 20th century's greatest composers—and about one of the funniest comedy troupes ever—and then scream your head off with a horror classic starring a cult gay icon.

Read on for more!

I've been spending the week watching the fascinating mini-series Monty Python: Almost the Truth on IFC, and if you missed it, now you can check out the DVD. While the late gay Python Graham Chapman (above) is obviously not still around to tell his side of the story, his contributions to the group are nonetheless highlighted via archival chat-show clips as well as new interviews with his longtime companion.

If you want even more Python, and didn't shell out for the gigantic box set that came out a while back, that collection's documentaries are now available separately as Monty Python: The Other British Invasion. (If you're a Netflix subscriber, you can see these two docs on your instant queue under the titles Before the Flying Circus and Monty Python Conquers America.)

The 1978 documentary Leonard Bernstein: Reflections provides a rare and intimate peek into the life and work of this legendary gay composer, equally at home on Broadway and in the concert hall. Peter Rosen's doc includes vintage film clips, family photos and revealing interviews.

He's something of a forgotten figure now, but queer film buffs revere actor Michael Greer for his forthrightly queer performances in otherwise questionable movies like The Gay Deceivers and Fortune and Men's Eyes. Greer scored a rare lead role in the cult horror classic Messiah of Evil (now available in a 35th anniversary DVD); Greer is no longer with us, but he deserves a retrospective one of these days—few performers in the years after Stonewall brought his brand of je ne sais quoi to the movies.

And for those of you out there who are already doing your Christmas shopping—you know who you are—turn a friend on to the wild and wonderful world of the Cartoon Network's late-night craziness with Adult Swim in a Box. This collection includes entire seasons of such bizarre and hilarious shows as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, Moral Orel, Space Ghost, Robot Chicken and Metalocalypse. And if these titles mean nothing to you, buy it for yourself and prepare to blow your mind with non-sequitur hilarity.