Easy Mr. Creosote After Exploding Costume From Monty Python's the Meaning of Life

When I told my best friend that I wanted to make a Mr. Creosote costume for Halloween, her reaction was, "Ewwwww!" What more inspiration did I need? Absolutely one of the grossest and yet funny scenes ever filmed. If you haven't seen the segment from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, by all means check it out on YouTube. The late great Terry Jones was just wonderful as the horrible Mr. Creosote.

I already had a large man's suit from a previous costume incarnation. The costume would work best with a suit for a man of large girth. I want to save my suit for future costumes, so I didn't ruin it by covering it in blown up insides (paint and random chunks of phony food), instead I covered pieces of clear plastic bagging with paint and crushed leaves.

large man's dark suit, sansa belt pants preferred

4 ft. pool noodle

heavy wire to run through pool noodle

hula hoop

black duct tape

clear packing tape

1" wide elastic

2 suspender clasps

needle and thread

white plastic wastebasket 3 gal. (though I used a semi-clear one from Target)

tin snips or other cutting tool to cut wastebasket

hair dryer or heat gun

drill with a small drill bit

plastic wrap or clear plastic bags opened up

paint for stomach contents (I had some leftover green, so that's what I used)

chunks for stomach contents (I cut up an old sponge and crushed some leaves and dirts, but options are limitless, cheerios, oatmeal, foam chunks, it's your call)

1 red bell pepper

black marking pen

hot glue

4 sheets white paper, card stock preferably for collar and cuffs

black makeup crayon to draw a mustache

black turtleneck and black leggings/yoga pants to wear underneath suit

Run about 6 ft. of wire through the pool noodle. With the clear tape, secure the wire inside the noodle by wrapping at both ends, so the wire won't come through. Bend the two ends of the wire back. Open the lining at the front bottom edge. Feed the wire and noodle through the suit lining as close to the outer edge as possible. Tape the back vent shut.

My pants had a large seam in the middle of the back. Open out the back seam at least 6 inches. Cut the hula hoop. Open the seam in the back to allow for the hula hoop. Scoot the hula hoop around the waist between the pants fabric and the sansa belt elastic. At the zipper open the seam and put the hula hoop through. Open the seam on the other side of the zipper and insert the hula hoop. Remove the waist button to be able to feed the hula hoop through. Open the seam in other side in the back to put the hula hoop through. Initially I'd taped the hula hoop together in the back, but it made the waist too circular. Instead fit the hula hoop to start at the back of the pants and cut the other end at the other end of the pant back, so that the back is open.

Cut two pieces of elastic for the suspenders approximately 46". Stitch each to a suspender clip. Try on pants and pin the elastic to the back of the pants, crisscrossing in the back. When satisfied with the fit, stitch the elastic to the pants. Attach the suspender clips to the belt loops.

If the pants are too long, tape up the hem.

The bottom of the wastebasket is the top of the rib cage. Draw the ribs with a pencil. The ribs connect in the back, but not in the front. Cut out the ribs with tin snips or whatever tool does the trick. I did manage to snap a rib off, just reattach with hot glue. I thought about using a heat gun to expand the ribs out, but a hair dryer on high works fine. It's a matter of rounding out the shape of the ribs. Drill holes in the top two sets of ribs to stitch to the suit on either side of the suit. Leave room to squeeze your head through the opening in back of the rib cage.

Again if you like, cover the interior of the suit and ribcage with paint, varathane, chunks of foam, food whatever. I wanted to keep my options open to reuse the suit, so I took pieces of plastic wrap and covered with leftover green paint, pieces of an old sponge, crushed leaves, some dirt, just random stuff. After drying I cut up into smaller pieces and taped to the interior of the suit and rib cage. Also taped to the pants.

Bell pepper tips, find a light bell pepper, otherwise it's going to be hard to keep it in place. Also have your bell pepper at room temperature. It's hard to hot glue a cold object. Draw veins/arteries on the surface of the bell pepper. Core the pepper. Hot glue it to the rib cage. Insert a piece of wax paper behind the rib cage to keep the hot glue from adhering to the suit behind. Add clear tape to make sure the heart's secured to the rib cage.

My suit already had cuffs attached from a previous costume. But to add cuffs, fold a sheet of white paper in hand lengthwise and tape together and also tape to the inside of the suit arm. For the collar tape two pieces of paper together and cut into a collar shape.

Put on a black turtleneck and leggings/yoga pants. Part your hair in the middle and slick back. Draw a mustache on your face. Then climb into the pants and squeeze into the suit with the rib cage on your front. Tape the collar together at the neck. It should fit very loosely. It helps to have poor posture. Stoop over. Enjoy disgusting your friends.