An anarchic satirical series, shown on BBC television between 1969 and 1974, starring Graham Chapman (194189), John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. The series changed the face of British television humour, with its inspired lunacy, surreal comedy, and animated graphics (by Terry Gilliam), and generated a cult following which was eventually international. The troupe later collaborated on such films as Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), The Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983), before developing their individual careers. A musical, Spamalot, written by Eric Idle and based on the earlier Holy Grail film, debuted on Broadway in 2005 where it enjoyed a record-breaking run and won three Tony awards. The Monty Python stars came together to attend the London premiere in late 2006.
| Monty Python |
|---|
|
The Python team. Bottom row: Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin |
| British comedy troupe |
| Years active |
| 1969-1983 |
| Members |
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Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin |
| Milestones |
|
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) The Meaning of Life (1983) Spamalot (2005) |
| Official website |
| PythOnline |
Monty Python, or The Pythons, is the collective name of the creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. However, the Python phenomenon developed from the original television series into something much greater, in scope and impact;
The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.
The group's influence on comedy has often been compared to The Beatles' influence on music, a self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work and changing the way performers entertained audiences. The Pythons' creative control allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding the established rules of television comedy and breaking new ground for those who came after (George Harrison, who became friends with several members of the cast, said that he regarded Monty Python as 'continuing the spirit' of The Beatles).
There are differing accounts of the origins of the Python name although the members agree that its only 'significance' was that they thought it sounded funny.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, three of the six members were voted among the top 50 greatest comedians ever, by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Before Monty Python
Palin and Jones first met at Oxford University, while Cleese and Chapman met at Cambridge.
Chapman, Cleese and Idle were all members of the Footlights, which at that time also included the future Goodies—Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden—as well as Jonathan Lynn (co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister).
Variously, the Python members appeared in or wrote, or both, for the following shows before being united for Monty Python's Flying Circus. In particular, The Frost Report is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles:
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (radio) (1964–1973), Cleese: writer, cast member— Idle & Chapman: writers] The Frost Report (1966–1967) [Cleese: cast member, writer
— Idle: writer of Frost's monologues — Chapman and Palin & Chapman: writers]
Several of these also featured other important British comedy writers or performers, or both, including Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Marty Feldman, Jonathan Lynn, David Jason and David Frost.
Following the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set (originally intended to be a children's programme) with the adult demographic, ITV offered Palin, Jones, Idle and Gilliam their own series together. Much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.
Flying Circus and the Python style
The Pythons had a very definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. However, one problem the Pythons perceived with these programmes was that though the body of the sketch would be strong, the writers would often struggle to then find a punchline funny enough to end on, and this would detract from the overall quality of the sketch. They decided that they would simply not bother to 'cap' their sketches in the traditional manner, and early episodes of the Flying Circus series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline (one scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that "This is the silliest sketch I've ever been in" - they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set). However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, Spike Milligan, recording his new series Q5 (1969). It was clear that their new series would now seem somewhat less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate further.
After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for Do Not Adjust Your Set called "Beware of the Elephants", which had intrigued him with its stream-of-consciousness style. Since Cleese, Chapman and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the programme, it was Jones, Palin and Gilliam who became largely responsible for the presentation style of the Flying Circus series, in which disparate sketches are linked to give each episode the appearance of a single stream-of-consciousness (often using a Gilliam animation to move from the closing image of one sketch to the opening scene of another).
Each day of writing started at 9am and finished at 5pm. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair of writers isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone.
While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were clearly responsible for different elements of the team's humour. the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character ends up intimidating or hurling abuse at another, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In Anagrams).
Several names for the show were bandied about before the title Monty Python's Flying Circus was settled upon. "Flying Circus" stuck when the BBC explained to the group that it had already printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it, leaving the Pythons no choice in the matter. Cleese then added "Python", liking the image of a slippery, sly individual that it conjured up.
Flying Circus pioneered some innovative formal techniques, such as the cold open, in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements. Occasionally the Pythons would attempt to trick viewers by rolling the closing credits halfway through the show, usually continuing the joke by fading to the familiar globe logo used for BBC continuity, over which Idle would parody the clipped tones of a BBC announcer.
The Monty Python theme music is Liberty Bell march composed by John Philip Sousa.
Monty Python - Flying Circus theme (file info) — play in browser (beta) The theme music from Monty Python's Flying Circus featuring the "It's..." See media help.The use of Gilliam's surreal, collage stop motion animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style.
The Pythons built on and extended the great British tradition of cross-dressing comedy. Rather than dressing a man as a woman purely for comic effect, the (entirely male) Python team would write humorous parts for women, then don frocks and makeup and play the roles themselves. Thus a scene requiring a housewife would feature one of the male Pythons wearing a housecoat and apron, speaking in falsetto. In some episodes and the later Monty Python's Life of Brian they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men.
Many of the sketches have become extremely well-known outside the hardcore of Python fans, and are still widely quoted to this day.
Life after the Flying Circus
The end of Flying Circus
Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese finally left the Flying Circus at the end of series three.
The rest of the group carried on for one more series (dropping the Flying Circus from the show's title, which became just Monty Python) before calling a halt to the programme in 1974.
In 1975 the series was first broadcast in America and soon gained a cult following.
Films
And Now For Something Completely Different (1971)
This was the Pythons' first feature film, comprised of some of the best sketches from the first two series of the Flying Circus, re-shot on an extremely low budget (and often slightly edited) for cinema release. Financed by Playboy executive Victor Lowndes, it was intended as a way of breaking Monty Python in America, and although it was ultimately unsuccessful in this, the film did good business in the UK.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)
The group (including Cleese) reformed in 1974 to write and star in their first feature film of new material. The film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, was based around Arthurian Legend and directed by Jones and Gilliam, the latter also drawing the film's linking animations and opening credits. Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film, but it was Chapman who took the lead as King Arthur.
The film was shot on location in Scotland, particularly around Doune Castle, Glen Coe, and the privately owned Castle Stalker. This led to one of the film's most memorable gags, as every time the script calls for the knights to be majestically riding their steeds, they are actually play-riding along on foot while their squires behind them bang together coconut half-shells to imitate the sound of horses' hooves (a common radio sound effect now shown on screen for comic effect - though this gag had actually been done previously in the sole surviving episode of the 1956 program A Show Called Fred, produced by Richard Lester and starring Peter Sellers). Gilliam and Jones argued with each other and with the other Pythons; The Pythons recall that the filming of Holy Grail is the only time any of them can remember the usually amiable Palin losing his temper.
The film proved a success and in 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Monty Python and the Holy Grail the 5th greatest comedy film of all time.
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Following the success of Holy Grail, a reporter asked Idle for the title of the next Python film, despite the fact that the team had not even begun to consider a second movie.
The focus therefore shifted to a separate individual born at the same time, in the neighbouring stable, who is subsequently mistaken for the messiah.
Learning their lesson from Holy Grail's unpleasant setting, the team chose to write the script in the Caribbean (where they were visited by Keith Moon and Mick Jagger) and film in Tunisia. In contrast to Holy Grail, many of the Pythons remember this as their most enjoyable experience working together as a group. He claims he did so because he simply wanted to see another Python film. The Pythons often joke that it is still the most anyone has ever paid for a cinema ticket.
The experiment with co-direction on Holy Grail proved to be a one-off, as it led to creative friction.
Upon its release, Christian groups organised protests against the film, based on its perceived blasphemy, particularly in the final scene, a comical song sung by the victims of a mass crucifixion (Idle's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life").
Mary Whitehouse and other campaigners picketed and distributed leaflets at cinemas showing the film, ironically providing free publicity. Shortly after the film's release, Cleese and Palin appeared in a debate on the BBC2 discussion programme Friday Night, Saturday Morning, in which Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark put the case against the film. This discussion (and the earnest reverence for Python among comedy fans) was famously parodied by the Not the Nine O'Clock News, in a sketch featuring a furious debate about The General Synod's Life of Christ, a Biblical film accused of being “a lampoon of the Comic Messiah himself - Our Lord, John Cleese.”
For their part, the Pythons have always maintained (most recently on the DVD commentary) that the film is heretical rather than blasphemous, since it mocks the practices of organised religion rather than the God being worshipped.
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
Python's final film returned to something closer to the style of Flying Circus. Directed again by Jones, The Meaning of Life is embellished with some of Python's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers. The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of spectacular violence and black humour: at the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone". A short film by Gilliam - The Crimson Permanent Assurance - originally planned as a sketch within the film, eventually grew so ambitious that it was cut from the movie and used as a supporting feature in its own right (on video and DVD, and also in television screenings, this section is tagged onto the start of the film as a prologue).
Though a commercial and critical success, The Meaning of Life is generally not regarded as being of the same quality as its predecessors. The Pythons had originally wanted to do one final re-write introducing one lead character (along the lines of Arthur or Brian) who could be followed through the ages of man.
Crucially, this was the last project that all six Pythons would collaborate on, except for the 1989 compilation Parrot Sketch Not Included where we see the Python cast sitting in a closet for 4 seconds - which would also be the last time Chapman was filmed on screen with the rest of the Pythons.
Python (Monty) Pictures
The five surviving members of the main Monty Python team are directors of Python (Monty) Pictures Limited which was incorporated in 1973 and now manages ongoing activities resulting from their previous work together.
When Monty Python's Flying Circus was shown in the USA by ABC in their "Wide World of Entertainment" slot in 1975, the episodes were re-edited, thus losing the continuity and flow intended in the originals. When ABC refused to stop screening the series in this form, the Pythons took them to court. The case also led to them gaining the foreign rights to all Python shows from the BBC, once their original contracts ended at the end of 1980 (a unique arrangement at the time).
A driving force behind Python in the late 1970s was George Harrison, who not only funded Life of Brian but guest-starred as Mr. Papadopolous (though his voice is dubbed by Palin), and
also produced a number of their songs from that period, including "The Lumberjack Song" single. He also made a cameo appearance in Idle's cult Beatles parody All You Need Is Cash (aka
The Rutles), which united several Pythons with the Saturday Night Live team, and was co-produced by Broadway Video, SNL's production company. Harrison even claimed in an interview
that "Monty Python helped me get over the trauma of the breakup of the Beatles."
Going solo
Each member pursued other film and television projects after the break-up of the group, but often continued to work with one another. Many of these collaborations were very successful, such as Fawlty Towers (written by and starring Cleese and Connie Booth), and A Fish Called Wanda (1988) (also written by Cleese, and in which he starred along with Palin). Palin and Jones wrote the comedic film series Ripping Yarns, starring Palin with an assortment of British actors.
The Pythons are often the subject of reunion rumours.
On 9 October 1999, to commemorate 30 years since the first Flying Circus television broadcast, BBC2 devoted an evening to Python programmes, including a documentary charting the history of the team, interspersed with new sketches filmed especially for the event;
In an interview to publicise the DVD release of The Meaning of Life, Cleese said a further reunion was unlikely.
A sketch appears on the same DVD spoofing the impossibility of a full reunion, bringing the members “together” in a deliberately unconvincing fashion with modern bluescreen/greenscreen techniques.
Idle has said that he expects to see a proper Python reunion, "just as soon as Graham Chapman comes back from the dead."
2003's The Pythons Autobiography By The Pythons, compiled from a series of interviews with the surviving members, reveals that a series of disputes in 1990 over a Monty Python and the Holy Grail sequel conceived by Idle may have resulted in the group's permanent fission. Cleese's feeling was that Monty Python's Meaning of Life had been personally difficult and ultimately mediocre, and for this and other reasons did not wish to be involved. Apparently Idle was angry with Cleese for refusing to do the film, which most of the remaining Pythons thought reasonably promising.
The members have continued to appear in each other's films. Terry Gilliam has directed Michael Palin, John Cleese, Terry Jones and Eric Idle in various non-Python pictures, Graham Chapman worked with John Cleese and Eric Idle in Yellowbeard and Michael Palin and John Cleese worked together in the acclaimed A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. Terry Jones' 1996 adaptation of The Wind in the Willows featured all the surviving Python members, except for Terry Gilliam, who was going to play The River but could not find space in his schedule. The next film reunion will be in Shrek the Third, in which John Cleese and Eric Idle have voice-over roles.
March 2005 saw a full, if non-performing, reunion of the surviving cast members at the premiere of Eric Idle's musical Spamalot, based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Owing in part to the success of Spamalot, PBS announced on July 13, 2005, that the network would begin to re-air the entire run of Monty Python's Flying Circus, as well as new one-hour specials focusing on each member of the group, called Monty Python's Personal Best. Each episode was written and produced by the individual being honoured, with the five remaining Pythons collaborating on Chapman's programme.
The Pythons
Graham Chapman
Born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England on 8 January 1941, Chapman was originally a medical student, but changed to theatre when he joined Footlights at Cambridge (he did in fact complete his medical training and was legally entitled to practice as a doctor).
These were largely straight roles, but in the Flying Circus, he had tended to specialise in characters closer to his own personality: outwardly calm, authoritative figures barely concealing a manic unpredictability. At the same time, he was proudly gay, highly eccentric (Douglas Adams remembered seeing Chapman in his local pub, casually whacking his penis against the bar to attract the attention of the bar staff) and, by the start of the 1970s, an alcoholic who was beginning to cause problems for the other Pythons with his excessive drinking.
Chapman had been infuriating the others by performing drunk on stage, missing cues and forgetting lines (a habit that had begun during the later television shows), and had particular trouble filming Holy Grail in Scotland, where he got a case of delirium tremens, often called DTs. On accepting his definitive role of Brian, he finally made the decision to stop drinking, and was sober by the time filming began – his performance in the film is arguably the finest of his career.
Besides starring in Monty Python features, Chapman appeared in movies such as The Odd Job (which he also produced) and Yellowbeard (which he directed), also making several appearances on Saturday Night Live. He is now lovingly referred to by the surviving Pythons as "the dead one." At Chapman's memorial service, Cleese delivered the irreverent speech he felt his co-writer would have wanted: having been the first person to say “shit” on British television, Cleese announced, Chapman would never have forgiven him had he missed the opportunity to become “the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fuck'.”
John Cleese
Born on 27 October 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England, Cleese’s family surname had originally been Cheese. Cleese attended Clifton College, Bristol where he developed a taste for performing by appearing in house plays, then moved on to Cambridge, where he met his future Python writing partner, Graham Chapman.
Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with Chapman provided Python with its darkest and angriest moments, and many of his characters display the seething suppressed rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty.
Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman actually wrote together, in the same room;
Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious reason.
Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches where two characters would conduct highly articulate arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such as in the "cheese shop", the "dead parrot" sketch and, perhaps most notably, the "argument sketch”, where Cleese plays a stone-faced bureaucrat employed to sit behind a desk and engage people in pointless, infuriatingly trivial bickering. All of these roles were opposite Palin (who Cleese often claims is his favourite Python to work with) – the comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed aggression and diminutive Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series.
Cleese has recently had a species of lemur named after him, Avahi cleesei (or "Cleese's Woolly Lemur").
Cleese recently played Q's assistant ("R") and finally the new Q himself in the James Bond movies.
Terry Gilliam
Gilliam, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, on 22 November 1940, is the only non-British member of the troupe. Moving from the USA to England, he animated features for Do Not Adjust Your Set and then joined Monty Python's Flying Circus when it was created.
He was the artist-animator of the distinctive, surreal cartoons which linked the show's sketches together, and defined the group's visual language in other mediums (such as LP and book covers, and the title sequences of their films). The style of animation used for South Park was inspired by Gilliam's paper cut-out cartoons for Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Besides doing the animations for the Flying Circus, he also appeared in several sketches, usually playing parts that no one else wanted to play (generally because they required a lot of make-up or uncomfortable costumes, such as a recurring knight in armour who would end sketches by walking on and hitting one of the other characters over the head with a plucked chicken) and took a number of small roles in the films.
He co-directed Monty Python and The Holy Grail and directed short segments of other Python films (for instance "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", the short film that appears before The Meaning of Life). Gilliam has gone on to become a celebrated and imaginative film director of such notable titles as Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Brothers Grimm and Tideland.
Eric Idle
Idle was born on 29 March 1943 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin.
Idle was content to be cast as the group loner, preferring to write by himself, at his own pace, although he sometimes found it difficult in having to present material to the others and make it seem funny without the back-up support of a partner. Cleese admitted that this was slightly unfair – when the team voted on which sketches should appear in a show, “he only got one vote” - but says that Idle was an independent person and worked best on his own.
Idle studied at Cambridge, a year behind Cleese and Chapman.
His work in Python is often characterised by an obsession with language and communication: many of his characters have verbal peculiarities, such as the man who speaks in anagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, and the man whose sentences are alternately rude and polite.
One of the younger members of the team, Idle was closest in spirit to the students and teenagers who made up much of Python's fanbase, and many of the sketches that deal with contemporary obsessions such as pop music, sexual permissiveness and recreational drugs are Idle's work. A competent guitarist, he composed the groups most famous musical numbers – as well as Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, he was responsible for the Galaxy Song from The Meaning Of Life and (with Cleese) Eric The Half-A-Bee, a whimsical tune recorded for the album Monty Python Sings.
Since Python, Idle has starred in movies ranging from South Park: Bigger, Longer &
Idle is the writer of the three-time Tony award-winning Broadway musical, Spamalot, based on the Holy Grail movie.
Terry Jones
Jones was born on 1 February 1942 in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. The mildest member of Python, he has rarely received the same attention as his colleagues, but has been described by other members of the team as the “heart” of the operation. Python biographer George Perry has commented that should you "speak to him on subjects as diverse as fossil fuels, or Rupert Bear, or mercenaries in the Middle Ages or Modern China...
One of Jones' early concerns was devising a fresh format for the Python TV shows, and it was largely Jones that developed the stream-of-consciousness style which abandoned punchlines and instead encouraged the fluid movement of one sketch to another - allowing the team's conceptual humour the space to “breathe”. He later committed himself to directing the Python films Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, and Monty Python's Meaning of Life, and as director, finally gained fuller control of the projects, devising a visual style that allowed the performers 'space';
Of Jones' contributions as a performer, his parodic, screechy-voiced depictions of middle-aged women are among the most memorable.
In 2004, Jones was the presenter and actor for the BBC's miniseries, Terry Jones' Medieval Lives.
Since his major contributions were largely behind the scenes (direction, writing), and he often deferred to the other members of the group as an actor, Jones' importance to Python was often underrated. Recent Python literature has highlighted his lead role in maintaining the group's unity and creative independence.
Michael Palin
Born on 5 May 1943 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The youngest Python by a matter of weeks, Palin is often lovingly referred to as "the nice one." He attended Oxford, where he met his Python writing partner Jones.
These sketches take everyday situations (talking in the sitting room, dining out) and introduce an unexpected rogue element (Cardinals of the Spanish Inquisition, an impossibly overweight man).
In recent years, Palin has starred in a number of documentary travel series for the BBC in which he visits various — usually remote — locales, often along some predetermined route; He was also voted the best-looking member of the Monty Python group by the public.
Associate Pythons and other contributors
Several people have been accorded unofficial "Associate Python" status over the years. Both were present and presented as Associate Pythons at the official Monty Python 25th anniversary celebrations held in Los Angeles in July 1994.
Neil Innes
Neil Innes is the only non-Python besides Douglas Adams to be credited with writing material for the Flying Circus. He appeared in sketches and the Python movies, as well as performing some of his songs in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. He was also a regular stand-in for absent Pythons on the rare occasions when they appear to re-create sketches. Gilliam once noted that if anyone qualified for the title of the "Seventh Python," it would certainly be Innes.
Carol Cleveland
Commonly referred to as the "Seventh Python," or the "Python Girl," Carol Cleveland was the most important female performer in the Monty Python ensemble. Originally hired by producer/director John Howard Davies for just the first five episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, she went on to appear in approximately two-thirds of the episodes as well as in all of the Python films, and in most of their stage shows as well. Her common portrayal as the stereotypical "blonde bimbo" eventually earned her the sobriquet "Carol Cleavage" by the other Pythons, but she felt that the variety of her roles should not be described in such a pejorative way.
Connie Booth
John Cleese's ex-wife Connie Booth, who went on to write and star with him in Fawlty Towers, was probably the only other significant female performer. She appeared in, amongst others "The Lumberjack Song" and as the "witch" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams was "discovered" by Graham Chapman when a version of the Footlights Revue (a 1974 BBC2 television show featuring some of Adams' early work) was performed live in London's West End. The two formed a brief writing partnership, and Adams earned a writing credit in one episode (episode 45: "Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Liberal Party") of Monty Python's Flying Circus for a sketch called "Patient Abuse". Adams also contributed to a sketch on the album for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He had two "blink and you miss them" appearances in the fourth series of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Adams and Chapman also attempted a few non-Python projects, including Out of the Trees.
Eddie Izzard
Stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard, a devoted fan of the group, has occasionally stood in for absent members. When the BBC held a "Python Night" in 1999 to celebrate 30 years of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, the Pythons recorded some new material with Izzard standing in for Idle, who had declined to partake in person.
'Pythonesque'
Monty Python casts a considerable shadow over modern comedy. However, this is perhaps somewhat misleading, since the humour of Monty Python, whilst certainly nonsensical and surreal, is still strongly characterised by a preoccupation with the British social class system — most notably with British working class stereotypes.
Python media
Television
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) The show that started the Python phenomenon. See also List of Monty Python's Flying Circus Episodes. Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (1972) Two 45-minute specials made by WDR for West German television. Monty Python's Personal Best (2006) Six one-hour specials, each episode presenting the best of one member's work.Films
There were five Monty Python films:
And Now For Something Completely Different (1971) A collection of re-filmed sketches from the first and second series of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering humorous obstacles along the way. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Brian is born on the first Christmas, in the stable next to Jesus'. Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) Live performance of skits directed by Ian MacNaughton. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) An examination of the meaning of life in a series of sketches from conception to death and beyond, from the uniquely Python perspective.Albums
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1970) Another Monty Python Record (1971) Monty Python's Previous Record (1972) The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973) Monty Python Live at Drury Lane (1974) The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Monty Python Live at City Center (1976) The Monty Python Instant Record Collection (1977) Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album (1980) Monty Python's Meaning of Life (1983) Monty Python's The Final Rip Off (1988) Monty Python Sings (1989) The Ultimate Monty Python Rip Off (1994) The Instant Monty Python CD Collection (1994) Monty Python's Spamalot (Broadway version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Tim Curry as King Arthur) (2005) The Hastily Cobbled Together Album (2006)Theatre
Monty Python's Flying Circus — between 1974 and 1982 the Pythons made three sketch based stage shows, comprising mainly of material from the original television series.The first and only authorised stage version of the sketch show to be performed by non-Pythons is currently touring Great Britain, and is highly successful, with Gilliam calling it, 'better than we could manage at the time'. Monty Python's Spamalot (The musical 'lovingly' ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
Written by Idle directed by Nichols, with music and lyrics by John Du Prez and Idle, and starring Hank Azaria, Tim Curry, and David Hyde Pierce, Spamalot is a musical adaptation of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
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