"Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969) TV series 1969-1974

User Rating:

9.4/10   

Creators:

Graham Chapman
John Cleese
Terry Gilliam

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | unknown

Release Date:

5 October 1969 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Music

Plot:

The original surreal sketch comedy showcase for the Monty Python troupe.

Plot Keywords:

Monty Python | Sketch Comedy | Comedy Troupe | Cult Comedy | Absurdism

Awards:

3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Graham Chapman	...	Various / ... (46 episodes, 1969-1974)
Eric Idle	...	Various / ... (46 episodes, 1969-1974)
Terry Jones	...	Various / ... (46 episodes, 1969-1974)
Michael Palin	...	It's Man / ... (46 episodes, 1969-1974)
Terry Gilliam	...	Various / ... (46 episodes, 1969-1974)
John Cleese	...	Announcer / ... (40 episodes, 1969-1973)
Carol Cleveland	...	Various / ... (34 episodes, 1969-1974)

Also Known As:

"Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus" (UK) (working title)
"Monty Python" (UK) (new title)
"Owl-Stretching Time" (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

30 min (45 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Arabic | French | German | Italian | Mandarin | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes) | USA:TV-14 | Japan:R | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Singapore:M18 | UK:12 (some epiosodes) | UK:15 (1985-1994) | UK:PG | Finland:K-18 (self applied) (DVD) (2007) | Brazil:14 | Argentina:13 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Following a television interview in which Graham Chapman mentioned (not for the first time) that he was a homosexual, the Pythons received a letter from an enraged woman who said she heard an "anonymous" member of Monty Python had confessed to being gay. She enclosed several pages of prayers for his salvation and said that if he repeated them every single day he might acquire some form of purgatory. Eric Idle replied to her saying that they had found out who it was and had stoned him. Shortly thereafter, John Cleese left the show for the last season. The woman never wrote back.

Quotes:

Bounder: 'Morning, I'm Bounder-Of-Adventure.
Mr Smoke-Too-Much: Hello, I'm Smoke-Too-Much.
Bounder: Well you'd better cut down a little then.
Mr Smoke-Too-Much: I'm sorry?
Bounder: You'd better cut down a little then.
Mr Smoke-Too-Much: Oh oh, I see. Smoke too much, so I better cut down a little then.
Bounder: Yes. I expect you get people making jokes about your name all the time, eh?
Mr Smoke-Too-Much: No. I've never noticed it before.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy (#5.14)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

The Liberty Bell

Six blokes getting paid for being silly (oh yes, and changing comedy forever)

With hindsight, it seems possible that we can praise the Pythons too much. But you have to look at what they did in the context of its time.

They blew a massive hole in the conventions of not only television comedy, but television itself. They used (and abused) the medium to what was then the limit of its potential: no thirty-second "blackout" skits, no contrived punchlines (except in the name of self-mocking irony), performers falling out of character and addressing the audience, skits being intruded by characters from a previous sketch, or even an entirely different episode (so you had to pay attention!), stream-of-consciousness animated links, absurd props (the 16 ton weight)... and they claim they merely threw it all together when the BBC approached them to make a "satirical sketch show" in the vein of "The Frost Report" or "TW3".

Not only that, but they have influenced probably every comedy writer and performer of note ever since.

The Pythons are either authentic, top-drawer geniuses, or the six luckiest opportunists who ever lived - probably a bit of both! They caught the BBC with its knickers down and took advantage.

OK, so the shows look their age, and much of the material is rambling, patchy, hit-and-miss stuff. But we only remember the good bits, and it is those good bits which will ensure the place in television history of Messrs Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Palin and Jones for many years to come.

Lavishing praise on a thirty-two-year-old television series? It all seems a bit silly to me...