Monty Python

Monty Python

The Monty Python troupe starred in the popular sketch comedy show Monty Pythons Flying Circus as well as a number of films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The six members of Monty Python are Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin.

Fast Facts

Show ran from 1969-1974
Terry Gilliam is the group's lone American
Chapman died in 1989 from cancer of the spine
Theme music: Liberty Bell March by John Philip Sousa
The group insists there is no significance to the name "Monty Python"

Pre-Python

Four of the members of the Python troupe met in college: Michael Palin and Terry Jones at Oxford and Cleese and Chapman at Cambridge. They met Gilliam and Idle while working with the amateur theatrical club Footlights.

The group honed their skills working in a variety of radio and TV comedy programs in the mid-to-late '60s, including The Frost Report, At Last the 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set, for which Gilliam provided some of his trademark animations.

Flying Circus

Heavily influenced by Frost Report and the comedy of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the six-member group decided to make a TV sketch comedy show in a similar style. They were inspired by comedian Spike Milligan to give up on the notion of "capping" sketches with a punchline, and instead would simply write sketches that flowed into one another, sometimes separated by Terry Gilliam's surreal cartoons.

Flying Circus aired on BBC One from 1969 to 1974. 45 total episodes were produced. Cleese left the show after the third season, and does not appear (save for a brief voice over) in the final 6 episodes.

Movies

The Pythons produced four feature-length theatrical films. And Now For Something Completely Different, released in 1971 while Flying Circus was on the air, featured reshoots of favorite sketches from the first two seasons of the series. The group's first original, narrative film was 1975's Monty Python and the Holy Grail, directed by Jones and Gilliam and written largely during the break between the show's third and final seasons (before Cleese's departure).

Two more fictional films followed - the Biblical satire Life of Brian in 1979 and the anthology Monty Python's The Meaning of Life in 1983. There is also a concert film recording a live Python performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.

Categories

Monty Python | Entertainment | Actors | Comedians | Movies | Filmmakers and Producers | Television | Classic Shows (Pre-1970)

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The Mahalo Top 7

Official Site: PythOnline
News and Background: Daily Llama
Wikipedia: Monty Python
IMDb: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Amazon.com: The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset
CNN: How Monty Python changed the world (2003)
Video: Monty Python members on Public TV in 1975

Monty Python News and Articles

Google News: Monty Python
Guardian Unlimited: "Call that humiliation?" by Terry Jones (2007)
BBC News: Spamalot cast sets coconut record (2007)
BBC News: Three Decades of Monty Python (1999)
Daily Llama: Monty Python news
NewScientist.com: Lemur named after Monty Python star (2005)

Monty Python Photos

Google Image Search: Monty Python
Flickr: Monty Python photos
BBC: Monty Python Candid Photography contest

Monty Python Videos

YouTube: John Cleese eulogy at Graham Chapman's funeral
YouTube: Graham Chapman final interview
YouTube: A Compendium of 150 Monty Python Sketches
YouTube: Cleese and Palin interviewed on Film 82 (Time 9:11)

Video Collections

Look at This: Monty Python video links
The Monty Python Video Wall
YouTube and Google Video: Monty Python Search
PBS.org: Monty Python's Personal Best: Clips and Transcripts
Milk and Cookies: Monty Python videos and parodies

Flying Circus Sketches

Monty Python Movie Clips

YouTube: Holy Grail: The Black Knight
YouTube: Holy Grail: Camelot song
YouTube: Life of Brian: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"
YouTube: Meaning of Life: "Every Sperm is Sacred"

Terry Gilliam Animations

YouTube: Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth
YouTube: Killer Cars
YouTube: And now...Music

Monty Python Background and Profiles

BBC Guide to Comedy: Monty Python's Flying Circus
OrangeCow.org: Pre-Python Series
Channel4: 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches
BBC: h2g2: Important 'Monty Python' Contributors
BBC: h2g2: Monty Python - A Brief History
IMDb: How to Irritate People
Scotsman.com: "History is funny...": Interview with Terry Jones (2004)
Wikipedia: Monty Python mediagraphy

Monty Python Fan Sites and Blogs

Style.org: Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow
Boing Boing: Scambaiters and Monty Python, 419-style
ScienceRoll: Medical Monty Python videos
Cinematical: Monty Python Fans Gather In London for 'Holy Grail' Screening, Coconut Orchestra
The Monty Python Pages
Emulsional Problems: "Monty Python's First Visit to America" by Michael Dare
Critic After Dark: Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD review
The Monty Python Archive
OrangeCow.org: Monty Python Sketches
Google Blog Search: Monty Python

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Wikipedia: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Wikipedia: List of Monty Python recurring characters
Just the Words: Complete Flying Circus scripts
Museum of Broadcast Communications: Monty Python's Flying Circus entry
Nostalgia Central: Monty Python's Flying Circus overview
Wikipedia: Spam (Monty Python)
BBC: h2g2: Monty Python's Flying Circus
TV.com: Monty Python's Flying Circus overview

Monty Python Films

Sony Pictures: Monty Python and the Holy Grail official site
Wikipedia: Category: Monty Python Films
IMDb: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Rotten Tomatoes: Monty Python and the Holy Grail reviews
Rotten Tomatoes: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life reviews
The Numbers: Monty Python box office history
Note: The majority of the links in this timeline are to IMDb, which has pop-ups.
1971: And Now for Something Completely Different
1975: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1979: Life of Brian
1983: The Meaning of Life
1983: The Crimson Permanent Assurance short film
1990: Life of Python documentary

Monty Python Live Performances and Albums

Amazon.com: Monty Python albums
YouTube: Four Yorkshiremen sketch at the Hollywood Bowl
IMDb: Monty Python: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
BBC: h2g2: Monty Python - The Records
BBC: h2g2: Monty Python - The Stage Shows

Post-Python Projects

Mahalo's Guide to Spamalot
Wikipedia: Spamalot
IMDb: Terry Gilliam
The Rutles Tragical History Tour
Wikipedia: Fawlty Towers
BBC: h2g2: Monty Python CD-ROM Games
Addicting Games: Spamalot game
IMDb: Yellowbeard
IMDb: Monty Python's Flying Circus: Live at Aspen

Monty Python DVDs and Merchandise

Amazon.com: Monty Python DVDs
Daily Llama: Spam shop
eBay: Monty Python auctions
ArtistDirect: Complete Monty Python's 16 Ton Megaset: Flying Circus (16 Discs)
ToyVault: Monty Python dolls and toys
AllPosters.com: Monty Python posters, magnets and shirts
BBC: h2g2: Monty Python - The Books
A&E TV: Monty Python's Flying Circus DVDs
Amazon.com: Monty Python's Graham Chapman: Looks Like a Brown Trouser Job

Monty Python in Culture

Wikiquote: Category: Monty Python
Figures of Speech: Pythonisms
Slate Magazine: Monty Python's Flying Creationism (2005)
Black Sheep Brewery: Monty Python's Holy Ail
Silly Walks Generator
MtHolyoke.edu: Themes in Contemporary Analytic Philosophy as Reflected in the Work of Monty Python (2003)
YouTube: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques with the Spanish Inquisition

Video Mash-Ups and Tributes

Google Video: South Park tribute to Monty Python
YouTube: Doctor Who and the French Dalek
YouTube: Holy Grail Dear Sister parody
YouTube: Black Knight in Star Wars
YouTube: Star Trek meets Monty Python
YouTube: Halo: How Not To Be Seen
Throw Away Your TV: Monty Python mash-ups

Related Pages on Mahalo

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | Michael Palin | Bread | Apples | Very Small Rocks | Cider | Gravy | Cherries | Mud | Churches | Lead | Duck | John Cleese Twitter