Monty Python's Flying Circus ; Absurde, n'est-il pas?

Monty Python's Flying Circus is superb British humor at it's best! All the Monty Python movies were excellent, too! My favorite actors in this are John Cleese and Eric Idle. I have my older brother to thank for getting me into this show! I got into Monty Python at the ripe old age of 11. My brother was watching it one day, and I asked him if I can watch too. He gave me his okay, and after I saw the delirious humor of this, I quickly became a fan! And watched it everytime it came on.

I also own some Monty Python cassette tapes and my brother has some on vinyl! I have far too many favorite Monty Python bits to name,some of my faves are "The Lumberjack Song", "It's the Mind", and "The Bishop"! And who can forget that caveman who can only say, 'its'? Also, anyone remember that one about the self-defense class involving a 'Poi-ted stick'? Pure timeless classic! Monty Python cracks me up all the time! Even if you're not in a good mood, watching this will put you in one!

I highly suggest this to anyone who is a stickler for British humor. Also, watch their movies: The Holy Grail, And Now for Something Completely Different, and The Life of Brian. I give Monty Python's Flying Circus 5 out of 5 stars! Watch it if you can!

A gentleman (John Cleese) enters a pet shop and wants to register a complaint that the parrot that he had bought from that very boutique just half an hour ago was in fact a 'dead parrot'. The owner (Michael Palin) tries to convince him that the Parrot, a Norwegian Blue, was not really dead and was just resting. The argument continues and gets sillier and sillier until an army colonel (Graham Chapman) pops out of nowhere and stops the sketch abruptly because it was getting very silly. If this kind of humor doesn't interest you, read no further and plan on watching something else. But if it does and if you have not seen Monty Pythons Flying Circus you haven't seen nothing yet.

Monty pythons pretty much invented and perfected their unique brand of humor which can be categorized as 'surreal'. One can argue that 'the Goon Show' was the archetype for Monty pythons, which is true, but then Monty Pythons took it to territories that had never been explored before. They created a world where you can get a government grant for silly walks or buy an argument in an argument clinic. A world in which a father and son could have the age old "romantic vs. a simple coal miner" argument, just that in this world the son is a regular coal miner whereas it's the father whose head is full of useless novels and poems. Just like the Beatles they took something and created something completely new out of it. The comparison is valid because Monty Pythons at their peak enjoyed the status of any of the rock stars in those days (including groupies) and the Beatles, George Harrison in particular, were their biggest promoters.

Terri Gillian's stream of consciousness art work is pretty bizarre and holds all the sketches together. John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones play all the characters (including women's) themselves with dead seriousness. This is insane humor at it's brilliant best.

I still need to see more of Monty Python's Flying Circus to make my un-official official declamatory mandated professional amateurish stated opinion on this, but this is quite the nifty little show they put on back in merry old England. A lame joke I tried for at Python humor, but really, once you see the show, and see at least a few episodes, you'll know whether it's the right kind of intelligently un-hinged absurdity for you. I didn't warm up to it at first, I thought it was maybe too smart, in a way, through its silliness to be taken much seriously, as the jokes are not of the common kind. But after getting in through the films, and seeing many a varied skit with the guys, I'm looking forward to seeing (and being able to quote to other people) the best they got.

It's partly a stream-of-consciousness style show thanks to Terry Gilliam's spectacularly crude animations (through cut-outs mostly, and spoofing either classical paintings, architecture, movies, and of course dancing teeth), part social satire through various skits of people going into shops (Parrot), jobs, arguments (want to argue about an argument), the police, criminals, movies, sports, old ladies, politics, and other sorts of good diddies on all things in life. There's also the most random bits of comedy ever to come out of the 20th century, and I can only think of the basic things that might have you wanting to check it out. I love short skits, like the classic fish-slapping bit (there comes the BIG fish, heh), and over-the-top voices (Michael Palin, I think, does some of the best ones, like an introduction he does to a skit that reminded me of one of the voices in the Holy Grail trailer), and deranged costumes, and the richness of the silly dialog. Sure a skit might not hit the mark, but then I could them come back to it days later and be laughing about things not laughed at the first time around.

There aren't too many, if much at all, conventional punchlines- the brilliant stuff comes in the random barbs that shoot up in the lines and the deliver, in a look that Cleese or Chapman might give at one point or another, or the lack of something that ends up coming around later in the bit, or maybe not. There's absolutely no shame in how tasteless some of this can get, be it with topical issues or just the little things everyday we tend to take for granted, but a tasteless sensibility without any net to fall on that's appealing. And, of course, the Lumberjack song and ministry of silly walks and . Bottom line, if there could ever be one with Flying Circus, if you think it's just stupid little goofy gags and skits going on, watch out for how rich the words fly out (err, in Circus-like fashion) the mouths of the Pythons. It's the mightiest heap of the inspiration-turned-ludicrous comedy to be found on any TV show. Other favorite skits: 'Most Awful Family in Britain', 'Self-Defence Class', 'Word Problem', and 'Kilimanjaro Expedition' among others.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to complain about the silliness known as Monty Python's Flying Circus which plagues my television. The "jokes" are silly and pointless, and the sketches never have proper endings. I demand that this programme be removed from telly at once and replaced with programmes that are truly representative of the glories of British humour, such as Keeping Up Appearances and the BBC World News.

Sincerely, Col. Arthur von Gambolputty-Dinsdale of Ulm (deceased)

(Warning: This letter does not reflect the true feelings of the reviewer, who is a huge fan of Python and thinks that the above-mentioned gripes are the very reason that the show is awesome. The comedy still holds up after over 35 years, though several of the costumes and haircuts do not, and the mixture of zany oddball non sequiters, intellectual references and satires, and ingenious physical comedy makes Python something very special and unique. Viva Python! And remember, !las llamas son mas grande que las ranas!)

Monty Python's Flying Circus is a show with great comedy. It's so weird anything could be done in it. Like selling an albatross, or having a knight hit you with a chicken... It's so hilarious, you'll drop right off. It's a very classic show for people with British taste. The movies were good... but it never made a benchmark like the TV series did. People... get off trashy Saturday Night Live and try "Something Completely Different"!