Editing Monty Python (section)

==History==
===Before ''Flying Circus''===
Jones and Palin met at [[Oxford University]], where they performed together with [[the Oxford Revue]]. Chapman and Cleese met at [[Cambridge University]]. Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Chapman and Cleese. Cleese met Gilliam in [[New York City]] while on tour with the [[Footlights|Cambridge University Footlights]] [[revue]] ''[[Cambridge Footlights Revue|Cambridge Circus]]'' (originally entitled ''A Clump of Plinths''). Chapman, Cleese, and Idle were members of the Footlights, which at that time also included the future [[The Goodies|Goodies]] ([[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], [[Bill Oddie]], and [[Graeme Garden]]), and [[Jonathan Lynn]] (co-writer of ''[[Yes Minister]]'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister'').<ref>Hewison, Robert (1983). ''Footlights! – a hundred years of Cambridge comedy''. Methuen London Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0-413-51150-8}}.</ref> During Idle's presidency of the club, feminist writer [[Germaine Greer]] and broadcaster [[Clive James]] were members. Recordings of Footlights' revues (called "Smokers") at [[Pembroke College, Cambridge|Pembroke College]] include sketches and performances by Cleese and Idle, which, along with tapes of Idle's performances in some of the drama society's theatrical productions, are kept in the archives of the [[Pembroke Players]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://footlights.org/history |title=Footlights history |publisher=Footlights.org |access-date=4 November 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922122310/http://footlights.org/history |archive-date=22 September 2013 }}</ref>

The six Python members appeared in or wrote these shows before ''Flying Circus'':
* ''[[I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again]]'' (radio) (1964–1973): Cleese (cast member and writer), Idle and Chapman (writers)
* ''[[The Frost Report]]'' (1966–1967): Cleese (cast member and writer), Idle (writer of [[David Frost]]'s monologues), Chapman, Palin and Jones (writers)
* ''[[At Last the 1948 Show]]'' (1967): Chapman and Cleese (writers and cast members), Idle (guest star and writer)
* ''[[Twice a Fortnight]]'' (1967): Palin and Jones (cast members and writers)
* ''[[Do Not Adjust Your Set]]'' (1967–1969): Idle, Jones, and Palin (cast members and writers), Gilliam (animation) 
* ''[[We Have Ways of Making You Laugh]]'' (1968): Idle (cast member and writer), Gilliam (animation)
* ''[[How to Irritate People]]'' (1968): Cleese and Chapman (cast members and writers), Palin (cast member)
* ''[[The Complete and Utter History of Britain]]'' (1969): Palin and Jones (cast members and writers)
* ''[[Doctor in the House (TV series)|Doctor in the House]]'' (1969), Cleese and Chapman (writers)

The BBC's satirical television show ''The Frost Report'', broadcast from March 1966 to December 1967, is credited as first uniting the British Pythons and providing an environment in which they could develop their particular styles.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thefrostreport/|title=The Frost Report|publisher=BBC Comedy|access-date=4 November 2018}}</ref>

[[File:The_Four_Yorkshiremen,_2014_(crop).jpg|thumb|The "[[Four Yorkshiremen]]" sketch at the 2014 Monty Python reunion. Written by Cleese, Chapman, [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]] and [[Marty Feldman]], it was originally performed on their TV series ''[[At Last the 1948 Show]]'' in 1967. It parodies nostalgic conversations about humble beginnings or difficult childhoods.]]
Following the success of ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' (which was broadcast on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] from December 1967 to May 1969), [[Thames Television]] offered Gilliam, Idle, Jones, and Palin their own late-night adult comedy series together. At the same time, Chapman and Cleese were offered a show by the [[BBC]], which had been impressed by their work on ''The Frost Report'' and ''At Last the 1948 Show''. Cleese was reluctant to do a [[Double act|two-man show]] for various reasons, including Chapman's supposedly difficult and erratic personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin on ''How to Irritate People'' and invited him to join the team. With no studio available at Thames until summer 1970 for the late-night show, Palin agreed to join Cleese and Chapman, and suggested the involvement of his writing partner Jones and colleague Idle—who in turn wanted Gilliam to provide animations for the projected series. 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.<ref name="Autobiography">''The Pythons Autobiography by the Pythons''. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, John Chapman, David Sherlock, Bob McCabe. Thomas Dunne Books; Orion, 2003</ref>

By contrast, according to John Cleese's autobiography, the origins of ''Monty Python'' lay in the admiration that writing partners Cleese and Chapman had for the new type of comedy being done on ''Do Not Adjust Your Set''; as a result, a meeting was initiated by Cleese between Chapman, Idle, Jones, Palin, and himself at which it was agreed to pool their writing and performing efforts and jointly seek production sponsorship.<ref>''So, Anyway ...'' by John Cleese; Crown Archetype, London, 2014</ref> According to their official website, the group was born from a Kashmir tandoori restaurant in Hampstead on 11 May 1969, following a taping of ''Do Not Adjust Your Set'' which Cleese and Chapman attended.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCall |first1=Douglas. L. |title=Monty Python: a chronological listing of the troupe's creative output, and articles and reviews about them, 1969–1989 |date=1991 |publisher=McFarland |page=1}}</ref> It was the first time all six got together, with their first meetings then taking place at Cleese's apartment in [[Basil Street]], Knightsbridge in central London.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Morgan |first1=David |title=Monty is 30 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/oct/03/life1.lifemagazine2 |access-date=9 May 2025 |date=3 October 1999|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

===''Monty Python's Flying Circus''===
{{Main|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}

====Development of the series====
[[File:Outside the Television Centre (geograph 5766769).jpg|thumb|right|''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' was recorded at [[BBC Television Centre]] in west London (pictured) and on location around the UK, and the show debuted on the BBC on 5 October 1969.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus |url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/october/monty-pythons-flying-circus/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=How Television Centre started with a question mark |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jun/13/television-centre-started-question-mark |access-date=3 June 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>]]

According to show director [[Ian MacNaughton]], the first discussion over the idea for the show, ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', was a result of BBC's comedy advisor, [[Barry Took]], bringing the Pythons along with [[John Howard Davies]] (director of the first four episodes) and MacNaughton together into one conference room at the BBC Television Centre.<ref name="vinyl">''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (LP vinyl) liner notes; [https://web.archive.org/web/20230116033637/https://www.amazon.com/MONTY-PYTHON-PYTHONS-FLYING-CIRCUS/dp/B01BQH1FKE Archived image].</ref> The Pythons had a definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of [[Peter Cook]], [[Alan Bennett]], [[Jonathan Miller]], and [[Dudley Moore]] on ''[[Beyond the Fringe]]''—seminal to the British "[[satire boom]]"—and had worked on ''Frost'', which was similar in style.<ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1377417/index.html "The Roots of Monty Python"]. BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 23 January 2013</ref>

{{Quote box|width=27%|align=left|quote="The 1960s satire boom opened up the way for a fresh, inventive generation of young comedy writer-performers to flourish on TV and to take comedy in a new and exciting direction."|source=—BBC profile for ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''.<ref name="BBC Circus">{{cite news |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/montypython/ |access-date=26 November 2023 |agency=BBC}}</ref>}}
They enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show ''[[Not Only... But Also]]''. 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 sketch quality. 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).<ref>[http://www.montypython.net/scripts/silliest.php "The Silliest Interview We've Ever Had / The Silliest Sketch We've Ever Done"]. MontyPython.net. Retrieved 23 January 2013</ref> However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, [[Spike Milligan]], whom they had admired on ''[[The Goon Show]]'' (a show the Pythons regard as their biggest influence, which also featured [[Peter Sellers]], whom Cleese called "the greatest voice man of all time") recording his groundbreaking BBC series ''[[Q... (TV series)|Q...]]'' (1969).<ref name="Goon influence">{{cite web|title=John Cleese on The Goon Show, His Earliest Comedy Influence |url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/07/talking-peter-sellers-and-the-goon-show-with-john-cleese.html |access-date=10 September 2019 |work=Vulture|date=10 July 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How Spike Milligan's Q Paved the Way for Monty Python |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/spike-milligan-q-comedy-show-monty-python.html |access-date=21 August 2019 |work=Vulture|date=11 June 2019 }}</ref> Not only was ''Q...'' more irreverent and anarchic than any previous [[television comedy]], but Milligan also would often "give up" on sketches halfway through and wander off set (often muttering "Did I write this?"). It was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate. Michael Palin recalls "Terry Jones and I adored the ''Q...'' shows...[Milligan] was the first writer to play with the conventions of television."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ventham|first=Maxine|title=Spike Milligan: His Part in Our Lives|chapter=Michael Palin|year=2002|publisher=Robson|isbn=1-86105-530-7|pages=156–159}} (quote at (a), p. 157)</ref> [[Charles Isherwood]] writes that the Pythons "derived their sketch formats in part from the rowdy tradition of the [[music hall]]."<ref name="Isherwood"/>

[[File:Monty Python Live 02-07-14 12 56 41 (14415567757).jpg|thumb|"[[The Ministry of Silly Walks]]" sketch performed at the 2014 Python reunion. Featuring Cleese as a [[bowler hat|bowler-hatted]] [[civil servant]] in a fictitious British government ministry responsible for developing silly walks through [[Grant (money)|grants]], it appears in season 2, episode 1 of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''.]]
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. Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series: allowing sketches to blend into one another. Palin had been equally fascinated by another of Gilliam's efforts, entitled "Christmas Cards", and agreed that it represented "a way of doing things differently". Since Cleese, Chapman, and Idle were less concerned with the overall flow of the programme, Jones, Palin, and Gilliam 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).<ref name="Gilliam animation"/> The BBC states, "Gilliam's unique animation style became crucial, segueing seamlessly between any two completely unrelated ideas and making the stream-of-consciousness work."<ref name="Circus profile">{{cite web|title=Monty Python's Flying Circus |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/montypython/ |access-date=24 August 2019 |website=BBC}}</ref>

Writing started at 9:00AM and finished at 5:00PM. Typically, Cleese and Chapman worked as one pair isolated from the others, as did Jones and Palin, while Idle wrote alone. After a few days, they would join with Gilliam, critique their scripts, and exchange ideas. Their approach to writing was democratic. If the majority found an idea humorous, it was included in the show. The casting of roles for the sketches was a similarly unselfish process, since each member viewed himself primarily as a "writer", rather than an actor eager for screen time. When the themes for sketches were chosen, Gilliam had a free hand in bridging them with animations, using a camera, scissors, and airbrush.<ref name="Gilliam animation"/>

[[file:Monty_Python_Live_02-07-14_12_46_43_(14415411808).jpg|thumb|left|"[[The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)|The Spanish Inquisition]]" sketch performed by Gilliam, Palin and Jones at the 2014 Python reunion. As a sketch writer and creator of animations, Gilliam did considerably less acting, but did have some notable sketch roles such as this (Cardinal Fang).]]
While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members (Jones and Palin) was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., 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 intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as "The Man Who Speaks In [[Anagram]]s"). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's".<ref>Wilmut (1980), p. 211</ref> Gilliam's animations ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship).<ref name="Gilliam animation"/>

Several names for the show were considered before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was settled upon. Some were ''Owl Stretching Time'', ''The Toad Elevating Moment'', ''A Horse, a Spoon and a Basin'', ''Vaseline Review'', and ''Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot''. Reportedly, these names were considered for the show because the group members found it funny that the show name would have nothing to do with the actual content of the series.<ref name="vinyl" /> ''Flying Circus'' stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it.<ref>{{cite news |title=15 Facts about Monty Python and the Holy Grail |url=https://nereg.lib.ms.us/15-facts-about-monty-python-and-the-holy-grail/ |access-date=27 November 2023 |publisher=Northeast regional library}}</ref> ''Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus'' was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. ''Baron Von Took's Flying Circus'' was considered as an affectionate tribute to Barry Took, the man who had brought them together.<ref name="vinyl" /><ref>{{cite news| first= Douglas |last= Martin |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/nyregion/barry-took-73-father-of-monty-python-dies.html |title= Barry Took, 73, Father of Monty Python, Dies| work= [[The New York Times]]| date= 14 April 2002| access-date= 1 May 2015}}</ref> ''Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus'' was suggested, then discarded. The name ''Baron Von Took's Flying Circus'' had the form of ''[[Baron Manfred von Richthofen]]'s [[Manfred von Richthofen#Flying Circus|Flying Circus]]'' of WWI fame, and the new group was forming in a time when [[the Royal Guardsmen]]'s 1966 song "[[Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (song)|Snoopy vs. the Red Baron]]" had peaked. The term 'flying circus' was also another name for the popular entertainment of the 1920s known as [[flying circus|barnstorming]], where multiple performers collaborated with their stunts to perform a combined set of acts.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus – Four Yorkshiremen |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/02/monty-pythons-flying-circus-four-yorkshiremen.html |access-date=21 August 2019 |magazine=[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]}}</ref>

Differing, somewhat confusing accounts are given of the origins of the Python name, although the members agree that its only "significance" was that they thought it sounded funny. In the 1998 documentary ''[[Monty Python Live at Aspen|Live at Aspen]]'' during the [[The Comedy Festival|US Comedy Arts Festival]], where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the [[American Film Institute]], the group implied that "Monty" was selected (Eric Idle's idea) as a gently mocking tribute to [[Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Lord Montgomery]], a British general of [[World War II]]; requiring a "slippery-sounding" surname, they settled on "Python". On other occasions, Idle has claimed that the name "Monty" was that of a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub; people would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. The name Monty Python was later described by the BBC as being "envisaged by the team as the perfect name for a sleazy entertainment agent".<ref name="BBC Circus"/>

====Style of the show====
''Flying Circus'' popularised innovative formal techniques, such as the [[cold open]], in which an episode began without the traditional opening titles or announcements.<ref>{{cite web|last=Museum of Broadcast Communications|title=Monty Python's Flying Circus|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/montypython/montypython.htm|access-date=6 January 2007|archive-date=4 April 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060404194447/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/montypython/montypython.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> An example of this is the "It's" man: Palin, outfitted in [[Robinson Crusoe]] garb, making a tortuous journey across various terrains, before finally approaching the camera to state, "It's&nbsp;...", to be then interrupted by the [[title sequence]] and theme music. On several occasions, the cold open lasted until mid-show, after which the regular opening titles ran. Occasionally, the Pythons tricked viewers by rolling the [[closing credits]] halfway through the show, usually continuing the joke by fading to the familiar [[History of BBC television idents#BBC Television Service/BBC One|globe logo]] used for BBC continuity, over which Cleese would parody the clipped tones of a BBC announcer.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monty Python: a golden age of British comedy |url=https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/monty-python-a-golden-age-of-british-comedy-1.371481 |access-date=20 August 2019 |work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]]}}</ref> On one occasion, the credits ran directly after the opening titles. On the [[subversive]] nature of the show (and their subsequent films), Cleese states "anti-authoritarianism was deeply ingrained in Python".<ref name="Goon influence"/>

{{Quote box|width=29%|bgcolor=#FFFFF0|align=left|quote="Our first rule was: no punchlines. [Some sketches] start brilliant, great acting, really funny sketch, but the punchline is just not as good as the rest of the sketch, so it kills the entire thing. That's why we eliminated them."|source=—Terry Gilliam in 2007.<ref name="25 sketches">{{cite web|title=Top 25 Monty Python Sketches |url=https://listverse.com/2007/11/03/top-25-monty-python-sketches/ |access-date=26 April 2019 |website=ListVerse|date=3 November 2007 }}</ref>}}
Because of their dislike of finishing with punchlines, they experimented with ending the sketches by cutting abruptly to another scene or animation, walking offstage, addressing the camera (breaking the [[fourth wall]]), or introducing a totally unrelated event or character. A classic example of this approach was the use of Chapman's "anti-silliness" character of "[[The Colonel (Monty Python)|the Colonel]]", who walked into several sketches and ordered them to be stopped because things were becoming "far too silly".<ref>{{cite news|first=William|last=Langley|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/10948113/Monty-Python-Will-the-wrinkly-revolutionaries-have-the-last-laugh.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/10948113/Monty-Python-Will-the-wrinkly-revolutionaries-have-the-last-laugh.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Monty Python : Will the wrinkly revolutionaries have the last laugh?|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London, England|date=5 July 2014|access-date=15 May 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Monty python foot.png|thumb|right|[[The Foot of Cupid|Cupid's foot]], as used by ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. A trademark of Gilliam's stop-motion animation, the giant foot would suddenly squash things, including the show's title at the end of the opening credits.]]

Another favourite way of ending sketches was to drop a cartoonish "16-ton weight" prop on one of the characters when the sketch seemed to be losing momentum, or a knight in full armour (played by Terry Gilliam) would wander on-set and hit characters over the head with a rubber chicken,<ref>''Monty Python's Flying Circus Just The Words'' Volume 1, p. 33. Methuen, 1990</ref> before cutting to the next scene. Yet another way of changing scenes was when John Cleese, usually outfitted in a dinner suit, would come in as a radio commentator and, in a rather pompous manner, make the formal and determined announcement "And now for something completely different.", which later became the title of [[And Now For Something Completely Different|the first Monty Python film]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=And Now For Something Completely Different |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/and-now-for-something-completely-different-102005497/ |access-date=20 August 2019 |magazine=Smithsonian}}</ref>

The Python [[theme music]] is the [[Band of the Grenadier Guards]]' rendition of [[John Philip Sousa]]'s "[[The Liberty Bell (march)|The Liberty Bell]]" which was first published in 1893.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nlDOICBmhbkC&dq=band+of+the+grenadier+guards+monty+python%27s+flying+circus+the+liberty+bell&pg=PA1295 ''All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music''. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books, 2005.] Retrieved 11 February 2018</ref> Under the [[Berne Convention]]'s "country of origin" concept, the composition was subject to [[Copyright law of the United States|United States copyright law]] which states that any work first published prior to 1924 was in the [[public domain]], owing to copyright expiration.<ref>[https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States – Cornell University Library Copyright Information Center.] Retrieved 11 February 2018</ref> This enabled Gilliam to co-opt the march for the series without having to make any [[royalty payment]]s.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jul/11/monty-python-and-classical-music Clark, Philip. "Monty Python: Sousa, two-sheds and musical subversions," ''The Guardian'', Friday, 11 July 2014.] Retrieved 12 February 2018</ref>

[[File:Monty Python Live 02-07-14 12 24 16 (14598681721).jpg|thumb|left|Jones and Cleese as housewives in the 2014 reunion. Playing Brian Cohen's mother in ''Life of Brian'', Jones delivered the line, "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!".<ref>{{cite news |title=Life of Brian wins the vote for film's best laughter line |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385293/Life-of-Brian-wins-the-vote-for-films-best-laughter-line.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1385293/Life-of-Brian-wins-the-vote-for-films-best-laughter-line.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=18 August 2019 |work=The Telegraph|quote=Delivering the winning line to a crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol, he declared: "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy."}}{{cbignore}}</ref>]]
The use of Gilliam's [[Surrealism|surreal]], [[collage]] [[stop motion]] animations was another innovative intertextual element of the Python style.<ref name="Gilliam animation">{{cite news |title=Terry Gilliam Reveals the Secrets of Monty Python Animations: A 1974 How-To Guide |url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/terry-gilliam-reveals-the-secrets-of-monty-python-animations.html |access-date=18 August 2019 |work=Open Culture}}</ref> Many of the images Gilliam used were lifted from famous works of art, and from [[Victorian era|Victorian]] illustrations and [[engraving]]s. The giant foot that crushes the show's title at the end of the opening credits is the foot of [[Cupid]], cut from a reproduction of the [[Italian Renaissance|Renaissance]] masterpiece ''[[Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time]]'' by [[Bronzino]]. This foot, and Gilliam's style in general, are [[trademark look|visual trademarks]] of the programme.<ref name="Gilliam animation"/>

The Pythons used the British tradition of [[cross-dressing]] comedy by donning frocks and makeup and playing female roles themselves while speaking in [[falsetto]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Cross-Dressing and Fish-Slapping, One Python at a Time |newspaper=The New York Times |date=22 February 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/arts/television/crossdressing-and-fishslapping-one-python-at-a-time.html |access-date=26 April 2019 |last1=Martel |first1=Ned }}</ref> Jones specialised in playing the working-class housewife, or "ratbag old women" as termed by the BBC.<ref name="Circus profile"/> Palin and Idle generally played the role more posh, with Idle playing more feminine women.<ref name="Circus profile"/> Cleese played female roles more sparsely, while Chapman was frequently paired with Jones as a ratbag woman or with Idle portraying middle-class women commenting upon TV. Generally speaking, female roles were played by women only when the scene specifically required that the character be sexually attractive (although sometimes they used Idle for this). The troupe later turned to [[Carol Cleveland]]—often described as the unofficial seventh member—who co-starred in numerous episodes after 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jun/22/carol-cleveland-i-loved-every-minute-of-monty-python|title=Carol Cleveland interview: 'I loved every minute of Python, but in some respects, it has been a ball and chain' |author=Hogan, Michael|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 June 2014|access-date=23 November 2022}}</ref> In some episodes, and later in the stoning scene in ''[[Monty Python's Life of Brian]]'', they took the idea one step further by playing women who impersonated men.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larsen |first1=Darl |title=A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian: All the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=80}}</ref>

Many sketches are well-known and widely quoted. "[[Dead Parrot sketch]]", "[[The Lumberjack Song]]", "[[Spam (Monty Python)|Spam]]" (which led to the coining of the term [[email spam]]),<ref>{{cite news|title=How Spam Meat Has Survived Spam E-Mail|url=http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-17/how-spam-meat-has-survived-spam-e-mail|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519203835/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-17/how-spam-meat-has-survived-spam-e-mail|archive-date=19 May 2012}}</ref> "[[Nudge Nudge]]", "[[The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)|The Spanish Inquisition]]", "[[Upper Class Twit of the Year]]", "[[Cheese Shop sketch|Cheese Shop]]", "[[The Ministry of Silly Walks]]", "[[Argument Clinic]]", "[[The Funniest Joke in the World]]" (a sketch referenced in [[Google Translate]]), and "[[Four Yorkshiremen]]" are just a few examples.<ref>{{cite news |title=Monty Python's 10 funniest sketches |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/what-to-see/monty-pythons-10-funniest-sketches/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/what-to-see/monty-pythons-10-funniest-sketches/ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=6 August 2019 |newspaper=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Greatest skits"/> Most of the show's sketches satirise areas of public life, such as: Dead Parrot (poor customer service), Silly Walks (bureaucratic inefficiency), Spam (ubiquity of [[Spam (food)|Spam]] post World War II), and Four Yorkshiremen (nostalgic conversations).<ref name="Thomas"/><ref>McCabe, Bob (2005). ''The Life of Graham, The authorised biography of Graham Chapman''. pp. 90–91. London: Orion Books</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Hamming it up |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/nov/05/food.arts |access-date=23 August 2019 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> Featuring regularly in skits, [[List of recurring Monty Python's Flying Circus characters#Gumbys|Gumbys]] (characters of limited intelligence and vocabulary) were part of the Pythons' satirical view of television of the 1970s which condescendingly encouraged more involvement from the "man on the street".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Landy |first1=Marcia |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus |date=2005 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |page=97}}</ref>

====Introduction to North America and the world====
The [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] (CBC) added ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' to its national September 1970 fall line-up.<ref name="FlyingCircusCanada">{{cite web|url=http://torontoist.com/2011/09/vintage-toronto-ads-jack-of-hearts-flying-circus/|title=Vintage Toronto Ads: Jack of Hearts' Flying Circus|author=Jamie Bradburn, with reference to [[Toronto Star]] article of 2 February 1971|publisher=St. Joseph Media|date=20 September 2011|access-date=21 March 2012}}</ref> They aired the 13 episodes of series 1, which had first run on the BBC the previous autumn ([[List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes#Series 1|October 1969 to January 1970]]), as well as the first six episodes of series 2 only a few weeks after they first appeared on the BBC ([[List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes#Series 2|September to November 1970]]).<ref name="FlyingCircusCanada" /> The CBC dropped the show when it returned to regular programming after the Christmas 1970 break, choosing to not place the remaining seven episodes of series 2 on the January 1971 CBC schedule.<ref name="FlyingCircusCanada" /> Within a week, the CBC received hundreds of calls complaining of the cancellation, and more than 100 people staged a demonstration at the CBC's [[Montreal]] studios. The show eventually returned, becoming a fixture on the network during the first half of the 1970s.<ref name="FlyingCircusCanada" />

[[File:Lumberjack Song O2 Arena.jpg|right|thumb|"[[The Lumberjack Song]]" with Palin (right) and Carol Cleveland at the 2014 reunion. It appeared in the ninth episode of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''.]]
Sketches from ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' were introduced to American audiences in [[And Now for Something Completely Different#American audiences|August 1972]], with the release of the Python film ''[[And Now for Something Completely Different]]'', featuring sketches from series 1 and 2 of the television show. This 1972 release met with limited box office success.<ref name="Egan"/>

The ability to show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' under the American NTSC standard had been made possible by the commercial actions of American television producer [[Greg Garrison (television producer)|Greg Garrison]]. Garrison produced the NBC series ''[[The Dean Martin Comedy World]]'', which ran during the summer of 1974.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AKlgjBCPPnsC&dq=Garrison+NBC+The+Dean+Martin+Comedy+World&pg=PA108 |title=Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials |date=1985 |publisher=VNR AG |isbn=978-0-918432-61-2 |pages=108 |language=en}}</ref> The concept was to show clips from comedy shows produced in other countries, including tape of the Python sketches "Bicycle Repairman" and "The Dull Life of a Stockbroker".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Douglas L. |first1=McCall |title=Monty Python A Chronological Listing of the Troupe's Creative Output, and Articles and Reviews about Them, 1969-1989 |date=1991 |publisher=McFarland |page=28}}</ref>

{{Quote box|width=27%|align=left|quote="When [Monty Python] hit the airwaves, it really was quite shocking but it was shocking in a good way. It set you up right and opened up a whole new form of comedy. [[wikt:Pythonesque|'Pythonesque]]."|source=— Ron Devillier, PBS programming director.<ref name="Dallas Observer">{{cite news |title=Meet Ron Devillier, the Dallas TV Program Manager Who Introduced Monty Python to America |url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/meet-ron-devillier-the-dallas-tv-program-manager-who-introduced-monty-python-to-america-8947710 |access-date=27 November 2023 |work=Dallas Observer}}</ref>}}
Through the efforts of Python's American manager Nancy Lewis, during the summer of 1974, Ron Devillier, the programming director for nonprofit [[PBS]] television station [[KERA-TV|KERA]] in [[Dallas]], Texas, started airing episodes of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/arts/television/nancy-lewis-dead.html |title=Nancy Lewis, the Pythons' Ticket to America, Dies at 76. The British troupe wasn't well known in the United States until she began promoting its records and pushing to get "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on PBS. |work=[[The New York Times]] |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |date=13 January 2020 |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/nancy-lewis-obituary-the-woman-who-introduced-america-to-monty-python-1.4141958 |title=Nancy Lewis obituary: The woman who introduced America to Monty Python. Lewis also helped promote Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Traffic and other acts in the 1960s |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=18 January 2020 |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref> Ratings shot through the roof, prompting other PBS affiliates to pick up the show.<ref name="Dallas Observer"/> Devillier states, "We got the Nielsens in and started looking at the Saturday ratings. The first night, it was a 6 rating. We couldn't believe it. We didn't know what a 6 looked like. The next week, it was a 7 and it may have taken a month but it stayed there and we started getting 8s, 9s and 10s."<ref name="Dallas Observer"/> There was also cross-promotion from [[FM radio]] stations across the US, whose airing of tracks from the Python LPs had already introduced American audiences to this bizarre brand of comedy.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nancy-lewis-monty-pythons-ticket-to-america-76/ar-BBYXJdM |title=Nancy Lewis, Monty Pythons' ticket to America, 76 |work=[[MSN News]] |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |date=15 January 2020 |access-date=22 January 2020}}</ref> The popularity on PBS resulted in the 1974 re-release of the 1972 ''...Completely Different'' film, with much greater box office success.<ref name="Egan">{{cite book |last1=Egan |first1=Kate |title=And Now for Something Completely Different: Critical Approaches to Monty Python |date=2020 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press}}</ref> The success of the show was captured by a March 1975 article headline in ''[[The New York Times]]'', "Monty Python's Flying Circus Is Barnstorming Here".<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |last1=Kaufman |first1=Michael T. |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus Is Barnstorming Here |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/26/archives/monty-pythons-flying-circus-is-barnstorming-here.html |access-date=22 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 April 1975}}</ref> Asked what challenges were left, now that they had made TV shows, films, written books, and produced records, Chapman responded, "Well, actually world supremacy would be very nice", before Idle cautioned, "Yes, but that sort of thing has got to be done properly".<ref name="NY Times"/>

In 1975 [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] broadcast two 90-minute ''Monty Python'' specials, each with three shows, but cut out a total of 24 minutes from each, in part to make time for commercials, and in part to avoid upsetting their audience.  As the judge observed in ''[[Gilliam v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.]]'', where Monty Python sued for damages caused by broadcast of the mutilated version, "According to the network, appellants should have anticipated that most of the excised material contained scatological references inappropriate for American television and that these scenes would be replaced with commercials, which presumably are more palatable to the American public."  Monty Python won the case.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/integrity/Links/Cases/gilliam.html|title=Terry Gilliam et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants-Appellees, v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Defendant-Appellee-Appellant.|publisher=United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit|date=30 June 1976|last=Lumbard}}</ref>

With the popularity of Python throughout the rest of the 1970s and through most of the 1980s, PBS stations looked at other British comedies, leading to UK shows such as ''[[Are You Being Served?]]'' gaining a US audience, and leading, over time, to many PBS stations having a "British Comedy Night" which airs many popular UK comedies.<ref>{{cite book|first1=David|last1=Stewart|first2=David C.|last2=Stewart|title=The PBS companion: a history of public television|url=https://archive.org/details/pbscompanionhis00stew|url-access=registration|access-date=29 September 2010|date=1999|publisher=TV Books|isbn=978-1-57500-050-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/pbscompanionhis00stew/page/n211 216]}}</ref>

In 1976, Monty Python became the top rated show in Japan. The popularity of the show in the Netherlands saw the town of [[Spijkenisse]] near Rotterdam open a 'silly walks' road crossing in 2018. Believed to be a world first, the official sign asks pedestrians to cross the road in a comical manner.<ref>{{cite news |title=Walk this way: Spijkenisse launches 'silly walks' zebra crossing |url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/10/walk-this-way-spijkenisse-launches-silly-walks-zebra-crossing/ |access-date=29 August 2019 |website=Dutch News.nl}}</ref>

====Departure of Cleese====
Having considered the possibility at the end of the second series, Cleese left the ''Flying Circus'' at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show, and claimed that only two sketches penned by Cleese and Chapman in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts.<ref name="Autobiography" /> He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. According to an interview with Idle, "It was on an [[Air Canada]] flight on the way to [[Toronto]], when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom."<ref>[[Richard Ouzounian]], "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929171724/http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar%2FLayout%2FArticle_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1152963371205 Python still has legs]", ''Toronto Star'', 16 July 2006</ref> In 2012, Jones spoke on Cleese's work in the third series and subsequent departure, "He was good at it, when he did it he was professional, but he'd rather not have done it. The others all loved it, but he got more and more pissed off about having to come out and do filming, and the one that really swung it, in my view, was when we had to do the day on the Newhaven lifeboat."<ref>Gent, James."Exclusive: Terry Jones on life inside the Flying Circus". We Are Cult</ref>

The rest of the group carried on for one more "half" season before calling a halt to the programme in 1974. While the first three seasons contained 13 episodes each, the fourth ended after just six.<ref name="Season four">{{cite news |title=Monty Python's Flying Circus, Series 4 |url=http://www.montypython.com/tvshow_Monty%20Python's%20Flying%20Circus,%20Series%204/17 |access-date=25 July 2019 |website=Monty Python.com}}</ref> The name ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' appears in the opening animation for season four, but in the end credits, the show is listed as simply ''Monty Python''.<ref name="Season four"/> Although Cleese left the show, he was credited as a writer for three of the six episodes, largely concentrated in the "Michael Ellis" episode, which had begun life as one of the many drafts of the "Holy Grail" motion picture.  When a new direction for "Grail" was decided upon, the subplot of Arthur and his knights wandering around a strange department store in modern times was lifted out and recycled as the aforementioned TV episode. Songwriter [[Neil Innes]] contributed to some sketches, including "Appeal on Behalf of Very Rich People".