Editing Monty Python (section)

====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"/>