Editing Monty Python (section)

====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>