Editing Monty Python (section)

====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>