Monty Python's Flying Circus
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Template:Infobox television Monty Python's Flying Circus (aka Flying Circus or MPFC, known during the fourth season as Monty Python) was the popular BBC sketch comedy show from Monty Python. The show is almost never serious, usually employing impossible or highly improbable events along with some sexual humor and sight gags for the benefit of the viewer.
The first episode was recorded September 7, 1969, and broadcast October 5 of the same year on BBC One.
The shows often targeted the idiosyncrasies of British life (especially professionals), and was at times politically charged. The members of Monty Python were highly educated (Oxford and Cambridge graduates), and their comedy was often pointedly intellectual with numerous references to philosophers and literary figures. It followed and elaborated upon the style initially used by Spike Milligan in his series Q5, rather than the traditional sketch show format. The team intended their humour to be impossible to categorise, and succeeded so completely that the adjective "Pythonesque" had to be invented to define it and later, similar material. Despite this, Terry Jones once commented that the fact that they'd created a new word in the dictionary shows how miserably they'd failed. Their humour could be categorised as absurdist or surrealist.
The series' famous theme tune is the first segment of John Philip Sousa's "Liberty Bell".
This article discusses the series itself. For information about the formation of the group, the conception of the show and other Python media, see Monty Python.
Contents |
Titles considered instead of Monty Python's Flying Circus
- It's...
- A Horse, a Bucket and a Spoon
- Bun, Whackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot
- Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus
- Sex and Violence
- Owl-Stretching Time
- 1 2 3
- Vaseline Parade
- The Horrible Earnest Megapode
- The Plastic Mac Show
- The Nose Show
- A Toad-Elevating Moment
- The Venus De Milo Panic Show
- The Year of the Stoat
Recurring characters
Image:RadioTimesMontyPython.jpg
In contrast to many other sketch comedy shows Flying Circus made up new characters for each new sketch and only had a handful of recurring characters, many of whom were only involved in titles and linking sequences, including:
- The "It's" man (Palin), a dishevelled man with torn clothes and long, unkempt beard who would appear at the beginning of the programme, often after climbing up a mountain or performing a long task and say, "It's..." before being abruptly cut off by the opening titles, which started with the words 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'. "It's" was also an early candidate for the title of the series.
- A BBC continuity announcer in a dinner jacket (Cleese), seated at a desk, often in highly incongruous locations, such as a forest or a beach. His line, "And now for something completely different," was used variously as a lead-in to the opening titles and a simple way to link sketches. It eventually became the show's catch phrase, even serving as the title for the troupe's first movie.
- (First series) An armoured knight (Gilliam) carrying a rubber chicken, who would end sketches by hitting characters over the head with it.
- A nude organist (played in his first appearance by Gilliam, afterwards by Jones) who provided a brief fanfare to punctuate certain sketches (usually parodies of the television show How) or as yet another way to introduce the opening titles.
- Biggles (Chapman, and in one instance Jones), a fictional WWI pilot from a series of stories by W. E. Johns.
- The Gumbies, a group of slow-witted individuals identically attired in high-water trousers, braces (suspenders), and round, rimless glasses, with tiny Chaplin-style moustaches and handkerchiefs on the tops of their heads (a stereotype of the British holidaymaker). They hold their arms awkwardly in front of them, speak slowly in loud, low voices punctuated by frequent grunts and groans, and have a fondness for bashing bricks together. They often complain that their brains hurt. All of them are surnamed 'Gumby' (D.P. Gumby, R.S. Gumby, etc.).
- So-called pepperpots: screeching middle-aged, lower-middle class housewives played by the cross-dressing Python men. The Pythons played all their own women, unless the part called for a younger, more glamorous actress (in which case either Connie Booth or Carol Cleveland would usually play that part). "Pepper Pot" refers to what the Pythons believed was the typical body shape of middle-class British housewives, as explained by John Cleese in "How to Irritate People".
- Luigi Vercotti (Palin), a mafioso entrepreneur, occasionally accompanied by his brother Dino (Jones).
- Brief black-and-white stock footage of middle-aged women sitting in an audience and applauding. The film was taken from a Women's Institute meeting. This would last only two or three seconds.
- Richard Baker, a well-known newsreader, who would occcasionally appear on the show to deliver short newscasts on ridiculous subjects.
Some other characters have proven very memorable, despite the fact that they appear only in one or two episodes, such as "The Colonel", played by Graham Chapman, who interrupts sketches when things become too silly.
Some of the Pythons' targets seemed to recur far more frequently than others. Reginald Maudling, a contemporary Conservative politician, was singled out for perhaps the most consistent ridicule. The theme tune was John Philip Sousa's march "Liberty Bell" (see that article for an MP3 recording of the MPFC version of the march). Regular supporting cast members included Carol Cleveland, Connie Booth, Neil Innes and The Fred Tomlinson Singers (for musical numbers).
Popular character traits
Although there were few recurring characters, and the six cast members played many diverse roles, each had some that he had perfected.
Chapman
Graham Chapman was well known for his roles as straight-faced men, of any age or class (frequently an authority figure such as a military officer, policeman or doctor) who could, at any moment, engage in "Pythonesque" maniacal behavior and then return to their former sobriety (see sketches such as "An Appeal from the Vicar of St. Loony-up-the-Cream-Bun-and-Jam," "The One-Man Wrestling Match" and "The Argument Clinic"). He was also skilled in abuse, which he brusquely delivered in such sketches as the latter and "Flying Lessons". His dignified demeanor was put to good use when he played the straight man in the Python features Holy Grail and Life of Brian.
Cleese
John Cleese usually plays the authority figure, or rather: the ridiculous authority figure. Terry Gilliam claims that John Cleese is the funniest of the Pythons in drag, as he barely needs to be dressed up to look hilarious (see the "Mr. and Mrs. Git" sketch). Cleese is also well known for playing very intimidating manics (see the "Self-Defence Class"). Cleese's character of Eric Praline, the put-upon consumer, features in some of the most popular sketches, such as the "Dead Parrot" and the "Fish Licence". He is perhaps most famous for the "Ministry of Silly Walks", where he goose-stepped around while pretending to be a member of the eponymous government department. It can be said that another trademark of his is the usage of the line "You bastard!"
Gilliam
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Many Python sketches were linked together by the often-hilarious cut-out animations of Terry Gilliam (the only Python member from America), including the opening titles featuring the iconic giant foot that became a symbol of all that was "Pythonesque." Gilliam's unique visual style was characterized by sudden and dramatic movements and errors of scale set in surrealist landscapes populated by engravings of large buldings with elaborate architecture, grotesque victorian gadgets, machinery, and people cut from old Sears Roebuck catalogs, supported by Gilliam's airbrush illustrations and many famous pieces of art. All of these elements were combined in incongruous ways to obtain new and humourous meanings in the tradition of surrealist collage assemblies. The giant foot is appropriated from the figure of Cupid in Agnolo Bronzino's "An Allegory of Venus and Cupid".
The surreal nature of the series allowed Gilliam's animation to go off on bizarre, imaginative tangents. Some running gags derived from these animations were a giant hedgehog named Spiny Norman who appeared over the tops of buildings shouting, "Dinsdale!", further petrifying the paranoid Dinsdale Piranha, and The Foot of Cupid, the giant foot that suddenly squashed things.
Other memorable animated segments include the killer cars, Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth, the carnivorous houses, the old woman who cannot catch the bus, the rampage of the cancerous black spot, and a giant cat that stomps its way through London, destroying everything in its path.
Although he was primarily the animator of the series, Gilliam sometimes appeared before the camera, as more grotesque characters and parts that no-one else wanted to play (generally because they required a lot of make-up or involved uncomfortable costumes). The most recurrent of these was a knight in armour who ended sketches by walking on-set and hitting another character on the head with a plucked chicken. Gilliam also played Cardinal Fang in The Spanish Inquisition sketch.
Idle
Eric Idle is perhaps best remembered for his roles as a cheeky, suggestive, slightly perverted, upper middle class "playboy" (see sketches such as "Nudge Nudge"), his role as crafty, slick salesmen (see the "Door-to-Door Joke Salesman" or his role as the shop keeper who loves to haggle in Monty Python's Life of Brian). He is also acknowledged as 'the master of the one-liner' by the other Pythons. He is also considered the best singer in the group. Though certainly not reaching Jones' level in drag, Idle was arguably the most feminine-looking woman of the Pythons. His appearances as upper-class, middle-aged females are particularly convincing.
Jones
Although all of the Pythons played women, Terry Jones is renowned by the rest to be 'the best Rat-Bag woman in the business'. His portrayal of a middle-aged housewife was louder, shriller and more dishevelled than that of any of the other Pythons (see "Dead Bishop" sketch or his role as Mandy in Life of Brian, or Mrs. Linda S-C-U-M in "Mr. Neutron").
Palin
Michael Palin's most common characters were working-class northerners, often portrayed in a disgusting light (see "The Funniest Joke in the World" sketch, or the "Every Sperm Is Sacred" segment of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life). Palin's characters spanned the gamut in terms of energy. On the one hand, he played weak-willed, put-upon men such as the husband in the marriage counsellor sketch, or the boring accountant in the "Lion Tamer" sketch. However, he was equally at home as the indefatigable Cardinal Ximinez of The Spanish Inquisition sketch. Another high-energy character that Palin portrays is the slick TV show host, constantly smacking his lips together and generally being over-enthusiastic (see the "Blackmail sketch"). One of his most famous creations was the shopkeeper who attempts to sell useless goods by very weak attempts at being sly and crafty, which are invariably spotted by the customer (often played by Cleese) because the defects in the products are inherently obvious (see the "Dead Parrot", the "Cheese Shop"); his spivvy club owner, Luigi Vercotti, in the "Piranha Brothers" is another classic variant on this type. Palin is also well known for his leading role in the The Lumberjack Song.
Most famous sketches
The troupe's best-known sketches include:
- Dead Parrot
- The Lumberjack Song
- Nudge Nudge
- The Ministry of Silly Walks
- Spam
- The Spanish Inquisition
These sketches all appear in the first two series. A possible explanation for their fame is their inclusion in the feature film And Now For Something Completely Different, which was made between series 2 and 3. However, it was little more than a regurgitation of popular sketches intended to be shown in countries that had not seen the TV series, and did very badly in most (the one country where it was a modest hit was the UK itself, despite — or perhaps because of — the familiarity of the material). A further reason could be that when the show was repeated, it was often cancelled before the later series were shown.
The 'lost' sketches
John Cleese was reportedly unhappy with the use of scatological humour in Python sketches. The final episode of the third series of the show included a sketch called 'Wee-Wee Wine Tasting', which was filmed but ultimately never used in the episode due to Cleese's objections. The sketch involves a man taking a tour of a wine cellar where he samples many of the wine bottles' contents — which are actually urine. Also pulled out along with the 'Wee-Wee' skit (for reasons unknown) was a sketch where Cleese had hired a sculptor to carve a statue of him. The sculptor (Chapman) had made an uncanny likeness to Cleese, except for that his nose was extremely long, almost to Pinocchio size. The only clue that this sketch ever was cut out of the episode was in the "Sherry-Drinking Vicar" sketch, where towards the back of the room, a bust with an enormously long nose sits. It is unlikely that these sketches will be released on DVD or broadcast on television, although copies of the script for these sketches can usually be found on the Internet.
Some material originally recorded went missing later, mostly because of censorship. Sometimes it was just part of a sketch, such as the use of the word "masturbating" in the Summarize Proust sketch, first muted, later cut out entirely. Some sketches were deleted in their entirety, like the Political Choreographer or the satan animation connecting "Crackpot religions" to "How not to be seen". Bits of the satan animation can still be seen at the end where that particular episode is repeated in fastforward. Also it was later rediscovered from black & white 16mm film prints. Critics feel that a properly restored dvd release is long overdue.
The Flying Circus closes
John Cleese left the show after the third series, so he did not appear in the final six episodes that made up series four, although he did receive writing credits where applicable. Neil Innes and Douglas Adams are notable as the only two non-Pythons to get writing credits in the show — Innes for songs in episodes 40, 42 and 45 (and for contributing to a sketch in episode 45), and Adams for contributing to a sketch about something completely different in episode 45. Innes frequently appeared in the Pythons' stage shows and can also be seen in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and (briefly) in Life of Brian.
Two episodes were produced in German for WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) — both were titled Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (the literal German translation of the English title). The first episode, advertised as Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus: Blödeln für Deutschland, was produced in 1971, and performed in German. The second episode, advertised as Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus: Blödeln auf die feine englische Art, produced in 1972, was recorded in English and later dubbed over in German. The original English recording was transmitted by the BBC in October 1973.
The final episode of Series 4 was recorded November 16, 1974, and broadcast on December 5. That same year, Devillier-Donegan Enterprises syndicated the series in the United States of America among PBS stations, and the show premiered on KERA-TV in Dallas, Texas. It was an instant hit, rapidly garnering an enormous loyal cult following nationwide that surprised even the Pythons themselves, who didn't believe that their humour was exportable without being tailored specifically for the North American market.
When several episodes were broadcast by ABC in their "Wide World of Entertainment" slot in 1975 the episodes were re-edited, thus losing the continuity and flow intended in the originals. When ABC refused to stop treating the series in this way the Pythons took them to court. Initially the court ruled that their artistic rights had indeed been violated, but it refused to stop the ABC broadcasts. However, on appeal the team gained control over all subsequent US broadcasts of its programmes. The case also led to them gaining the rights from the BBC once their original contracts ended at the end of 1980 (a unique arrangement at the time).
Censorship controversies aside, the discovery of an international legion of fans would inspire the troupe to reunite to create the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, since they now knew they had a world-wide audience.
In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Monty Python's Flying Circus was placed 5th.
In April of 2006, MPFC returned to non-cable American television on PBS at 10 and 11pm. To celebrate, PBS brought the group together to take part in Monty Python's Personal Best, a six-episode series featuring each Python's favorite sketches.
Episodes
See List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes.
External links
- {{{2|{{{title|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- Museum of Broadcast Television
- British Film Institute Screen Online
- A Monty Python & Britcom Forum
- Monty Python Forums
- 'Lost episode' script
- "Monty Python's Flying Circus" - Nostalgia Central
| Monty Python | Image:MontyPythonFootLeftSmall.jpg | |
|---|---|---|
| Members | Graham Chapman • John Cleese • Terry Gilliam • Eric Idle • Terry Jones • Michael Palin | |
| Other Contributors | Douglas Adams • Connie Booth • Carol Cleveland • Neil Innes | |
| Films & TV Series | Monty Python's Flying Circus • Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus • And Now For Something Completely Different • Monty Python and the Holy Grail • Monty Python's Life of Brian • Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl • Monty Python's The Meaning of Life • Monty Python's Personal Best | |
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