Monty Python

Michael Palin interview

Monty Python's success was a fluke of timing, Michael Palin has said. The 71-year-old attributed the troupe's legacy to the fact the show came out just as the BBC stopped routinely wiping shows from its archive, so it could reuse the tapes.

Video: Terry Gilliam interview

Monty Python star Terry Gilliam has said his recent comments describing the prospect of forthcoming reunion shows as "depressing" were taken out of context.

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse skewered the entire output of BBC2 over the past 50 years in Harry and Paul's Story of the Twos, and not even that kindly. Enfield, as Alan Bennett, as a Talking Heads Stalin, torn between curtain-fussery and genocide, was the most surreal vision this perfect pair have ever concocted, but worked: as did their evisceration of such sacred cows as Monty Python, I Claudius and Have I Got News For You. It was wonderfully written, and brave, and I'd like to think that all the famous targets decked themselves with laughter. Mr Cleese may have even ventured a smile.

Harry and Paul's Story of the 2s delivered an affectionate kick to BBC2's groin, parodying the channels output over the last 50 years. This included Boys from the Blackstuff, Monty Python, The Likely Lads, Have I Got News For You, The Ascent of Man and even some of their own contributions. The fact that several of the shows in their sights were broadcast on other BBC channels didn't seem to bother the pair at all.

The satire was of the scattergun variety, but the targets were hit far more frequently than not, and there were moments of pure comic inspiration. My own personal favourite featured the Late Night Line-Up interviewee, slack-jawed, goggle-eyed and transfixed on the legs of Joan Bakewell - or Joan Bakewell Tart, as she was rechristened for the programme.

Opinion: The missing Monty Python link

There was a different appearance from Eric Idle's "Nudge-Nudge" character which I can't find anywhere. It was in a TV advert for Breakaway chocolate bars which also featured Idle's blazered buffoon, though this time, if my memory is correct, he wouldn't shut up about the chocolate and crispy biscuit combination.

To celebrate BBC2's 50th anniversary, the channel exhumed an hour of so-called hidden treasures from The Comedy Vaults, including un-aired pilots, cult classics and first television appearances from comedy legends such as French & Saunders, Steve Coogan and Billy Connolly. There was even rare archive footage of Harry Hill with hair.

Monty Python's Eric Idle was also on hand to puncture the general air of self-congratulation, suggesting BBC2 should actually be charged with crimes against humanity for losing or wiping so many tapes containing classic comedy episodes and performances.

One tape the station would have done well to lose featured the band Madness, starring in an eponymous sitcom written for them by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis. It would be hard to pick out one band member for opprobrium, as they were all so dreadful.

Game of Thrones hides secret Monty Python reference

n the episode Breaker of Chains, the show's linguist David Peterson created the ultimate in-joke with series creator Dan Weiss, by translating Monty Python quotes into Low Valyrian, a language used by a clan on the show. More specifically, he took the insults hurled by a French soldier in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, such as "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries."

Monty Python interview

GQ talks to the iconoclasts who challenged the British establishment and ended up global comedy royalty. John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle discuss the glory years, blazing rows, groupies and the Knights Who Say Ni... Say no more!