Monty Python

It's not surprising that Monty Python faced the axe

The comedy series was not alone in being at the whim of frightened TV executives, says David Quantick.

How Monty Python was formed

Terry Jones recounts the absurdist playwrights who shaped unique Monty Python humour.

BBC nearly killed off Monty Python, says Terry Jones

Monty Python was nearly killed off by BBC executives who feared it would never make money, according to Terry Jones.

Monty Python's John Cleese in wheelchair

John Cleese's silly walks are on hold after a busted knee left him needing a wheelchair.

Gateways To Geekery: Monty Python

Monty Python's Flying Circus ran four series, for a total of 45 episodes. None of these are outright horrid, but the quality varies, especially in the latter half, when the writing loses steam and some sketches of questionable humor get stretched longer than necessary. The movies range from passable to excellent.

It leaves me absolutely cold. Cleese and those other guys are completely up their own arses. It is humour made for dolts. I never made it through a complete episode of Flying Circus because it was so bad. I hate sacrilege too - so Life of Brian was an unfunny idea, too easy to sustain a whole film. It was the same with The Goons and Charlie Chaplin, who I could never stand - that kind of dopey, physically silly, male, oh-look-at-us humour. I prefer girls in backless dresses saying witty things in 1940s films, the kinds of movies that have a dry, crisp wit to them, and screwball comedies too. Python and its like rely on easy laughs - the parrot sketch is just ghastly - I prefer the kind of humour that creeps up on you, the kind that builds up so that, out of nowhere, you find yourself in hysterics. Humour should be subtle.

Thirty years after the release of the heretical masterpiece Monty Python's Life of Brian - and a few weeks since RT readers voted it the best comedy film ever - Sanjeev Bhaskar investigates how and why the Pythons did it. The movie was conceived when Eric Idle announced, for a laugh, that the follow-up to Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be called Jesus Christ - Lust for Glory. That throwaway gag ended up as a heartfelt, intelligent, rationalist satire where every scene is a quotable moment. As Terry Jones, Carol Cleveland, producer John Goldstone and others reminisce, it's a chance for fans to celebrate - and for those who dismiss the film as blasphemy to discover what it's really about.

What did 'Life of Brian' ever do for us?

Monty Python's 1979 film, 'Life of Brian', is rightly considered a comedy classic. But, thirty years on, it wouldn't be made today, argues Sanjeev Bhaskar.

First night review

The Telegraph gives Monty Python's Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) at Royal Albert Hall a three star rating.

Terry Jones' favourite Monty Python sketches

40 years of Monty Python.