Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus!
- Radio documentary
- BBC Radio 4
- 2011
- 1 episode
Henning Wehn looks at the story behind Monty Python's attempt to make their sketch show in Germany. Features Henning Wehn, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Alfred Biokek, Thomas Woitkewitsch and more.
Press clippings
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus! (Radio 4, 10.30am) is a tale of fan power. Forty years ago Alfred Biolek persuaded the Monty Python team to make two 45-minute specials for German TV. Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Biolek himself tell Henning Wehn (the German comedian who's always on Radio 4 shows) how it happened. From independents All Out.
Gillian Reynolds, The Telegraph, 7th May 2011Achtung! Fans of Monty Python and his enduring Flying Circus will want to catch this oddball programme in which the uniquely accented Henning Wehn winkles out the story of how the Pythons came to make two special episodes of the programme for German TV. Aghast at the lack of silliness on air in Deutschland in 1971, Alfred Biolek convinced the troupe not only to film the new shows but also to perform them in German, a language none of the cast were familiar with. This is packed with amusing reminiscences from all involved, and if you miss it you'll be sick as a parrot - or, if you like, an ex-parrot.
Tom Cole, Radio Times, 7th May 2011