Monty Python's Flying Circus
- TV sketch show
- BBC Two / BBC One
- 1969 - 1974
- 45 episodes (4 series)
Highly influential off-the-wall 1970s sketch series, starring John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones. Also features Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland.
Monty Python's Flying Circus trivia
The famous foot which appears in the opening titles comes from the painting Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time by Agnolo Bronzino.
Graham Chapman, currently the only member of the Monty Python team to have died, passed away one day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Terry Jones called his death, "the worst case of party-pooping in all history."
While filming for the episode "Scott of the Antarctic", the team stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay run by Donald Sinclair. This visit inspired John Cleese to create Fawlty Towers.
Five Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches appeared in the Channel 4 poll of the 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches. These were the "Dead Parrot" (2nd), "The Spanish Inquisition" (12th), "Ministry of Silly Walks" (15th), "Nudge Nudge", (31st) and "The Lumberjack Song" (49th).
The very first Python sketch recorded was the flying sheep sketch.
Source: Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) - Episode 2