About Monty Python
By Cathy Richey, the Cathy Factor
Monty Python's Flying Circus group formed in England in 1969.
Comprised of British performers John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric
Idle, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman, along with American animator
Terry Gilliam, the group emerged as an international cult
phenomenon, honing their singular blend of broad slapstick, edgy
black comedy and social commentary in a string of successful
television programs, films and albums.
After meeting during a taping of the British children's series Do
Not Adjust Your Set, the Pythons officially took shape in May 1969
when the BBC contracted the group to produce their own 13-week
program. Monty Python's Flying Circus, a weekly sketch comedy
series, premiered that October; after becoming a major hit
throughout Europe, the group recorded 1970's Monty Python's Flying
Circus LP, a set of new performances of television material recorded
in front of a live audience (including their legendary "dead parrot"
sketch, "The Pet Shop"). Their film debut, And Now for Something
Completely Different — a collection of highlights from the series —
followed in 1971.
Another Monty Python Record, released in the U.K. in 1971, made its
American debut the following year; for most U.S. fans, the album was
their first exposure to Monty Python. The BBC series did not begin
appearing on public television outlets for several more months.
After 1972's Monty Python's Previous Record, a mixture of original
routines and TV material featuring "Eric the Half a Bee," "The
Argument Clinic" and "Embarrassment/A Bed-Time Book," the group
issued 1973's Matching Tie and Handkerchief, which featured a "trick
track" gimmick where the second side contained separate grooves both
featuring entirely different material; playing randomly depending
upon where the needle dropped, the gimmick effectively created a
Side Three.
A 1973 British tour meant Monty Python appearing Live at the Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane, released in 1974 to coincide with the film Monty
Python and the Holy Grail; the movie's companion record The Album of
the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the
Holy Grail — a reprise of screen material along with new skits — did
not appear until the next year. After 1976's Live at the City
Center, a long hiatus followed before the group reunited for the
1979 feature and soundtrack Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Monty Python's Obligation Album appeared in 1980, followed by the
1982 concert film Live at the Hollywood Bowl. The 1983 feature Monty
Python's the Meaning of Life was the last official group project,
although the group members reunited on occasion; most famously,
Cleese and Palin teamed in the hit comedy A Fish Called Wanda, while
Gilliam's directorial efforts like Time Bandits, Brazil and The
Adventures of Baron Munchausen all featured other Python alumni.
It's been over thirty years this group of five Englishmen and one
wayward American, re-wrote the rules of comedy. Monty Python's
Flying Circus, an unheralded, previously unseen and practically
unprogrammed half hour of sketches, hilarities, inanities and
animations first appeared on the BBC late one night in 1969. Its
impact on the world has been felt ever since.
From its humble beginnings as late night entertainment on a British
TV channel that went off the air before midnight, it blossomed into
the most influential movement in modern comedy. They found the Holy
Grail, they detailed the life of the Savior-also-ran Brian, and when
we were lost, they explained The Meaning of Life.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, three of the six
Pythons members were voted by fellow comedians to be among the top
50 greatest comedians ever: Cleese at #2, Idle at #21, and Palin at
#30.
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