Monty Python's Flying Circus
| Format | Sketch comedy |
|---|---|
| Created by | Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin |
| Starring | Graham Chapman John Cleese Terry Gilliam Eric Idle Terry Jones Michael Palin Carol Cleveland |
| Opening theme | "Liberty Bell" by John Philip Sousa |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 45 |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 25–30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC1 (1969–1973) BBC2 (1974) |
| Original run | 5 October 1969 – 5 December 1974 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | And Now for Something Completely Different |
The first episode was recorded on 7 September and broadcast on 5 October 1969 on BBC One, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV.
The show often targets the idiosyncrasies of British life (especially that of professionals) and is at times politically charged. The members of Monty Python were highly educated. Terry Jones and Michael Palin are Oxford graduates; Eric Idle, John Cleese and Graham Chapman attended Cambridge; and American-born member Terry Gilliam is an Occidental College graduate. Their comedy is often pointedly intellectual, with numerous references to philosophers and literary figures. It followed and elaborated upon the style used by Spike Milligan in his groundbreaking series Q5, rather than the traditional sketch show format. The team intended their humour to be impossible to categorise, and succeeded so completely that the adjective "Pythonesque" was invented to define it, and later, similar material. Terry Jones once commented, jokingly, that the fact that they had inspired a new word in the dictionary shows how miserably they had failed.
The Pythons play the majority of the series characters themselves, including the majority of the female characters, but occasionally they required an extra actor. Regular supporting cast members include Carol Cleveland (referred to by the team as the unofficial "Seventh Python"), Connie Booth (Cleese's first wife), series Producer Ian MacNaughton, Ian Davidson, Neil Innes (in the fourth series) and The Fred Tomlinson Singers (for musical numbers).
The series' theme song is the first segment of John Philip Sousa's The Liberty Bell, chosen because it was in the public domain, free to use without charge.
Title
The title Monty Python's Flying Circus was partly the result of the group's reputation at the BBC. Michael Mills, BBC's Head of Comedy, wanted their name to include the word circus because the BBC referred to the six members wandering around the building as a "circus" (in particular "Baron Von Took's Flying Circus" after Barry Took, who had brought them to the BBC). The group added flying to make it sound less like an actual circus and more like something from World War I. Monty Python was added because they claimed it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent, the sort of person who would have brought them together, with Eric Idle suggesting Monty and John Cleese suggesting Python.
The BBC had rejected some other names put forward by the group including "Whither Canada?", "Ow! It's Colin Plint", "A Horse, a Spoon and a Bucket", "The Toad Elevating Moment" and "Owl Stretching Time".Recurring characters
In contrast to many other sketch comedy shows, Flying Circus made up new characters for each new sketch and had only a handful of recurring characters, many of whom were involved only in titles and linking sequences, including:- Arthur Pewtey (Palin), a socially inept, extremely dull man who appears most notably in the "Argument Clinic", "Marriage Guidance Counsellor", and "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketches. His sketches all take the form of an office appointment with an authority figure (usually played by Cleese, but occasionally Chapman), which are used to parody the officious side of the British establishment by having the professional be contained in the most bizarre field of expertise. In the "Marriage Guidance Counsellor" sketch, a cowboy in black (played by Cleese) tells Pewtey to "hold his head high" and "be a man".
- The Reverend Arthur Belling (played by both Chapman and Palin), is the vicar of St Loony-Up-The-Cream-Bun-and-Jam. He is insane and in one sketch has an appeal to the insane people of the world to drive sane people insane and in another sketch politely joins a couple and "converts" them to his insane sect of Christianity.
- The “It’s” man (Palin), a Robinson Crusoe-type castaway with torn clothes and a long, unkempt beard who would appear at the beginning of the programme, often after performing a long or dangerous task, and introduce the show by just saying, “It’s...” before being abruptly cut off by the opening titles, which started with a Terry Gilliam animation sprouting the words 'Monty Python’s Flying Circus'. "It’s" was an early candidate for the title of the series.
- Historical figures, such as Julius Caesar (Chapman), Napoleon (Jones), or a Viking (usually Gilliam) and appearing randomly in the midst of a sketch to interrupt it, a quick cut-away gag or as a line.
- A BBC continuity announcer in a dinner jacket (Cleese), seated at a desk, often in highly incongruous locations, such as a forest or a beach. His line, “And now for something completely different,” was used variously as a lead-in to the opening titles and a simple way to link sketches (though Cleese is best known for it, the first time the phrase appeared in the show it was actually spoken by Idle in Episode 2 where he introduced a man with three buttocks). It eventually became the show’s catch phrase, serving as the title for the troupe’s first movie. In Series 3 the line was shortened to simply: "And now..."
- The Gumbys, a group of slow-witted individuals identically attired in gumboots (from which they take their name), high-water trousers, braces, and round, wire-rimmed glasses, with toothbrush moustaches and handkerchiefs on the tops of their heads (a stereotype of the English, working class holidaymaker). They hold their arms awkwardly in front of them, speak slowly in loud, low voices punctuated by frequent grunts and groans, and have a fondness for bashing bricks together. They often complain that their brains hurt. All of them are surnamed 'Gumby' (D.P. Gumby, R.S. Gumby, etc.). Even though all Pythons played Gumbies in the show's run, the character is most closely associated with Michael Palin.
- The-Knight-Who-Hits-People-With-A-Chicken. (Gilliam) An armoured knight carrying a raw chicken, who would hit characters over the head with it when they said something particularly corny. A regular during the first series, with another appearance in the third.
- Mr. Badger (Idle), a Scotsman whose speciality was interrupting sketches ("I won't ruin your sketch, for a pound"). He has also been seen as an airplane hijacker whose demands grow increasingly eccentric, and was once interviewed (by Cleese) regarding his interpretation of the Magna Carta, which Badger believes was actually a piece of chewing gum on a bedspread in Dorset.
- A nude organist (played in his first two appearances by Gilliam, later by Jones) who provided a brief fanfare to punctuate certain sketches (most notably on a sketch poking fun at Sale of the Century) or as yet another way to introduce the opening titles.
- Mr. Eric Praline, an eccentric, disgruntled man who often wears a Pac-a-Mac, played by Cleese. His most famous appearance is in the "Dead Parrot" sketch. His name is only mentioned once on-screen, during the “Fish Licence” sketch of the episode entitled “Scott of the Antarctic”, but his attire (together with Cleese's distinctive, nasal performance) distinguishes him as a recognisable character who makes multiple appearances throughout the series. "Fish Licence" also reveals that he has multiple pets of wildly differing species, all of them named “Eric.”
- A perverted moustachioed man, referred to in the published scripts as "Mr. Nudge" (Idle) who often appears bothering other, more uptight, characters (usually Jones). He is characterised by his constant nudging gestures and tone of conversation; cheeky innuendo. His most famous appearance is in Nudge Nudge, his initial sketch, though he appears in several later ones too, such as ruining a romantic evening between a man and a woman in "The Visitors" sketch.
- Biggles (Chapman, and in one instance Jones), a WWI pilot. Derived from the famous series of fiction stories by W. E. Johns.
- 'Pepperpots': screeching middle-aged, lower-middle class housewives played by the Pythons in frocks, engaging in surreal and inconsequential conversation. The Pythons played all their own women, unless the part called for a younger, more glamorous actress (in which case usually Carol Cleveland, but occasionally Connie Booth, would play the part). “Pepperpot” refers to what the Pythons believed was the typical body shape of middle-class British housewives, as explained by John Cleese in “How to Irritate People”. On the rare occasion these women were named, it was often for comic effect, featuring such names as Mrs. Scum, Mrs. Non-Gorilla or the duo "Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion." Terry Jones is perhaps most closely associated with the Pepperpots, but all the Pythons were frequent in performing the drag characters.
- Luigi Vercotti (Palin), a mafioso entrepreneur and pimp, accompanied in his first appearance by his brother Dino (Jones). His most notable appearances are as Ron Obvious's manager, and as the owner of La Gondola restaurant. With his brother, he attempts to talk the Colonel into paying for protection of his Army base.
- Brief black-and-white stock footage, lasting only two or three seconds, of middle-aged women sitting in an audience and applauding. The film was taken from a Women’s Institute meeting.
- The Spanish Inquisition would burst into a previously unrelated sketch whenever their name was mentioned. Their catchphrase was "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!". They consist of Cardinal Ximinez (Palin), Cardinal Fang (Gilliam), and Cardinal Biggles (Jones). They premiered in series two and had sporadic cameos in series two and three.
- Frenchmen: Cleese and Palin would sometimes dress in stereotypical French garb (striped shirt, tight pants, beret) and speak in garbled French, with incomprehensible accents. They had one fake moustache between them, and would stick it onto the other person's lip when it was his turn to speak. Usually, the Frenchmen gave lectures, such as to explain the flying sheep (from episode 2, "Sex and Violence") and the team-up of the Ministry of Silly Walks with its French equivalent to create "La Marche Futile".
- Nightclub Host (Palin), who wears a red suit and is always smiling. He linked sketches by introducing them as nightclub acts, and was occasionally seen after the sketch, passing comment on it. In one link, he was the victim of the aforementioned armoured knight's assault with a chicken.
- Spiny Norman, a Gilliam animation of a giant hedgehog. He's introduced in Series 2, Episode 1 ("Ethel The Frog") in the Piranha Brothers sketch, where Dinsdale Piranha hallucinates him whenever he becomes depressed (Norman's size is proportional to Dinsdale's depression). Afterward he appears in the background of cityscapes in certain animations shouting "Dinsdale!"
- Cardinal Richelieu (Palin), is always impersonated or impersonating. He is seen in court but turns out to be Ron Higgins, professional Cardinal Richelieu impersonator. He is also seen later as a historical impersonator as himself impersonating Petula Clark.
- “The Colonel”, played by Chapman, who interrupts sketches when things become too silly, or when the Pythons rip off the army's slogan (and when non-BBC broadcast repeats need to be cut off for time constraints in syndication)
- Ken Shabby, played by Palin, who starred in his own sketch in the first series and in the second series made a few brief cameos giving his thoughts on aftershave lotion and even his own religion.
- Raymond Luxury Yacht (Chapman) is described as one of Britain's leading skin specialists. He wears an enormous fake nose made of polystyrene. He proudly proclaims that his name, "is spelled Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it's pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove". The interviewer then calls him a "very silly man".
Several characters appeared multiple times, played by different Pythons. For example, the insanely violent Police Constable Pan Am was played at different times by both Palin and Chapman, and Sgt. Harry "Snapper" Organs of Q division was portrayed by both Jones and Palin. Various historical figures often changed actors, such as Mozart (Cleese, then Palin), or Queen Victoria (Jones, then Palin, then all five Pythons in Series 4)
Some of the Pythons' targets recurred more frequently than others. Reginald Maudling, a contemporary Conservative politician, was singled out for perhaps the most consistent ridicule. The contemporary Secretary of State for Education and Science, future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was occasionally mentioned (in particular, a reference to her brain being in her shin received a hearty laugh from the studio audience). Then-US President Richard Nixon was also frequently mocked, as was Conservative party leader Edward Heath, PM for much of the series run. The British police are also a favourite target; they often act extremely bizarrely or stupidly, are depicted as drag queens or abusive with their legal powers, and frequently yell out "What's all this, then?"
Popular character traits
Although there were few recurring characters, and the six cast members played many diverse roles, each had some character traits that he had perfected.Chapman
Graham Chapman was well known for his roles as straight-faced men, of any age or class (frequently an authority figure such as a military officer, policeman or doctor) who could, at any moment, engage in “Pythonesque” maniacal behaviour and then return to their former sobriety (see sketches such as "An Appeal from the Vicar of St. Loony-up-the-Cream-Bun-and-Jam", “The One-Man Wrestling Match”, "Johann Gambolputty" and “The Argument Clinic"). He was also skilled in abuse, which he brusquely delivered in such sketches as "The Argument Clinic" and "Flying Lessons". His dignified demeanour was put to good use when he played the leading "straight man" in the Python feature films Holy Grail (as King Arthur) and Life of Brian (as the title character).Cleese
John Cleese usually played ridiculous authority figures. Gilliam claims that Cleese is the funniest of the Pythons in drag, as he barely needs to be dressed up to look hilarious, with his square chin and 6'5" frame (see the "Mr. and Mrs. Git" sketch). Cleese is also well known for playing very intimidating maniacs (see the skit "Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit"). His character Mr. Praline, the put-upon consumer, featured in some of the most popular sketches, most famously in "Dead Parrot." One star turn that proved most memorable was "The Ministry of Silly Walks," where he worked for the eponymous government department. The sketch features some rather extravagant physical comedy from the notoriously tall, and loose-limbed, Cleese. Despite its popularity, particularly amongst American fans, this proved to be one sketch which Cleese himself particularly disliked, feeling that many of the laughs it generated were cheap and that no balance was provided by what could have been the true satirical centrepoint. Another of his trademarks is his over-the-top delivery of abuse, particularly his screaming "You bastard!"Cleese often played foreigners with rather ridiculous accents, especially Frenchmen, most of the time with Palin. Sometimes this is extended to the usage of actual French or German (such as "The Funniest Joke in the World", "Hitler in Minehead", or "La Marche Futile" at the end of "The Ministry of Silly Walks"), but still with a very heavy accent (or impossible to understand, as for example Hitler's speech).
Gilliam
The surreal nature of the series allowed Gilliam’s animation to go off on bizarre, imaginative tangents. Some running gags derived from these animations were a giant hedgehog named Spiny Norman who appeared over the tops of buildings shouting, “Dinsdale!”, further petrifying the paranoid Dinsdale Piranha, and The Foot of Cupid, the giant foot that suddenly squashed things. The foot is appropriated from the figure of Cupid in Agnolo Bronzino’s “Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time”.
Notable Gilliam sequences for the show include The Killer Cars, Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth, the rampage of the cancerous black spot, and a giant cat that stomps its way through London, destroying everything in its path.
Initially only hired to be the animator of the series, Gilliam was not thought of (even by himself) as an on-screen performer at first. The others felt they owed him something and so he sometimes appeared before the camera, generally in the parts that no-one else wanted to play (generally because they required a lot of make-up or involved uncomfortable costumes). The most recurrent of these was The-Knight-Who-Hits-People-With-A-Chicken, a knight in armour who would walk on-set and hit another character on the head with a plucked chicken when they said something really corny. Some of Gilliam's other on-screen portrayals included:
- A man with a stoat through his head
- Cardinal Fang in The Spanish Inquisition sketch
- A dandy wearing only a mask, bikini underwear and a cape, this in "The Visitors" sketch from episode 1.09
- A hotel clerk in The Cycling Tour episode.
Idle
Eric Idle is perhaps best remembered for his roles as a cheeky, suggestive playboy (see sketches such as “Nudge Nudge"), and as a crafty, slick salesman (see the “Door-to-Door Joke Salesman”, “Encyclopedia Salesman,” and the shop keeper who loves to haggle in Monty Python’s Life of Brian). He is acknowledged as 'the master of the one-liner' by the other Pythons. He is also considered the best singer/songwriter in the group; for example, he wrote and performed “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from The Life of Brian. Unlike Jones, he often played female characters in a more straightforward way, only altering his voice slightly, as opposed to the falsetto shrieking used by the others. His appearances as upper-class, middle-aged females (such as Rita Fairbanks in the "Reenactment of the Battle Of Pearl Harbor" sketch or the sexually-repressed Protestant wife in the "Every Sperm is Sacred" sketch from The Meaning of Life) are his most notable.Younger than his colleagues and not from an already-established writing partnership prior to Python, Idle wrote his sketches alone.
Jones
Although all of the Pythons played women, Terry Jones is renowned by the rest to be 'the best Rat-Bag woman in the business'. His portrayal of a middle-aged housewife was louder, shriller and more dishevelled than that of any of the other Pythons (see “Dead Bishop” sketch, or his role as Brian's mother Mandy in Life of Brian, Mrs. Linda S-C-U-M in “Mr. Neutron” or in "Spot The Brain Cell," or as the restaurateur in “Spam"). He also often played upper-class reserved men, such as in the famous “Nudge, Nudge” sketch and the "It's A Man's Life" sketch, and incompetent authority figures (Harry "Snapper" Organs). Generally, he deferred to the others as a performer, but proved himself behind the scenes, where he would eventually end up pulling most of the strings.Palin
Michael Palin was regarded by the other members of the troupe as the one with the widest range, equally adept as a straight man or wildly over the top character. He portrayed many working-class northerners, often portrayed in a disgusting light (see “The Funniest Joke in the World” sketch, or the “Every Sperm Is Sacred” segment of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life). On the one hand, he played weak-willed, put-upon men such as the husband in the "Marriage Guidance Counsellor" sketch, or the boring accountant in the “Vocational Guidance Counsellor” sketch. He was equally at home as the indefatigable Cardinal Ximinez of Spain in "The Spanish Inquisition" sketch. Another high-energy character that Palin portrays is the slick TV show host, constantly smacking his lips together and generally being over-enthusiastic (as in the "Blackmail" sketch) but with an underlying hint of self-revulsion (as when, in one sketch, he wipes his oily palms on his jacket, makes a disgusted face, and then continues). One of his most famous creations was the shopkeeper who attempts to sell useless goods by very weak attempts at being sly and crafty, which are invariably spotted by the customer (often played by Cleese) because the defects in the products are inherently obvious (see the “Dead Parrot”, the “Cheese Shop"); his sleazy club owner, Luigi Vercotti, in the “Piranha Brothers” and “Army Protection Racket” is another classic variant on this type. Palin is also well known for his leading role in the "The Lumberjack Song".He also often plays heavy-accented foreigners (mostly French (as in "La marche futile") or German ("Hitler in Minehead"), usually alongside Cleese. In one of the last episodes, he even delivers a full speech, first in English, then in French, then in German (with an even heavier accent).
Of all the Pythons, Palin has probably played the fewest female roles. Among his portrayals of women are: Queen Victoria in "Michael Ellis", Debbie Katzenberg the American in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life or as a rural idiot's wife in the "Idiot in rural society" sketch)
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