Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Flying Circus is a show with great comedy. It's so weird anything could be done in it. Like selling an albatross, or having a knight hit you with a chicken... It's so hilarious, you'll drop right off. It's a very classic show for people with British taste. The movies were good... but it never made a benchmark like the TV series did. People... get off trashy Saturday Night Live and try "Something Completely Different"!

Brilliant, innovative comedy. Possibly the greatest comedy series of all time. Certainly the most influential, iconic and quoted.

Season 1 was great, but not their best. Still experimenting and finding their feet, it had some great sketches, but nothing as iconic as what was to come.

Season 2 was where they really hit their straps. Most of their well-known sketches are from Season 2: Piranha Brothers, Ministry of Silly Walks, The Bruces, Spam, The Spanish Inquisition, Scott of the Antarctic.

Season 3 was more of the same.

Season 4 was where they tapered off. John Cleese had left and the creativity just wasn't anywhere near the levels of Seasons 2 and 3. No wonder it was only 6 episodes.

Timeless comedy that has become embedded in culture. It's that big, brilliant and important.

Any episode of Monty Python will reduce one to fits of laughing that will produce bouts of tears that will render the viewer on the ground. Great physical comedy on all parts, but especially John Cleese in the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch, which is his least favorite sketch. Great writing that walks that fine line between genius and silly, and meshes the two. These guys also knew when and how to start end a sketch. Still funny thirty years later, wish the same could be said about Saturday Night Live. Too bad there wasn't some knight who could hit Lorne Michaels with a chicken.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to complain about the silliness known as Monty Python's Flying Circus which plagues my television. The "jokes" are silly and pointless, and the sketches never have proper endings. I demand that this programme be removed from telly at once and replaced with programmes that are truly representative of the glories of British humour, such as Keeping Up Appearances and the BBC World News.

Sincerely, Col. Arthur von Gambolputty-Dinsdale of Ulm (deceased)

(Warning: This letter does not reflect the true feelings of the reviewer, who is a huge fan of Python and thinks that the above-mentioned gripes are the very reason that the show is awesome. The comedy still holds up after over 35 years, though several of the costumes and haircuts do not, and the mixture of zany oddball non sequiters, intellectual references and satires, and ingenious physical comedy makes Python something very special and unique. Viva Python! And remember, !las llamas son mas grande que las ranas!)

The original sketch comedy show that has a very deserved cult following.

It's... hilarious. It's... absurd. It's... very hard to describe, because it is so freakin' random! Almost every little sketch takes such bizarre twists and turns into something completely else that you'll literally never see it coming. Terry Gilliam's innovative, and equally absurd, animations are no different in their appearances between sketches. Often serving as transitions, but really this is just one side-splittingly funny compilation of sheer absurdity.

Poking fun at just about everything that you could possibly imagine - talk shows, courts, daily life, the Spanish Inquisistion, the military, etc... - and it is all put together in a way no less random. Skits end unexpectedly, some shots are used many times, random characters appear only to speak one line, and all that makes for what is quite possibly the best crafted presentation of absurdity and chaos ever made. 10/10

Not Rated and suitable for most viewers, but very cautious parents will undoubtedly object to the crude humor.