What year did Monty Python's Flying Circus come out?
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (known during the final series as just Monty Python) is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring the comedy group Monty Python. The first episode was recorded at the BBC on 7 September and premiered on 5 October 1969 on BBC One, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Two episodes were produced in German for WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk), both entitled "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", the literal German translation of the English title. While visiting the UK in the early 1970s, German entertainer and TV producer Alfred Biolek caught notice of the Pythons. Excited by their innovative, absurd sketches, he invited them to Germany in 1971 and 1972 to write and act in two special German episodes.
Reginald Maudling
Maudling was often the target of satirical cartoons in major newspapers, and was lampooned in the magazine "Private Eye" and the television comedy show "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
Monty Python
Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was conceived, written, and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach, aided by Gilliam's animation, it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons had creative control which allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Following their television work, they began making films, which include "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975), "Life of Brian" (1979) and "The Meaning of Life" (1983). Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America, it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of "Saturday Night Live" through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.
Monty Python
Other than Carol Cleveland, the only other non-Python to make a significant number of appearances in the "Flying Circus" was Ian Davidson. He appeared in the first two series of the show, and played over 10 roles. While Davidson is primarily known as a scriptwriter, it is not known if he had any contribution toward the writing of the sketches, as he is only credited as a performer. In total, Davidson is credited as appearing in eight episodes of the show, which is more than any other male actor who was not a Python. Despite this, Davidson did not appear in any Python-related media subsequent to series 2, though footage of him was shown on the documentary "Python Night – 30 Years of Monty Python".
Monty Python's Flying Circus
John Cleese left the show after the third series and did not appear in the six episodes of the fourth and final series. (However, he did receive writing credits for sketches derived from the writing sessions for the film of "Holy Grail"). Neil Innes and Douglas Adams are the only two non-Pythons to get writing credits in the show – Innes for songs in episodes 40, 42 and 45 (and for contributing to a sketch in episode 45), and Adams for contributing to a sketch about a doctor whose patients are stabbed by his nurse, in episode 45. (He also had walk-on acting parts in episodes 42 and 44.) Innes frequently appeared in the Pythons' stage shows and can also be seen as Sir Robin's lead minstrel in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and (briefly) in "Life of Brian". Adams had become friends with Graham Chapman, and they later went on to write the failed sketch show pilot "Out of the Trees".
Withnail and I
According to Danny's speech at the end of the film, 'We are 91 days from the end of this decade and there's gonna be a lot of refugees'. This means the drug-addled scene after the pair return from Penrith occurs on Thursday 2 October 1969, six weeks after Woodstock and three days before the first broadcast of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". It is not known if Robinson intended any significance by including such a specific date.
History of Python
The programming language Python was conceived in the late 1980s, and its implementation was started in December 1989 by Guido van Rossum at CWI in the Netherlands as a successor to ABC capable of exception handling and interfacing with the Amoeba operating system. Van Rossum is Python's principal author, and his continuing central role in deciding the direction of Python is reflected in the title given to him by the Python community, "Benevolent Dictator for Life" (BDFL). Python was named for the BBC TV show "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
The Flying Circus (band)
The Flying Circus released their first extended play, "Frontier", in April 1970. Its four tracks were produced by Perjanik, again. McFarlane described how it, "featured all country songs, including covers of Dylan's 'I'll Be Your Baby Tonight' and Merle Haggard's 'The Day the Rains Came'." The band had returned to their country-rock roots; it included Rowe's "I Remember Jo-Anne" and Wilkins' "When Will I See You As You". Also in April they added a fifth member, lead guitarist and pedal steel player, Bertram "Red" McKelvie, (ex-Starving Wild Dogs, Quill). McKelvie's arrival steered the group towards straight-ahead country music.
List of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes
The episode was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones with the exception of the last third which was re-written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman. Michael Palin and Terry Jones play only one character each throughout the whole show (although Jones, suffering from amnesia, imagines himself as Clodagh Rogers, Leon Trotsky, Eartha Kitt and Edward Heath).
Python Night – 30 Years of Monty Python
Python Night was an evening of Monty Python-related programmes broadcast on BBC2 on 9 October 1999, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". It featured newly written sketches, three documentaries and a screening of "Monty Python's Life of Brian".
Terry Jones
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in history, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin (whom he met at Oxford) wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including "Do Not Adjust Your Set" and "The Frost Report", before creating "Monty Python's Flying Circus" with Cambridge graduates Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman, and American animator/filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punchlines. He made his directorial debut with the team's first film, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films, "Life of Brian" and "The Meaning of Life".
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Bibliography
Underground comix
Film and television began to reflect the influence of underground comix in the 1970s, starting with the release of Ralph Bakshi's film adaptation of Crumb's "Fritz the Cat", the first animated film to receive an X rating from the MPAA. Further adult-oriented animated films influenced by underground comix followed, including "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat" and "Down and Dirty Duck". The influence of underground comix has also been attributed to films such as "The Lord of the Rings" (1978) and "Forbidden Zone" (1980). The popularity of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", which featured the animation of "Help!" contributor Terry Gilliam, has also been attributed to the prominence of the underground comix scene.
Marion Coakes
Coakes played a part in season 4, episode 3 of "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
Monty Python
In 2009, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", a six-part documentary entitled "" was released, featuring interviews with the surviving members of the team, as well as archive interviews with Graham Chapman and numerous excerpts from the television series and films.
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just the Words
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just the Words is a two volume collection of the scripts for the TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus", published in 1989 on the 20th anniversary of the broadcast of the first episode. Volume 1 features the first 23 episodes, with Volume 2 containing the remaining 22. The books were edited by Roger Wilmut, who transcribed the dialogue from the original programmes, although the animation sequences are not included. Both volumes contain black and white stills taken from videotapes of the series. The books were reissued in paperback as one volume.
List of recurring Monty Python's Flying Circus characters
Played by Michael Palin. Dressed in rags, and sporting a long beard, much like an island castaway, this character would start most of the early shows by struggling to cross a landscape of dangers until he got close enough to the camera to say "It's--", immediately followed by the opening credits and musical theme. In one episode, the character had his own talk show, featuring Ringo Starr and Lulu as guests, but was unable to get past his single word catch phrase before being interrupted by Monty Python's opening theme music. At the end of the program he is usually forced to go back across the same dangerous landscape.
Vocational Guidance Counsellor
The sketch was included in the DVD "Monty Python's Flying Circus: Set One—Volume 1", as well as in "Monty Python's Flying Circus: Graham Chapman's Personal Best", and also appeared in "And Now For Something Completely Different" in 1971. In this version the counsellor's description of lions is accompanied by stock footage of a lion charging the camera, which causes Anchovy to recoil in terror. At the end of the film version Eric Idle appears as a fairy to grant Anchovy's wish of seeing his name in lights, whereupon he turns into the host of "Blackmail". In the "Monty Python Live (Mostly)" stage show at the O2 (which also features a brief stock shot of a lion, on the overhead screen), the sketch ends with Anchovy telling the counsellor he would rather be... a "systems analyst!" (though on a different evening, his choice of career was a "sperm donor!". Other careers were mentioned on other nights at the O2). In fact this was a red herring as in all instances, the audience were expecting Anchovy to say "lumberjack"...then as Palin (as Anchovy) leaps to his feet he announces he wanted to be... "a lumberjack!", at which point he strips off his suit to reveal a lumberjack's outfit, and the sketch segues into "The Lumberjack Song".
Holy Flying Circus
Holy Flying Circus (2011) is a 90-minute BBC television comedy film first broadcast in 2011, written by Tony Roche and directed by Owen Harris.
Barry Took
In the late 1960s Took became comedy advisor to the BBC and was responsible for bringing together the performers who formed "Monty Python's Flying Circus", before moving to the United States to work briefly on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh In". He returned to the UK in early 1970, was involved in setting up the BBC series "The Goodies", although he had returned to take up the position of Head of Light Entertainment at London Weekend Television. He resigned from this position when Stella Richman, his superior and the Director of Programming, was dismissed. "On the Move" (1975–76), a programme linked to a national campaign to promote adult literacy, was written by Took and featured Bob Hoskins and Donald Gee. He was involved in two further television series on the issue, "Your Move" and "Write Away".
Whicker's World
In the late 1960s, the series was spoofed by the British comedian Benny Hill who did a sketch on his show called "Knickers World". It was parodied again in 1972 by "Monty Python's Flying Circus", who did a sketch set on a tropical island called "Whicker Island" where all of the inhabitants were Alan Whicker clones.
And Now for Something Completely Different
"And Now for Something Completely Different" is the Pythons' first feature film, composed of some well-known sketches from the first two series of the Flying Circus, including the "Dead Parrot" sketch, "The Lumberjack Song", "Upperclass Twits", "Hell's Grannies", the "Nudge Nudge" sketch and others. It was re-shot for cinema release with an extremely low budget, often slightly edited. Financed by "Playboy"′s UK executive Victor Lownes, it was intended to help Monty Python break into the United States. Although the cinematic release was ultimately unsuccessful at achieving an American breakthrough, it did well in the United Kingdom. The group did not consider this film a success, but it enjoys a cult following today.
ABC's Wide World of Entertainment
"Monty Python's Flying Circus", the British comedy sketch television series, taped its last episode in December 1974 and was syndicated to American public television stations soon after. On October 3, 1975, ABC aired the first of two edited compilations of sketches from the series as one of its "Wide World of Entertainment" comedy specials. The Python group represented by Terry Gilliam, the group's only American-born member, sued ABC for copyright infringement.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
The members of Monty Python embarked on a series of stage shows during and after the television series. These mostly consisted of sketches from the series, though they also included other famous sketches that had preluded them. One such sketch was the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, written by Cleese and Chapman, and performed for "At Last the 1948 Show"; the sketch subsequently became part of the live Python repertoire. The shows also included songs from collaborator Neil Innes.
The Flying Mouse
The Flying Mouse is a 1934 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by David Hand, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 14, 1934. The butterfly fairy who appears here may have even inspired the Blue Fairy of "Pinocchio" six years later. The use of color here was rather innovative as it is set during the course of a single day.
Live at Drury Lane
Monty Python Live at Drury Lane is a live album released by Monty Python in 1974. It was recorded on the final night of their four-week run at the Drury Lane Theatre in London earlier that year and edited onto disc with new studio linking material by Eric Idle and Michael Palin. The majority of the sketches are from "Flying Circus" and vary slightly from their television counterparts, although "Cocktail Bar" was written for the third series but not used. The team also revived sketches from "At Last The 1948 Show", including "Secret Service", "Wrestling" and "Four Yorkshiremen" - the latter on its way to being adopted as a Python standard. Neil Innes provided the musical interludes, while Eric Idle's then wife Lyn Ashley replaced regular Python actress Carol Cleveland in supporting roles.
Monty Python's Big Red Book
Monty Python's Big Red Book is a humour book comprising mostly material derived and reworked from the first two series of the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" BBC television series. Edited by Eric Idle, it was first published in the UK in 1971 by Methuen Publishing Ltd. It was later published in the United States in 1975 by Warner Books.
Monty Python
Sketches from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" were introduced to American audiences in August 1972, with the release of the Python film "And Now for Something Completely Different", featuring sketches from series 1 and 2 of the television show. This 1972 release met limited box office success.
Monty Python
Sir Michael Palin attended Oxford, where he met his Python writing partner Jones. The two also wrote the series "Ripping Yarns" together. Palin and Jones originally wrote face-to-face, but soon found it was more productive to write apart and then come together to review what the other had written. Therefore, Jones and Palin's sketches tended to be more focused than that of the others, taking one bizarre situation, sticking to it, and building on it. After "Flying Circus", Palin hosted "Saturday Night Live" four times in the first 10 seasons. His comedy output began to decrease in amount following the increasing success of his travel documentaries for the BBC. Palin released a book of diaries from the Python years entitled "Michael Palin Diaries 1969–1979", published in 2007. Palin was appointed a K.C.M.G. in the 2019 New Year Honours, which were announced by Buckingham Palace in December 2018.
Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python
Introduced by actor and Monty Python fan Steve Martin, the special features several sketches from "Monty Python's Flying Circus", as well as some sketches from the two German specials "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus". True to its title, the popular Dead Parrot sketch is not included.
Richard Attenborough
In early 1973, he was portrayed as "Dickie Attenborough" in the British Showbiz Awards sketch late in the third series of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Attenborough is portrayed by Eric Idle as effusive and simpering. A portrayal similar to that seen in Monty Python can be seen in the early series of "Spitting Image", when Attenborough's caricature would regularly appear to thank others for an imagery award.
Parrot Sketch Not Included – 20 Years of Monty Python
Parrot Sketch Not Included was a tribute special to the Monty Python comedy group, put together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the debut of the group's television series, "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Produced by Tiger Television for the BBC, it was compiled by noted British comedy producer John Lloyd and broadcast on BBC 1 on 18 November 1989.
Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls
Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys And Girls is a humorous book first published by Methuen in 1974 which purports to have been written by a psychopathic character, Dr. Fegg. In fact, the book is the work of Terry Jones and Michael Palin, who adapted a range of material from scripts written for the television comedy series, "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Some material was later used in Palin's 1977 TV series, "Ripping Yarns". The first edition was sold bearing a sticker on the front cover which read "A Monty Python Educational Product".
Monty Python
Having considered the possibility at the end of the second season, Cleese left the "Flying Circus" at the end of the third. He later explained that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show, and claimed that only two Cleese- and Chapman-penned sketches in the third series ("Dennis Moore" and the "Cheese Shop") were truly original, and that the others were bits and pieces from previous work cobbled together in slightly different contexts. He was also finding Chapman, who was at that point in the full throes of alcoholism, difficult to work with. According to an interview with Idle, "It was on an Air Canada flight on the way to Toronto, when John (Cleese) turned to all of us and said 'I want out.' Why? I don't know. He gets bored more easily than the rest of us. He's a difficult man, not easy to be friendly with. He's so funny because he never wanted to be liked. That gives him a certain fascinating, arrogant freedom." Jones noted his reticence in 2012, "He was good at it, when he did it he was professional, but he’d rather not have done it. The others all loved it, but he got more and more pissed off about having to come out and do filming, and the one that really swung it, in my view, was when we had to do the day on the Newhaven lifeboat."
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus was one of the productions of the Murray River Performing Group, initially an ensemble of nine artists, set up mostly by graduates the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School, including Robert "Bomber" Perrier, who was the artistic director from the outset, Lloyd Suttor, Mark Shirrefs and Ian Mortimer (Mort). The group began full-time operations in 1979, the International Year of the Child. Within four months the group had conducted workshops and performed in over forty venues, written two shows, performed street theatre directed by Mort, organised 171 circus training sessions and produced the first Flying Fruit Fly Circus event involving 117 performers aged from seven to seventeen.
Mark Shirrefs and Ian Mortimer went to local schools and introduced skills to local kids, some of whom are still active in circus, Michael Ling has spent 18 years with Circus Oz.
Monty Python
The Pythons had a definite idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore on "Beyond the Fringe", and had worked on "Frost", which was similar in style. They enjoyed Cook and Moore's sketch show "Not Only... But Also". One problem the Pythons perceived with these programmes was that though the body of the sketch would be strong, the writers would often struggle to then find a punchline funny enough to end on, and this would detract from the overall sketch quality. They decided that they would simply not bother to "cap" their sketches in the traditional manner, and early episodes of the "Flying Circus" series make great play of this abandonment of the punchline (one scene has Cleese turn to Idle, as the sketch descends into chaos, and remark that "This is the silliest sketch I've ever been in"—they all resolve not to carry on and simply walk off the set). However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their collective heroes, Spike Milligan, recording his groundbreaking series "Q5" (1969). Not only was the programme more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy, but Milligan also would often "give up" on sketches halfway through and wander off set (often muttering "Did I write this?"). It was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
The overall humour of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" is built on an inherent Britishness; it is “based on observations of British life, society, and institutions”. However, part of this focus is achieved through seeing the ‘other’ through a British lens. The often “excessive generalization and utterly banal stereotypes” can be seen as a persiflage of the views held by the British public, rather than poking fun at the cultures that were depicted.
Circus
Following World War I, circus films became popular. In 1924 "He Who Gets Slapped" was the first film released by MGM; in 1925 "Sally of the Sawdust" (remade 1930), "Variety", and "Vaudeville" were produced, followed by "The Devil's Circus" in 1926 and "The Circus" starring Charlie Chaplin, "Circus Rookies", "4 Devils"; and "Laugh Clown Laugh" in 1928. German film "Salto Mortale" about trapeze artists was released in 1931 and remade in the United States and released as "Trapeze" starring Burt Lancaster in 1956; in 1932 "Freaks" was released; "Charlie Chan at the Circus", "Circus" (USSR) and "The Three Maxiums" were released in 1936 and "At the Circus" starring the Marx Brothers and "You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" in 1939. Circus films continued to be popular during the Second World War; films from this era included "The Great Profile" starring John Barrymore (1940), the animated Disney film "Dumbo" (1941), "Road Show" (1941), "The Wagons Roll at Night" (1941) and "Captive Wild Woman" (1943).
Python (Monty) Pictures
When "Flying Circus" was shown in the U.S. by ABC in their "Wide World of Entertainment" slot in 1975, the episodes were re-edited to allow time for commercials, thus losing the continuity and flow intended in the originals. When ABC refused to stop screening the series in this form, the Pythons took them to court. Initially the court ruled that their artistic rights had indeed been violated, but refused to stop the ABC broadcasts as this would cause “financial damage” to ABC. However, on appeal the team gained control over all subsequent U.S. broadcasts of its programmes. The case also led to them gaining the foreign rights to all Python shows from the BBC, once their original contracts ended at the end of 1980 (a unique arrangement at the time).
Hide and Seek World Championship
There is an episode of the sketch comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus called The Olympic Hide-and-seek Final.
Monty Python
When Monty Python was first formed, two writing partnerships were already in place: Cleese and Chapman, Jones and Palin. That left two in their own corners: Gilliam, operating solo due to the nature of his work, and Eric Idle. Regular themes in Idle's contributions were elaborate wordplay and musical numbers. After "Flying Circus", he hosted "Saturday Night Live" four times in the first five seasons. Idle's initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film "Splitting Heirs" (written, produced by, and starring him) and 1998's "" (in which he starred), which was awarded five Razzies, including 'Worst Picture of the Year'. He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. He also wrote the Broadway musical "Spamalot", based on the "Holy Grail" movie. He also wrote "Not the Messiah", an oratorio derived from the "Life of Brian".
Monty Python's Flying Circus (album)
In June 2014, the album was included as bonus content with the expanded re-release of 'Monty Python Sings (again)" as a deluxe 2-CD set and digital download.
Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years
Even though the interest most people have in Mr. Palin comes from his involvement in Monty Python (and that defines the range of dates for the diary, as we learn that the first day of filming for "Monty Python’s Flying Circus" was Tuesday, July 8), the book mainly takes the reader through the common life of the author, who manages to keep his feet on the ground through the stresses of fame and fortune, and someone whose happy family make his achievements as an entertainer less enviable than his home life.
List of recurring Monty Python's Flying Circus characters
The Nudge Nudge man, Arthur Nudge (played by Eric Idle) was seen in one of the earliest episodes of Monty Python. He is an annoying man and pub frequenter who speaks in a more or less inscrutable small talk. He is seen conversing with a gentleman (Terry Jones) who is initially unable to pick up on the obscure sexual innuendos of his interlocutor and then becomes quite angry when he does. His conversation is laced with knowing smiles and the phrase “nudge-nudge,” accompanied by a slight elbow nudge to his interlocutor. An example: “Does your wife ‘go’? Is she a ‘goer’? Nudge-nudge - know what I mean? Say no more?” (The sketch's punch line "What's it like?" reveals Nudge's total lack of sexual experience.) A similar character, most likely the same character, appears later in the first series in the sketch "The Visitors." In a later episode, he makes a very brief (seconds-long) cameo appearance as “Archbishop Nudge” in a sketch about Crackpot Religions.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
The title "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was partly the result of the group's reputation at the BBC. Michael Mills, the 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 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. The group was coming up with their name at a time when the 1966 Royal Guardsmen song "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" had been at a peak. "Freiherr" Manfred von Richthofen, the World War I German flying ace known as The Red Baron, commanded the Jagdgeschwader 1 squadron of planes known as "The Flying Circus."
The Best of Benny Hill
This movie is similar to the 1971 film "And Now For Something Completely Different" which was a film spinoff from the television comedy series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" featuring sketches from the first two seasons. The difference is that the Pythons recreated all the sketches while this theatrical release used clips from the original shows. The original programmes were shot on videotape (studio interiors) and 16 mm film (location footage); the videotaped material was transferred to 35 mm film as a telerecording, and the 16 mm footage was blown up to 35 mm.
Michael Mills (British producer)
While the first series of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969) was still being transmitted, he wrote to John Cleese: "The shows seem to be getting better and better and this a view shared by most people who see it." Offering him a role in the second series, he had been told by Barry Took that Cleese was unsure about continuing: "I do hope you will be able to take part both as a writer and performer because the show would lose a great deal if you are not one of them."
Torquay
A number of sketches for the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" television show (1969-73) were filmed on location in and around both Torquay and neighbouring Paignton. It was while staying in Torquay at the Gleneagles Hotel with the Python team in 1971 that John Cleese found inspiration (and the setting, although not the actual film location) for the popular sitcom "Fawlty Towers" (1975, 1979). Incidents during the Pythons' stay are said to include the owner, Donald Sinclair, having thrown Eric Idle's suitcase out of a window in case it contained a bomb. Cleese later described the eccentric owner as, "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met", although Mr. Sinclair's widow has since said her husband was totally misrepresented in the comedy.
Circus
"Tromba", a film about a tiger trainer, was released in 1948. In 1952 Cecil B. de Mille's Oscar-winning film "The Greatest Show on Earth" was first shown. Released in 1953 were "Man on a Tightrope" and Ingmar Bergman's "Gycklarnas afton" (released as "Sawdust and Tinsel" in the United States); these were followed by "Life Is a Circus"; "Ring of Fear"; "3 Ring Circus" (1954) and "La Strada" (1954), an Oscar-winning film by Federico Fellini about a girl who is sold to a circus strongman. Fellini made a second film set in the circus called "The Clowns" in 1970. Films about the circus made since 1959 include Disney's "Toby Tyler" (1960), the B-movie "Circus of Horrors" (also in 1960); the musical film "Billy Rose's Jumbo" (1962); "A Tiger Walks", a Disney film about a tiger that escapes from the circus; and "Circus World" (1964), starring John Wayne. Mera Naam Joker (1970) a Hindi drama film directed by Raj Kapoor which was about a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows. In the film "Jungle Emperor Leo" (1997), Leo's son Lune is captured and placed in a circus, which burns down when a tiger knocks down a ring of fire while jumping through it. "The Greatest Showman", a musical film loosely based on the life of P. T. Barnum, was released in 2017.
British comedy
One of the most influential groups in comedy is Monty Python. Their "Flying Circus" sketch show aired on the BBC between 1969-1974. The group itself consisted of six members, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. All were UK-born except Gilliam, who was US-born. Chapman, Cleese, and Idle attended the University of Cambridge, while Jones and Palin attended the University of Oxford. Gilliam was an alumnus of Occidental College. The Pythons went on to produce a large body of other legendary work including two TV specials for Germany, four feature films, a concert film, and various documentary specials detailing the group's history. Their unique brand of humor has had a profound influence on British comedy and on comedy in general. They themselves had been influenced by The Goons and Spike Milligan's "Q" series. Python found surprising popularity in the US in the 1970s, as did the less cerebral humour of Benny Hill and his ITV sketch series "The Benny Hill Show".
Monty Python
Cleese's first wife, Connie Booth, appeared as various characters in all four series of "Flying Circus". Her most significant role was the "best girl" of the eponymous Lumberjack in "The Lumberjack Song", though this role was sometimes played by Carol Cleveland. Booth appeared in a total of six sketches and also played one-off characters in Python feature films "And Now for Something Completely Different" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
Connie Booth
Booth secured parts in episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969–74) and in the Python films "And Now for Something Completely Different" (1971) and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975, as a woman accused of being a witch). She also appeared in "How to Irritate People" (1968), a pre-Monty Python film starring Cleese and other future Monty Python members; a short film titled "Romance with a Double Bass" (1974) adapted by Cleese from a short story by Anton Chekhov; and "The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It" (1977), Cleese's Sherlock Holmes spoof, as Mrs. Hudson.
Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut)
Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut) is a 2009 television documentary series in six parts that covers 40 years of the surreal comedy group Monty Python, from "Flying Circus" to present day projects such as the musical "Spamalot". The series highlights their childhood, schooling and university life, and pre-Python work. The series featured new interviews with surviving members John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, alongside archive interview footage of Graham Chapman and interviews with several associates of the Pythons, including Carol Cleveland, Neil Innes and Chapman's partner David Sherlock, along with commentary from modern comedians.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
In April 2006, "Monty Python's Flying Circus" returned to non-cable American television on PBS. In connection with this, PBS commissioned "Monty Python's Personal Best", a six-episode series featuring each Python’s favourite sketches, plus a tribute to Chapman, who died in 1989. BBC America has aired the series on a sporadic basis since the mid-2000s, in an extended 40-minute time slot in order to include commercials. Independent Film Channel acquired the rights to the show in 2009, though not exclusive, as BBC America still airs occasional episodes of the show. IFC also presented a six-part documentary "", produced by Terry Jones' son Bill.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Recordings of four of these stage shows have subsequently appeared as separate works:
The Family (1974 TV series)
The show was the basis for two parodies: "Monty Python's Flying Circus", in their very last episode which aired 5 December 1974, featured a sketch called "The Most Awful Family in Britain 1974"; and Benny Hill, on one of his 1975 specials, did a takeoff called "That Family."
Monty Python
In the summer of 1974, Ron Devillier, the programme director for nonprofit PBS television station KERA in Dallas, Texas, started airing episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Ratings shot through the roof, providing an encouraging sign to the other 100 PBS stations that had signed up to begin airing the show in October 1974—exactly five years after their BBC debut. There was also cross-promotion from FM Radio stations across the country, whose airing of tracks from the Python LPs had already introduced American audiences to this bizarre brand of comedy. The popularity on PBS resulted in the 1974 re-release of the 1972 "...Completely Different" film, with much greater box office success.
Brian Bloodaxe
The game is notable for its esoteric humour which was strongly influenced by the humour of sketch comedy series "Monty Python's Flying Circus", its in-game music (The "Liberty Bell March" by John Philip Sousa, better known to most as the "Flying Circus" theme tune), and colourful graphics.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
The final episode of Series 4 was recorded on 16 November and broadcast on 5 December 1974. That year NBC's summer replacement series, "Dean Martin's Comedyworld" aired several segments from the Python shows. This paid enough to the BBC-TV distributors, Time-Life Films, to finally pay for the conversion of the "Flying Circus" programmes from PAL to the American NTSC system, and meant the PBS stations could afford the series at last. It was an instant hit, rapidly garnering an enormous loyal cult following nationwide that surprised even the Pythons themselves, who did not believe that their humour was exportable without being tailored specifically, even without a language barrier.
Maureen Selwood
In 1991, after Selwood moved to Los Angeles, Jules Engel, founder of the Experimental Animation Program at CalArts, invited Selwood to join the faculty. She went on to produce the films: "Flying Circus: An Imagined Memoir"; "Hail Mary"; "Mistaken Identity"; "Drawing Lessons" and "A Modern Convenience". "Flying Circus" premiered at the Venice Film Festival: La Biennale di Venezia and is inspired by "Parade", the 1917 ballet by Picasso, Satie and Cocteau"." Selwood plays with a childhood memory and uses animation to illustrate episodes of shifting tensions inside a circus tent.
The Pythons (film)
The film begins with a recap of the Pythons' solo activities since the release of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in 1975. These include Eric Idle's "Rutland Weekend Television", John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers", Michael Palin and Terry Jones' "Ripping Yarns", Terry Gilliam's "Jabberwocky" and Graham Chapman's "The Odd Job". The origins of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" are briefly covered and the film also features separately filmed comments, notably from Graham Chapman and John Cleese, about their fellow team members. The atmosphere is relaxed throughout and, unsurprisingly, frequently humorous.
Monty Python Sings
On 30 June 2014, the album was re-released as "Monty Python Sings (Again)" on CD and as a digital download, expanded with six additional recordings – three out-takes from "Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album" and three new tracks from Eric Idle, recorded for inclusion in the team's reunion shows "Monty Python Live (Mostly)". A deluxe edition in both formats also included the 1970 "Monty Python's Flying Circus" album. This version of the album reached No.35 in the UK album chart.
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
The "Silly Olympics" sketch is from the first "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus" episode, dubbed into English. The original version also featured the events "1500m for people and their mothers" and "Hammer throw to America", whereas the latter acted as a link to the next sketch.A film version of the Hollywood Bowl performances, with direction credited to Terry Hughes, was given a limited theatrical release in North America beginning on 25 June 1982. It grossed a total of US$327,958 during its theatrical run.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
The opening titles of the series features as theme music the Band of the Grenadier Guards' rendition of John Philip Sousa's "The Liberty Bell" which was first published in 1893. Under the Berne Convention's "country of origin" concept, the composition was subject to United States copyright law which states that any works first published prior to 1923 was in the public domain due to copyright expiration. This enabled Gilliam to co-opt the march for the series without having to make any royalty payments.
The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief
The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief is the fourth album by the comedy group Monty Python, released in 1973. Most of the material was newly written for the album along with a handful of sketches from the third series of "Flying Circus", one from the second ("Bruces") and another from the first ("Pet Conversions"). The team were once again joined by Neil Innes, who provided a trio of rock music parodies for "The Background To History". The album was famously mixed and edited in a garden shed belonging to the father of producer Andre Jacquemin.
Monty Python's Big Red Book
In 1972 a paperback edition was issued with the words "Special New Hardback Edition" replacing the "Very Urgent" sticker on the front cover. In 1981 both this book and "The Brand New Monty Python Bok" were reissued as a hardback book entitled The Complete Works Of Shakespeare And Monty Python: Volume One – Monty Python. Paperback editions of both these books were reissued again in 1986 as The Monty Python Gift Boks, sold together inside an outer cover which folded out into a mini poster.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Douglas Adams, creator of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and co-writer of the "Patient Abuse" sketch, once said "I loved Monty Python's Flying Circus. For years I wanted to be John Cleese, I was most disappointed when I found out the job had been taken."
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Many Python sketches were linked together by the cut-out animations of Terry Gilliam, including the opening titles featuring the iconic giant foot that became a symbol of all that was 'Pythonesque'. Gilliam’s unique visual style was characterised by sudden, dramatic movements and deliberate mismatches of scale, set in surrealist landscapes populated by engravings of large buildings with elaborate architecture, grotesque Victorian gadgets, machinery, and people cut from old Sears Roebuck catalogues. Gilliam added airbrush illustrations and many famous pieces of art. All of these elements were combined in incongruous ways to obtain new and humorous meanings in the tradition of surrealist "collage assemblies".
Lifeboat sketch
Monty Python's Lifeboat (Cannibalism) sketch appeared on "Monty Python's Flying Circus" in . It was also performed on the album, "Another Monty Python Record", retitled "Still No Sign Of Land". The sketch was inspired by the famous 1884 English criminal law case of "R v Dudley and Stephens" which involved survival cannibalism among castaways after a shipwreck.
Engrish
"Monty Python's Flying Circus" featured a parody of the drama series "Elizabeth R", where they portrayed the cast riding motor-scooters and speaking Engrish, thus changing the title to "Erizabeth L".
Monty Python's Flying Circus
In 2005, a troupe of actors headed by Rémy Renoux, translated and "adapted" a stage version of "Monty Python’s Flying Circus" into French. Usually the original actors defend their material very closely, but given in this case the "adaptation" and also the translation into French (with subtitles), the group supported this production. The adapted material sticks close to the original text, mainly deviating when it comes to ending a sketch, something the Python members themselves changed many times over the course of their stage performances.
Language differences also occur in the lyrics of several songs. For example, "Sit on My Face" (which translated into French would be "Asseyez-vous sur mon visage") becomes "cum in my mouth".
Orson Welles Cinema
Less successful was the Welles’ Boston Film Festival (1976), which included such films as "Monty Python's Flying Circus", "And Now For Something Completely Different" and Jacques Rivette’s "Out One: Spectre". However, according to Welles Cinema staffers, many of the announced films arrived late or never appeared.
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus
According to producer Alfred Biolek, the Pythons were initially somewhat reluctant to the idea of going to Germany to produce comedy for a German audience. Biolek had only seen a few shows, but he was impressed with the concept of the Flying Circus. Specifically, it stood out to him that they were both good comedians and good actors—a combination that Biolek rarely saw in the German comedy scene at the time. Biolek arranged to meet with the Pythons in the BBC's bar in London to convince them "with many arguments and even more gin tonics" to come to Germany for a brief visit. Eric Idle has described the conception of the specials as "The Germans came to us and said 'Look, we haven't got a sense of humour, but we understand you do. Can we use yours? Terry Jones recalls Biolek's inquiry as an opportunity "to do silly things in Germany".
The Ministry of Silly Walks
"The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus", season 2, episode 1, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired on September 15, 1970. A shortened version of the sketch was performed for "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl". This sketch involves John Cleese as a bowler-hatted civil servant in a fictitious British government ministry responsible for developing silly walks through grants. Cleese, throughout the sketch, walks in a variety of silly ways. It is these various silly walks, more than the dialogue, that has earned the sketch its popularity. Cleese has cited the physical comedy of Max Wall, probably in character as Professor Wallofski, as important to its conception.
Terry Gilliam
Gilliam was a part of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" from its outset, credited at first as an animator (his name was listed separately after the other five in the closing credits) and later as a full member. His cartoons linked the show's sketches together and defined the group's visual language in other media, such as LP and book covers and the title sequences of their films. His animations mix his own art, characterised by soft gradients and odd, bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from antique photographs, mostly from the Victorian era.
Monty Python
Carol Cleveland was the most important female performer in the Monty Python ensemble, commonly referred to as "the female Python". She was originally hired by producer/director John Howard Davies for just the first five episodes of the "Flying Circus". The Pythons then pushed to make Cleveland a permanent recurring performer after producer/director Ian MacNaughton brought in several other actresses who were not as good as she was. Cleveland went on to appear in about two-thirds of the episodes, as well as in all of the Python films, and in most of their stage shows, as well.
List of recurring Monty Python's Flying Circus characters
A character generally played by Michael Palin, though the first was played by John Cleese. All of the Pythons have played one of them at one time or another. A Gumby is a character of limited intelligence and vocabulary. They speak haltingly, in a loud, indistinct manner. They wear round wire glasses, a Fair Isle pattern sweater-vest and wellington boots. Their shirt sleeves and trouser legs are always rolled up, exposing their socks and knees. Gumbys stand stoop-shouldered, with their hands permanently clenched in front of them, elbows slightly bent, and their feet turned to the outside. They wear folded white handkerchiefs knotted at the corners on their heads, which supposedly is what gives them their limited intelligence (as it sometimes has happened that they are more normal until they put them on), and have toothbrush moustaches. Their most famous catchphrases are "My brain hurts!" and repeated shouts of "Hello!" and "Sorry!"
Monty Python's Flying Circus
A restored Region 2 DVD release of Series 1–4 was released in 2007, with no additional features.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
As of 2013, questions concerning the Pythons' most famous sketches are incorporated in the examinations required of those seeking to become British citizens.
And Now for Something Completely Different
Many of the early episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" feature a sensible-looking announcer (played by John Cleese) dressed in a black suit and sitting behind a wooden desk, which in turn is in some ridiculous location such as behind the bars of a zoo cage or in mid-air being held aloft by small attached propellers. The announcer would turn to the audience and announce "and now for something completely different", launching the show's opening credits starting with the second series of the show.
Buddy's Circus
The dating in this article follows the chronology given in the article Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography (1929-1939). As noted above, the chronological release list given as an appendix in Leonard Maltin's "Of Mice and Magic" gives as the release date 8 November 1933. The same list, of course, gives a similarly conflicting order of release for Buddy's shorts: according to Maltin's book, the order, after "Buddy's Bearcats" and before "Buddy of the Legion" is "Buddy the Detective", followed by "Buddy the Woodsman", "Buddy's Circus", "Viva Buddy", "Buddy's Adventures", "Buddy the Dentist", "Buddy's Pony Express", and "Buddy's Theatre", after which Wikipedia and Maltin's book agree on the order and dates of release.
Archaeology Today
"Archaeology Today", recorded on 9 October 1970 and broadcast on 17 November 1970, was the 21st episode of the popular British television comedy "Monty Python's Flying Circus" which was created by the Monty Python group. As stated on the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" Wiki, "The show often targets the idiosyncrasies of British life, especially that of professionals, and is at times politically charged"; this episode in particular seems to target the professional world of anthropology and archaeology.
Monty Python
The Pythons' final film returned to something structurally closer to the style of "Flying Circus". A series of sketches loosely follows the ages of man from birth to death. Directed again by Jones solo, "The Meaning of Life" is embellished with some of the group's most bizarre and disturbing moments, as well as various elaborate musical numbers. The film is by far their darkest work, containing a great deal of black humour, garnished by some spectacular violence (including an operation to remove a liver from a living patient without anaesthetic and the morbidly obese Mr. Creosote exploding over several restaurant patrons). At the time of its release, the Pythons confessed their aim was to offend "absolutely everyone".
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
In Europe, this remastered widescreen transfer is available as a standalone Region 2 DVD. In North America, the film is available only as the older lesser-quality full-frame version taken from the 35mm prints, as part of a two-disc set titled "Monty Python Live", which includes the 1998 "Monty Python Live at Aspen" retrospective and the first episode of "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus". The show was also released as part of "The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset" and as part of "Almost Everything Ever in One Gloriously Fabulous Ludicrously Definitive Outrageously Luxurious Monty Python Boxset".
Ann Jones (tennis)
Jones caused something of a stir on 30 August 1962 when she married businessman Philip "Pip" Jones (1907–1993) who was thirty-one years her senior and five years older than her father. The couple later became the butt of many jokes on "Monty Python's Flying Circus" during its series run. As a running gag, the Pythons would frequently insert "Ann Haydon-Jones and her husband Pip" into any sketch where a list of names was being read off.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
In 2013, the programme was ranked #58 on TV Guide's list of the 60 Best Series of All Time.
List of recurring Monty Python's Flying Circus characters
Very few characters of the BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus appeared in more than one episode, and when they did, it was usually to link sketches together. A few well-known characters are described below.
Monty Python's Flying Circus (disambiguation)
Monty Python's Flying Circus may also refer to:
Alfred Biolek
While visiting the UK in the early 1970s, Biolek caught notice of the British comedy troupe Monty Python, and excited by their innovative, absurd sketches, he invited them over to Germany in 1971 and 1972 to write and act in two special German episodes of their show "Monty Python's Flying Circus". The result, "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", was produced by Biolek in co-production with Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
Roger Wilmut
Wilmut's enthusiasm for the Goons led to the first of his books. In 1974, with the help of friends Tim Smith and Peter Copeland, he revised a list of the series' episodes supplied by the BBC, and his own earlier research, into a "much more complete typewritten list". He then sent it to Robson Books, who showed an interest. While writing the accompanying text he was "approached by the late Jimmy Grafton, who had been involved with the Goons in their early days, and had helped to get the show on the air. He suggested combining his memoirs with my book, and this is what happened, with the book being published in 1976 under the title "The Goon Show Companion"."
Wilmut was then signed by the agent Roger Hancock, who then commissioned him to "write a similar book about Tony Hancock", his elder brother. The result was 1978's "Tony Hancock – 'Artiste"', the book for which he conducted his first interviews. Whilst considering a book on "Monty Python's Flying Circus", Roger Hancock suggested that he cover "the entire generation of comedy which arose from Oxford and Cambridge Universities after 1961". The result was "From Fringe to Flying Circus". 
It wasn't until 1985 that Wilmut's next book appeared, a history of theatrical variety, titled "Kindly Leave The Stage". Over seventy people were interviewed for the project, with Wilmut remarking he thought he "ought to do the interviews as soon as possible in view of the age of the people involved."
In 1989 he produced "Didn't You Kill My Mother-in-Law?", a history of British alternative comedy. The book was originally the idea of Peter Rosengard, a life insurance salesman who had helped start this comedy movement by opening "The Comedy Store" in London in 1979. Like Jimmy Grafton with "The Goon Show Companion", the book was part memoir (this time Rosengard's), and part history of the subject by Wilmut.
Monty Python's Life of Brian
In October 2011, BBC Four premiered the made-for-television comedy film "Holy Flying Circus", written by Tony Roche and directed by Owen Harris. The "Pythonesque" film explores the events surrounding the 1979 television debate on talk show "Friday Night, Saturday Morning" between John Cleese and Michael Palin and Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, then Bishop of Southwark.
Never Be Rude to an Arab
"Never Be Rude to an Arab" is a satirical song by the members of "Monty Python's Flying Circus", originally appearing on the 1980 album "Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album". It appears as sung by Terry Jones in the theatrically released concert film "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" and was included on the compilation album "Monty Python Sings".
Return of Django
The title track gained prominence in the U.K when earlier in 1969 Alan Blake, a young film editor at the time, suggested it be used as the soundtrack to a Cadburys chocolate commercial which had been directed by Terry Gilliam, then the animation wizard for Monty Python's Flying Circus. Return of Django was re-released as a single and becoming a 'top ten' hit.
The Brand New Monty Python Bok
In 1974 a paperback edition was issued as The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok, containing the same contents minus the "Tits 'n Bums" book cover. In 1981 both this book and "Monty Python's Big Red Book" were reissued as a hardback book entitled The Complete Works Of Shakespeare And Monty Python: Volume One - Monty Python. Paperback editions of both these books were reissued again in 1986 as The Monty Python Gift Boks, sold together inside an outer cover which folded out into a mini poster.
Ian MacNaughton
Between 1969 and 1974 MacNaughton would produce and direct all but four of the 45 episodes of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Having accepted the job of director and producer, MacNaughton announced to the Pythons' dismay that he had to take a holiday and would be unavailable for the first four shows, which were consequently directed by John Howard Davies. Initially, there was some friction between MacNaughton and the Pythons because of their close involvement with the way the show was directed, but by the end of the first series he had become one of the team and his contribution was significant. In 1970 the team filmed the second series of "Monty Python's Flying Circus."
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 British independent comedy film concerning the Arthurian legend, written and performed by the Monty Python comedy group of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, and directed by Gilliam and Jones. It was conceived during the hiatus between the third and fourth series of their BBC television series "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
The Liberty Bell (march)
The march is often associated with the British TV comedy program "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969–74), which used the version performed by the Band of the Grenadier Guards as a signature tune. The British comedy troupe Monty Python's use of the melody is ironic; the bouncy melody of the march may be what the troupe found appealing. Terry Gilliam, the only American member of the troupe, decided to use the theme. He has said the piece was chosen because the troupe thought it could not be associated with the program's content, and that the first bell strike and the subsequent melody gave the impression of getting "straight down to business."
Election Night Special
This sketch was featured in Episode 19 of the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" TV series, first broadcast on 3 November 1970. A somewhat different version of the sketch (leading into The Lumberjack Song) was also featured on the "Monty Python Live at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane" album. A longer edit of the "Drury Lane" version also appeared on the promotional flexidisc "Monty Python's Tiny Black Round Thing". The sketch also provides the basis for an item in "Monty Python's Big Red Book" in the form of a mock pamphlet for the Silly Party, which alongside characters from the original sketch, also names both Paul Fox and Ian MacNaughton as Silly Party candidates.
Monty Python
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) added "Monty Python's Flying Circus" to its national September 1970 fall line-up. They aired the 13 episodes of series 1, which had first run on the BBC the previous fall (October 1969 to January 1970), as well as the first six episodes of series 2 only a few weeks after they first appeared on the BBC (September to November 1970). The CBC dropped the show when it returned to regular programming after the Christmas 1970 break, choosing to not place the remaining seven episodes of series 2 on the January 1971 CBC schedule. Within a week, the CBC received hundreds of calls complaining of the cancellation, and more than 100 people staged a demonstration at the CBC's Montreal studios. The show eventually returned, becoming a fixture on the network during the first half of the 1970s.
How Not to Be Seen
"How Not to Be Seen" is a popular sketch from "Monty Python's Flying Circus". It was first aired as the 11th episode of the second series of the show (also known as episode 24) on 8 December 1970.