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
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.