Monty Python's Flying Circus

Probably the best writing team in the history of world television. Assinine?...to be sure. Clever?...absolutely. Bawdy?...of course.

I can still recite skits done 40 years ago.

My dad and I regularly watch the entire collection =)

Classic humour

this was started in 1969 in Britian, neve came tothe Us until 1974 on pbs of all channels. can't really rate it as a 60 show now can I. I was weaned as a teen on this great comedy from over the waves.

I first started watching them in the late 60's, and have every record, audio cassette, VHS video and now DVD of everything they have made, including episodes of the MPFC, all recordings, all movies, and their bigraphical book The Life of Python. Before I shuffle off this mortal coil, my one dream is to meet and have a beer with all the crew together, particulary John Cleese. Regards, Kevin, Sydney OZ.

The best were the first few seasons. The remainder looked like the boys were fulfilling a contract. M.P. were brilliant in the movies though.

even at its worst, simply the best. the animations brilliant. absurdities of human nature. the exaggerations of the human drama magnified. ah life!

This is one of those shows you either loved or hated. British comedy in general is dry, but somehow these guys still made it worth watching even to us americans. How many people still quote them at Renfests, LARPS, Roleplaying conventions, etc? These shows are classic and timely all at the same time.

LMAO funny!!! :D

These guys were like the Beatles of comedy! Each one brought something of his own to the effort and all were made stronger by their association with the group as a whole. Coming to us from two of the top institutions of higher learning in the world (Oxford and Cambridge) the Pythons were like nothing ever witnessed on American shores and have continued (like the Beatles) to be rediscovered and grow in popularity with each new generation that they are passed down to. Maybe an acquired taste for some, but these are generally the ones who leave alot to be acquired. The Pythons were iconoclastic in their approach and as with others who follow a similar tact, are bound to ruffle a few feathers and step on more than a few toes. That's quite alright by me. Most institutions and people are in need of a good toe-stepping.

6 Stars actually. The best comedy of the last 40 years bar none. Brilliant, silly, fearless ... they are idols of Steve Martin, Mike Myers, the South Park guys and countless other comedians. Their worst skits were still 10 times the quality of what passes for most comedy today and at their best ... just hilarious. The Cheese Shop, The Lumberjack Song, Dead Parrot, Silly Walks, Twit of the Year ... I could go on for hours but that would be so "desperately dull" you'd want to "slap me with a fish". And let me see, John Cleese went on to do Fawlty Towers (the best show in the history of TV according to a BBC poll) Terry Gilliam did a few creative movies I'd say Eric Idle is still spamming his way to the top in New York Michael Palin has done some of the best travel shows ever with his usual class and wit ... but don't just take my word for it. Get the series done in the late '60s and early '70s and then move on to the "Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian" movies. If there's a Comedy Hall of ... Read more

funny,sick,outrageous comedy

i keep watching-it is different than anything else that is on, but i'm a lumberjack and i'm ok. let's vote for the minster of silly walks. i love spam!

The skits are hit or miss. . .the 'dead parrot' one was pretty damn funny.

One of the funniest shows of all time. Who else could perform live and have the audience do the lines at the same time. Away a head of its time it went places no one had dared to go. The cast and the writing was brilliant and it still holds up today. In conlusion very funny, dead parrot, St Loony's up the creek Bun and Jam for ever.

When I was a kid, I thought it was very funny. That's because I was ignorant. Now that I am middle-aged and a little bit more informed, MP's antics are just ANNOYING. I love British comedy, but MP is just too irreverent and sacrilegious when they do not need to be. Those horrible Holy Grail and Life of Brian films just made me lose all interest in their work; I can't even enjoy John Cleese's comedy anymore. I love humor & can take a joke as well as the next one, but at heart my faith matters a lot to me, and the mess they made in Grail and Brian...well, it was like seeing someone in your own family get insulted.

hmmmm....

Many laughs throughout the years.

Awesome...I love the Dirty Fork and Self-Defense against Fresh Fruit sketches, along with 'Nudge, Nudge, Cheese Shop, and of course Dead Parrot. The best sketch comedy show ever.

One of the funniest shows ever aired, and totally unique.

I find you either love Python or hate it. I love it yet my wife simply hates it

Genius. O almighty God of Manic Insanity, please give us some more people as good as this again, please...

Hilarious, absurd, at times nonsense and brilliant. Still as funny today as it was back then. If you don't get it then you never will.

I find this show to be extremely creepy.

Very inventive, creative and influential comedy series back when there was real humor being produced far superior to the retarded, stupid, vulgar and cheap crap they churn out these days. The Monty's were probably top dog during the period when National Lampoon had a nationally-traveling revue and a syndicated radio show, The Firesign Theatre was doing the college circuit and turning out their comedy LPs, Second City TV was coming into its own and even low-brow comics Cheech and Chong were goofing with the stoner set. All of this was far more accomplished and funny than the tripe that mongoloid Adam Sandler, twerp Jim Carey and clod Mike Myers get paid millions of $$$ to barf out at present. MPFC was the most verbally facile, and possibly the most subversive comedy outfit of its era, and the TV show was both well before its time and the most advanced comedy on the air during that period. Great bits like The Ministry of Silly Walks, The Pirhana Brothers, I'm a Lumberjack and I'm O.K... Read more

Pretty damned funny. Some is too silly and wacky, but overall it's worthy of many chuckles when I watch it.

A show that is still wonderful today,a true must see program.smart ,silly ,funny,insane this show has it all.A true classic.

" MONTY PYTHONS FLYING CIRCUS " is without question the ultimate comedy series. The fact that the series is still as adored and beloved today is down to the fact that the programme remained stark ravingly funny throughout. The best python sketch ever?- the " dead parrot " sketch of course! " THIS IS AN EX PARROT !!!! "

Funny, funny show. Rest in peace, Graham Chapman... you were brilliant in a performance you clearly enjoyed.

I loved The Holy Grail, but I bought the shows on DVD, and just can't get into them. At least for me, it seems I have to watch 3 horrid sketches to get a good one. I watched the DVDs once, and I just can't get myself to ever play them again. I'm not sure, but I just think I don't click with their humor (or is that humour..lol).

even though its actually a 70s show.

The granddaddy of sketch comedy shows, and still the best. Not even Second City, or SNL in its early heyday, could surpass it, though this may be due in large part to our American infatuation with improvision. We tend to see improv as the highest comic art form -- trouble is, there are only a handful of performers (Robin Williams chief among them) who excel at it. So we tend to structure our sketch comedy loosely, which leads to those SNL sketches that ramble on pointlessly and laughlessly, never going anywhere. The British tend to be less egotistical in this area, and like their comedy thorougly scripted -- which MONTY PYTHON was. Nothing was left to chance, and thanks to the cockeyed absurdist brilliance of the writing, the result has stood the test of time.

THIS IS THE BEST EVA!!!!!

Monty Python was very irreverent and funny. The one downfall of this group was that they tended to be hit or miss, but when they did hit, they were hilarious! I think "the Life Of Brian" and "The Search For The Holy Grail" are the best of their movies.

Easily one of the most hilarious variety shows of all time, Monty Python's Flying Circus had tons of running gags, slapstick and other totally unrealistic goofiness that was part of its charm! Although sometimes stepping into objectionable content, most of the time, it didn't and was just delightfully funny!

It's funny to see how some people's reviews are just quotes from the show. Monty Python has had an amazing following of fans. And they do deserve it. They have been creative and clever, but I don't feel bad subtracting a star because of some of the British humor and silly skits that I'm not amused by. My favorite sketches: Cheese Shop, Four Yorkshiremen, The Death of Mary Queen of Scots, and of course classics like Upperclass Twit of the Year, Ministry of silly walks, and the Dead Parrot. Most of the "Meaning of Life" is great, too. My favorite "python" is Michael Palin. John Cleese is the common favorite, and a lot of people then say that John is overappreciated and Eric Idle is underappreciated. So we just have a lot of fans for those too, it seems. Michael Palin has a monkey-ish bubbly kind of charming humor that I love.

I've become so addicted to this show of late. I watch it everyday on the BBC and just laugh non-stop at the antics of these crazy British guys. My favorite has to be the Spanish Inquisition, though, made moderately famous by the smart Sliding Doors...NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION! Oh wow, I smile just thinking about it. I loved it when they did Wuthering Hights with flags..that was an absolute classic. And when they had that guy fighting a giant electrical penquin on the beach..I thought I would die. Monty Python was so ahead of their time as beautifully shown in this show and all of their movies. The whole straight man-crazy man was really used to perfection in this series, as well as beautiful satire and just pure unadulterated craziness. This is definently one of the smartest and funniest shows ever to come around anywhere. It's probably one of my favorite shows of all time. Now for something completely different...

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition... our two strenghts are....our three strengths are.....

I hate the Monty Python movies, so I know I'am going to hate this show. His humor is just so stupid and unfunny, that if the british pooped out gold, I wouldn't care.

I would like to see.....

Come on people! Monty Python's flying circus is the greatest tv-show ever! You know, what you gotta do.

Albatross....get it on a stick!

An all-time favourite! An utterly smashing show, which nobody can deny if they understand anything at all in life! And I'll say that again and again!

This would be five stars if we were talking about pure innovative genius, as the Python clan brought dada-style lunacy to the world of comedy in a revolutionary way. The Ministry of Silly Walks and other classic sketches were just mind-bogglingly absurd. But if we're talking about whether I'd want to watch these shows today, I think that I'd have to only give a three-star rating. They were sooo influential that some of their shenanigans now seem pretty tired. So I guess four-stars seems about right. By far the best sketch-comedy series until Kids in the Hall eclipsed them in the early '90s.