Monty Python's Flying Circus

There are sketch comedy shows, and then there’s Monty Python’s Flying Circus—a genre-defying, logic-ignoring, wildly creative masterpiece that redefined what television comedy could be. Decades later, it’s still hard to find an episode that doesn’t make me laugh out loud. It’s chaotic, unpredictable, and deeply silly in the best way possible.

This show birthed some of the most iconic comedy sketches and catchphrases of all time. “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition” is permanently etched into pop culture, and that’s just scratching the surface. From “The Ministry of Silly Walks” to “The Dead Parrot” and “Nudge Nudge,” so many moments are instantly recognizable—even to people who’ve never seen the show. The sheer density of memorable material is staggering.

What makes Flying Circus so unique is how ahead of its time it was. The sketches weren’t bound by typical punchline structure or narrative cohesion—they often just stopped mid-joke, cut to Terry Gilliam’s surreal animations, or looped into something entirely unrelated. That anarchic energy made it feel alive, like the comedians were letting you in on some bizarre inside joke they barely had control over.

The cast—Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam—had a once-in-a-generation chemistry. Their ability to switch between characters, accents, and completely different comedic tones kept the show endlessly fresh. And the writing was sharp. Beneath the silliness was some very smart satire aimed at politics, class, media, and British society at large.

It’s hard to overstate the influence this show has had—not just in Britain, but worldwide. You see its DNA in everything from Saturday Night Live to The Simpsons to Rick and Morty. It wasn’t just comedy—it was a revolution with a silly hat on.

An all-time classic. 10/10.

A ground-breaking series when it came out; I watched it in black-and-white. There are many sketches that are timeless, along with those that no longer make sense unless you remember the events that they are satirising. Equally, a number are just plain silly. You could sensibly skip season 4, as the standard of the sketches begins to noticeably decline.

Still, overall, it remains one of the best comedy series ever produced by the BBC. The Python influence is still being felt, but it is a comment on present times that anything remotely like it would never be commissioned now.

one of the best british comedy shows of all time

This review may as well act as a placeholder for the vast majority of British comedy, but we often mistake sanctimony and dull punchlines for 'sophisticated' humour. Comedy does not exist for us Brits to critically examine individual psychologies, institutions (even if it may trick you into thinking it is) or dare I say it, to actually make you laugh. Instead it is an exercise in exceptionalism which we impose upon our own people, and in recent times, export to the rest of the world as a kind of post-colonial 'gift' to the world's unwashed. Never mind the fact that the Americans long surpassed our feeble notion of comedy (who in their right mind would suggest Chaplin or even Keaton were overshadowed by the unfathomable comedic genius of Stan Laurel?). It should come as a surprise to no one on the planet that Palin has devoted his post-Python career to Empire apologia disguised as somnambulist travel TV nor should Cleese's pretensions of being a genuinely maverick and 'offensive' figure rather than the melting old bat he actually is. This legacy is simply an extension of the essential nature of British comedy. I will gladly take a number of Sandler's films over the so-called 'monoliths of British comedy'

I just didn't expect the spanish inquisition.

And now for something completely different; a review of Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Monty Python crew are experts in doing absolutely silly and ridiculous things, while providing highbrow and intellectual commentary around social, political and cultural topics. While some of the references are obviously outdated and / or hard to decipher in today's age, the comedy gold shines through. This is coming from a 21st century American with little background in British history. Doesn't get much better from a sketch comedy perspective. The sheer range of characters, topics and scenarios is endless and hysterical. At any given moment, you could be watching a gameshow about deaths of famous people like Genghis Khan or listening to a man with a tape recorder up his nose. If you're intimated by the accents, then I recommend throwing subtitles on. It's a gamechanger. If your not sure whether you are ready for the full show, then start off with a greatest hits reel on Youtube. While the Holy Grail is their most well known and respected work, I'd argue that this is actually better. This review is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

9/10

Very cool to see the original where all these funny youtube videos come from :)

The only thing that is a drag are 90% of these "cartoon" sequences...