History Creator / MontyPython

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Wasting a perfectly good education since 1969. [[note]] L-R: Creator/MichaelPalin, Creator/TerryJones, Creator/EricIdle, Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/TerryGilliam, and Creator/JohnCleese at the Hollywood Bowl, 1980 [[/note]]-] ]]

Over the course of the series, they also acquired a loyal and long-running supporting cast: the unofficial seventh and eighth members of the troupe are British-born/American-raised actress Creator/CarolCleveland and comedic musician Neil Innes, with other frequent guest players including Cleese's then-wife (and future ''Series/FawltyTowers'' collaborator) Connie Booth, actor-writer Ian Davidson, and singing troupe The Fred Tomlinson Singers. Creator/DouglasAdams was brought on board for the final season, writing some material and appearing in two episodes as well.

* The scripting language Python, while not developed by any member of the cast, was named after them. The standard IDE for Python, IDLE, was similarly named after Python member Creator/EricIdle.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Oh so very much averted. John Cleese has said that the reason Michael Palin rarely plays a woman in sketches is that he actually looks good dressed in women's clothes, and that's much less funny than obvious men[[note]]especially Cleese, with his great height, square jaw, and five-o'clock shadow[[/note]] [[{{Gonk}} trying to pass for women.]]

Most other things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Creator/EricIdle, with the others as occasional drop-ins: Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Creator/MichaelPalin makes travel documentaries (earning himself a knighthood in the process); Creator/JohnCleese is still the grumpy old face of British comedy (having appeared in both the ''Film/JamesBond'' films as 'Q' and as a ghost in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films); Creator/TerryJones was a novelist who battled a form of dementia--which was noticeable during the run of the O2 concerts--before passing due the complications it caused on January 21, 2020[[note]]In an uncannily Pythonesque turn of events, Jones' death ended up being overshadowed by peanut company Planters killing off their "Mr. Peanut" mascot-- one can suppose Terry had a laugh about it with Graham upstairs[[/note]], joining Creator/GrahamChapman, who has continued to remain dead...

->And now for something completely different.

!! Tropes named after Monty Python sketches:
* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent

* ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1970)
* ''AudioPlay/AnotherMontyPythonRecord'' (1971)
* ''Monty Python's Previous Record'' (1972)
* ''AudioPlay/TheMontyPythonMatchingTieAndHandkerchief'' (1973) The full title of the album is "Free Record Given Away With the Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief". It was also a "3-sided" record; side 2 had two concentric spiral grooves rather than one, so that the one that would play when the needle was dropped was completely unpredictable.
* ''AudioPlay/MontyPythonLiveAtDruryLane'' (1974)
* ''The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail'' (1975)
* ''Monty Python Live at City Centre'' (1976)
* ''The Monty Python Instant Record Collection'' (1977)
* ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979)
* ''AudioPlay/MontyPythonsContractualObligationAlbum'' (1980)
* ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983)
* ''The Final Rip Off'' (1988)
* ''Monty Python Sings'' (1989)

* ''The Ultimate Monty Python Rip Off'' (1994)
* ''The Instant Monty Python CD Collection'' (1994)
* ''Spamalot'' (2005)
* ''The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album'' (unreleased)

* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' (1975): KingArthur and his knights search for the Holy Grail, infamous for such scenes as the Taunting French Knight and the Knights who say Ni. Adapted into a [[TheMusical Broadway musical]], ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}!''. Cleese, who quit the ''Flying Circus'' series before its final season in order to make the sitcom ''Series/FawltyTowers'', rejoined the troupe with this film.

->''And now for something completely different: the circus is in town!''\\
''IT'S--''
-->-- ''Fanfic/PokemonXNimjaPlayTheGame'', "The Monty Python Anthem"

The brash young sextet stormed into a pitch meeting with BBC executives and told them that... they had absolutely no idea what they wanted to do, let alone come up with a title for it. In their heads, though, it was going to be ''really really'' cool and groundbreaking and just generally nothing the comedy world had ever seen before -- like ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' had been, only more so. Incredibly enough, the execs took a flyer on them. The net result was ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', and a sketch-comedy troupe for the ages was born.

* TheAlcoholic: Gram Chapman's unfortunate history with alcoholism is well-documented. Other members of the troupe have recounted days when shooting of ''Flying Circus'' would be held up due to Chapman trying to sneak in a drink before carpooling with the others to the set. It hindered his acting abilities while filming ''Holy Grail'', notably the Bridge of Death, forcing the filmmakers to use a stunt double despite Chapman being an experienced mountaineer. Palin claimed that the others only became aware of what bad shape he was in while filming ''And Now For Something Completely Different'', when he saw that Chapman's briefcase only contained the script (which he was looking in there to get) and a 3/4s empty bottle of tequila, which had been ''full'' that morning.

Most other things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Creator/EricIdle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Creator/TerryJones was a novelist who battled a form of dementia that manifested itself during the run of the O2 concerts. He passed due to complications from it on January 21, 2020; in an uncannily Pythonesque turn of events, his death ended up being overshadowed by peanut company Planters killing off their "Mr. Peanut" mascot-- one can suppose Terry had a laugh about it with Graham upstairs. Creator/MichaelPalin makes travel documentaries; Creator/JohnCleese is still the grumpy old face of British comedy (having appeared in both the ''Film/JamesBond'' films as 'Q' and as a ghost in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films); and Creator/GrahamChapman has continued to remain dead...

...although he ''did'' return for a brief bit in order to record vocal parts for a [[TheFilmOfTheBook feature film adaptation]] of his 1980 "autobiography", ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Liar%27s_Autobiography A Liar's Autobiography]]''.[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke Chapman's voice is taken from a reading he did of his autobiography in the late-1980s, while Cleese recorded dialogue to match up with Chapman's other lines.]][[/note]] The film, which also featured four of the other five members (Idle is not involved; when asked why this was [[WordOfGod Terry Jones]] responded simply with "[[CreatorBacklash He's pissed at us]]"), was given a limited theatrical release worldwide in 2012, and aired on American TV channel Epix on November 2 of that year. Chapman has, of course, since gone back to the afterlife, presumably due to prior commitments.

-->'''John Cleese:''' Graham Chapman, co-author of the Parrot Sketch, is no more. He has ceased to be, bereft of life, he rests in peace, he has kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust, snuffed it, breathed his last, and [[WentToTheGreatXInTheSky gone to meet the Great Head of Light Entertainment in the sky]]. And I guess that we're all thinking how sad it is that a man of such talent, of such capability for kindness, for such unusual intelligence, a man who could overcome his alcoholism with such truly admirable single-mindedness, should now so suddenly be spirited away at the age of only forty-eight before he'd achieved many of the things in which he was capable, and before he'd had enough fun. Well, I feel that I should say, ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice "Nonsense! Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard, I hope he fries!"]]'' And the reason I feel I should say this is he would never forgive me if I didn't. If I threw away this glorious opportunity to shock you all on his behalf. [[RefugeInAudacity Anything for him but mindless good taste.]] I could hear him whispering in my ear last night as I was writing this, "Alright, Cleese," he was saying, "You're very proud of being [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar the very first person ever to say 'shit' on British television]]; if this service is really for me -- just for starters -- I want you to become the first person ever at a British memorial service to say [[PrecisionFStrike 'fuck']]."

* ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'' (1983): A guide from birth to death, all the important stages of human life.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: As mentioned before, the British members were all graduates of UsefulNotes/{{Oxbridge}}. As such, many of their skits contain overt references to everything from world politics to classical western philosophy and literature.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Oh so very much averted. John Cleese has said that the reason Michael Palin rarely plays a woman in sketches is that he actually looks good dressed in women's clothes, and that's much less funny than obvious men trying to pass for women.

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Nearly all of the members were rhode scholars. As such, many of their skits contain overt references to everything from world politics to classical western philosophy and literature.

Most other things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Creator/EricIdle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Creator/TerryJones was a novelist who battled a form of dementia that manifested itself during the run of the O2 concerts. He passed due to complications on January 21, 2020; Creator/MichaelPalin makes travel documentaries; Creator/JohnCleese is still the grumpy old face of British comedy (having appeared in both the ''Film/JamesBond'' films as 'Q' and as a ghost in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films); and Creator/GrahamChapman has continued to remain dead...

Most other things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Creator/EricIdle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Creator/TerryJones is a novelist who, as of 2015, was battling a form of dementia that manifested itself during the run of the O2 concerts; Creator/MichaelPalin makes travel documentaries; Creator/JohnCleese is still the grumpy old face of British comedy (having appeared in both the ''Film/JamesBond'' films as 'Q' and as a ghost in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films); and Creator/GrahamChapman has continued to remain dead...

* TheFunInFuneral: The funeral of the only deceased Python member to date, Graham Chapman, went about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHk9WC7fnQ as you'd expect]]: