History Creator / MontyPython

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Creator/MichaelPalin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/TerryGilliam, and Creator/JohnCleese at the Hollywood Bowl, 1980-] ]]

All save Gilliam were recruited as television writers straight out of college. In the amorphous melting pot that was British radio and TV comedy in the late 1960's -- where alliances drawn from the same talent-pool were constantly formed for [[BritishBrevity short-lived projects]] and then dissolved -- meetings in various combinations ensued for our heroes, and considerable mutual respect was earned. In 1967 Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam wrote and starred in the UK children's TV series, ''Series/DoNotAdjustYourSet''. At the same time Cleese and Chapman joined together with Tim Brooke-Taylor et al. to produce ''At Last The 1948 Show'', and in 1968 the two provided additional material for the unruly satire ''Film/TheMagicChristian''. Cleese, Chapman, Palin and Brooke-Taylor then collaborated for the one-off TV special ''How To Irritate People'' later that year.

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. The unofficial seventh and eighth members are British-born/American-raised actress Carol Cleveland 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.

The troupe more or less dissolved into its component parts after their last film, and fell apart definitively when Graham Chapman died in 1989. The last time all six were seen together live was in a brief spot in the 20-year reunion special ''Parrot Sketch Not Included'', where host SteveMartin revealed they were all being kept in a closet, including a visibly-ailing Chapman seated in the middle; the special aired the day after his death that October. The survivors (particularly Cleese and Palin) still do occasionally perform either on stage or in each other's films. All five held a 1998 reunion in Aspen, Colorado (with EddieIzzard in tow) and in mid-2014, they took one last collective bow, in a short series of performances characteristically entitled ''Monty Python (Mostly) Live: One Down, Five To Go''.

Most other things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Eric Idle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Terry Jones is a novelist; 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 Graham Chapman has continued to remain dead...

* ''Another Monty Python Record'' (1971)

* ''Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album'' (1980)

All save Gilliam were recruited as television writers straight out of college. In the amorphous melting pot that was British radio and TV comedy in the late 1960's -- where alliances drawn from the same talent-pool were constantly formed for [[BritishBrevity short-lived projects]] and then dissolved -- meetings in various combinations ensued for our heroes, and considerable mutual respect was earned. In 1967 Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam wrote and starred in the UK children's TV series, ''Do Not Adjust Your Set''. At the same time Cleese and Chapman joined together with Tim Brooke-Taylor et al. to produce ''At Last The 1948 Show'', and in 1968 the two provided additional material for the unruly satire ''TheMagicChristian''. Cleese, Chapman, Palin and Brooke-Taylor then collaborated for the one-off TV special ''How To Irritate People'' later that year.

* ''And Now for Something Completely Different'' (1971): Essentially TheMovie of the ''Flying Circus'', produced and released while the original series was still in production. A collection of their best sketches from the show, reshot on film to introduce the team to American audiences, who didn't catch on quite yet.

The troupe more or less dissolved into its component parts after their last film in 1984, and fell apart definitively when Graham Chapman died in 1989. The last time all six were seen together live was in a brief spot in the 20-year reunion special ''Parrot Sketch Not Included'', where host SteveMartin revealed they were all being kept in a closet, including a visibly-ailing Chapman seated in the middle; the special aired the day after his death that October. The survivors (particularly Cleese and Palin) still do occasionally perform either on stage or in each other's films. All five held a 1998 reunion in Aspen, Colorado (with EddieIzzard in tow) and in mid-2014, they performed together on least time, for a short series of performances characteristically entitled ''Monty Python (Mostly) Live: One Down, Five To Go''.

DeadpanSnarker Creator/JohnCleese, StraightMan Creator/GrahamChapman and musician Eric Idle met at Cambridge University where they were members of The Footlights, a celebrated performing society. [[{{Pantomime}} Panto]]-style actor Terry Jones and his writing partner, NiceGuy Creator/MichaelPalin, had been similarly occupied at Oxford at about the same time. Cleese met cartoonist/animator Creator/TerryGilliam -- the one American in the group, when working for the humor magazine ''Help!?'' -- during the US tour of "The Footlights Revue".

Writing chores tended to fall along well-established lines: Cleese with Chapman (which Cleese described as being mostly him sitting hunched over the typewriter belting out scripts while Chapman sat back smoking his pipe and then tossing out a totally random that idea that more often than not made whatever Cleese thought up even funnier), Palin with Jones, Idle on his own. Gilliam worked separately on animations and hence appears only very rarely before the camera. Roles -- in the TV show, at least -- were assigned based on who had contributed most to that particular script; thus it's possible to roughly figure out who wrote what based on who's starring in any given sketch. Terry Gilliam noted among his Monty Python co-stars that there seemed to be a division between the taller, more "aggressive" Cambridge men (John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle) and the shorter, lighter-humored Oxford men (Michael Palin, Terry Jones), the latter of which the American Gilliam found himself closer to. Gilliam considered Cleese the most "Cambridge" of the group, being the tallest and most "aggressive" member of Monty Python.

The troupe more or less stopped being active around 1984, and became entirely inactive as a collective when Graham Chapman died in 1989 (the members had stated that they'll be willing to reunite as a group when Chapman returns from the dead). The last time all six were seen together live was in a brief spot in the 20-year reunion special ''Parrot Sketch Not Included'', where host SteveMartin revealed they were all being kept in a closet (with a visibly-ailing Chapman seated in the middle with the other five); the special aired the day after Chapman's death that October. The remaining members still occasionally perform either on stage or in each other's films (the two who most often collaborate together post-1984 have been Cleese and Palin), with a 1998 reunion in Aspen (with EddieIzzard in tow) featuring all five surviving members. Further reunions have taken place in recent years.

Most things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Eric Idle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Terry Jones is a novelist; 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 Graham Chapman has continued to remain dead...

In mid-2014, the five surviving members reunited for a series of farewell performances entitled ''Monty Python (Mostly) Live: One Down, Five To Go''.

Fun Fact: it has been rumored for years that when Terry Gilliam made ''TimeBandits'' he based the title characters upon himself and his fellow Monty Python colleagues.

The five surviving members of the troupe announced that they are reuniting to perform on the stage in 2014, in what will be their final work together.

The troupe more or less stopped being active around 1984, and became entirely inactive as a collective when Graham Chapman died in 1989 (the members have stated that they'll be willing to reunite as a group when Chapman returns from the dead). The last time all six were seen together live was in a brief spot in the 20-year reunion special ''Parrot Sketch Not Included'', where host SteveMartin revealed they were all being kept in a closet (with a visibly-ailing Chapman seated in the middle with the other five); the special aired the day after Chapman's death that October. The remaining members still occasionally perform either on stage or in each other's films (the two who most often collaborate together post-1984 have been Cleese and Palin), with a 1998 reunion in Aspen (with EddieIzzard in tow) featuring all five surviving members. Further reunions have taken place in recent years.

The five surviving members of the troupe have announced that they are reuniting to perform on the stage in 2014.

Writing chores tended to fall along well-established lines: Cleese with Chapman, Palin with Jones, Idle on his own. Gilliam worked separately on animations and hence appears only very rarely before the camera. Roles -- in the TV show, at least -- were assigned based on who had contributed most to that particular script; thus it's possible to roughly figure out who wrote what based on who's starring in any given sketch.

All save Gilliam were recruited as television writers straight out of college. In the amorphous melting pot that was British radio and TV comedy in the late 1960's -- where alliances drawn from the same talent-pool were constantly formed for [[BritishBrevity short-lived projects]] and then dissolved -- meetings in various combinations ensued for our heroes, and considerable mutual respect was earned. In 1967 Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam wrote and starred in the UK children's TV series, ''Do Not Adjust Your Set''. At the same time Cleese and Chapman joined together with Tim Brooke-Taylor et al. to produce ''At Last The 1948 Show'', and in 1968 the two provided additional material for the unruly satire ''TheMagicChristian''.

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. The unofficial seventh and eighth members are British-born/American-raised actress Carol Cleveland and comedic musician Neil Innes.

All save Gilliam were recruited as television writers straight out of college. In the amorphous melting pot that was British radio and TV comedy in the late 1960's -- where alliances drawn from the same talent-pool were constantly formed for short-lived projects and then dissolved -- meetings in various combinations ensued for our heroes, and considerable mutual respect was earned. In 1967 Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam wrote and starred in the UK children's TV series, ''Do Not Adjust Your Set''. At the same time Cleese and Chapman joined together with Tim Brooke-Taylor et al. to produce ''At Last The 1948 Show'', and in 1968 the two provided additional material for the unruly satire ''TheMagicChristian''.

DeadpanSnarker Creator/JohnCleese, StraightMan Creator/GrahamChapman and musician Eric Idle met at Cambridge University where they were members of The Footlights, a celebrated performing society. [[{{Pantomime}} Panto]]-style actor Terry Jones and his writing partner, NiceGuy Creator/MichaelPalin, had been similarly occupied at Oxford at about the same time. Cleese met cartoonist/animator Creator/TerryGilliam -- the one American in the group, then working for the humor magazine ''Help!?'' -- during the US tour of "The Footlights Revue".

* ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1990)

(Note: you will sometimes see the Terry Gilliam-directed film ''Jabberwocky'' included in lists of Python films. This is due to it being promoted as ''Monty Python's Jabberwocky'' in some regions at the time of its original release, much to Gilliam's objections. Although it does feature some Python members, it is not correctly considered a Python film.)

...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. He has, of course, since gone back to the afterlife, presumably due to prior commitments.

Most things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Eric Idle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Terry Jones is a novelist; 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 Graham Chapman 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. He has, of course, since gone back to the afterlife, presumably due to prior commitments.

Most things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Eric Idle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Terry Jones is a novelist; 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 Graham Chapman has continued to remain dead.

Most things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Eric Idle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. Creator/TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Terry Jones is a novelist; Creator/MichaelPalin makes travel documentaries; Creator/JohnCleese is still the grumpy old face of British comedy, though he has also appeared in two of the most popular UK film series of all time -- the ''Film/JamesBond'' films (playing Q in two films) and as a ghost in two early ''Film/HarryPotter'' films; and Graham Chapman has continued to remain dead.

The following year, Cleese and Chapman were offered a show of their own. Who would join them in the new troupe was initially unclear; Brooke-Taylor, later of ''Series/TheGoodies'', was seriously considered (Cleese and the three Goodies had been mainstays of much-loved radio comedy sketch-show ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain''), as was jobbing comic actor {{David Jason}}. But Cleese really wanted to work with Palin, and Palin's three cohorts were ready to move on to more ambitious fare as well, so in the end it all fell into place naturally.

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. British-born/American-raised actress Carol Cleveland is the unofficial seventh member and comedic musician Neil Innes is the unofficial eighth member.

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 the ''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. British-born/American-raised actress Carol Cleveland is the unofficial seventh member and comedic musician Neil Innes is the unofficial eighth member.

The troupe more or less stopped being active around 1984, and became entirely inactive as a collective when Graham Chapman died in 1989 (the members have stated that they'll be willing to reunite as a group when Graham Chapman returns from the dead). The last time all six were seen together live was in a brief spot in the 20-year reunion special ''Parrot Sketch Not Included'', where host SteveMartin revealed they were all being kept in a closet (with a visibly-ailing Chapman seated in the middle with the other five); the special aired the day after Chapman's death that October. The remaining members still occasionally perform either on stage or in each other's films (the two who most often collaborate together post-1984 have been Cleese and Palin), with a 1998 reunion in Aspen (with EddieIzzard in tow) featuring all five surviving members. Further reunions have taken place in recent years.

'''Monty Python''' is a British comedy troupe, featuring some very well-educated clowns.

All save Gilliam were recruited as television writers straight out of college. In the amorphous melting pot that was British radio and TV comedy in the late 1960's -- where alliances drawn from the same talent-pool were constantly formed for short-lived projects and then dissolved -- meetings in various combinations ensued for our heroes, and considerable mutual respect was earned. In 1967 Idle, Palin, Jones and Gilliam wrote and starred in the UK children's TV series, ''Do Not Adjust Your Set''. At the same time Cleese and Chapman joined together with Tim Brooke-Taylor et al. to produce ''At Last The 1948 Show'', and in 1968 the two provided additional material for the unruly satire ''TheMagicChristian''.

Most things "Monty Python" nowadays (such as ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}'') fully involve only Eric Idle, with the others as occasional drop-ins. TerryGilliam now mainly works as a director; Terry Jones is a novelist; Creator/MichaelPalin makes travel documentaries; Creator/JohnCleese is still the grumpy old face of British comedy, though he has also appeared in two of the most popular UK film series of all time -- the ''Film/JamesBond'' films (playing Q in two films) and as a ghost in two early ''Film/HarryPotter'' films; and Graham Chapman has continued to remain dead.

* ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (1990)

DeadpanSnarker Creator/JohnCleese, StraightMan Creator/GrahamChapman and musician Eric Idle met at Cambridge University where they were members of The Footlights, a celebrated performing society. [[{{Pantomime}} Panto]]-style actor Terry Jones and his writing partner, NiceGuy MichaelPalin, had been similarly occupied at Oxford at about the same time. Cleese met cartoonist/animator Creator/TerryGilliam -- the one American in the group, then working for the humor magazine ''Help!?'' -- during the US tour of "The Footlights Revue".

The following year, Cleese and Chapman were offered a show of their own. Who would join them in the new troupe was initially unclear; Brooke-Taylor, later of Series/TheGoodies, was seriously considered (Cleese and the three Goodies had been mainstays of much-loved radio comedy sketch-show ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain''), as was jobbing comic actor {{David Jason}}. But Cleese really wanted to work with Palin, and Palin's three cohorts were ready to move on to more ambitious fare as well, so in the end it all fell into place naturally.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Creator/MichaelPalin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Creator/TerryGilliam, and Creator/JohnCleese at the Hollywood Bowl, 1980-] ]]

DeadpanSnarker Creator/JohnCleese, StraightMan Graham Chapman and musician Eric Idle met at Cambridge University where they were members of The Footlights, a celebrated performing society. [[{{Pantomime}} Panto]]-style actor Terry Jones and his writing partner, NiceGuy MichaelPalin, had been similarly occupied at Oxford at about the same time. Cleese met cartoonist/animator Creator/TerryGilliam -- the one American in the group, then working for the humor magazine ''Help!?'' -- during the US tour of "The Footlights Revue".

A British comedy troupe, featuring some very well-educated clowns.