Monty Python's Flying Circus, Black and White

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Terry Jones, Graham Chapman (with pipe), John Cleese, eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin.

- - - - - - -

Monty Python’s Flying Circus (known during the final series as just Monty Python) is a British sketch comedy series created by the comedy group Monty Python and broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974. The shows were composed of surreality, innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.

The first episode was recorded on 7 September and broadcast on 5 October 1969 on BBC One, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974.

The members of Monty Python were highly educated. Terry Jones and Michael Palin are Oxford graduates; Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman attended Cambridge; and American-born member Terry Gilliam is an Occidental College graduate. Their comedy is often pointedly intellectual, with numerous erudite references to philosophers and literary figures.