Monty Python
Monty Python is a British comedy troupe that rose to international fame in the late 1960s and early 70s with its surreal and stream of consciousness television series Monty Python's Flying Circus, which combined live action sketches, stock footage, and original animation.| Table of contents |
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2 Frequent Supporting Cast Members 3 External Links |
Members (frequently known as 'the Pythons')
Frequent Supporting Cast Members
(female roles played by women were usually by one of the below; the Pythons frequently cross-dressed for feminine roles)
The entire group was British except for Gilliam, who was from the USA; supporting actress Connie Booth was also born in the USA.
Flying Circus produced many memorable skits which have since been quoted, parodied and referenced in many other forums. Some of the show's best-known moments include the famous Dead Parrot sketch, the Lumberjack Song, The Ministry of Silly Walks, Eric Idle's "Nudge Nudge" routine, and the re-occuring Spanish Inquisition characters.
The group was also responsible for four full-length motion pictures:
- And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
- Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
- Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
The five surviving members of the main Monty Python team are directors of Python (Monty) Pictures Limited which was incorporated in 1973 and now manages ongoing activities resulting from their previous work together, such as royalties. In the accounts return the company describes its activities as 'the exploitation of televison and cinematographic productions'. In the last financial year for which accounts are avaiable (to March 2002) the company's turnover was £3.3m (source: Bureau van Dijk's FAME).
Each member pursued other film and television projects after the break-up of the group as a whole, but often continued to work with one another. Many of these were very successful, such as A Fish Called Wanda (1988), starring Cleese and Palin. The Pythons are very often the subject of re-union rumours. On 9 October 1999, to commerate 30 years since the Flying Circus's first TV appearance, a re-union of sorts came to pass. BBC2 devoted an evening of programmes, such as a documentary charting the history of the team, and interspersed them with new sketches filmed especially for the evening. Cleese in an interview to publicise the DVD release of The Meaning of Life said a further re-union was unlikely. "It is absolutely impossible to get even a majority of us together in a room, and I'm not joking," Cleese said. Cleese said that the problem was one of busyness rather than their being any bad feelings.
