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I always thought I was younger when I first heard about Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It felt like I was about 12 but in doing my research I had to have been 14? What I remember very clearly is hanging outside by the light pole with some friends in Levittown, PA, and my friend Mike Cook showed up. Cook, as we called him, said something like, “you know there’s this show on channel 12 on Sunday nights that shows naked people.” Or something to that effect. Being a bunch of young teenagers our ears perked up and we all ran inside to watch the show at our first opportunity. It’s hard for me to remember how I felt the first time I watched Monty Python. I guess the best word is bemused, rather than amused. 

Terry Gilliams’ artwork and animation was hysterical and baffling at the same time. I understood maybe 30% of their sketches, especially those with historical references. But I couldn’t look away. There was no internet at the time so our family encyclopedias and dictionaries got used more than they had in years. And we all discussed it weekly outside at the light pole. 

By now most of the planet has seen “The Parrot Sketch” knows most of the words to “The Lumberjack Song” and understands what “Wink, wink, nudge, nudge” means and absolutely “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”. So many of the pop culture references of my youth come from this show and eventual movies. The brilliance that was Monty Python’s Flying Circus has been endlessly discussed and dissected in numerous books and documentaries. I’m not attempting to add to any of that. I’m just sharing my personal experience with this amazing show. 

I learned new things to say when I’m surprised or startled such as “My hovercraft is filled with eels!” and “Quidado Llamas!” New words like “Budgie” and “Twit” were added to my vocabulary. I found out that Scotland is “the worst tennis playing nation on Earth.” I was also surprised to learn Vikings loved Spam and there were new things to be cautious of when I was out and about , such as “People who attack with Fresh Fruit,”  vicious gangs of “Keep Left Signs,, and “Hells Grannies” – who were especially problematic around pension day and wool. And under ‘New to Me’ Services and Titles – Confuse a Cat Service, the Ministry of Silly Walks and the Twit of the Year. 

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One of the most creative and unusual things that I loved about the show was the way the sketches ended…or didn’t. Often the sketch would break down into chaos and one or more of the actors walking off set in false outrage over something. Or Terry Gilliam would take a snippet from one sketch and turn it onto a whirligig of colors and sounds that often ended in the beginning of another sketch. Probably the most famous example of this is dropping a cut out of the Birth of Venus, after making her do a wild dance seconds ago, into an aquarium. In a pet shop. And that’s how one of their most famous sketches begins, the Parrot Sketch. These brilliantly bizarre segues are as beloved as the sketches themselves and many fans, myself included, like to guess the next sketch before it starts. Kind of like Guess that Sketch.

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Super fans debate the quality of the sketches over the 4 seasons and I happen to agree Seasons 1 and 2 were their strongest. However seasons 3 and 4 had moments of sheer brilliance. Such as the Argument Clinic, the Fish Slapping Dance and the Queen Victoria Handicap. One of my Python friends favorite episodes is in Season 3 – The Cycling Tour. Primarily written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones, but all of the group gets writing credit for it.

By now the world knows the Pythons were Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idol, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. These brilliant men created something we hadn’t seen before and were superbly supported by several actresses in small but vital parts. Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth were the perfect foils for the troup and were also in several of their movies. Lyn Ashley (Mrs Eric Idle at the time) also appeared fairly regularly. However the Pythons had no problem dressing as women themselves and were pretty good at it!!

When Monty Python’s Flying Circus was first aired in the UK it was received with mixed results. Called confusing, insightful, a breath of fresh air and difficult to grasp were among many other comments. And back in those days the best way to voice your opinion was to write letters to complain. And so almost every episode had numerous letters from “viewers” to complain. They always began with “Dear Sir” followed by “I’m writing to complain…” or “Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms…” and then descended into absolute nonsense. The example below is from “The Royal Philharmonic Goes to the Bathroom” sketch.

Letter 1 – Dear Sir,

I object strongly to the obvious lavatorial turn this show has already taken. Why do we never hear about the good things in Britain, like Mary Big all’s wonderful jump in 1974? Yours etc. Ken Voyeur

Letter 2 – Dear Sir,

I object strongly to the obvious athletic turn this show has now taken. Why can’t we hear more about the human body? There is nothing embarrassing or nasty about the human body except for the intestines and bits of the bottom.

Letter 3 – Dear Sir,

I object strongly to the letters on your program. They are clearly not written by the general public and are merely included for a cheap laugh. 

Yours sincerely, William Knickers

After the Lumberjack sketch:

Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song which you have just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women’s clothes. Many of my best friends are lumberjacks and only a few of them are transvestites. Yours faithfully,

Brigadier Charles Arthur Strong (Mrs)

PS. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times. 

From Stonehenge sketch –

1.Dear Sir, I object very strongly to that last scene, and to the next letter.

2.Dear Sir, I object to being objected to by the last letter, before my drift has become apparent. I spent many years in India during the last war and am now a part-time notice board in a prominent public school. 

Yours etc., Brigadier Zoe La Rue (deceased). PS Aghhh!

3.Dear Sir, When I was at. school, I was beaten regularly every thirty minutes, and it never did me any harm -except for psychological maladjustment and blurred vision. Yours truly, Flight Lieutenant Ken Frankenstein (Mrs).

There are pages all over online dedicated to these “Letters” usually found by searching “Monty Python – Dear Sir”. They’re hilarious!

I think the last thing that really caught my attention was the music used on the show. It went so perfectly with the animation and it was of such wide variety I wondered who selected or performed the music for the show. I eventually learned it was Terry Gilliam himself who selected all of the music for the animations and because the BBC had his show on a very tight budget he researched what was available to him from various archives.

Most of us know that Eric Idle and Neil Innes wrote most of the original songs, and of course went on to write many of the songs used in the Monty Python movies. Other contributors to the original songs were Fred Tomlinson and the Fred Tomlinson Singers. Fred, Terry Jones and Michael Palin wrote the Lumberjack song and Fred’s singers dressed as Mounties sang along. They were also the guys dressed as Vikings and singing in the Spam sketch.

Speaking of the Spam sketch I didn’t know until doing some fact checking the SPAM sketch when I found that the use of the word SPAM unwanted electronic messages was from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

According to Google:

“The origins of using the word “spam” to describe pesky messages came from the TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. A sketch in one of the episodes featured Vikings who passionately chant about Spam, the brand name for canned, processed meat. Their chants in the sketch became so loud and repetitive that they muted any other conversations. 1 Eventually, this sketch became synonymous with annoying messages, and “spam mail” was born.”

I also learned that the Python programming language was named after the show. I’m sure there are a lot more interesting factoids I’m unaware of. 

Monty Python’s Flying Circus was, is and always will be one of those incredibly brilliant things that burned so bright you knew it couldn’t last forever. Except, thank goodness, in reruns all over the world. 

So if you’ve never been a big fan, give it another try.And if you are a fan and haven’t watched it in a while go back and enjoy again! So many of the lines you hear throughout the four seasons are repeated throughout what, in my opinion anyway, is the greatest movie ever made – Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail!!! But that is another column for another day. 

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The Urban Hippie is a 60-something senior living in the Philly burbs. Still trying to figure out what she wants to be when and if she ever grows up. She welcomes all feedback and can be reached at ireneemartinother@gmail.com.