Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin were the surreal British comedy group who would become known as Monty Python. The Pythons started out as a sketch comedy show which has become one of the most important shows in the evolution of television and comedy. All six men weren’t afraid to push boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content.
Thanks to the Python’s and the entertaining Flying Circus series, the show quickly gave the comedy troupe a chance to create more. They created a series of satirical biblical films with the help of a former Beatle, and one of their sketches coined the term “spam mail”. To this day, Monty Python and its members remain popular, and relevant, even though they’ve been around since the sixties.
The Inspiration Behind The Flying Circus
Spike Milligan, who created The Goon Show, a surrealistic radio program which starred himself. Milligan than moved to television with Q. The first series, Q5, debuted less than a year before Monty Python’s Flying Circus made an impact.
Both Michael Palin and Terry Jones adored Milligan’s shows because they were filled with surrealism and invention. When it came to Python, both Palin and Jones were so impressed that they looked for the name of the director on the end credits, and they hired him. That’s how they met Ian MacNaughton.
