Photo: Eduardo Unda-Sanzana, Monty Python O2 Arena, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
From left to right: Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and John Cleese, in London in 2014. (Graham Chapman died in 1989.)
1Who were the Monty Python?
The Monty Python were a group of six comedians: five British (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin) and one American, Terry Gilliam, who made the famous animations. They met at university, in Cambridge and Oxford, and started working together in 1969.
Their TV show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, changed British comedy: no real story, sketches that stop in the middle, crazy animations, and very serious characters in completely absurd situations — like the Ministry of Silly Walks.
2The Holy Grail (1975)
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table go on a quest to find the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. But nothing goes as planned: killer rabbits, a knight who keeps fighting without arms or legs, and a French soldier who insults the king from the top of his castle.
The film had a very small budget. There was no money for horses, so the knights pretend to ride while their servants bang two coconuts together. The problem became one of the most famous gags in film history!
3Key dates
4Did you know?
📧 Spam: in a 1970 sketch, Vikings in a café sing “Spam, spam, spam…” so loudly that nobody can talk. That's why unwanted emails are called spam!
🐍 Python: the programming language Python was named after Monty Python by its creator, who was a fan.
📖 Pythonesque: this adjective is in the dictionary! It describes absurd, surreal humour.