Monty Python’s Flying Circuswas a funny, surreal show, where anything was possible. The incredible minds of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam created a unique show that has influenced many people that laughed with them and loved them. There’s a programming code (python) named after them, and the word spam, as in ads we don’t like in the mail, is also because of them (as we’ll discover in a bit).Monty Python’s Flying Circuscreated a new sense of humor; one where everything was allowed as long as it made us laugh. Here are the bestMonty Python’s Flying Circussketches, ranked:
9Bicycle Repair Man
One of the funniest ideas the Python had was doing sketches where they reversed some usual premises to their funniest end possible.Bicycle Repair Manis one of those sketches, as, in a world where everyone is Superman; the hero that is needed, is a bicycle repair man. The sketch follows all the Superman tropes as the hero hides his identity, and has to sneak away to change his costume and save the day by fixing a bicycle. Simple, yet hilarious.
8Working-Class Playwright
Another one of the great ways Python sketches surprised us was by doing reversals on our pre-conceived ideas, while also spoofing some of England’s typical art.Working-Class Playwrightparodies the class-fighting theatre of the time, while giving us a fun premise: what if the class fight between father and son wasn’t about the new generation wanting to be an artist and see the world, but the other way around? Every sentence is priceless, as all three, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, and Terry Jones, give 100% commitment to this absurd idea. Especially once the father’s writer cramp starts acting out.
7Argument Clinic
A nameless man (Palin) pays for a five-minute discussion with an argument specialist (Cleese). The writing of this sketch is very clever, and they know it; as it shows how not to do an argument, while both characters are throwing continuous verbal punches at each other. The longer the sketch keeps going, the funnier it gets as Cleese’s verbal and mental gymnastics are getting stranger and crazier. Tragically, the argument logic of this sketch is now in every social media interaction.
Related:John Cleese Calls Out Dreadful Critics Who Can’t Act or Direct Themselves
6The Lumberjack Song
Monty Python always loved to sing a good joke, sothere are songs in many of their moviesand shows. The most known is “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, but “The Lumberjack Song” gives it a run for its money. The sketch follows the story of a man who wishes to become a lumberjack, but the twist is the more he sings, the more he tells us about his love for cross-dressing. The flustered reactions of the chorus of Mounties as they try to go on with the song are also gold.
Two customers want to order in a restaurant where almost every dish has spam in some way, shape, or form. As the customer gets more and more irritated with all the spam variants, there’s an even more surreal touch, as a group of Vikings (why are Vikings regulars in a British, spam-filled restaurant?) break into a chorus to sing: “spam, spam, spam, spam… spammity spam, wonderful spam”. The Pythons wrote this sketch where repeating a word so many times is funny, then stops being funny, then becomes funny again (see also Sideshow Bob inThe Simpsonsand his nemesis, the rake). This sketch is also the reason we call “spam” all the junk e-mails we receive.
4The Spanish Inquisition
The Pythons were masters of juxtaposition, as perfectly shown in this sketch, which also breaks the fourth wall of the episode. Every time someone says the sentence “I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition!”, (which is used to say someone is asking too many questions), three cardinals (Palin, Jones, andGilliam, in one of his rare appearances on-screen, and not only directing, writing, and animating) come out of nowhere shouting “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” While proposing all kinds of less-menacing-than-they-think tortures as they’re not as prepared as they think. This silly idea becomes a running gag throughout the episode, being funnier every time. The Pythons always loved laughing about historic events,especially inMonty Python and the Holy Grail, andThe Spanish Inquisitionwas one of their first successful attempts.
Related:These Are Some of the Best British Comedy Shows, Ranked
3The Ministry of Silly Walks
John Cleese was the master of silly acting as he committed to every idea 200%. It’s especially true in this sketch that is, on his own,one of John Cleese’s best performances ever. What if there was a branch of the government whose only focus was silly walks? That’s the premise, as Cleese, playing a boring government suit, goes all-in, showing how every one of those silly walks work as Mr. Putey (Michael Palin) wants some funding for his own silly walk. Cleese’s officer doesn’t find Mr. Putey’s walk silly enough and shows him what kind of silly walk they’re looking for. This sketch is one of the weirdest, silliest ways ever to make light of how governments decide to fund certain projects while not accepting others.
2Funniest Joke in the World
Monty Python’s Flying Circuscame out firing on all cylinders from the get-go in this sketch; one of its best and most famous, ends the first episode of the show. The sketch starts with a guy in his house, as he writes the funniest joke in the world and dies of laughter. Using a documentary style, the story tells that, after his family and the police also end up dying of laughter, the government sees the potential and uses the joke as a weapon of laugh destruction, translating it to German, and killing every Nazi in their sights. The killer joke is deemed too dangerous, and, during the Geneva Convention, it is decided that it can’t be used anymore. This sketch was one of the first times we discoveredMonty Python, and they were already showing how different from everything that came before their ideas were. By the way, in the sketch, the killer joke is only told in German, and if you put it in Google Translate, the result is “FATAL ERROR”, showing that even the tech giants have a sense of humor and that the joke is so good, it can make even binary code crash of laughter.
This is the perfectMonty Pythonsketch. It has an absurd premise and two committed actors who bring the situation to its most surreal, surprising, fun ending possible. It’s about a disgruntled customer (Cleese) who returns to a pet store because he has been sold a dead parrot. The store owner keeps telling him the parrot is alive, just resting, sleeping, stunted, pining, tired, and many more absolutely unbelievable excuses in a verbal combat, as good as Ali vs Foreman, that only keeps getting better and better. About the sketch,Michael Palin told Variety: “I loved playing the man in the “Dead Parrot” sketch or the “Cheese Shop” because you’re able to give them some sort of character — they’re not just somebody saying, “No, we haven’t got this,” “No, we haven’t got that.” It isn’t just the words; it’s the evasiveness and thedegreeof evasiveness, andwhya man should be that evasive, and what’s going through his mind [that] appeals to me. I really enjoyed getting to grips with characters like that, even within a fairly short sketch…”
