We interrupt the Internet Movie Database because it's gotten too silly! I've noticed a tendency for the IMDb to get rather silly. Now I do my best to keep things moving along, but I'm not having things getting silly. So, we present to you this exposé on the greatest comedy sketch show of all time! In it you will see: mosquito and ant safari hunters, the funniest joke ever written in which people die laughing and later used to attack the Germans during WWII, mountain climbers that see double, "The Institute of Silly Walks", hospitals that treat their patients like soldiers in boot camp, a world in which everyone is dressed like Superman except for the greatest hero "Bicycle Repairman", and of course the Spanish Inquisition that shows up when least expected! And like the existence of God, Monty Python was, is and ever shall be the Messiah of television comedy. All must genuflect at the altar of John Cleese's desk when he finishes his phone conversation at the beach and says "And now for something completely different."
Sketch comedy shows on television existed long before Monty Python. In the US, the early sketch comedy shows, like "The Milton Berle Show", "The Caesar Hour" and "Your Show of Shows" were essentially vaudeville acts that were broadcast nation-wide, and often upon a stage. However, Monty Python may have been the earliest of the sketch comedy shows to utilize the fact that it was being broadcast on television which pushed sketch comedy out of the constraints of the fading sensibility of Sid Caesar and Ed Sullivan.
In addition to their sketches which were filmed like little movies rather than on stages (and probably were not improvised), Monty Python's Flying Circus is filled with fake news broadcasts, fake commercial interruptions, spliced sequences of stock footage, and of course, the outrageously irreverent cartoons that spoofed the great art of Europe and created a surrealist python world where portraits of distinguished old men eat up the Venus de Milo -- whole! Monty Python spoofed everything, from their own BBC News, World War II to Queen Victoria who is shown in one sketch walking into a poetry reading with the coffin containing the remains of her husband saying "My late husband and me..."
Almost every zany aspect of modern society were taken prisoner and held in custody by the Pythons, including courtrooms, shopping malls, and even little old ladies who have decided to form violent street gangs! And of course the French and the Scots seem to get a little more airtime than other groups! And the final aspect I will relate is that most of these zany sketches were presented with absolutely straight faces as if the actors were seriously engaged in their ludicrous exploits. There is very little I can add about Monty Python that hasn't already been said, except, that if you have never seen it, it is almost impossible to describe. So, for God's sake, see it! We now return you to the Internet Movie Database with its regularly scheduled programming.
Sketch comedy shows on television existed long before Monty Python. In the US, the early sketch comedy shows, like "The Milton Berle Show", "The Caesar Hour" and "Your Show of Shows" were essentially vaudeville acts that were broadcast nation-wide, and often upon a stage. However, Monty Python may have been the earliest of the sketch comedy shows to utilize the fact that it was being broadcast on television which pushed sketch comedy out of the constraints of the fading sensibility of Sid Caesar and Ed Sullivan.
In addition to their sketches which were filmed like little movies rather than on stages (and probably were not improvised), Monty Python's Flying Circus is filled with fake news broadcasts, fake commercial interruptions, spliced sequences of stock footage, and of course, the outrageously irreverent cartoons that spoofed the great art of Europe and created a surrealist python world where portraits of distinguished old men eat up the Venus de Milo -- whole! Monty Python spoofed everything, from their own BBC News, World War II to Queen Victoria who is shown in one sketch walking into a poetry reading with the coffin containing the remains of her husband saying "My late husband and me..."
Almost every zany aspect of modern society were taken prisoner and held in custody by the Pythons, including courtrooms, shopping malls, and even little old ladies who have decided to form violent street gangs! And of course the French and the Scots seem to get a little more airtime than other groups! And the final aspect I will relate is that most of these zany sketches were presented with absolutely straight faces as if the actors were seriously engaged in their ludicrous exploits. There is very little I can add about Monty Python that hasn't already been said, except, that if you have never seen it, it is almost impossible to describe. So, for God's sake, see it! We now return you to the Internet Movie Database with its regularly scheduled programming.