Never before had there been such a show that had broken as many conventions on television as "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Looking at American television during the '60s, it seemed obvious which country was coming up with better comedy material. With shows like "Not Only...But Also," "That Was the Week That Was," "Q," "At Last the 1948 Show," and "Do Not Adjust Your Set" already in tow, it was Python that served as the true breakthrough for British television. Shows such as "Saturday Night Live," "Mr. Show," "Mad TV," "Family Guy," and "South Park" owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to "Monty Python's Flying Circus." The main strength of the show is that it mainly doesn't side too much with making topical comedy. Of course, there are moments where they satirize certain British figures (many of them I would have to look up to get the joke), but on the whole, it seems as if they start with a clean slate every time they make a sketch. There are absolutely no boundaries and no levels of expectation. It could be safe to say that they were at a complete advantage considering that they had free license to make sketches out of literally whatever came to mind at any given moment. With that, the possibilities were endless. The most unique factor of the show is the fluidity of each episode due to the stream-of-consciousness approach magnified by anti-climactic sketches that abandoned the pigeon-holing punchline and the innovative animation by Terry Gilliam. Each episode was as much a mind-trip as it was a comedy revue. Characters would sabotage sketches to make way for new ones, or a piece of animation would appear in a background and be zoomed in for a link to another sketch. It was all very cerebral and extremely innovative. Another important factor is the level of intelligence on the show. You don't feel like you're being dumbed down at all when you watch the show. At times, I actually learned something new from watching the show. I'd do a little research to better understand a sketch and find something very interesting that I would have never known about otherwise. Overall, the show is absolutely brilliant and it should been watched by more people, even though that will never happen. Monty Python is a comedy troupe that has more of a cult following than established fanfare. A lot of people can be put off by the genuine silliness of the show. As a whole, British comedy is actually much sillier than American comedy. Others find it just too strange and abstract. Of course, there are moments when one would be singled out because the humor is directed at British audiences a little too much. Nevertheless, there is usually one sketch at least that will get one laughing, and with that, its a good program to at least try out.
Review of Monty Python's Flying Circus
