Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquisition!

Monty Python’s Flying Circus Debuts October 5, 1969

Of all my favorite childhood memories, watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus with my parents is right up there at the top! It was during the early '70s when the “let it all hang out” mentality was in full-swing, and even though I was too young to truly understand most of the jokes, I somehow inherently knew those irreverent wacky Brits were onto something revolutionary.

Later, as I got older, the fish slapping dance, Ministry of Silly Walks, and my personal favorite—Ricky Pule’s Mount Everest Hairdressing Salon—got a lot funnier. I realized that John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam had inspired a generation of comics. Everyone from the early Saturday Night Live cast to ‘80s innovator Ben Elton of The Young Ones to modern-day funnymen such as Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office, exhibit the influence of The Pythons.

With so much gross-out adolescent humor in TV and movies these days—humor that seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator—it’s always a joy to stumble across an old episode of the landmark series or one of their wonderfully-looney films such as The Meaning Of Life, Holy Grail, or Life Of Brian. Just about everyone I’ve grown up with can rattle off a few quotes here or there (“It’s only a flesh wound! Bring me a bucket! Nudge nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean?”) and we proudly flaunt our Python knowledge as a badge of honor.

If it’s been a while since you last encountered “The Lumberjack Song,” the killer rabbit, or the “bright side of life,” slip into a cozy sweatshirt and pop in a DVD. Their surreal, slightly-deranged take on life makes the mundane world we live in much more bearable!