Television series

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Name: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1969
Cast: John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones

Five Oxbridge writers and one American animator blew up the rules of TV comedy: no punchlines, no closure, sketches that dissolve mid-scene into cartoons or simply stop. Dead parrots, silly walks, the Spanish Inquisition arriving unannounced. It's gleeful, cerebral, occasionally baffling nonsense — for anyone who likes their silliness with a philosophy degree hidden inside it.

TVMaze rating

8.0

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The punk-fuelled successor: four students in a filthy flat, rubber puppets, fourth walls broken with actual violence. Python's anarchy with amps turned up.

But Loud, aggressive, and dated in its politics — exhausting rather than delightful for some viewers.

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A direct descendant that took Python's sketch format and pointed it squarely at politics and the news of the day.

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