Monty Python: Difference between revisions

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While the show was a collaborative process, different factions within Python were responsible for elements of the team's humour. In general, the work of the Oxford-educated members (Jones and Palin) was more visual, and more fanciful conceptually (e.g., the arrival of the Spanish Inquisition in a suburban front room), while the Cambridge graduates' sketches tended to be more verbal and more aggressive (for example, Cleese and Chapman's many "confrontation" sketches, where one character intimidates or hurls abuse, or Idle's characters with bizarre verbal quirks, such as The Man Who Speaks In [[Anagram]]s). Cleese confirmed that "most of the sketches with heavy abuse were Graham's and mine, anything that started with a slow pan across countryside and impressive music was Mike and Terry's, and anything that got utterly involved with words and disappeared up any personal orifice was Eric's".<ref>Wilmut (1980), p.211</ref> Gilliam's animations, meanwhile, ranged from the whimsical to the savage (the cartoon format allowing him to create some astonishingly violent scenes without fear of censorship).

Several names for the show were considered before ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was settled upon. Some were ''Owl Stretching Time'', ''The Toad Elevating Moment'', ''A Horse, a Spoon and a Bucket'', ''Vaseline Review'' and ''Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot''. ''Flying Circus'' stuck when the BBC explained it had printed that name in its schedules and was not prepared to amend it. Many variations on the name in front of this title then came and went (popular legend holds that the BBC considered ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' to be a ridiculous name, at which point the group threatened to change their name every week until the BBC relented). "''Gwen Dibley's Flying Circus"'' was named after a woman Palin had read about in the newspaper, thinking it would be amusing if she were to discover she had her own TV show. "''Baron Von Took's Flying Circus"'' was considered as an affectionate tribute to [[Barry Took]], the man who had brought them together. ''Arthur Megapode's Flying Circus'' was suggested, then discarded.

There are differing, somewhat confusing accounts of the origins of the Python name although the members agree that its only "significance" was that they thought it sounded funny. In the 1998 documentary ''Live At Aspen'' during the [[The Comedy Festival|US Comedy Arts Festival]], where the troupe was awarded the AFI Star Award by the [[American Film Institute]], the group implied that "Monty" was selected ([[Eric Idle]]'s idea) as a gently-mocking tribute to [[Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Lord Montgomery]], a legendary British general of [[World War II]]; requiring a "slippery-sounding" surname, they settled on "Python". On other occasions Idle has claimed that the name "Monty" was that of a popular and rotund fellow who drank in his local pub; people would often walk in and ask the barman, "Has Monty been in yet?", forcing the name to become stuck in his mind. The name Monty Python was later described by the BBC as being "envisaged by the team as the perfect name for a sleazy entertainment agent".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/montypython/index.shtml |title=BBC – Comedy – Monty Python}}</ref>