Product Details

• Actors: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones
• Writers: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones
• Producers: John Howard Davies
• Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Language: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 28, 1999
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000JMPA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,792 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

In 1969, five overeducated British comics and an American illustrator invaded the homes of unsuspecting BBC viewers with a brand of comedy that was, at the very least, odd. "Absurd," "bizarre," and "incomprehensible" are other descriptions that jump to mind. Nonetheless, this wacky sextet inaugurated an absurd tradition that continued through three and a half seasons of half-hour TV episodes, a series of live performances, a handful of movies, and a legacy of dead parrots and upper-class twits. Monty Python's Flying Circus, Set 1 features the first episodes foisted on a still-reeling public, introducing running gags ("And now for something completely different") and recurring characters (an armor-clad Terry Gilliam wielding a rubber chicken, Graham Chapman's pompous Colonel intruding on sketches he deems simply too silly, and of course Michael Palin's "It's a Man" wandered through the entire season). Among the sketch highlights in the first three shows are Nudge Nudge, the Funniest Joke in the World, How to Defend Yourself from a Man Attacking You with Fresh Fruit, Confuse a Cat, and The Dull Life of a City Stockbroker, all interspersed with various and sundry cut-out animation sequences by Terry Gilliam. These early episodes may lack the consistency and stream-of-consciousness flow of their later, more assured work, but they're packed with some of the most memorable moments of the group's brief but brilliant history. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

Very possibly the most tragic waste of Oxbridge educations ever broadcast. The programme that made all of America sit up and say: "what?" That put Spam back in the national pantry, launched crossdressing as a national craze, and made Rene Descartes a household name. That dramatically streamlined the high-school geek identification process. Now it’s back in its original order--the first six episodes of the premiere season--as if that had any empirical value whatsoever. Set contains episodes 1-6 of season one: 1) Wither Canada 2) Sex & Violence 3) How to Recognize Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away 4) Owl-Stretching Time 5) Man’s Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century 6) It’s the Arts

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I didn't really call you Eddie-baby, did I sweety?", April 3, 2002

By 

B-MAN "B" (Earth, occasionally. Until I get bored.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monty Python's Flying Circus: Set 1, Episodes 1-6 (DVD)

Instead of giving the conventional review of how hilarious Monty Python's Flying Circus is - We all bloody know that by now! - I'm going to list all of the skits that you will receive when you finally decide to get off your bum and buy this bleeding, essential first volume in A&E's wonderful collection of the entire series of Monty Python!

This site lists the 6 episode titles, but here are the 44 skit names. Why? Because I'm pretentious and a massive geek!

Disc one: Its Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(Famous Deaths)/Italian Lesson/Whizzo Butter/Its the arts/Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson/Picasso-Cycling Race/Funniest Joke in the world/French lecture on sheep aircraft/A man with 3 buttocks/Musical mice/Marriage guidance counselor/Wacky Queen/Working class playwright/Wrestling epilogue/Mouse problem/Court scene with Richelieu/Bicycle repairman/Children's stories/Restaurant sketch/Seduced milkman/Stolen newsreader/Nudge Nudge

Disc two: And did those feet/Art gallery/Art critic/Its a man's life in the modern army/Undressing in public/Self defence/Secret service dentists/Confuse-a-cat/Smuggler/Police raid/Newsreader arrested/Erotic film/Silly job interview/Careers advisory board/Burglar-Encyclopedia salesman/Johana Gombolputty/Non Illegal robbery/Crunchy frog/Dull life of a city stock broker/Red Indian theatre/A Scotsman on a horse/Twentieth century vole

You also get extras like: Meet the chaps (a scene and bio of each member of MP), Pythonisms (a glossary), Gillian's Attic (fun with the art), Nudge Nudge & Crunchy Frog (Live from the Hollywood Bowl!), Silly Occupations, and Hysterical figures (scenes from other volumes)

Congrats to A&E for the fab job they did on these and to Amazon for selling it to me inexpensively!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I feel as if I struck gold..., November 17, 1999

By 

Boomerang86 (Orange County, New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Monty Python's Flying Circus: Set 1, Episodes 1-6 (DVD)

After MPFC stopped airing on PBS, I thought I would never see the original shows in all their glory ever again; Crummy VHS dubs of 36 episodes lurked in my collection for over 15 years... AM I EVER GLAD I WAS WRONG! The timing of the release of these DVD's could not have been more perfect! The video quality is excellent, even by 1969 standards. I never knew until I purchased this set that there were scenes cut from some episodes, likely to keep airtimes close as possible to 30 minutes; They are restored here! Diehard Pythonites would be loonies if they passed on this golden opportunity to obtain pristine reproductions of perhaps the funniest import this country has ever seen and heard (of course I plan to purchase all volumes of the set). Now, if only the BBC could keep those damned undertakers away from my programme...

Yours faithfully, Prof. R. J. Canning (Mrs.)

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Nudge nudge, no whatta mean, say no more...", July 23, 2001

By 

B from America (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monty Python's Flying Circus: Set 1, Episodes 1-6 (DVD)

Instead of giving the conventional review of how hilarious Monty Python's Flying Circus is - We all bloody know that by now! - I'm going to list all of the skits that you will receive when you finally decide to get off your bum and buy this bleeding, essential first volume in A&E's wonderful collection of the entire series of Monty Python!

This site lists the 6 episode titles, but here are the 44 skit names. Why? Because I'm pretentious and a massive geek!

Disc one: Its Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(Famous Deaths)/Italian Lesson/Whizzo Butter/Its the arts/Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson/Picasso-Cycling Race/Funniest Joke in the world/French lecture on sheep aircraft/A man with 3 buttocks/Musical mice/Marriage guidance counselor/Wacky Queen/Working class playwright/Wrestling epilogue/Mouse problem/Court scene with Richelieu/Bicycle repairman/Children's stories/Restaurant sketch/Seduced milkman/Stolen newsreader/Nudge Nudge

Disc two: And did those feet/Art gallery/Art critic/Its a man's life in the modern army/Undressing in public/Self defence/Secret service dentists/Confuse-a-cat/Smuggler/Police raid/Newsreader arrested/Erotic film/Silly job interview/Careers advisory board/Burglar-Encyclopedia salesman/Johana Gombolputty/Non Illegal robbery/Crunchy frog/Dull life of a city stock broker/Red Indian theatre/A Scotsman on a horse/Twentieth century vole

You also get extras like: Meet the chaps (a scene and bio of each member of MP), Pythonisms (a glossary), Gillian's Attic (fun with the art), Nudge Nudge & Crunchy Frog (Live from the Hollywood Bowl!), Silly Occupations, and Hysterical figures (scenes from other volumes)

Congrats to A&E for the fab job they did on these and to Amazon for selling it to me cheap!