Monty Python's Flying Circus begins airing on BBC TV - October 5th, 1969

On this day in 1969, just before 11pm, the first episode of the groundbreaking comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus premiered in the United Kingdom.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that gives a quick look. It's something that
happened a long time ago. Today I'm Gabe Lousier and
in this episode, we're celebrating the day when a British

(00:23):
comedy troupe and one American did a silly walk onto
the world stage and changed comedy forever. The day was Sunday,
October five, nineteen sixty nine, at just before eleven pm.

(00:45):
The first episode of the groundbreaking comedy series Monty Python's
Flying Circus premiered in the United Kingdom. The debut episode
was titled Wither Canada and featured memorable sketches much as
Famous Deaths presented by Mozart and my personal favorite, an
interview with Arthur two Sheds Jackson, a man saddled with

(01:09):
a ridiculous nickname after mentioning in passing that he was
considering buying a second shed even though he never did.
No no, no, This ship business, it doesn't mean it
matter to me. It's just a few friends called me
two ships and that's olders to it. Spit up with
the ship. I wish never good. I expect you probably
thinking of anyone will so long then you'd be author

(01:32):
No ships Jackson, forget about the Jackson, I think with respect,
we all ought to talk about your symphony. The men
responsible for writing these sketches were the same team who
performed them, Graham Chapman, John Clice, Eric Idle, Terry Jones,
Michael Palin and the lone American Terry Gilliam. They were

(01:55):
joined in that first episode and in many future ones
by Carol Eveland, one of the few women to make
steady appearances on the show. Although some of the main
six performers had worked together on various earlier projects, it
was the network's comedy advisor, Barry Took, who had the
bright idea to bring them all together on the BBC.

(02:17):
The style of the show owed a lot to the
work of Spike Milligan, a British Irish actor and comedian
who created a surreal radio program called The Goon Show
and later made the jump to television with the equally
surreal sketch comedy show Q five. All of the Pythons
were big fans of Spikes show, especially the way he

(02:39):
played with and subverted the conventions of TV comedy. Terry
Jones later spoke of the inspiration, saying, quote, we had
been writing quickies or sketches for some three years, and
they always had a beginning, a middle, and a tagline. Suddenly,
watching Spike Milligan, we realized that they didn't have to

(02:59):
be like that. Feeling liberated by Spike's example, the Pythons
developed a show that followed only the loosest of narratives.
The sketches would flow from one to the next, sometimes
ending abruptly, with the only link between them being absurd
ist cartoons created by Terry Gilliam. Once the form of

(03:20):
the show was decided and much of the material had
been written, it was time to think of a title,
one that would capture the same gleeful, chaotic spirit of
the sketches. So in the summer before the premiere, the
Python started cycling through a host of potential titles. In fact,
they came up with a new non sequitur name for

(03:42):
every script they submitted At various points in production. The
series was called Baron von Tuk's Flying Circus Owl stretching time,
the toad, elevating moment, and a horse, a spoon and
a basin. Eventually The BBC head of Comedy got so

(04:03):
agitated with the ever changing titles that he sent a
memo to the show's director imploring him to make the
team choose a definitive title, and preferably one that made
at least a little sense. In the end, the show
was called Monty Python's Flying Circus, but only because the
network told the group they had already printed the programming

(04:26):
schedule with that name and it couldn't be changed. It's
unclear whether that was true or if the BBC had
just lost its patients and didn't want to risk getting
stuck with anything weirder. As for the name Monty Python,
that was just as meaningless as the earlier titles. Eric
Idyl suggested using Monty as a nod to the stereotype

(04:49):
of a drunk British gentleman, and John Clice added the
surname Python after suggesting that the ringleader of their flying
Circus should have a suitably slippery name. Same internal memos
from the BBC revealed that many higher ups at the
network were concerned about the show's chance of success. One
executive wrote that the Python's comedy went quote over the

(05:13):
edge of what was acceptable and the network's entertainment chief
wondered if the group had some sort of death wish.
After the first episode aired, the BBC pulled its viewers
and gotten overall positive response. The number of viewers wasn't great,
but those who had tuned in liked what they saw.

(05:33):
By the end of the first season, the show's ratings
had picked up and the BBC ordered a new batch
of episodes. Monty Python's Flying Circus remained on the air
from nineteen sixty nine to nineteen seventy four. The series
concluded after four seasons with a total of forty five episodes.

(05:54):
In Eternity and British television. Syndicated reruns made the show
a cult classic for decades to come, both in its
native country and beyond, but there was a point when
the episodes themselves were almost lost to history. In one
Terry Jones caught wind of a money saving practice at

(06:15):
the BBC that saw used video tapes being erased and
then reused to record new programming. At the time, shows
weren't often re aired and videotapes were expensive, it made
fiscal sense to erase and reuse the same tapes instead
of buying new ones. When Jones learned that the early

(06:37):
episodes of Flying Circus were next up on the chopping block.
He told the group and Terry Gilliam came to the rescue.
He bought all the original tapes from the BBC, ensuring
that their work would continue to offer fans something completely
different for generations to come. I'm Gabe Lousier and hopeful

(07:00):
you now know a little more about history today than
you did yesterday. If you enjoyed the show, consider following
us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at t d I
HC Show. And if you have any advice on whether
or not I should buy a second shed, you can
send it my way at this Day at I heart
media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

(07:24):
and thank you as always for listening. I'll see you
back here again tomorrow for another Day in History Class.
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