40 Years Of Monty Python

Forty years ago today, the first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus aired on the BBC. In honor of this, here are two of my favorite Python sketches -- "The Spanish Inquisition"...



...and "How Not To Be Seen":



When I was a student at Kansas, I saw the late Graham Chapman give a lecture in which he said he'd never really heard a good definition of "Pythonesque" humor. Here's what I came up with: "Humor involving a person or persons, who may or may not be silly themselves, either interacting with silly people or finding themselves in an inherently silly situation". Watching Monty Python's Flying Circus on Sunday nights on the local PBS station when I was in high school was when I started learning to appreciate absurdity, a pasttime I continue to enjoy to this day. For this, I'm thankful for Monty Python. I'm sure that even in another 40 years, they'll still be bringing laughs to generations of new fans.