The BEST episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Every episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus!
And now for something completely different: Monty Python's Flying Circus was simply the most influential comedy program television has ever seen. Five Englishmen, all working under the constraints of conventional TV shows such as The Frost Report (for which the five Englishmen wrote), gathered together with an expatriate American in the spring of 1969 to break the rules. The result, first airing on BBC-1 on October 5, 1969, has influenced countless future men and women in the media and comedy since.
#1 - The Money Programme
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/2/1972
The Money Programme features a look at money `lots of it, on film and in the studio', song: The Money Song; credits; Erizabeth L: Episode Thlee: The Almada, a drama directed by Slit-Eyes Yakamoto with all actors on mopeds; Inspector Leopard of the Yard exposes phony director; animation- cops and robbers; `One dead unjugged rabbit-fish later', church police; animation- bouncing ball chases man in jungle; jungle explorers find a smashing little restaurant; violent ending of last sketch replaced by a repeat of Ken Russell's Gardening Club (1958); explorers discover lost city of Rayarama, explorer's club, explorers find a film crew filming them, Inspector Baboon strikes again; credits; BBC1 another six minutes of Monty Python; The Argument Clinic, Inspectors Fox arrests everyone, interrupted by Inspector Thompson's Gazelle; BBC-1 one more minute of Monty Python.
#2 - Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/9/1972
Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror presents a man who speaks in anagrams `If you're going to split hairs, I'm going to piss off!'; anagram credits; Mrs Scum has 12 hours to beat the clock; merchant banker loans to charity and has to sack a pantomime horse; a film on aggressive animal behavior with pantomime horses, pantomime Princess Margaret, pantomime goose, Jacques Cousteau and others; animation- The House Hunters; man wants to join WRAC, actor complains about lack of funny lines, people laugh at Mr. Ordin, back to the actor with no funny lines; The Bols Story, announcer explains pauses, but BBC1 keeps interrupting, BBC News; The Pantomime Horse is a Secret Agent Film; anagram credits for Tony M. Nyphot's Flying Risccu roll.
#3 - The Spanish Inquisition
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/22/1970
Man flying into cliff; credits; Jarrow- New Years Eve 1911, interrupted by Spanish Inquisition; man asked to be in a sketch with a novelty salesman, man's head borrowed for animation- eyeball stolen and shot in cannon; new tax proposed on `thingie'; man on the street- What I would tax; snapshots with the Spanish Inquisition; animation- I confess!; semaphore version of Wuthering Heights, Julius Caesar on an Aldis Lamp, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Morse Code and the smoke signal version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; charades in the Criminal Court, judge on trial, credits, Spanish Inquisition late for court.
#4 - Dennis Moore
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/4/1973
Boxing Tonight: Sir Kenneth Clarke meets a boxer in the ring for Oxford professorship of fine arts; credits; Dennis Moore steal lupins from the rich `Stand and deliver! Your lupins or your life!', song: The Ballad of Dennis Moore; housewives discuss astrology; doctors shake down patients; animation- ambulance drivers loot house; should there be a fourth TV network?; BBC1 announcements; George the 1st: Episode 3: The Gathering Storm, Dennis Moore rides again `In a bunch!'; Ideal Loon exhibition with French osteopaths, priests in custard and then there's the judging; animation- thief steals newspaper clippings; off-license sketch goes into poetry and then a short story `seems there was this chap called Dennis Moore', Dennis Moore returns; Prejudice! a TV show featuring Shoot the Poof! and miserable fat Belgian bastards; Dennis Moore attempts to redistribute the wealth; credits; losing judge contestant cries.
#5 - Full Frontal Nudity
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/7/1969
Hermit and bomb; credits; Episode 12b Full Frontal Nudity; man on the street interviews on full frontal nudity; an Army recruit wants out, gangsters offer protection to Colonel `things burn Colonel', Colonel ends sketch because of silliness; animation- Full Frontal Nudity; man in the street considers full frontal nudity; art critic reviews `the place of the nude in my bed... in art!'; newlyweds try to buy a bed and mattress; more men in the street; colonel warns again about silly sketches; two hermits talk about hermitting; animation- Venus on the half shell; Pet Shop Sketch `but the palindrome of Bolton, would be notlob!'; newsreader announces frontal nudity; flasher; Hell's Grannies, baby snatchers, and vicious gangs of Keep Left signs, Colonel stops sketch; flasher; Hermit and bomb; credits.
#6 - Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/26/1972
The Kon Ti Ki: RA 1, RA 2: Mr. & Mrs. Brian Norris's Ford Popular, The Norris's explore the migration of his ancestors from Surbiton and Hounslow; credits; headmaster calls in schoolboys for financial and gynecological aid; How To Do It- split an atom, play the flute, rid the world of all known diseases; Mrs. Knickerbaiter explodes; vicar comes selling encyclopedias; medical phenomenon of exploding as cure for illness; vicar still selling encyclopedias; doctor continues; animation- skeleton on doctors chart leaves; director of Covent Garden shows up on Farming Club; life of Tchaikovsky `Hello Pianist'; Trim Jeans theater presents `Beckett' and other classics; animation- mouth leaves inane announcer; fish slapping dance; animation- big fish swallows little fish; ship's crew prepares to abandon ship as women, children, Indians, and a sort of idealized version of the compleat Renaissance Man; survivors captured by South American Police, but production plagued by BBC's lack of money, Puss
#7 - The Cycling Tour
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/7/1972
Mr. Pither crashes on his bicycle `the pump got caught in my trouser leg'; replaces sandwiches; falls again; tells woman in garden; falls again; falls again; asks doctor for directions; doctor gives him prescription; Pither goes to a chemist; does not fall off; falls off again; stops at pub for drink `just had a chat with your dad'; gets hit by Mr. Gulliver, a man keen on crash proof food, and they get into accident; Pither takes man to hospital; man thinks he's Clodagh Rogers `I'm just a jack-in-the-box!' and then becomes Leon Trotsky and escapes to Russia; Trotsky checks into the YMACA; Pither goes to British Embassy `Blingo! Blingo!'; secret police take Pither to Moscva `you're an ice cream salesman'; Russians hold clambake with Trotsky who turns into Eartha Kitt and Mr. Pither is imprisoned; execution goes awry and Pither dreams about escape; Eartha Kitt appears in Moscva and regains memory and goes in search of Pither, who is standing in front of firing squad again; one lucky esc
#8 - Sex and Violence
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/12/1969
Hermit struggles to camera; opening credits with flowers; Part 2, Sheep farmer explains about Harold `that most dangerous of animals' a clever sheep; Frenchmen explain commercial possibilities of flying sheep; women on Frenchmen; animation- The Thinker; and now for something completely different- a man with three buttocks `Oh! Me bum!', a man with two noses; Arthur Ewing and his musical mice; marriage counselor sketch `Arthur Pewty today you're a man!'; coal miner visits his playwright father; a Scotsman on a horse; animation- flying sheep; The Epilogue: a question of belief to be decided by two out of three falls; animation- a train and other twisted things from the mind of Terry Gilliam, a baby carriage that eats people, the kiss; Of Mice and Men: an investigative report on mouse clubs; Hermit; end credits.
#9 - Salad Days
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/30/1972
Credits; Biggles dictates a letter `Algy, are you gay?'; animation- flying things; climbing the north face of the Oxbridge Road; sailors mistake #24 Parker street for a lifeboat; two ladies spy on neighbors using high tech equipment `bring her up on the 6 inch Gladys'; housewife finds herself on lifeboat; Storage Jars around the world; animation- television is bad for your eyes; the Show So Far..., giant hammer hits announcer; the Cheese Shop sketch; review of `Rogue Cheddar' and Peckinpah's `Salad Days'; reviewer is shot as the credits roll; an apology; news about storage jars; Interlude: conquistador apologizes for short show.
#10 - The Buzz Aldrin Show
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/20/1970
Animation- drab caterpillar guy turns to game-show-host-type butterfly; credits; Gumbies introduce sketches; Architect Sketch; recognizing a free mason and cure; Gumbies; Insurance Sketch; The Bishop! a C of E film; housing problem of the aged; Poet Board- poet reads weather; discussing censorship `semprini?'; the chemist sketch featuring A Not At All Naughty Chemists Ltd., shoplifter and Police Superintendent Pan Am; Gumbies, Gumbettes; credits.
#11 - The Ant, an Introduction
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/14/1969
Hermit dodging landmines; credits; Part 2: The Llama, Live from Golder's Green- a Flamenco troupe explains the Llama `Llamas son mas grandes que las ranas'; and now for something completely different: a man with a tape recorder up his nose; mountaineering sketch, two men skilled in climbing apply to an expedition to the twin peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro; and now: Monty Python; a man with a tape recorder up his brother's nose, and now in stereo; animation- saint selling encyclopedias; barber fights urge to kill, reveals he always wanted to be a lumberjack, song- Lumberjack Song; letters of protest; housewife protests about too much sex on television `I mean, I keep falling off', Prof. Gumby gives an opinion on television's influence; announcer grovels during introduction of star, `Ken Buddha, a smile, two bangs and a religion', animation- Brian Islam and Brucie; life in the country guns, guns, guns; knight with chicken not needed this week; and now: Victor and Iris's night alone together wit
#12 - Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/16/1969
Hermit rowing boat; credits; Confuse A Cat Ltd.; animation- growing mustache; customs sketch; implications of law enforcement techniques of last sketch discussed by a duck, cat and a lizard; man in the street interviews about customs regulations, chicken knight; Police Constable Henry Thatcher's raid for substances of an illicit nature; letter of protest; letter of protest about letter of protest; housewife urges use of satire as a weapon, more man in the street interviews; newsreader wanted for jewel robberies, Match of the Day highlights missing so tonight's romantic movie highlights shown instead; animation- Charles Atlas' Dynamo Tension Ad; management training course interview; career advisory board, burglar comes to sell encyclopedias; Hermit; credits.
#13 - Spam
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/15/1970
The Black Eagle, announcer; credits; Hungarian at the tobacconists `Do you want? Do you want? To come back to my place bouncy! bouncy!', `My nipples explode with delight!'; Alexander Yalk prosecuted for obscene Hungarian phrasebook; justices in sensational press; animation- 2001 soccer ball; World Forum: Karl Marx, Che-Guevara, Lenin and Mao Tse Tung answer questions on English football; animation- and now for a bit of fun; 1914 Ypres movie set crowded; figures from paintings go out on strike; sketch about Ypres resumes `Dip, dip, dip. My little ship. Sailed on the O-Cean, You are it!'; mental hospital for overacting; animation- Hamlet ward, bombs to flowers; flower arranging by D.P. Gumby; spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam and spam `I don't like SPAM!', song- Spam, historian, more spam; credits.
#14 - Whither Canada?
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/5/1969
Hermit comes out of sea; credits; pig killed; It's W.A. Mozart, famous deaths with Genghis Khan and others; pig killed; Italian language classes; pig killed; animation- pig swallowed by man; Whizzo butter and a dead crab comparison; It's the Arts- Sir Eddie-Baby Ross interviewed, Arthur `Two Sheds' Jackson interviewed, and live coverage of Picasso doing an abstract on a bicycle; animation- sit up! and other stuff; Ernest Scribbler writes the funniest joke in the world: Ian McNaughton The Killer Joke `Wenn ist das Nunstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!'; Hermit; credits.
#15 - Party Political Broadcast
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/5/1974
A Party Political Broadcast on Behalf of the Liberal Party; A woman ironing appliances, a laxative cereals, `I run out of beans!', Yes it's the Most Awful Family in Britain Contest for 1974; Icelandic Honey week; a man stabbed by a nurse has to fill out a form for the Doctor to treat him as he bleeds to death; brigadier dictates a letter of protest; animation- opera singer and cannon; an appeal on behalf of rich people who have nothing wrong with them; a woman who can't finish sentences; the quest for the walking tree of Dahomie; the legendary batsmen of the Kalahari; credits; the news.
#16 - It's the Arts
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/23/1969
Hermit answers phone; credits; Next week: how to fling an otter; BBC expenses on captions; This Week, autograph seeker; animation- autograph & titles for =>; It's the Arts profiles- Johann Gambleputtydevonausfernschpledenschlittcrasscrenbonfriedigger- dingledangledonglebursteinvonknackerthrasherapplebangerhorowitz- ticolensicgranderknottyspelltinklegrandlichgrumblemeyerspelter- wasserkurstlichhimbleeisenbahnwagengutenabendbitteeinnurnburger- bratwurstlegerspurtenmitzweimacheluberhundsfutgumberaberschonend- ankerkalbsfleischmittleraucher Von Hauptkopf of Ulm; animation the fig leaf and the hand; planning a jewel robbery; man in the street interview about robbers; The Whizzo quality assortment of chocolate `Crunchy Frog?!'; dull life of city stockbroker, animation- comic book adventure; Indian massacre at theater; policemen make wonderful friends, `for Mrs. Emma Hamilton of Nelson, a Scotsman on a horse'; animation- a man eating baby carriage, and the 20th Century Vole logo;
#17 - Archaeology Today
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/1970
BBC-1 previews what's coming on, Variety and then there's Sport!; credits; animation- toe from credits found in dig; Archaeology Today- interviewer obsessed with peoples heights; Flaming Star- singing archaeologists' revenge against interviewer from previous sketch; an appeal to overcome sanity by the Reverend Arthur Belling of St. Looney Up the Cream Bun and Jam; Leapy Lee makes an appeal on behalf of the National Truss, boxer KO's Leapy; man tries to exchange wife at registry office; abandoned sketch; animation- Muggsy Spaniel and Eggs Diamond; the Git family at a party; nice version of the preceding sketch; boxer KO's nun; Hank and Roy Spim, Aussie hunters stalk mosquitoes `There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded mosquito'; justices in disrobing room; Mrs Thing and Mrs. Entity discuss the subject of doing nothing and Beethoven and his Mynah bird `Sod the sugar bowl!', `Stuff the jam spoon!', Shakespeare, Michelangelo, W.A. Mozart, Colin Mozart ratcatcher at the Beethoven's fla
#18 - Grandstand (or: The British Showbiz Awards)
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/18/1973
Thames Television announcer; organist, announcer, Hermit; The British Show Biz Awards presented by Her Royal Highness the Dummy Princess Margaret, the remains of Sir Alan Whattle, new suit sketch, lemon curry, the Oscar Wilde Sketch `Your majesty is like a stream of bat's piss'; animation- lady powders nose, Charwoman!; more awards, David Niven's fridge, Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Third Test Match; Mrs. Zambezi gets a new brain; man wants to donate urine; wife swapping play by play, formation wife swapping, Grandstand- coverage of wife rugby; credits of the year; more Show Biz awards, The Dirty Vicar Sketch `I like TITS!'
#19 - How Not to Be Seen
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/1970
Conquistador Instant Coffee becomes Conquistador Instant Leprosy `S. Frog, sir', needle stuck on recording of announcer; credits; Ramsey MacDonald in ladies underwear `My it's hot in here'; job interview at swap center; animation- Miss Johnson destroyed by Chinese Communist conspiracy, Crelm toothpaste and U.S. defense only protection, Shrill gas mileage test; Neville Shunt's `It All Happened on the 8:13 From Gillingham', Shunt, Gavin Milnarrrr reviews the play; announcer & interviewer obsessed with teeth, shows clips from Martin Curry's film Julius Incisor; man on the street `I've been in the city...'; Crackpot Religions Ltd. to Cartoon Religions Ltd. [ see below ]; H.M Government Public Service Film No. 42 Para 6 How Not to Be Seen; interview with a man trying not to seen, Jackie Charleton and the Toenails sing `Yummy Yummy' while trying not to be seen; credits; for those who just missed Monty Python here it is again.
#20 - The Attila the Hun Show
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/1970
The Attila the Hun Show!; song: With a Little Love by the Hunlets; credits; Attila the Nun, doctor examines lady to `The Stripper'; Secretary of State for the Commonwealth delivers an address on Agrarian policies while stripping; political groupies; Ratcatcher sketch; scientist researches new strain of sheep; animation- killer sheep on the lamb; news for parrots; adaptation of Tale of Two Cities for parrots; Today in Parliament; news for Wombats; animation - Attila the Bun; the Art of Idioting - `I may be an idiot, but I'm no fool'; Cricketing from Lords; animation- cricket match played by furniture, Epsom Downs furniture racing; Mrs. Scum wins a blow on the head; credits.
#21 - 'Face the Press'
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/15/1970
Credits with flowers and man with chicken body; Face the Press- Minister in a pink tulle dress; The New Gas Cooker Sketch; animation- flying monarch; dirty old man and billboard `I like a bit of pram please'; Ministry of Silly Walks; Ethel the Frog looks at the rise and fall of Doug and Dinsdale Piranha; announcer, hermit; credits with Spiny Norman.
#22 - The Light Entertainment War
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/14/1974
TV preview of Up Your Pavement and others shows featuring Alex Diamond and other famous people; RAF banter sketch; report of invasion by angels, enemy is not taking war seriously, court martial of soldier for using a wet towel as a weapon, features the skating vicar; invasion of tutu laden soldiers; coming soon- wartime romances; credits; Indian used as a TV remote control, Mrs. Elizabeth III proves she's an idiot; meeting of program heads discussing showing the M4 and other roads in England when a security guard reports the court martial sketch isn't serious anymore; animation- man complaining about everything; squire tries out `woody' sounding words; Hindu remote control, show jumping featuring The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, The Black & White Minstrel Show, and Ben-Hur; late breaking bulletin: World War II has entered romantic phase song- When Does a Dream Begin; credits.
#23 - Royal Episode 13
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/22/1970
Announcer reveals that the Queen will be watching this show; Royal credits; Royal Episode 13: 1st spoof, coal miners argue over historical dates; newsreader; The Toad Elevating Moment features a man who says things in a roundabout way, a man who speaks the ends of words, a man who says the beginning of words and a man who says ends of words; animation- dragon with bad breath, Crelm toothpaste, concrete truss; how to feed goldfish by an irresponsible man; tape recorder in a bush, a waiter and Herbert Mendel: a man who collects birdwatcher's eggs, butterfly catchers and races pigeon fanciers; animation- Spiny Norman, bomber and Madonna; insurance sketch; Queen tunes in and out; doctors discourage lying around hospital by patients; exploding `Blue Danube Waltz'; dorm at a girl's public school; high school girls re-enact invasion of Normandy, housewives in a submarine; animation- the firing of Mrs. Nesbitt; letter of protest; sailors in a lifeboat discuss who's for dinner; letter of protes
#24 - Michael Ellis
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/7/1974
Credits with rolling coin; end credits; a doorman is abused in front of very odd department store (much like Harrod's); a lady buys a flamethrower; some salesclerks make faces at man who wishes to buy an ant (the staff thinks this man is Michael Ellis); man takes ant home to mother; watches BBC lecture on ants; returns defective ant to store; finds Victorian poetry reading about ants; toupee fitting room; manager's office; end of the show department featuring a summing up from the panel, happy ending, long slow fade, two lone figures walking into the sunset, a chase and...
#25 - The Naked Ant
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/4/1970
Hermit pinballs off trees; credits; episode 17-26: The Naked Ant; signal man & bear; men falling past window; letter of protest; animation- people falling; Spectrum- `What is Going On?'; the North Minehead By-Election with Adolf Hilter, man on the street about Mr. Hilter; Spectrum again `What do I mean, by what do I mean?'; `I Wish to Report a Burglary!'; The 127th Annual Upper Class Twit of the Year competition `He doesn't have any sort of sensory apparatus what-so-ever. My God this is exciting!'; letter of compliment; animation- soldier falls apart; Ken Shabby proposes `After five years they give me a brush', The Story So Far...; A Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Wood Party- minister falls through Earth's crust `I should think the longest length of BBC rope', commentary on minister's fall; Anything else? `No', Spectrum again `What do we mean by no', sixteen ton weight; Hermit; credits.