Monty Python’s Flying Impossible pie Title Card. The series stands out for its use of absurd situations, mixed with risqué and innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines. The programme came about as the six Pythons, having met each other through university and in various radio and television programmes in the 1960s, sought to make a new sketch comedy show unlike anything else on British television at the time. Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a sketch comedy show, though it does not adhere to any regular format.

The title Monty Python’s Flying Circus was partly the result of the group’s reputation at the BBC. The words “Monty Python” were added because they claimed it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent, the sort of person who would have brought them together, with John Cleese suggesting “Python” as something slimy and slithery, and Eric Idle suggesting “Monty”. The BBC had rejected some other names put forward by the group, including Whither Canada? A Horse, a Spoon and a Basin, The Toad Elevating Moment and Owl Stretching Time.