Monty Python is a comedy troupe of 4 Englishmen (John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle), 1 Welshman (Terry Jones) and 1 American (Terry Gilliam), best known for their legendary and influential sketch comedy show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (which ran for four seasons from 1969 to 1974). The troupe also wrote and starred in the films "And Now for Something Completely Different" (1971), "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975), "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979), "Monty Python Live At The Hollywood Bowl" (1982) and "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" (1983). The group formed in 1969 in London, England and ceased normal activity as a comedy troupe in 1983 although the members continue to appear in one another's projects and there have been sporadic reunions since then. The group includes Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle (the trio from Cambridge, who are all taller than all the other members of the group, and known as the more "aggressive" half of the group), Terry Jones (from Wales), Michael Palin (from Oxford) and Terry Gilliam (Minnesota in the United States). ...show more

Monty Python is a comedy troupe of 4 Englishmen (John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle), 1 Welshman (Terry Jones) and 1 American (Terry Gilliam), best known for their legendary and influential sketch comedy show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (which ran for four seasons from 1969 to 1974). The troupe also wrote and starred in the films "And Now for Something Completely Different" (1971), "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975), "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979), "Monty Python Live At The Hollywood Bowl" (1982) and "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" (1983). The group formed in 1969 in London, England and ceased normal activity as a comedy troupe in 1983 although the members continue to appear in one another's projects and there have been sporadic reunions since then. The group includes Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle (the trio from Cambridge, who are all taller than all the other members of the group, and known as the more "aggressive" half of the group), Terry Jones (from Wales), Michael Palin (from Oxford) and Terry Gilliam (Minnesota in the United States).

Chapman wrote the sketches with Cleese, Jones wrote with Palin, Idle wrote alone and Gilliam did the animations. Neil Innes and Carol Cleveland have both on occasion been mentioned as the "7th Python". Graham Chapman, widely known as "The Dead One", died of cancer on October 4, 1989, the day before Python's 20th anniversary (thus being called "the greatest party pooper of all time" by Terry Jones), is tagged as the greatest actor among the group by his fellow Pythons. He had problems with alcohol and was a dedicated smoker of the pipe (he appears with a pipe in his hand in most of the Python sketches).

He was known for his outstanding and abstract sense of humour; Cleese states that during their sketch-writing partnership Chapman did not say much, but when he said something it was often brilliant. The term "pepperpot" which is used to describe middle-aged ladies was found by Chapman. John Cleese, probably the most famous Python on the other side of the Atlantic, is most widely known for his silly walk - the famous walk that he invented for Monty Python's Flying Circus, and repeated in one episode of Fawlty Towers, where he tries very hard not to remind his German visitors of the World War II by doing impersonations of Hitler. He lives in the USA. ...show less