Monty Python

Flying Circus to the O2

The group's official site dates the founding to May 11, 1969 at a tandoori restaurant in Hampstead, while Cleese and Chapman's account was of a meeting Cleese arranged after admiring Do Not Adjust Your Set. The six had worked together on The Frost Report and At Last the 1948 Show. Monty Python's Flying Circus began on BBC1 on October 5, 1969 and ran four series, 45 episodes, to 1974, with Cleese leaving after series three. The films were And Now for Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983), which won the Cannes Grand Prix. They played four Secret Policeman's Ball benefits for Amnesty International between 1976 and 1981 and four nights at the Hollywood Bowl in September 1980, released as a film in 1982.

The comedy albums began on Charisma with Another Monty Python Record (1971, 26 in the UK), Previous Record (1972), Matching Tie and Handkerchief (1973), The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), and Contractual Obligation Album (1980, 13 in the UK, 3 in Australia). Monty Python Sings reached 62 in the UK in 1989. Chapman died on October 4, 1989 and Jones on January 21, 2020. The surviving members reunited at George Harrison's memorial concert in 2002 and in Spamalot (2005, Broadway, three Tonys), and played ten nights at the O2 in London in July 2014 as Monty Python Live (Mostly): One Down, Five to Go, the first night selling out in 43 seconds. The documentary Monty Python: Almost the Truth appeared in 2009.

CNN has called them the Beatles of comedy, and the programming language Python was named after the show.