The Basics
For humour that was considered incomprehensible, subversive, even dangerous, when it was first unleashed on the world, "Monty Python" has travelled – and endured – remarkably well. It is for many Americans the touchstone example of English craziness, of our ability not just to laugh at ourselves, but to point out as we do that we are even weirder as a people than it looks at first sight.
Its combination of absurd sketches without punchlines, parody songs and manic animations was a wholly original formula, and one that broke new ground in what it was possible for TV comedy to do. What's your favourite sketch?