ADVERTISEMENTMonty Python’s Flying Circus delivered ground-breaking comedy in the late ’60s and early ’70s to a highly amused British television audience who often rushed out to buy cassette tapes of their hilarious heroes.
Their reputation grew with time, and today Monty Python is an international cult, credited with helping British humour become an international brand.
At the end of last year it was a surprise when the Pythons announced their surviving members would reunite for a stretch of shows at London’s O2 Arena. It came after years of the idea of a reunion repeatedly being quashed by one of more members of the team.
Some fans feared that what delighted viewers and won hearts then would seem lukewarm and worn-out now. Others that it was John Cleese’s mates helping him pay for his expensive divorce, nothing more.
Many asked whether a quintet of crumply comedians could take their old school boys’ humour from a bygone era and recreate it at one of London’s top modern, state-of-the-art venues?
Yes, it would appear. The wit and style that broke the mould of British establishment humour has not grown stale over the last forty years.
The surviving Pythons — John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones — still have what it takes to amuse and entertain an audience.
Monty Python Live (mostly) runs at London’s O2 Arena until July 20.