Conceived, written, and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam, Monty Python’s Flying Circus is arguably the funniest, most groundbreaking, and most influential sketch comedy ever put on the air. From dead parrots to tinned spam, the Pythons took aim at some strange, but oddly inspired satirical targets over the years.
Across four seasons (although only three proper seasons, as the fourth was shortened and didn’t feature Cleese), the Pythons created some of the most iconic sketches in the history of comedy. So, here are the 10 funniest sketches from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Seduced Milkmen
This sketch is short and has no dialogue, but it left a huge impression on Python fans. Michael Palin plays a milkman who’s lured into a woman’s bedroom, only to find he’s trapped in there with other milkmen who have been lured into the room over the years, one of whom is now a skeleton.
It’s often erroneously said that the seductive woman is played by Carol Cleveland, but she was actually played by Thelma Taylor. Cleveland appeared in the reshot version of the sketch in And Now for Something Completely Different, however.
Marriage Guidance Counselor
In the “Marriage Guidance Counselor” sketch, Michael Palin and Carol Cleveland play a married couple with problems and Eric Idle plays their marriage counselor, who flirts with Cleveland’s character instead of giving them relationship advice.
Written by Idle, a re-filmed version of this sketch appeared in the film And Now for Something Completely Different.
The Semaphore Version Of Wuthering Heights
Semaphore is the art of communicating with flags, and most Monty Python fans only know that because a sketch in the second season of Flying Circus presented “The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights,” in which Heathcliff and Cathy wave flags at each other across a moor.
This leads into a production of Julius Caesar on an Aldis lamp, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Morse Code, and a smoke signal version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
The Fish-Slapping Dance
Few Python sketches are this short and require no explanation. No matter where you’re from, or what your sense of humor is, “The Fish-Slapping Dance” is hilarious. It has a perfect joke structure, setting up an absurd premise and building to a spectacular punchline.
Michael Palin slaps John Cleese with a little fish at the side of Teddington Lock, before Cleese pulls out a large fish and smacks Palin into the water with it.
Upper Class Twit Of The Year
It’s always fun to see a target that deserves it getting taken down a peg by incisive satire, and Monty Python’s “Upper Class Twit of the Year” sketch hilariously lampoons the upper class.
From John Cleese’s pitch-perfect spoof of sports commentating to events like “Kicking the Beggar” and “Insulting the Waiter,” “Upper Class Twit of the Year” is primo Python.
The Lumberjack Song
Although it faces tough competition from “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” and “Every Sperm is Sacred,” “The Lumberjack Song” is possibly Monty Python’s most iconic song.
What makes it even more impressive is that, according to Michael Palin, the song was hammered out in about 15 minutes at the end of a long day of writing.
Working-Class Playwright
In a pitch-perfect spoof of the depictions of working-class life in the British theater of the time, the “Working-Class Playwright” sketch revolves around a well-dressed young man, played by Eric Idle, returning home to his parents, played by Graham Chapman and Terry Jones, to tell them that he wants to go into coal mining instead of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a playwright.
The sketch hilariously flips the clichés of British drama on their head as the feel of a kitchen sink play is perfectly replicated, but with the class roles being reversed.
The Spanish Inquisition
First appearing in the second season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “The Spanish Inquisition” sketch went on to become a beloved recurring gag throughout the troupe’s work. It begins with a regular conversation in which someone gets chewed out and says, “I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition!”
Michael Palin then bursts into the room as Cardinal Ximénez, backed up by a pair of other cardinals played by the two Terrys, and says, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” In each version of the sketch, Ximénez finds himself hopelessly ill-prepared.
The Ministry Of Silly Walks
This sketch poses the question, what if there was an entire branch of the government dedicated to funding the development of silly walks? And it commits wholeheartedly to answering that question with impressive worldbuilding.
With a brilliantly deadpan sensibility, John Cleese plays a stern-faced government suit who takes silly walks deadly seriously. He breaks out the whip of bureaucracy when an applicant played by Michael Palin asks for funding to work on his silly walk, which Cleese deems to be too un-silly to be worthy of a grant.
Dead Parrot
If you meet someone who’s never seen any of Monty Python’s stuff and wants a taster of their unique comic sensibility, then the “Dead Parrot” sketch is the one to show them. It sets up an absurd premise and then commits to it.
John Cleese plays a disgruntled customer who returns to a pet store to argue with the owner, played by Michael Palin, who assured him that the parrot he just sold him was alive – despite the fact that it’s pretty obviously dead.