In fact, recently released BBC archives show that Britain’s public broadcaster was less than thrilled with the show that they had commissioned. Minutes of a weekly meeting of senior managers discussing scripts state that the Head of Factual found Monty Python “disgusting”, Arts thought it “nihilistic and cruel”, and the Head of Religion objected to a Gilliam animation in which “Jesus … had swung his arm”. The BBC One controller said the makers were “continually going over the edge of what is acceptable”.
Despite these reservations, the public loved the show. The first episode achieved 1.5 million viewers with an audience appreciation of 45 out of 100, and the numbers continued to grow throughout Monty Python’s 45 episode run.
Most of what made the show so popular half a century ago — its frustration with bureaucracy, its distrust of authority — still rings true in 2019. Pure silliness also remains in fashion, and many modern slapstick TV writers having been inspired by the ridiculous sketches developed by John Cleese, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Michael Palin. Among celebrities who have expressed their love of Monty Python and how much it influenced their work are Matt Greonig (‘The Simpsons’), Matt Stone and Trey Parker (‘South Park’), Simon Pegg (‘Shaun of the Dead’), and Seth Macfarlane (‘Family Guy’).
The Pythons capitalised on their TV success with three movies that have become cult classics: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, and Life of Brian. Despite the relative success of Holy Grail on its release in 1975, Life of Brian almost didn’t get made. EMI Films, the executive producer of Holy Grail, backed out of the Life of Brian project, leaving the team to find the money for the production themselves.
Producers John Goldstone and Eric Idle flew to the USA to raise funding, fending off objection after objection. Eventually United Artists agreed to put up half the money, but that left half. In true Pythonesque style, a Beatle came to the rescue.
Guitarist, singer and songwriter George Harrison created a company, HandMade Films, to deal with the financing of the film, putting his English estate, Friar Park, up as collateral against a bank loan for around $2 million to cover the other half of the film’s overall $4-million production budget. The unlikely side effect was not just that “Life of Brian” was completed and became a global hit commercially, but HandMade Films continued to produce other projects and became an important force in British cinema during the 1980s.
“There are a lot of people who have come to believe in Python as a form of honesty, as opposed to what is normally presented on television. Here is a show that is outspoken, says what it wants to say, does extraordinary things, takes all sorts of chances, is not out to sell corn plaster, or anything. It is out to entertain, surprise, enlighten even, the people that are viewing it,” Terry Gilliam once said in an interview.
The fact that the comedy troupe continues to make people laugh even after decades off the air seems to back Gilliam’s theory. Their timeless material keeps them relevant and easily accessible to new viewers, while Monty Python’s intellectually absurd and chaotic nature, not to mention its deviance from comedic norms, is still inspiring artists 50 years after its first appearance on television.