Making Ben-Hur look like an epic: Monty Python at the movies

Between 1971 and 1983 the British comedy team Monty Python made four feature-length films for the cinema: 'And Now for Something Completely Different' (1971), 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' (1974), 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' (1979) and 'Monty Python's the Meaning of Life' (1983). The first and last of these exploited the sketch format on which their original BBC television show, 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', was based (four series, 1969-74). But from the early 1970s, the cult appeal of their distictive brand of surreal British humour was also marketed through audio recordings, books and live shows, gaining international recognition over 40 years culminating in the recent of the stage musical 'Spamalot'. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine the role of the Monty Python films in transforming the innovative work of a group of comedy writers and performers into worldwide popular comic currency. This affords an oppotunity to reassess the unique contribution of Monty Python to British comedy cinema.