Host: With me now is Norman St. John Polevaulter, who for the last few years has been contradicting people. St. John Polevaulter, why do you contradict people?Polevaulter : I don't!Host: But you... you told me that you did.Polevaulter: I most certainly did not!Host: Oh. I see. I'll start again.Polevaulter: No you won't!Host: Ssh! I understand you don't contradict people.Polevaulter: Yes I do!Host: And when didn't you start contradicting them?Polevaulter: I did! In 1952!Host: 1952.Polevaulter: 19...

Remember when comedy could just be funny? You didn't HAVE to make a political statement (although I'm sure some British political jabbing was done by these guys that went right past me). My high school buddies and I used to do Monty Python skits randomly at school. After signing friend's yearbooks, I would write the entire word association skit interspersed in the ads in the back of their yearbook. I was home this past winter with an injury that took me out of work briefly, and I watched every s...

and now something completely different: spam (:))

It is exactly what the title says: It and its companion volume contain every word to every sketch from the original Python BBC series. Not much to say except that it's a must-have for any Python fanatic. Amongst our crowd, we get a lot of fun out of it at parties by reading/performing the scenes in our own inimitable manner. Even if you've never seen the series, it'd be a side-splitting read.

Page for page, the two books which produce the most laughter from my vocal cords in the English language. Regardless of whether you've watched the TV shows from which they have been drawn. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, read on!

I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this as much as I was expecting to. I am a Python fan, and it's certainly lovely to have all the words to The Dead Parrot, but The Ministry of Silly Walks just isn't as funny without the visuals.

I loved this book, even though Monty Python were a bit before my time, and this makes an excellent companion to the tv series. I laugh every time at the line from the election special "Arthur Negus has held bristols" even though I have no idea who Arthur Negus is.

This is the best comedy ever!

Brilliant, essential.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would! Absolute genius on every page.

Getting the adjective Pythonesc connected with one´s name is worth more than a knightly accolade, because what these amazing group has accomplished with their dark comedy postmodernism social criticism slapstick masterpieces is worth a country or even a continent. Or at least a rainy island.Reading the scripts of shows or, if available, books written by comedians, stand ups, satirist, etc. is such an interesting mental experience, no matter if one knows the show or has never seen it. I am not su...

Priscilla: Hello.Host: Hello.Priscilla: Well, last week we showed you how to become a gynaecologist. And this week on 'How to do it' we're going to show you how to play the flute, how to split an atom, how to construct a box girder bridge, how to irrigate the Sahara Desert and make vast new areas of land cultivatable, but first, here's Mark to tell you all how to rid the world of all known diseases.Mark: Well, first of all become a doctor and discover a marvelous cure for something, and then, wh...

Although I have almost memorized the entire length of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I was never that conversant with the original series. Hark! Look here. What’s this? All the Words: The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Pantheon, 1989). Danger, danger, Will Robinson. Now I can be insufferable at parties, as I quickly memorize pertinent sections of this compendium. Now I too can say “Your Majesty is like a big jam doughnut with cream on the top,” and know that the follow-up is “like a do...

I got these two volumes back in high school, and being before things like YouTube, on demand viewing, and even DVD, it was the only way to "see" the entire series in order. Sure, there were showings on PBS and even MTV if I remember correctly, but when you wanted it on demand you couldn't go wrong with a book containing every script from every episode.By the time they were all released on DVD, I was already familiar with every sketch.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam...lovely Spam, wonderful Spam! "Oh, I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay..." "It's..." "He's Pinin' for the Fjords??!!" "Now then, some cheese please, my good man!" "And now, for something completely different..." If any of these snippets of dialog bring a smile to your face, you probably number yourself among the millions of Monty Python fans in the world. If so, this two-volume set, The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words, is right up your alley. This is a coll...

I have to be honest I found this quite a difficult book to read, probably because the way (and speed) I generally read isn't particularly suited to scripts. Having said that though I did find that the only bits I tended to laugh out loud on were the ones that I remember watching and not so much any of the others. This could well be because, for me, the most important part of any and all of the sketches are the actors themselves and without being able to picture them in the various roles, the hum...

Some time around 1980 I was watching PBS late at night and came across a rerun of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It was the Mr. Neutron episode from season 4, which is kind of an atypical example of Python as it has one storyline running through the whole episode, but it was the most insane thing I had ever seen on television. Soon after I saw Holy Grail and assumed that Graham Chapman was Monty Python because he played the main character in the movie and in the one episode of the TV show I had s...

Before YouTube, if your public library didn't have the complete Monty Python's Flying Circus on video or DVD, the only way to experience some of their more obscure material was through these two books, which compile their scripts, including material too complicated or controversial to air. An essential for Python fans.

Ah, Python. You either get it or you don't.

As the title suggests, this two-volume set of books contains all the sketches and skits from the famous comedy troupe. Each volume has an index at the back, listing the names of each skit, with the skits that appear in the opposite volume being italicized, so the reader knows which volume to search. Lovely for browsing, and of course each sketch that I read makes me want to watch the show again!