The origin of Python?

[Jason Cunliffe]

'Monty Python' emerged at a period in England when there had been a lot of
nostalgic fashion appropriation of Victoriana and Edwardian period style.

The name 'Monty' evoked several things.. most famous of them being the World
War II hero General Montgomery who fought against the Germans/Italian
occupation in North Africa. He was thus well known to schoolboys as comic
book hero and was also found in propagandist epic movies of the 1960s and
beyond.

Monty was already an funny old fashioned name by 1960s in Britain. It was
then already a jokey colonial sounding, British army sort of a name. For
example see the brilliant film 'Withnail and I', which features an Uncle
Monty in it.

Much of Monty Python's innovative fast collage graphic animations were also
based on cut-ups from Victorian and Edwardian postcards, memorabilia. There
was a lot of this floating around in England in the 1960s. Antique markets
were full of it. Popular poster graphics used it. Clothing used it and it
was cheap and plentiful. The First World war itself produced a huge amount
of jingoistic romantic propaganda.. one of the mass hallucinations which
persuaded every young man in 1914 to go off to war, inspired by 'heroic'
imagery. Thinking they would be home in  few weeks, they all donned uniforms
and marched off to the sound of brass bands music. They all died of course
in the trenches in horrible endless quagmire.

There was a famous musical called 'Oh What a Lovely War' later made into a
film which captured this well also.

The most famous poster of the era was also a fashionable clothing store on
the King's Road in Chelsea named: "I was Lord Kitchener's Valet". Lord
Kitcheners was a famous WW1 general. 'Monty Python' fitted perfectly against
all this. It had just the right ring and the graphics gave it just the right
spin. It was the first time anyone had seen that on mainstream TV.

The First World war in England was particularly characterized by the silly
ass officer class. They were real. Incredibly privileged left-overs from the
aristocracy. Most of them died also. By the 60s, the mentality was by then a
lingering ghost of a faded glory of British empire, with Vietnam etc, the
quaint old whiskered general image from WW1 cam to represent the end of a
madness - but at a safe distance. I lived next door to exactly an image of
someone who might have been named 'Monty Python'.  A retired army colonel
who had spent most of his life in the army administration world of British
India. We lived in Brighton, by the sea. Every morning he would appear, rain
or shine. like clockwork at 8am to march down to the sea for his morning
swim. He always wore nothing but his hat, goggles, shorts and sandals, his
back straight as a board. The English weather is famous for being lousy, and
the English Channel is very cold most of the year. He never faltered, never
flinched, always maintaining stiff upper lip.

The Victorian adn Edwardians were big promoters and especially Music Hall or
Vaudeville characters would assemble names like Monty Python. So 'Monty
Python's Flying Circus' was a sound familiar and plausible enough to its
audience but clearly on the edge of some funny/ridiculous.

It was one of the first TV comedy shows to play with surrealism. One of its
best well known effects was that after the show ended, and regular TV
programming continued, Monty Python
seemed to contaminate every thing else.. 'Serious' TV appeared hilarious
etc. Not hard to do, but they did it brilliantly. Cleese and Co. had all
typical the BBC accents and mannerism down perfectly. One was not certain on
occasion for a few seconds/minutes when the Python show had really ended, or
whether they were pretending.

The 'circus' part was also a large fantasy an public image which was being
played out regularly. The Beatles had released 'Sergeant Pepper Lonely
Hearts Club Band' and then  a film and album 'Magical Mystery Tour'. 'Monty
Python' rode on the tails of this, but added the more complex surreal
anti-logic comedy and featured much tighter writing and direct satire of
existing media, while the Beatles were just plain self-indulgent. Even the
bad boy Rolling Stones played around with circus imagery and staged some TV
shows..

Of course Python humor is brilliant and timeless.
But it also had special edge and cultural context when it was written , and
the name was a key part of this.

- Jason