After the major success of the first series of Flying Circus, the BBC wisely brought them back for a second series, and it was here that the Pythons really hit their stride with the writing, performing and overall style of the show. Everything gelled and almost everything in the second series is downright hilarious.
Many of the most iconic sketches originate in the second series including, but not limited to The Ministry of Silly Walks, The Spanish Inquisition, Hungarian Phrasebook, How Not to be Seen, Penguin on the Television and Spam. On top of these there are several other hilarious, less known sketches full of the usual weird and wonderful material that could only come from the minds of the Pythons.
Many of the most iconic sketches originate in the second series including, but not limited to The Ministry of Silly Walks, The Spanish Inquisition, Hungarian Phrasebook, How Not to be Seen, Penguin on the Television and Spam. On top of these there are several other hilarious, less known sketches full of the usual weird and wonderful material that could only come from the minds of the Pythons.
Each episode (with a couple of exceptions where another joke makes it impossible) opens with a short sketch ending with John Cleese as a continuity announcer saying the ever famous phrase, “and now for something completely different” then the it’s man. However the length of these sketches would often vary sometimes very short, sometimes a couple of minutes and in one notable episode the opening credits don’t come in until 17 minutes into the half hour episode because the opening sketch about filming Scott of the Antarctic on an English beach just lasts that long.
This is part of the essence of Monty Python’s success, they never had a specific formula; they only cared about carrying their jokes through for as long as they thought it was funny even if it meant one sketch took up half the episode, didn’t have a punchline and was all before the opening credits. There’s just no-one else who would dare mess with people’s expectations in that way; if anyone were to try the same thing now it would undoubtedly be met unfavourably as people like formulas, Monty Python managed to break through these formulas and make it work because they never tried to fit in with what people knew, they just followed their jokes and it worked.
The show also makes use of many recurring characters between the different sketches, with perhaps the most regularly recurring example are the pepperpots, little old ladies played by all the men who get a whole lot of laughs just through how they look and sound with bizarre high pitched voices, discussing their long days of doing nothing, going to a psychiatrist’s dairy or discussing penguins on TV sets.
The show also makes use of many recurring characters between the different sketches, with perhaps the most regularly recurring example are the pepperpots, little old ladies played by all the men who get a whole lot of laughs just through how they look and sound with bizarre high pitched voices, discussing their long days of doing nothing, going to a psychiatrist’s dairy or discussing penguins on TV sets.
The Other most commonly recurring character is Gumby, with his knotted handkerchief, wellingtons, rolled up trousers and ridiculous voice, all the Pythons play him and it’s always hilarious when they do so.
However these characters never really feel overused here, because there’s enough balance of original ideas and characters to make their appearances not feel like they were floundering for inspiration, but instead just knew these characters would fit in well where they did.
To sum up this is a brilliant period of the series and can perhaps be seen as the period where the show was at its absolute best. It should definitely be watched by all fans of comedy as at the end of the day it’s just funny.
However these characters never really feel overused here, because there’s enough balance of original ideas and characters to make their appearances not feel like they were floundering for inspiration, but instead just knew these characters would fit in well where they did.
To sum up this is a brilliant period of the series and can perhaps be seen as the period where the show was at its absolute best. It should definitely be watched by all fans of comedy as at the end of the day it’s just funny.