Monty Python

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) were a British surreal comedy group who created the sketch comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus, that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four seasons. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and a stage musical. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.

Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Flying Circus was conceived, written, and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons had creative control which allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America, it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.

List of minor planets: 13001–14000

Spam (Monty Python)

"Spam" is a Monty Python sketch, first televised in 1970. In the sketch, two customers are lowered into a greasy spoon café by wires and try to order a breakfast from a menu that includes Spam in almost every dish. The sketch was written by Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

It features Terry Jones as The Waitress, Eric Idle as Mr. Bun and Graham Chapman as Mrs. Bun. The televised sketch also featured John Cleese as The Hungarian and Michael Palin as a historian, but this part was left out of audio recordings of the sketch.

The term spam in the context of electronic communications is derived from this sketch.

Plot

The three and a half minute sketch is set in the fictional Green Midget Café in Bromley. An argument develops between the waitress, who recites a menu in which nearly every item contains Spam (among them, "Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and a fried egg on top and Spam"), and Mrs Bun, who does not like Spam. She asks for an item with the Spam removed, much to the amazement of her Spam-loving husband. The waitress responds to this request with disgust.