''Monty Python's Personal Best'' is a

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

of six one-hour specials, each showcasing the contributions of a particular

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fo ...

member. Produced by Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd., the series first aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

stations between 22 February and 8 March 2006, although the Eric Idle and Michael Palin episodes were initially released by A&E on two Region 1 DVDs in 2005; the remaining episodes were released in late February 2006. The five surviving members (

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadway ...

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin ...

and

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

) were invited to select favourite sketches they wrote or starred in, mostly from the ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became know ...

'' TV series plus a handful of sketches from ''

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus ''Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus'' (''Monty Python's Flying Circus'') are a pair of 45-minute Monty Python German television comedy specials produced by WDR for West German television. The two episodes were respectively first broadcast in Januar ...

'' and ''

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl ''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' is a 1982 British concert comedy film directed by Terry Hughes (with the film segments by Ian MacNaughton) and starring the Monty Python comedy troupe (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric ...

''. All five collaborated on the sixth episode, a tribute to deceased Python

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Pyth ...

Wraparound segments

With the exception of Graham Chapman's episode, each ''Personal Best'' segment features one or more wraparound sketches written by and starring the featured member: *''Eric Idle's Personal Best'': Reporting live from the Bollywood Howl ic a newscaster (Eric Idle) introduces his interviews with several people about what they thought about Eric Idle, including Idle's mother and a former Nazi soldier living in South America (both also played by Idle). Throughout the segments, the reporter confuses the members of Python with

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

, an homage to Idle's work on ''

All You Need Is Cash ''All You Need Is Cash'' (also known as ''The Rutles'') is a 1978 television film that traces (in mockumentary style) the career of a fictitious English rock group called the Rutles. As ''TV Guide'' described it, the group's resemblance to the ...

'', a parody film featuring

The Rutles The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series '' Rutland ...

. *''John Cleese's Personal Best'': The show begins with a plaintext "memorial" to the "late" John Cleese. It then cuts to a fairytale starring the troupe ("The Princess with the Wooden Teeth" from ''

''), which then cuts to a poolside interview of a cranky, senile old man (Cleese) by

Dayna Devon Dayna Devon (born March 20, 1965) is an American journalist. Biography Devon is a native of San Antonio, Texas, and a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She began her broadcast journalism career as the weekend anchor at KTSA-AM ...

, a reporter. The supposedly 96-year-old Cleese usually answers her questions in the raunchiest manner possible, culminating in his "death" (by

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

, apparently) at the end of the show. *''Terry Gilliam's Personal Best'': The show begins with Gilliam claiming ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was originally to be his show alone, with animations only. The "viewer" flips a switch that turns on the lights to reveal that Gilliam and his workshop are really animations. General pandemonium ensues as the episode shows a vast collage of Gilliam's famously neurotic animations. *''Michael Palin's Personal Best'': The show is a pseudo-documentary about fish-slapping, with Michael Palin playing the same character he played in the original sketch hosting the show. The sketches are supposedly added because the show originally introduced the world to fish-slapping. Michael Palin "travelling" to the original filming location of the Fish-Slapping Dance jokingly references his current popularity as a travel documentarian. *''Terry Jones' Personal Best'': From his lavish home, Jones discusses how he conceived Monty Python as a showcase for his own considerable talents, how he reluctantly let the other members join and that 'Monty Python' is an anagram of 'Terry Jones'. Several sketches are personally (and often inaccurately) introduced by Jones.

PBS airings

The series' American broadcast preceded the return of ''

'' to syndication on PBS stations. Episodes were aired two at a time over three weeks: * ''Eric Idle's Personal Best'' and ''Graham Chapman's Personal Best'' – 22 February 2006 * ''John Cleese's Personal Best'' and ''Terry Gilliam's Personal Best'' – 1 March 2006 * ''Michael Palin's Personal Best'' and ''Terry Jones' Personal Best'' – 8 March 2006

Recurring sketches

* The fish-slapping dance sketch appears in every episode except Eric Idle's, while Conrad Pooh's Dancing Teeth appears twice. * Three variations of "

The Lumberjack Song "The Lumberjack Song" is a comedy song by the comedy troupe Monty Python. The song was written and composed by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Fred Tomlinson. It first appeared in the ninth episode of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', "The An ...

" appear in the shows; the original version, the German-language version for ''

'', and the performance during ''

''.

References

External links

PBS site for ''Monty Python's Personal Best'' and ''Flying Circus''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monty Python's Personal Best Monty Python 2006 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings 2006 British television series debuts 2006 British television series endings 2000s American television miniseries 2000s British television miniseries Monty Python retrospectives English-language television shows PBS original programming