Parrot Sketch Not Included: Twenty Years of Monty Python

Presented by Steve Martin, a collection of sketches from Monty Python's Flying Circus.

A good intro for those less familiar with the work of Monty Python. Covers some of their most well-known sketches.

However, by making this a 'Greatest Hits', you remove the continuity of the original Flying Circus episodes. There the skits may have seemed independent in their setting and plot but there was often a running joke through the whole episode and certain things linking the skits. Here we have none of that.

Furthermore, for those of us already familiar with the work of Monty Python, we'd rather watch Monty Python's Flying Circus in its entirety.

The night before the Pythons celebrated their 20th anniversary of their first television shows, Graham Chapman died after a long illness.

Steve Martin, a fan gives a deadpan commentary to this celebration of all things Python.

Its an excuse for us to see clips of the Python shows. Dead Parrot sketch excluded.

Monty Python which debuted on BBC1 launched a new type of absurd, surrealist comedy and its been heavily influential on both sides of the Atlantic. The final scene leaves us with all of the team trapped in a cupboard, Chapman included.

I suppose if you see this compilation as a stand-alone feature, you'll probably find it good enough. But I saw it as part of the 2-disc "Monty Python Live!" DVD edition (and this comment is meant ONLY for those who see it this way), and although it has some funny moments ("nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition!"), it is largely a waste of time. For one thing, you can see all these sketches elsewhere. For another, you can see many of them on the SAME DVD PACK. And for another, most of the best sketches ("The Argument", "Lumberjack's Song", "World Forum") are infinitely better executed in "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (which is included on the other disc). If anything, this film helps you gain a greater appreciation of that film, and of how much experience improved the Pythons over the years. This disc also includes the first "German Episode", which is alternately brilliant (with some of Terry Gilliam's best animation) and labored, and mostly of historical interest.

If you are my age (15) and have no idea who in the hell Monty Python is, this is just the thing for you. Jam packed with some of the funniest sketches ever written! Great for the long time fan too.

On a little foot note, at the end when Steve Martin told where the Pythons were (in the cupboard), there is some sentimental value to the little joke - ALL the Pythons in the cupboard, including Graham. "Sad, isn't it?"

With the exception of the Dead Parrot sketch which hands this compilation it's title, this is the ultimate collection of Python classics that have been suitably squeezed into 72 minutes. The Ministry of Silly Walks, Spam, The Lumberjack Song..they're all here along with some other lesser-known delights (e.g. the Queen Victoria Handicapp, fantastic!).