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Monty Python's Flying Circus
S2.E11
All episodesAll
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

How Not to Be Seen

  • Episode aired Dec 8, 1970
  • TV-14
  • 30m
IMDb RATING
8.3/10
963
YOUR RATING
John Cleese, Terry Jones, and Monty Python in Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)
Monty Python's Flying Circus: How Not To Be Seen
Play trailer1:08
2 Videos
5 Photos
Comedy

Conquistador coffee campaign; Repeating groove; Ramsey MacDonald striptease; Job hunter; International Chinese Communist Conspiracy; Crelm Toothpaste/Shrill petrol; Agatha Christie sketch (r... Read allConquistador coffee campaign; Repeating groove; Ramsey MacDonald striptease; Job hunter; International Chinese Communist Conspiracy; Crelm Toothpaste/Shrill petrol; Agatha Christie sketch (railway timetables); Mr Neville Shunte - railroad playwright; Gavin Millarrrrr writes; Film... Read allConquistador coffee campaign; Repeating groove; Ramsey MacDonald striptease; Job hunter; International Chinese Communist Conspiracy; Crelm Toothpaste/Shrill petrol; Agatha Christie sketch (railway timetables); Mr Neville Shunte - railroad playwright; Gavin Millarrrrr writes; Film director/dentist Martin Curry (teeth); City gents vox pops; 'Crackpot Religions Ltd'; 'Ho... Read all

  • Director
    • Ian MacNaughton
  • Writers
    • Graham Chapman
    • John Cleese
    • Eric Idle
  • Stars
    • Graham Chapman
    • John Cleese
    • Eric Idle
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.3/10
    963
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ian MacNaughton
    • Writers
      • Graham Chapman
      • John Cleese
      • Eric Idle
    • Stars
      • Graham Chapman
      • John Cleese
      • Eric Idle
    • 2User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos2

    Monty Python's Flying Circus: Agatha Christie Sketch
    Clip 1:14
    Monty Python's Flying Circus: Agatha Christie Sketch
    Monty Python's Flying Circus: How Not To Be Seen
    Trailer 1:08
    Monty Python's Flying Circus: How Not To Be Seen
    Monty Python's Flying Circus: How Not To Be Seen
    Trailer 1:08
    Monty Python's Flying Circus: How Not To Be Seen

    Photos4

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    Top cast11

    Edit
    Graham Chapman
    Graham Chapman
    • Lady Partridge…
    John Cleese
    John Cleese
    • Advertising Boss
    • (voice)
    • …
    Eric Idle
    Eric Idle
    • S. Frog…
    Terry Jones
    Terry Jones
    • Neville Shunt
    • (voice)
    • …
    Michael Palin
    Michael Palin
    • 'It's' Man…
    Terry Gilliam
    Terry Gilliam
    • Various
    Carol Cleveland
    Carol Cleveland
    • Jasmina…
    Lewis Alexander
    • Norwich City Councillor
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    Willy Bowman
    • Norwich City Councillor
    • (uncredited)
    Dilys Marvin
    • Lady
    • (uncredited)
    Dorothy Watson
    • Lady
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Ian MacNaughton
    • Writers
      • Graham Chapman
      • John Cleese
      • Eric Idle
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews2

    8.3963
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    10

    Featured reviews

    9dgplatt-60121

    An Episode Where Everything Works

    With the last three episodes of Season Two, all the experimentation and general weirdness pays off. The transitions from sketch to sketch are so smooth they're almost dreamlike, and the sketches themselves are very funny. Even the vox pops, which usually seem frivolous, are fun and relevant to the sketches.

    The most memorable sketch is probably the titular one, which involves a bizarre escalation of violence. Cleese's narration is the whole point of the sketch as he goes from staid announcer to homicdial maniac.

    (This episode has a bizarre bit of animation for "Cartoon Religions" that ends abruptly in the version that originally aired. The restored bit involving Idle as an avuncular Satan is both creepy and funny, but it was even more disturbing when it could only be seen in the recap at the end of the episode, like a fleeting image or something we were never meant to see)
    10cameron-sinclair-1

    Confusion between Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones

    Thought you ought to know that Neville Shunt, writer of the train timetable murder mystery, was played by Terry JONES not Terry Gilliam, as listed above. Besides that, I loved the episode, as I do all Monty Python (hence the 10 stars), but, of course, particularly the train timetable murder mystery. Although the murder mystery bit itself is not overly funny, the bit following it where the writer is shown at a typewriter, pretending its a train is hilarious. Also the bit after that, where John Clease, as a critic, discusses the meaning and whether there is deliberate ambiguity, etc., in a very round about way is very funny - anyone who has done some kind of literary analysis or studied poetry or anything at all will find Clease's performance here funny.

    The Emmys Air on Sunday, Sep 14

    The Emmys Air on Sunday, Sep 14
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    Related interests

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    Comedy

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      "Jackie Charlton And The Tonettes" is a fictitious band, taking its name from Jack Charlton, one of the stars of the English football squad that won the World Cup title in 1966. In reality "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was recorded by the Ohio Express.
    • Goofs
      At the end of this episode, an announcer introduces a recap of the entire program, consisting of split-second repeats of the various sketches and cartoons (like fast forwarding on a DVD). However, after the Crackpot Religion cartoon, there are brief shots of two more cartoons (one involving a devil peeping out of the ground and three figures crucified to telephone poles behind him) that were not shown in the episode. The "Cartoon Religions Ltd." animation originally featured those scenes which were later cut from the transmission copy (see also "Alternative Versions" for more information).
    • Quotes

      Voice Over: Mr. Ken Andrews, of Leighton Road, Slough has concealed himself extremely well. He could be almost anywhere. He could be behind the wall, inside the water barrel, beneath a pile of leaves, up in the tree, squatting down behind the car, concealed in a hollow, or crouched behind any one of a hundred bushes. However we happen to know he's in the water barrel.

      [the water barrel explodes]

    • Alternate versions
      There are two versions of this episode, a monochrome kine-scope and 16mm film copy, thought to have been produced for the US AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio & Televison Service), that were located in 2003. Named 'Chinese Ad Men' and marked "Not to be broadcast under any circumstances", they include previously lost material: five seconds from the Conquistador Coffee sketch referencing leprosy and cancer, and 33 seconds involving Jesus and Satan from the Crackpot Religions animation, bridging into Public Service Film No 42/6. The prints have the 30 second Shrill Petrol card segment removed. Sections of the Gilliam animation could be glimpsed during the end credits of the surviving color VT print, and the omission had long puzzled fans. The blu-ray set released in November 2020 has the additional lines in the Conquistador Coffee sketch and the previously missing footage from the Crackpot Religions animation put back into their proper spots, and does not have the Shrill Petrol portion removed.
    • Connections
      Edited from Some Girls Do (1969)
    • Soundtracks
      Man of Power
      (uncredited)

      Written by Jack Trombey

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 8, 1970 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • Goodrington, Paignton, Devon, England, UK("and now for something completely different")
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 30m
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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