The Ministry of Silly Walks, the Dead Parrot Sketch and the Life of Brian... do these phrases mean anything to you?  If so, then you are one of the legions of Monty Python fans roaming this silly planet of ours. Monty Python's Flying Circus was a BBC Television series from the early 1970s that changed comedy forever. The humour was absurd and unexpected.  Often there was no punch line -- it was pure existential comedy.  It was funny just because... it was.

Monty Python was created by a troupe of six men who met at Oxford and Cambridge Universities: John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.  They created 45 episodes over four seasons on the BBC between 1969 and 1974. In 1974 the series first aired on PBS in the United States and it was an immediate and runaway success- initially particularly on university campuses.

The Pythons- as they call themselves- have also made three movies:  Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Life of Brian and the Meaning of Life. 
 
Graham Chapman died in 1989, but the five remaining members of the troupe continue to be active with their own projects in film and television. 

Today on Rewind, you'll hear interviews with two of the most popular Pythons: John Cleese and Michael Palin.