Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of Maximumfund.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorne. This week we're doing something a little bit different.

We are celebrating the work of Monty Python, the greatest sketch comedy group of all time.

Monty Python, as we know it, began in 1969. The story that they tell is that John Cleese had wanted for a while to make something with Michael Palin, and after a series of meetings with BBC executives and a series of rendezvouses at various London clubs, the roster grew to six.

Cleese and Palin, Eric Idol, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones.

Together they made some of the most

unforgettable comedy of all time. Monty Python's Flying Circus, the Holy Grail, the life of Brian,

the meaning of life, and more. When they pretty much broke up in the 70s, the members went on to

produce countless more unforgettable projects.

Palin and Cleese starred in Time Bandits at a fish called Wanda,

the former of which was directed by Gilliam.

Gilliam directed 12 Monkeys, Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and a bunch of others.

What else did they do?

Well, Faulty Towers, the Ruttles, Eric the Viking.

I could go on and on and on and on.

I mean, seriously, I could go on and on and on and on. I would go on. If I were still 13 or 19,

I would just be going on and on and on me going on and on. They have the greatest geniuses of all time. Anyway, this week, we'll hear interviews from Eric Idol, John Cleese, and Terry

Gilliam. But before all that, Terry Jones. Terry Jones joined Monty Python via his writing partner,

Michael Palin. Jones would be on camera every now and then, on Monty Python's Flying Circus,

usually when they needed someone to put on a dress.

But he did his best work behind the camera.

Jones was the show's principal editor and largely responsible for its unique pacing.

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