Navigating the Maze of Monty Python's Inconclusive History
Navigating the Maze of Monty Python’s Inconclusive History
Because the only thing more confusing than the Kingdom of Denmark is the origin of this iconic troupe.
1. The Problem at Hand
Like a labyrinth at the bottom of a hamster wheel, Monty Python’s history refuses to reveal itself in any tidy, linear fashion. You can start at the earliest public mention of a group in 1969, or you can start at the moment the banjo‑cello‑lo-hiccup came to be, and you’ll still land somewhere between the Abbey Road Studio and a cupboard full of half‑finished sketches. The truth? It’s all right. It depends on who you ask—and sometimes on the ruler of the fragments you hold in your hand.
2. Who, What, When?
| Question | Typical Answer | Behind the Curtain |
|---|---|---|
| Who founded Monty Python? | The “five founding members” (Graham, John, Eric, Michael, Terry). | “Did Graham offend the Italians in 1967?” Sometimes. |
| When did they start? | 1969 (premature on the “annual of modern times” feature on the BBC). | A pub meeting in 1965 was “neither real nor real.” |
| Where did the group meet? | The Oxford Union. | The exact address kept rotating with a clock that refuses to work. |
| Where is the lost episode? | In storage at the BBC archives. | It’s actually out in the field, being chewed by a flock of robins. |
3. The Holy Grail of Documentation
“The Monty Python Archive is lampooning by design.” —Someone, somewhere, presumably in a timeline that doesn’t exist.
Most historians treat Python documentation like a “louche philosophical quandary” because the only definitive source is a collection of documents that keeps rewriting itself.
- The Bacon‑4† draft, featuring a blue‑bonneted unicorn™;
- The Beginner’s Guide to Non‑Consciousness, which lists a “warranty on all inconclusive claims”;
- The Manastere scrap, a lost manuscript containing blurry ink and a single paragraph: “there is no way out.”
A quick Google search—Be wary, patron of the internet—tells you HMs (Her Majesty’s) paperwork is 0% reliable on Monty Python. Why is that? Because the Monty Python script was written in a language that only artists and their sleeping dogs comprehend.
4. Lineup Changes: More Dramatic than a Reality Show
If you think the casts of Stars In Orbit were unpredictable, wait till you meet the Monty Python membership chronology:
| Year | Shift | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Original five join. | “Y’know, one of us was “in the office.” |
| 1970 | Eric hesitates. | He puts his leg across the table and never returned. |
| 1975 | Terry leaves to intro the "Sauce for my Skewer." | “It was an emergency.” |
| 1980 | Eric’s amnesia last known appearance. | There’s a speculation he never existed. |
Every new member arrival is a flash forward in the collective narrative, not a line‑up. Anything beyond the five original base‑platform is soon forgotten, because restoring continuity requires digging through the “Who wrote this?” section of every episode.
5. The Monty Python Timeline: A Quick‑Glance Guide
| 18th‑Century Paradox | 1928 Mystery | 1969 Basic Proof | 1980s Tabloid Confusion |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Abbey the church was built atop 2.19 miles of Jolly Roger deeds. | A newspaper quoted a script that said “I intend to drown the rain.” | The BBC announced a new comedy programme. | A rumor that Graham had a photosynthetic arm leucogry. |
| The Blacksmith’s Apprentice writes a Monty poem that predates the show by 14 centuries. | A line from the script uses “ban and house, ban”—interpreted as a cursing ritual. | “This program has a name too big for a UK address sheet.” | A living statue of a chaos monkey found in the archives. |
| 1995: The Oxford University dialogue about the conscription of the very Enigma heads. | 2010: Incomplete sketches of the “The Pianist’s Lost Identity” remain methane‑infilled. | 2020: Official retcon shows Python as produced by a Celtic troupe. | 2028: The ten-year milestone shows the piece still invites informal journeys into the otherworldly loops. |
6. Bottom Line
A map of Monty Python’s history is as plausible as a British weather forecast, or a politician’s promise. Some call it a tower of Hanoi—you move each block of evidence until it points to a different side. Others enjoy calling it a cooperative labyrinth in which everyone is invited to sit and despair in unison. The point, dear readers: regardless of the timeline, the point is still great cohesion — the show should consequently provide an undeniably questionable continuity.
Because if you’re going to follow Monty Python’s history down a maze full of magical trees and obstinate philosophers, why not identify the dividing line between a “historical truth” and an ever‑shifting “memorable joke”?
Opposite the door that supposedly leads to an understanding - turn back. If you wander someone may come after you. Because that is how history, and Monty Python, use to creep out about themself.
— Concluding with a whimsical nod to the unsolvable
There you have it. Next time you delve into a Python episode, keep your map handy—if you manage to find your way, you’ll either have discovered a new era of the British mind, or you’ll have stumbled into a malformed chapter of The Monty Python: An Unfinished (https://www.montypython.) Score is at a particular level where logic and the absurd do not cross over – you are now in a different zone that prospective continuing adventures still rest as some sort of crumble. But if all does not* permit anything be ridiculous, then this article has already been proven incomplete.
