Monty Python's Flying Circus, Disc 1 -

In 1969, five overeducated British comics and an American illustrator ambushed the BBC with the strangest show in British history. How they got on the air is anyone's guess (rumors of blackmail were quickly hushed, though the Python's penchant for sheep gags... but enough of speculation), but their irreverent writing and ludicrous gags transformed the sketch comedy show into a stream-of-consciousness loony bin of absurdity, connected by the outrageous animations of Terry Gilliam. In these first episodes, you can see the sextet working out their technique, mixing music-hall slapstick with their zany brand of ridiculousness. Episode 1, Whither Canada, features the Funniest Joke in the World (a.k.a. the Killer Joke, which is really nothing other than German gibberish, but don't tell anyone), as well as Famous Deaths Through History hosted by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (John Cleese in a silly wig), interviews with Arthur Two Sheds Jackson and celebrated film director Sir Edward Don't call me Eddie Baby Ross, and a strange fascination with pigs. Episode 2, the teasingly titled Sex and Violence, features John Cleese and Michael Palin as a pair of French inventors trading mustaches while explaining the finer points of sheep aviation, a man with three buttocks, an investigative report into the mouse crisis, and a wrestling match (two of three falls) to determine the existence of God. Episode 3, How to Recognize Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away never did get past the Larch, but does feature the ever-popular Nudge Nudge, the not-quite-so-popular Restaurant Sketch, the rather baffling Dim of Scotland Yard (with a tuneful John Cleese dancing and singing about being a railroad engineer under a barrister's wig), and the altogether absurd Bicycle Repairman, making the world safe for bicyclists. --Sean Axmaker ...