LONDON — Thirty years ago when the zany comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus hit British airwaves, few knew what to make of it. But its blend of intellectuality and scatology eventually permeated British culture.
Today, 17 years after the gang last worked together on "Monty Python's Meaning of Life," it's practically impossible to read a British newspaper or go to a British comedy club without coming across a Monty Python phrase or mannerism--be it a silly walk, a bicycle repairman or a reference to a dead parrot. That influence will be explored in "Life of Python," a Biography special, airing Sunday on A&E.
During the two-hour program, the five surviving Pythons--John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin--each talk about what led them into such surreal comic leaps, and show snippets of sketches.
"The Pythons influenced a lot of people," says British comedian-actor Eddie Izzard, who provides much of the narration for the show. "The original 'Saturday Night Live' cast said they were influenced by them. And I'm sure Kids in the Hall and 'Not the 9 O'Clock News' were. Anyone playing any sketch characters, like Rowan Atkinson ["Mr. Bean"], must have been influenced. I'm doing a stand-up version of the Monty Python style."
Explaining how Izzard came to guide TV viewers around the Python world, "Life of Python" producer Elaine Shepherd says, "Eddie is quite an obsessive fan. He'd met Eric and was part of their mini-reunion last year during the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen."
Izzard recalls, "I said to them about this project, 'I'd be happy to do anything, even sweep the floors.' When I was growing up, I wanted to be a Python. I discovered them as a teenager. I wasn't allowed to see much TV as a kid, so I didn't see the original shows. But I listened to their records and tapes endlessly and learned their sketches and routines by heart."
The comic found in Palin a creative connection, he says: "I felt my style was very close to Michael's. I like to play disparate characters with disparate voices. He can play high and low, and so can I. John always plays high. Terry Jones plays the buffoon. Eric is crazy. Graham Chapman [who died of cancer in 1989] was insanely straight."
Like many comics, Izzard found his own developing comedy greatly influenced by Python.
"I once said I was their bastard child," he says. "The central thing of what I do comes from them.
