WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The name of the comedy troupe was made up when they were commissioned to make their comedy TV show Monty Python’s Flying Circus. However, there is no significance to the name. “Flying Circus” only stuck because the BBC had printed its programming schedules with the name already on them and it couldn’t be changed. When they wanted a name to go before that, John Cleese suggested something slithery like “Python,” while Eric came up with the name “Monty” to suggest a sort of drunken British stereotype.