Why Monty Python Was Funny: Analysis and Writing Lessons for Creative Writers

The revolutionary British comedy group Monty Python transformed humor in the late 1960s through the 1980s, creating an influential style that continues to inspire comedians and writers decades later. Their groundbreaking TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and subsequent films established a distinctive comedic approach that blended intellectual references with absurdist humor in ways that had never been seen before.

The Revolutionary Elements of Python Comedy

Let's go through each of the fantastical elements of this show.

The Art of the Unexpected

Monty Python mastered the art of subverting audience expectations. Their sketches frequently established familiar scenarios before introducing completely unexpected elements or derailing in surprising directions.

Writing Tip: Create setups that suggest conventional directions, then deliberately break patterns with surprising twists. The greater the contrast between expectation and reality, the stronger the comedic effect.

Example Technique: The "Spanish Inquisition" sketch plays on this perfectly - characters casually mention "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition," followed by the dramatic entrance of inquisitors. The comedy comes from both the unexpected interruption and the inquisitors' subsequent bumbling inability to create actual fear.

Intellectual Absurdism

Python uniquely combined high-brow intellectual references with utterly absurd situations. Their comedy often required knowledge of literature, history, philosophy, or art to fully appreciate, but packaged these references in ridiculous contexts.

Writing Tip: Don't shy away from intellectual content, but present it in incongruous contexts. Juxtapose sophisticated concepts with the ridiculous or mundane.

Example Technique: The "Philosopher's Football Match" sketch featuring German philosophers playing against Greek philosophers demonstrates this approach. The humor emerges from the incongruity of profound thinkers engaged in a sporting event while still behaving according to their philosophical principles.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

Python consistently acknowledged the artificial nature of their medium, frequently breaking character, addressing the audience directly, or transitioning between sketches in meta-aware ways.

Writing Tip: Create moments where your characters recognize they're in a fictional construct. This can serve as both a punchline and a creative transition between segments.

Example Technique: Characters frequently looked directly at the camera to express frustration, or a narrator would interrupt to announce the sketch was getting "too silly." These meta-moments created complicity with the audience.

Python's Structural Innovations

Let's analyze the formats that made Python hilarity posible.

The Stream-of-Consciousness Flow

Rather than presenting discrete sketches with clear beginnings and endings, Python pioneered a flowing, stream-of-consciousness approach where sketches melted into each other through associative links or Terry Gilliam's surreal animations.

Writing Tip: Experiment with transitions based on word association, visual cues, or thematic connections rather than traditional "blackout" endings. This creates a dreamlike quality that keeps audiences engaged.

Example Technique: A sketch might end with a character mentioning fish, which transitions to a Gilliam animation of flying fish, which then introduces a new sketch about a fishmonger. This flowing structure became a Python signature.

The Anti-Punchline

Python frequently subverted the traditional setup-punchline structure by deliberately avoiding expected payoffs, ending sketches abruptly, or introducing a completely unrelated element rather than delivering a conventional conclusion.

Writing Tip: Consider defying comedic conventions by refusing to deliver expected punchlines. Sometimes the absence of a resolution is funnier than any conventional ending.

Example Technique: The "Dead Parrot" sketch extends well beyond where a traditional comedy might end, with increasingly absurd euphemisms for "dead" creating escalating humor through repetition rather than building to a single punchline.

Python's Thematic Preoccupations

Some themes were consistent.

Authority Undermined

Python consistently targeted authority figures and institutions, portraying them as incompetent, ridiculous or both. Government officials, military leaders, police, and religious figures were frequently lampooned.

Writing Tip: Look for humor in the gap between institutional authority's self-importance and human fallibility. Authority figures pretending everything is normal while chaos ensues create rich comedic opportunities.

Example Technique: The "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch satirizes government bureaucracy by presenting a deadly serious civil servant (John Cleese) in charge of an utterly absurd government function, with the comedy emerging from his earnest dedication to nonsense.

British Class Anxiety

Python frequently explored and satirized British class distinctions, particularly middle-class aspirations and pretensions.

Writing Tip: Identify social tensions in your own culture that people recognize but rarely discuss openly. Comedy thrives in the space between social ideals and uncomfortable realities.

Example Technique: The "Upper Class Twit of the Year" sketch ruthlessly satirizes the ineptitude of the privileged class while using exaggeration to create increasingly ridiculous competitive events.

The Surreal and the Mundane

Python excelled at juxtaposing surreal elements with mundane situations, treating the bizarre as normal and the normal as bizarre.

Writing Tip: Place extraordinary elements in ordinary contexts while maintaining a matter-of-fact attitude. The deadpan treatment of the absurd amplifies comedic effect.

Example Technique: In "The Lumberjack Song," a seemingly ordinary lumberjack reveals increasingly unusual preferences while the structure and presentation of the song remains conventionally cheerful, creating tension between content and form.

Stylistic Techniques

Want to practice Python principles? Let's talk about the style motiffs.

Character Comedy Versus Concept Comedy

While Python members created memorable character types, they typically subordinated character to concept, with performers playing roles required by the comedic idea rather than developing recurring characters.

Writing Tip: Consider prioritizing your comedic concept over character consistency. Sometimes a sketch works better when characters behave in service to the idea rather than consistent characterization.

Example Technique: Python members would often play multiple roles within a single sketch, focusing on the requirements of the concept rather than building consistent characters across episodes.

Precision in Absurdity

Despite their surreal approach, Python's comedy featured meticulous attention to logical systems within absurd frameworks. Once an absurd premise was established, it would be followed with rigorous internal logic.

Writing Tip: After establishing an absurd premise, follow its implications with surprising thoroughness. The commitment to logical consequences of illogical situations creates deeper comedic possibilities.

Example Technique: The "Argument Clinic" sketch establishes an absurd premise (a clinic where people pay to have arguments) but then explores its logical implications with philosophical precision, even examining the difference between argument and contradiction.

Heightened Language and Delivery

Python frequently employed precise, formal language in incongruous situations, with delivery often contrasting with content (saying ridiculous things with BBC formality or discussing mundane things with theatrical intensity).

Writing Tip: Play with linguistic register by using overly formal language for silly topics or casual language for serious ones. The gap between language style and content creates comedic tension.

Example Technique: In the "Pet Shop" sketch, increasingly elaborate and formal vocabulary is used to describe a simple fact (the parrot is dead), with the proprietor responding with equally verbose denials, creating comedy through linguistic excess.

Lessons for Modern Writers

Here's what we learned.

Embrace the "Too Silly" Line

Python knew when a concept had reached maximum comedic effect and would often acknowledge when something became "too silly," using self-awareness as both a punchline and transition.

Writing Tip: Develop a sense for when a comedic concept has reached its natural conclusion, and consider calling attention to this awareness rather than letting a sketch drag on.

Trust Your Audience's Intelligence

Python never dumbed down their references or explained their jokes, trusting viewers to either understand or be intrigued by unfamiliar concepts.

Writing Tip: Don't underestimate your audience's intelligence or their willingness to enjoy humor even when they don't catch every reference. Comedy that respects the audience's intelligence creates a more engaged relationship.

Collaborative Creation

Python's work emerged from a collaborative process where group writing sessions allowed ideas to be refined, challenged, and improved by multiple creative perspectives.

Writing Tip: Even if working alone, try to incorporate multiple revision perspectives on your work, or consider writing partnerships that allow ideas to evolve through creative friction.

The Python Legacy

Monty Python's revolutionary approach to comedy demonstrates that humor can be simultaneously intellectual and silly, structured and anarchic, accessible and sophisticated. Their willingness to break conventions, trust their audience's intelligence, and follow absurd premises to their logical conclusions created a comedic template that continues to influence writers across media.

For modern creative writers and scriptwriters, Python offers this lasting lesson: comedy reaches its highest potential when it challenges both its creators and its audience, making people laugh while also making them think.