The head of comedy at the BBC said that the title had to include the word "Circus", because the people at the BBC had referred to the six cast members wandering around the BBC offices as a circus, so added "Flying" to make it sound less like a real circus and more like something out of the first world war. And in front of that, added "Monty Python" because it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent, and also the large, constricting snake was also appropriate imagery.
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Kenny Lust: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the refreshment room here at Bletchley. My name is Kenny Lust and I'm your compère for tonight. You know, once in a while it is my pleasure, and my privilege, to welcome here at the refreshment room, some of the truly great international artists of our time. And tonight we have one such artist. Ladies and gentlemen, someone whom I've always personally admired, perhaps more deeply, more strongly, more abjectly than ever before. A man... well, more than a man, a god, a great god, whose personality is so totally and utterly wonderful my feeble words of welcome sound wretchedly and pathetically inadequate. Someone whose boots I would gladly lick clean until holes wore through my tongue, a man who is so totally and utterly wonderful, that I would rather be sealed in a pit of my own filth than dare tread on the same stage with him! Ladies and gentlemen... the incomparably superior human being, Harry Fink!
Man: [from offstage] He can't come!
Kenny Lust: Never mind, he's not all he's cracked up to be.
Mistakes
When John Cleese (as Long John Silver) falls over after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, you can see his real leg, which was tucked behind him when using the peg leg. See more...
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Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969) - 8 trivia entries
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The head of comedy at the BBC said that the title had to include the word "Circus", because the people at the BBC had referred to the six cast members wandering around the BBC offices as a circus, so added "Flying" to make it sound less like a real circus and more like something out of the first world war. And in front of that, added "Monty Python" because it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent, and also the large, constricting snake was also appropriate imagery.
The band "Toad the Wet Sprocket" took their name from a sketch on this show.
Wither Canada? (series 1)
The "Wacky Queen Victoria Sketch" which appears in the episode was, in fact, the first-ever Monty Python sketch to be recorded. It was recorded in the grounds of Ham House, Petersham, Surrey, from 9:30am on Tuesday July 8th 1969. (Source: Michael Palin's published diaries).
The 'Mouse Problem' sketch in Series 1, Show 2 (first broadcast 12/10/69) originally urged viewers who felt that they suffered from a similar affliction to phone an onscreen telephone number. This turned out to be David Frost's home number. This tale has been well documented in many places, with Frost devoting a page or two to the stream of irritating phone calls he received as a result in his autobiography. However, what is less well known is what happened next. Frost complained to the BBC and the Postmaster General, with the result that the episode was re-edited in August 1970 with new contact details and a fresh voiceover from Cleese. This was reportedly cut directly into the master tape of this episode, with the result that the original version no longer exists.
Sex and Violence (series 1)
The German joke versions are spoken in an intelligible, pseudo-German gibberish (perhaps fortunate, if the joke would really work). I happen to live in Germany, and even with close scrutinizing I haven't been able to filter a meaning out of this.
How Not to Be Seen (series 2)
A piece of animation in the episode, by Terry Gilliam, which depicted Jesus Christ crucified on a telegraph pole, attracted some controversy. So much, in fact, that it was cut for all repeats and no longer exists on the master tape.
The Spanish Inquisition (series 2)
In the "Semaphore version of Wuthering Heights" sketch, much of the sempaphore is nearly correct. The first two subtitled lines are "Oh. Catherine" "Oh. Heathcliff" - what is actually signalled is "Oh Oh" "Oheath". The nurse signals "SS" and the sleeping man does signal "ZZ".
Mr. Neutron (series 4)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's author Douglas Adams appears in this episode as "the pepperpot with the missile." He also co-wrote (with Graham Chapman) the "patient abuse" sketch for the final episode.
You may also like: Monty Python and the Holy Grail | Father Ted | Six Feet Under | The Meaning of Life | Secret Window
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