Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus (Monty Python's Flying Circus) consisted of two 45-minute Monty Python German television comedy specials produced by WDR for West German television. The two episodes were first broadcast in January and December 1972 and were shot entirely on film and mostly on location in Bavaria, with the first episode recorded in the German language and the second recorded in English and then dubbed into German.

Production

While visiting the UK in the early 1970s, German entertainer and TV producer Alfred Biolek caught notice of the Pythons, and excited by their innovative, absurd sketches, he invited them over to Germany in 1971 and 1972 to write two special German episodes of their show Monty Python's Flying Circus and act in them. The result, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, was produced by Biolek in co-production with Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Eric Idle has described the conception of the specials as "The Germans came to us and said 'Look, we haven't got a sense of humour, but we understand you do. Can we use yours?'"

The second episode was recorded in English because of issues with the German accents of some of the members: only John Cleese and Michael Palin spoke German in linguistic perfection that could be easily understood by native speakers. The other Python performers all had very thick accents (particularly Terry Jones), making them difficult to understand. In some cases, the episode was...
Read More