Monty Python's Personal Best is a miniseries of six one-hour specials, each showcasing the contributions of a particular Monty Python member. Produced by Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd., the series first aired on PBS stations between 22 February and 8 March 2006, although the Eric Idle and Michael Palin episodes were initially released by A&E Network on two Region 1 DVDs in 2005; the remaining episodes were released in late February 2006.
The five surviving members (Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones) were invited to select favourite sketches they wrote or starred in, mostly from the Monty Python's Flying Circus TV series plus a handful of sketches from Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus and Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. All five collaborated on the sixth episode, a tribute to deceased Python Graham Chapman.
Selected sketches[]
Each Python (apart from Chapman.) presents their selection of sketches through linking sketches on a theme.
Eric Idle's Personal Best[]
Idle presents his selection as a presenter at the Bollywood Hole, where the Monty Python troupe performed live. He also plays his mother and a former Nazi soldier in hiding in South America, being interviewed about himself.
- Sit on My Face (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
- The Refreshment Room at Bletchley
- World Forum - Communist Quiz
- Nudge Nudge (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
- Silly Olympics
- The Philosophers' Football Match
- The Man Who Speaks in Anagrams
- Everest Climbed by Hairdressers
- Travel Agent (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
- Never Be Rude to an Arab (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
- Face the Press
- Hermits
- Children's Stories
- How to Rid the World of All Known Diseases
- Camp Square-Bashing
- Bruces sketch
- Live from Epsom/Queen Victoria Handicap
- There is Nothing Quite as Wonderful as Money
- Life of Tchaikovsky
- Poofy Judges (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
- Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road
- Whicker Island
- The Lumberjack Song (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)
Graham Chapman's Personal Best[]
A tribute with anecdotes from each surviving Python.
- Cosmetic Surgery
- Agatha Christie
- It's the Arts
- Colin "Bomber" Harris vs Colin "Bomber" Harris
- Anne Elk's Theory on Brontosauruses
- Oscar Wilde Sketch
- Vocational Guidance Counsellor
- Molluscs - Live TV Documentary
- Ken Shabby
- The Ministry of Silly Walks
- Albatross
- The Pantomime Horse is a Secret Agent Film
- Dead Parrot
- The Death of Mary Queen of Scots/Exploding Penguin on the TV Set
- Twentieth-Century Vole
- Mrs Premise and Mrs Conclusion Visit Jean-Paul Sartre
- Spam
- Argument Clinic
John Cleese's Personal Best[]
Cleese is interviewed by Dayna Devon, as an obnoxious, sour, old man answering the questions in an increasingly angry manner, eventually dying from a heart attack. The film crew, satisfied with the live footage of his death, abandon him and leave for L.A.
- The Tale of Happy Valley (The Princess with the Wooden Teeth)
- The Wrestling Epilogue
- Gumby Brain Surgery
- Self-Defence
- Mountaineer/Exploding Version of "The Blue Danube"
- Life and Death Struggles
- Rival Documentaries
- Confuse-a-Cat
- Cheese Shop sketch
- Raymond Luxury-Yacht Interview
- Picasso/Cycling Race
- Flying Lessons
- It's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Batley Townswomen's Guild Presents the Battle of Pearl Harbour
- Upper Class Twit of the Year
Terry Gilliam's Personal Best[]
Gilliam, locked in a dark basement, exposes the fact that Flying Circus was meant to be his animation show, and desperately pleads for the audience to watch what his show would be - this episode. The episode is a montage of animations from the show.
- Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth
- Killer Cars
- The Fish-Slapping Dance
- Mortuary Hour
- The Show So Far
(amongst many others)
Michael Palin's Personal Best[]
Palin presents a documentary on the conception of The Fish-Slapping Dance.
- "It's" man
- French Lecture on Sheep-Aircraft
- Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook
- Come Back to My Place
- Johann Gambolputty
- Chemist Sketch
- Quiz Programme: "Wishes"
- Ethel the Frog/Piranha Brothers
- Blackmail
- The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights/Julius Caesar on an Aldis lamp
- A Man with a Tape Recorder Up His Nose
- Army Protection Racket
- A Man with a Tape Recorder Up His Brother's Nose
- Architects Sketch
- A Scotsman on a Horse
- Mosquito Hunters
- Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth
- Post Box Ceremony
- Cheese Shop sketch
Terry Jones's Personal Best[]
Jones not-so-humbly presents his selection from his extravagant house, explaining how the other Pythons begged to join his comedy troupe and attributes writing and performing all the best sketches to himself.
- The Funniest Joke in the World
- Ratcatcher/Wainscotting/Killer Sheep/The News for Parrots
- Working-class playwright
- Housing Project Built by Characters from Nineteenth-Century English Literature
- Mystico and Janet - Flats Built by Hypnosis
- Bicycle Repair Man/Tirade Against Communists
- The Olympic Hide-and-Seek Final
- Mrs N*gger-Baiter Explodes
- The Bishop
- Living Room on Pavement
- Poets
- The Fish-Slapping Dance
- Clodagh Rogers
- Photos of Uncle Ted
- Homicidal Barber/The Lumberjack Song
- Up Your Pavement/RAF Banter/Trivializing the War/Courtmartial/Basingstoke in Westphalia
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