"The Cycling Tour" is the thirty-fourth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It is one of only two episodes in the series that have a linear storyline, rather than a series of sketches. The episode involves a clumsy cyclist from Cornwall named Mr. Pither (played by Michael Palin).
Segments[]
Cast[]
- Michael Palin as Mr. Pither
- Eric Idle as Barney the cafe owner, Lady in Street, Doctor, Mm. Brun, military man
- John Cleese as Cafe Customer, Gardening Lady, James, Doctor Wu, M. Brun, Mr. Livingstone
- Carol Cleveland as Nurse, Lucille, Russian taxi driver
- Terry Jones as Mr. Reginald Gulliver/Clodagh Rodgers/Trotsky/Eartha Kitt
- Graham Chapman as Nurse, French daughter, Mr. Atkinson
- Terry Gilliam as YMACA Receptionist
Trivia[]
- This episode is the first episode of Flying Circus to feature a full-length story. The second is "Mr Neutron".
- Instead of the usual animated opening titles, the episode begins with a simple full-screen caption that reads "The Cycling Tour".
- John Tomiczek, Graham Chapman's adopted son, makes a brief appearance as one of two children (other one being Graham dressed as a teenage girl) to ask for an autograph from a man they thought was singer Clodagh Rodgers. Despite his brief appearance, John Tomickzek did not have a speaking part.
- The music that Mr. Pither is cycling to is the waltz from Act II of the opera Faust by Charles Gounod.
- The song that the animated monsters dance to at the end of the episode is "Jack in the Box" as performed by Clodagh Rodgers.
- The story is about a travelling cyclist; decades later, Michael Palin would have a whole second career as a globetrotting travel writer and filmmaker.