The Personal Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus

These six discs contain the most famous and frequently quoted moments from the entire Flying Circus series, as selected and introduced by the very lunatics who made Monty Python the world’s premier comedy troupe. And just to prove who benevolent they are, each Python has contributed NEW material to his disc. So it doesn’t matter if you’re a complete rooky or hold a Master’s Degree in Monty, this collection has something for you. In fact, it’s the perfect package for: THE NEWCOMER: Nothing beats a nice Spanish Inquisition to get you up to speed with your Python-passionate friends. THE MONTY-CURIOUS: Satisfy that inner craving for something completely different with a warm dollop of Whizzo Butter on Spam! THE FANATIC: A concentrated blast of buffoonery--and a reunion with your favorite characters--hand-picked by your idols themselves. THE PURCHASE-RESISTANT: Seen it, liked it, but never bought it? This veritable collection features the dead parrot, Cheese Shop, Lumberjack Song, and more--and is precisely formulated to whet your appetite for more! More! MORE! DVD Features: Behind the Scenes of John Cleese’s Personal Best; Terry Gilliam’s Featurette "A Retrospective of Python’s Animation"; Personal Second-Best Featurettes from Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin; Six 15-Question, 15-Ton Megaquizzes; Python Troupe Biographies and Selected Credits; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Monty Python's greatest bits!!! This Personal Best Collection 6 DVD set is bloody great!!!

A great collection of Python's great hits/bits!!! Six great Personal Best DVD's one for each Python (Monty) member,a must for fans of Monty Python or fans of great British Comedy in general!!! Pretty much all the famous Python sketches and animations are here,all on one awesome box set!!! Recommended!!! Two thumbs UP! A+ Very funny stuff indeed!!! July 22, 2008

Some skits are truncated

I agree with another reviewer - it really would be beneficial to have some sort of index either as an insert or on the individual DVDs. Some skits seem misplaced - I had considered certain skits to be the forte of different Python members than what ended up on other member's DVD.

Additionally, a few skits are truncated. For example, the main skit I wanted (in full, thank you very much) was "The Argument Clinic". Although this skit is primarily Michael Palin and John Cleese, it ends up on Graham Chapman's disc (he does appear for perhaps 60 seconds). To add insult to injury, they stop the skit as soon as his part is over. The skit itself continues on for another few minutes, and most of the truly funny parts never make it on this DVD.

All-in-all, this is a good sampler set but definitely falls short of capturing all the best. Some selections are questionable at best (i.e., not the ones you remember as being truly hilarious), but it is a decent collection. May 11, 2008

Excellent choice for the Pythonite neophyte, dabbler, or dilettante

Do the 16 DVDs of the 16-Ton Megaset seem over-the-top to you, or at least more than you will ever watch? They do to me, which is why I purchased this 6-hour 6-DVD set (brand spankin' new, I might add) for the paltry sum of $8.99 (+$2.99 shipping). As of this writing, the box is still available at that price through Amazon from several sellers who bought it wholesale. Most of your favorite bits are here:

Confuse-a-Cat
Batley Townswomen's Guild Presents the Battle of Pearl Harbor
Upperclass Twit of the Year
Sit on My Face
Nudge Nudge
Lumberjack Song
Fish Slapping Dance
Vocational Guidance Counsellor Sketch
Ministry of Silly Walks
Dead Parrot Sketch
Exploding Penguin on TV Set
Spam
Argument Clinic
Dirty Hungarian Phrase-Book
Architect Sketch
Cheese Shop
Funniest Joke in the World
Spanish Inquisition
Lifeboat
Man with Three Buttocks
and much more

Plus, you get 45 of Terry Gilliam's best animations, amusing introductions by all of the Pythons (save the late Graham Chapman, whose best sketches the other five members chose), and several extras. Yes, some of the sketches are truncated, and John Cleese's introductions aren't funny, and the set could use an index, but for $9, this box is a great deal, so snap it up!

A complete index follows:

Graham Chapman's Personal Best

1. The Colonel (3:14)
2. Agatha Christie Sketch (2:30)
3. It's the Arts (Sir Edward Ross) (3:38)
4. Colin "Bomber" Harris Versus Himself (2:08)
5. Theory on Brontosauruses by Anne Elk (3:20)
6. Fish Slapping Dance (2:46)
7. Oscar Wilde Sketch (5:11)
8. Vocational Guidance Counsellor (3:30)
9. Molluscs - Love TV Documentary (5:22)
10. Ken Shabby (1:34)
11. Ministry of Silly Walks (2:46)
12. Albatross (:48)
13. The "Pantomime Horse Is a Secret Agent" Film (1:53)
14. Dead Parrot (1:16)
15. Exploding Penguin on TV Set (4:18)
16. Twentieth Century Vole (5:06)
17. Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion (1:25)
18. Spam (3:38)
19. Argument Clinic (1:58)
Graham Chapman's Second Best: Lifeboat (Cannibalism) / Dennis Moore (7:45)

John Cleese's Personal Best

1. A Fairy Tale (15:44)
2. The Epilogue (1:56)
3. Gumby Brain Specialist (3:00)
4. Self-Defense (Against Fresh Fruit) (4:11)
5. Exploding Version of "The Blue Danube" (1:14)
6. Life and Death Struggles (Pantomime Horses) (2:50)
7. Rival Documentaries (Fighting Interviewers) (2:25)
8. Confuse-a-Cat (4:26)
9. A Little Bit of "The Cheese Shop" (:11)
10. Rogue Cheddar (:10)
11. Raymond Luxury Yacht Interview (1:55)
12. Picasso (3:30)
13. Flying Lessons (2:35)
14. Animation: Baby With Pacifier (1:05)
15. It's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Famous Deaths) (1:39)
16. The Batley Townswomen's Guild Presents the Battle of Pearl Harbor (1:38)
17. Fish-Slapping Dance (:58)
18. Upperclass Twit of the Year (7:05)
Behind the Scenes (4:57)

Terry Gilliam's Personal Best

1. Opening Titles (Third Series) (3:38)
2. Conrad Poohs and His Dancing Teeth (1:43)
3. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies (:27)
4. Catching a Bus (:39)
5. The Killer Cars (:29)
6. The Killer Cats (:44)
7. Securicor Ambulances, Ltd. (2:09)
8. Venus Dancing (:55)
9. Introduction, Fish Slapping Dance, and Nazi Fish (1:43)
10. Royal Navy Advert (:38)
11. "Sit Up" Sequence (2:17)
12. Garden of Hands (:52)
13. Cream Toothpaste (:43)
14. Charles Fatless (2:00)
15. Purchase-a-Past (1:47)
16. We're Being Watched (1:07)
17. Searching a Prisoner (2:13)
18. Cemetery (:14)
19. Apology for Repetition (:44)
20. Sexual Athletes (:20)
21. Jack and the Beanstalk (:32)
22. Five Frogs Curse (:42)
23. The Prince With the Black Spot (1:35)
24. Powder My Nose (1:13)
25. Charwoman (:34)
26. Opening Titles (Original) (:32)
27. Reconstructing an Elephant (1:26)
28. Baby Carriage (:32)
29. And Now - Music (2:22)
30. Acme Toilets (:34)
31. Lovely Weather (1:46)
32. Eggs Diamond (1:02)
33. Hands Up (1:21)
34. The Royal Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things Escapes (:31)
35. Flying European Monarchs (1:31)
36. Shaving (:16)
37. Cartoon Religions Ltd. (1:31)
38. Full Frontal Nudity (2:11)
39. Caterpillar/Metamorphosis (1:02)
40. No-time Toulouse (:59)
41. Bad for Your Eye (2:01)
42. The House-Hunters (3:36)
43. Gay Boys in Bondage (:31)
44. 2001 (1:13)
45. Opening Titles (1:09)
Terry Gilliam's Featurette (13:31)

Eric Idle's Personal Best

1. Sit on My Face (7:28)
2. Greasy Comere - Kenny Lust (1:21)
3. Can I Have 50 to Mend the Shed? (:23)
4. World Forum - Communist Quiz (2:51)
5. Schoolboys (:57)
6. Nudge Nudge (2:41)
7. Silly Olympics (1:15)
8. Philosophers' Football (5:20)
9. Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror (1:33)
10. Mount Everest - Hairdresser Expedition (2:21)
11. Travel Agents Sketch (5:57)
12. Never Be Rude to an Arab (:51)
13. Face the Press (1:41)
14. Hermits (2:04)
15. Children's Story (1:29)
16. How to Do It - Rid the World of Known Diseases (1:20)
17. Army Camps It up (:33)
18. Bruces (3:01)
19. Queen Victoria Handicap (1:49)
20. Money Programme (2:28)
21. Sviatoslav Richter and Rita (1:01)
22. Pouffy Judges (1:46)
23. Climbing the Uxbridge Road (1:15)
24. Whicker Island (2:11)
25. Lumberjack Song (2:39)
Eric Idle's Second Best: Multiple Murderer Court Scene / Salad Days / Timmy Williams Interview (10:33)

Terry Jones' Personal Best

1. The Funniest Joke in the World (9:47)
2. The Ratcatcher (:43)
3. Wainscotting (:03)
4. Killer Sheep (1:47)
5. The News for Parrots (1:32)
6. Working-Class Playwright (2:54)
7. Housing Project Built by Characters From 19th Century English Literature (:44)
8. Mystico and Janet - Flats Built by Hypnosis (2:53)
9. Bicycle Repair Man (3:01)
10. The Olympic Hide-and-Seek Final (5:13)
11. Mrs. Niggerbaiter Explodes (1:13)
12. The Bishop (2:11)
13. Living Room on Pavement (:42)
14. Poets (1:17)
15. A Choice of Viewing (1:07)
16. Fish Slapping Dance (:15)
17. The Cycling Tour (Hospital Scene) (1:43)
18. Spanish Inquisition (2:55)
19. Homicidal Barber (1:25)
20. The Lumberjack Song (2:05)
21. Up Your Pavement (1:18)
22. RAF Banter (2:43)
23. Trivializing the War (1:44)
24. Court-Martial (5:24)
Terry Jones' Second Best: Hell's Grannies / Ron Obvious / Njorl's Saga (9:06)

Michael Palin's Personal Best

1. The It's Man (2:11)
2. Flying Sheep (1:59)
3. Dirty Hungarian Phrase-Book (2:33)
4. A Duck, a Cat and a Lizard (Discussion) (:52)
5. Come Back to My Place (:35)
6. Johann Gambolputty De Von Ausfernschplendensch...Von Hauptkopf of Ulm (4:11)
7. The Chemist Sketch (1:13)
8. School Boys (1:23)
9. The Piranha Brothers (Ethel the Frog) (13:21)
10. Undertakers (1:15)
112. Blackmail (3:01)
12. The Semaphore Version of "Wuthering Heights" (2:54)
13. Man With a Tape Recorder Up His Nose (:45)
14. Leaving the Army (1:07)
15. Man With a Tape Recorder Up His Brother's Nose (:48)
16. Architect Sketch (3:52)
17. Scotsman on a Horse (1:24)
18. Mosquito Hunters (2:50)
19. International Wife-Swapping (1:21)
20. Post Box Ceremony (2:36)
21. Cheese Shop (5:23)
22. Fish-Slapping Dance (:54)
Michael Palin's Second Best: Beethoven / A Man with Three Buttocks / Most Awful Family in Britain (11:37) January 15, 2008

Loved it!

I loved seeing the old skits and it was refreshing to see the boys as they are now. Considering the cost of the complete set this is a nice compromise and even had a few skits i'd completely forgotten about. December 11, 2007

Disappointing set has more interviews than skits

We ordered this set to see the best skits, not listen to endless droning on about the personal lives of the guys. We were very disappointed that there is no way to watch the skits without the interviews, and, on top of it all, the entire skits aren't even shown but frequently have the beginning or end cut off! August 30, 2007

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