A companion book of some sort to Monty Python's Flying Circus, published in 1971. There's a lot of familiar stuff in here: the Upper-Class Twit of the Year competition, silly walks (in the form of a series of still photos), Dinsdale and his hedgehog, etc. There are also lots of very silly ads, naughty pictures, a bunch of forewords consisting entirely of people complaining about not being invited to write the foreword... Basically lot of the kind of silliness you expect from Python. The result is random, surreal, and ridiculous. So, pretty much exactly like the experience of watching an episode of the show, only without having the actual Pythons to watch, so not quite as good.

Still. I paid 50 cents for this at my local library sale, and I got at least a dollar's worth of laughs out of it, so I'm happy. ( )

When seeing Monty Python’s big red book, it is clear that the book is blue with yellow letting. No red in sight. My version is a paperback but the book states that it is the “special new hardback edition” and in the text we find that the “softbound” edition (translate that hardback) was issued previously. When I finally opened the book, the first pages dealt with the foreward written by ITNs Reginald Bosanquet in outrageously Monty Python style. And it’s downhill from there. Some of the favorite skits from Monty Python are represented such as a set of photos of John Cleese and the Ministry of Silly Walks; the twit race, the lumberjack song; the Batley Ladies Townswomen’s Guild and their annual productions; and many more. There are advertisements, the results of the Song for Europe contest, drawings from the talented pen of Terry Gilliam, a do-it-yourself story, more poems of Ewen McTeagle, and many others. “Why accountancy is not boring” was a treasure.

The humor is quirky and very British. And a warning: some of the sketches and ads may be offensive to some readers. This book is no substitute for getting DVDs of the television series and watching the skits. But it does give a flavor for why Monty Python’s humor is still fresh after all these years. ( )