<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> External links </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Website </Td> </Tr> <P> Monty Python's Flying Circus (known during the final series as just Monty Python) is a British sketch comedy series created by the comedy group Monty Python and broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974 . The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo - laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines . It also featured animations by group member Terry Gilliam, often sequenced or merged with live action . The first episode was recorded on 7 September and premiered on 5 October 1969 on BBC One, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV . </P> <P> The show often targets the idiosyncrasies of British life, especially that of professionals, and is at times politically charged . The members of Monty Python were highly educated . Terry Jones and Michael Palin are Oxford University graduates; Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Graham Chapman attended Cambridge University; and American - born member Terry Gilliam graduated from Occidental College . Their comedy is often pointedly intellectual, with numerous erudite references to philosophers and literary figures . The series followed and elaborated upon the style used by Spike Milligan in his ground breaking series Q5, rather than the traditional sketch show format . The team intended their humour to be impossible to categorise, and succeeded (although, by their perspective, failed) so completely that the adjective "Pythonesque" was invented to define it and, later, similar material . </P>

Who created the animations in monty pythons flying circus