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The Best Episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus

Every episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus!

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A British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 3 - How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away
    8.0/10(1568 votes)

    #1 - How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away

    S1:E3

    Featuring a court scene, the larch, Bicycle Repair Man, children's stories, a restaurant sketch, some seduced milkmen, an interview with some children and a stolen newsreader.

    Directors:John Howard Davies, Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  2. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 5 - Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century
    7.9/10(1337 votes)

    #2 - Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century

    S1:E5

    Featuring Confuse-a-Cat, discussion programme A Duck, a Cat and a Lizard, the arrest of a newsreader, an erotic film, a silly job interview and a burglar/encyclopaedia salesman.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  3. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 2 - The Spanish Inquisition
    7.9/10(1394 votes)

    #3 - The Spanish Inquisition

    S2:E2

    Featuring the Spanish Inquisition, courtroom charades and a semaphore interpretation of Wuthering Heights.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  4. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 4 - The Buzz Aldrin Show
    7.9/10(1033 votes)

    #4 - The Buzz Aldrin Show

    S2:E4

    More surreal humour from the Monty Python team. Sketches include The Architects, How to Recognise a Mason, Poets and the Chemist sketch.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  5. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 12 - Spam
    7.9/10(1026 votes)

    #5 - Spam

    S2:E12

    The sketches in this episode include Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook, World Forum-Communist Quiz, Hospital for Over-Actors and Spam.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  6. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 10 - E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease
    7.9/10(828 votes)

    #6 - E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease

    S3:E10

    Sketches include The Tudor Jobs Agency, Elizabethan Pornography Smugglers, Thripshaw's Disease and The Man Who Says Words in the Wrong Order.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus

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  7. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 1 - Whither Canada?
    7.8/10(1852 votes)

    #7 - Whither Canada?

    S1:E1

    Featuring 'It's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart', an Italian lesson, Whizzo Butter, 'It's the Arts', Arthur 'Two-Sheds' Jackson, a cycling race, and The Funniest Joke in the World.

    Directors:John Howard Davies, Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  8. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 1 - Face the Press
    7.8/10(1179 votes)

    #8 - Face the Press

    S2:E1

    Featuring Doug and Dinsdale Piranha, Face the Press and the Ministry of Silly Walks. Mrs G Pinnet buys a new gas cooker.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  9. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 3 - Déjà Vu
    7.8/10(1046 votes)

    #9 - Déjà Vu

    S2:E3

    Featuring the work of the poet Euan McTeagle, a psychiatrist milkman and some exploding animals. A television presenter suffers from a severe case of deja vu.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  10. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 2 - Sex and Violence
    7.7/10(1533 votes)

    #10 - Sex and Violence

    S1:E2

    Featuring some flying sheep, a man with three buttocks, a man with two noses, musical mice, a marriage guidance counsellor, a working-class playwright and The Wrestling Epilogue.

    Directors:John Howard Davies, Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  11. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 4 - Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror
    7.7/10(892 votes)

    #11 - Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror

    S3:E4

    Features gags and sketches such as Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror, The Man who Speaks in Anagrams and Pantomime Horses.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  12. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 12 - A Book at Bedtime
    7.7/10(834 votes)

    #12 - A Book at Bedtime

    S3:E12

    Features gags and sketches such as A Book at Bedtime, Kamikaze Scotsmen, No Time to Lose, Spot the Looney and Frontiers of Medicine-Penguins.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  13. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 4 - Owl Stretching Time
    7.6/10(1349 votes)

    #13 - Owl Stretching Time

    S1:E4

    Featuring fresh fruit as self-defence, some folk-singing, an art gallery sketch and Lemming of the BDA. An Edwardian man struggles to undress on the beach.

    Directors:John Howard Davies, Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  14. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 13 - Royal Episode 13
    7.6/10(942 votes)

    #14 - Royal Episode 13

    S2:E13

    Sketches in this episode include How to Feed a Goldfish, The Man Who Says Things in a Very Roundabout Way and Lifeboat.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  15. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 7 - Salad Days
    7.6/10(888 votes)

    #15 - Salad Days

    S3:E7

    Features gags and sketches such as Biggles Dictates a Letter, Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road, Lifeboat and The Cheese Shop.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  16. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 9 - The Ant, An Introduction
    7.5/10(1256 votes)

    #16 - The Ant, An Introduction

    S1:E9

    Featuring Ken Buddha, a man with a tape-recorder up his nose and a hairdresser who always wanted to be a lumberjack.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  17. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 7 - The Attila the Hun Show
    7.5/10(979 votes)

    #17 - The Attila the Hun Show

    S2:E7

    Featuring the Attila the Hun Show, a rat catcher, a village idiot, some killer sheep and news for parrots.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  18. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 9 - How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body
    7.5/10(976 votes)

    #18 - How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body

    S2:E9

    Featuring a guide on how to recognise parts of the body, a singing policeman, an interview with a plastic surgeon, a camp soldiers' drill and the Verrifast Plane Company.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  19. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 11 - How Not to Be Seen
    7.5/10(976 votes)

    #19 - How Not to Be Seen

    S2:E11

    Features gags and sketches such as Job Hunter, Railway Timetables, How Not to be Seen and Interview in a Filing Cabinet.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  20. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 13 - Intermission
    7.4/10(1118 votes)

    #20 - Intermission

    S1:E13

    Featuring some historical impersonations, a cinema usherette with a dead seabird, restaurant abuse and Probe Around On Crime.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  21. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 8 - Archaeology Today
    7.4/10(972 votes)

    #21 - Archaeology Today

    S2:E8

    Featuring Mrs Beethoven, the Reverend Arthur Belling, some Australian Mosquito Hunters and a drink party with the Gits.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  22. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 6 - The War Against Pornography
    7.4/10(858 votes)

    #22 - The War Against Pornography

    S3:E6

    Sketches in this episode include Tory Housewives Clean-up Campaign, Gumby Brain Specialist, Expedition to Lake Pahoe and The Silliest Interview We've Ever Had.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  23. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 8 - Full Frontal Nudity
    7.3/10(1372 votes)

    #23 - Full Frontal Nudity

    S1:E8

    Featuring an art critic, some hermits, Hell's Grannies and the dead parrot sketch. Some newlyweds attempt to buy a bed and the mafia offer protecting to the army.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  24. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 10 - Untitled
    7.3/10(1165 votes)

    #24 - Untitled

    S1:E10

    Featuring a bank robber in a lingerie shop, It's A Tree (with Arthur Tree), a vocational guidance counsellor, Ron Obvious and a gorilla librarian.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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  25. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 2 - Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular
    7.3/10(904 votes)

    #25 - Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular

    S3:E2

    Features Emigration from Surbiton to Hounslow, The Fish Slapping Dance, SS Mother Goose, Trim-Jeans Theatre and some very famous guests.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle

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Best Episodes Summary

"How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away" is the best rated episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". It scored 8/10 based on 1568 votes. Directed by John Howard Davies, Ian MacNaughton and written by Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, it aired on 10/19/1969. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century".