by Eric Idle
First published 2019
This humor collection presents the Python team's experimental comedy during their television peak in the early 1970s. Terry Gilliam's colorful and crude illustrations accompany bizarre instructional materials, schoolboy adventure tales filled with mischief, and false horoscopes. The book features comic segments like "Hamster: A Warning," "The Python Book of Etiquette," and "The London Casebook of Detective Ren Descartes." Readers encounter wild contests, mock editorials, and fake movie reviews alongside peculiar miscellany. Originally compiled for Methuen when Flying Circus dominated television screens, this testing ground for fresh comedic ideas showcases the same inventive spirit that made the show successful. The collection demonstrates how the Python collective approached humor through multiple formats, blending visual comedy with written absurdity to create something entirely unconventional.
Genres: satire, humor, comedy
Vibes: bizarre, irreverent, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, unconventional
Period: 1970s
Paperback · Methuen Publishing Ltd