The Personal Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus

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!!!

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.

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
The 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)

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.

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!