Monty Python Spam Hits Dedicated Radio Channel

40 years of Monty celebrated with 24-hour Python radio.

Satellite radio firm Sirius XM has announced a new radio channel dedicated to the hilarious delights of Monty Python.

Starting this Friday (16 October) and running for 10 days only, the Monty Python channel is scheduled to run through Monty Python’s funniest and greatest skits, quotes and songs 24 hours a day.

Python fans should tune in to XM channel 151 or Sirius channel 105 to relive their greatest Python moments; be it the Dead Parrot sketch, a rendition of Knights of the Round Table or simply to squawk in their best squeaky voice: “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.”

The new channel will be broadcast the day after the remaining Pythons: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam are presented with a special award from the The British Academy of Film and Television Arts for their contribution to comedy. The award is to be presented on Thursday at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York to mark the 40th anniversary since Monty Python’s Flying Circus first aired on the BBC.

As part of the celebrations, the Independent Film Channel (IFC) in America and Canada will show the first episode of a six-part documentary chronicling the life of Python. The documentary series Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut) will debut on 18 October.

Python attracted some criticism recently from The Independent questioning if the show really was that funny after all? The overwhelming response from devout fans, combined with the continued interest in the comedy troupe seals Python’s place as one of the funniest institutions ever to grace British comedy.

The fact that Monty Python has become such a cornerstone of comedy is perhaps fittingly ironic, as Terry Jones once commented: “the fact that Pythonesque is now a word in the Oxford English Dictionary shows the extent to which we failed.” Python may have set out to elude the pitfalls of an enduring marketable brand, but in doing so ended up with something completely different – one of the most recognisable comedies ever.