Monty Python is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month. The exact date was October 5th as the very first Monty Python aired on Oct 5th, 1969. The five surviving members of Monty Python made a rare joint appearance at the premiere of an IFC documentary series called Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut).
CNN reports that John Cleese says fans knows the lines from the Monty Python skits better than he does.
"One of the embarrassing things is that the fans know these lines better than I do. So they come up and I have absolutely no idea, and I just nod and go ha ha, yeah," Cleese said.
But the fan base has spread past the original audience. "Kids of 10 or 11 now see Python as the cool thing. We're old enough to be their great-grandparents," Palin said.
The surviving members are still a little bemused about the whole phenomenon.
"It's kind of unreal," Palin said. "We did all of this when we were kids."
Jones added, "We're just totally lucky."
Many of the Monty Python skits are pretty timeless so they should remain popular for many decades to come.
Here is a video clip of the IFC reunion (viewable only in the U.S.) with John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Take a look:
