Release for comedy team's German adventure

Two Monty Python television specials made for German TV in 1972 are to be released on Blu-ray for the first time.

Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus was produced by WDR for West German television and consisted of two 45-minute programmes. 

The first was broadcast in January 1972, the second in December of that year. Both were shot on film, mostly on location in Bavaria. The first episode was performed in German; the second was recorded in English and later dubbed.

The second episode was also the final television show that John Cleese recorded with the group, having already announced his decision to only commit to film and stage productions in future. 

’These shows were a giant leap for Python silliness,’ said Terry  Gilliam, ’all performed in a language none of us spoke. Luckily, for me, I could draw in German.’

Translator Thomas Woitkewitsch has to provide the team with phonetic transcriptions of the scipts, and even so only Cleese and Michael Palin delivered their lines in German well enough to be easily understood by native speakers, it was reported. 

The Other Python performers all had very thick accents (particularly Terry Jones), making them difficult to understand. In some cases the episode was broadcast with German subtitles.

German comedian Henning Wehn made a Radio 4 documentary about Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus in 2012, which is still available on BBC Sounds.

The new releases has been restored in high definition from the original source material, with Gilliam overseeing the project and approving the collectable ‘SteelBook’ packaging, which uses his own artwork from the period.

Sketches and songs in the shows include the Lumberjack Song and Silly Olympics. The release also includes bonus material not previously available, among it a clip of the Pythons performing the Fish-Slapping Dance on a German entertainment programme, Euroshow, in 1971.

Also included is Monty Python’s Montreux Special, a 1971 collection of sketches from the first two series of Flying Circus that has not been widely seen for around 30 years. It features some material performed exclusively for that programme, including versions of the Gas Cooker sketch, Blackmail, the Ministry of Silly Walks and what is billed as the Exploding Version of The Blue Danube. 

Outtakes are also included.

Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus is released by Mercury Studios on June 6, priced £29.99, and is available to order here.

Here's a low-res unrestored clip posted to YouTube:

Published: 8 May 2026