Still Completely Different at 30

The creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the surreal British show that transformed television and influenced a generation of comics, reunited on Saturday to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

The BBC, which launched the off-beat series that became an international cult, paid the Pythons the ultimate compliment -- devoting a whole evening of television to the zany comedians.

The five survivors -- fellow founder Graham Chapman died of cancer in 1989 -- came together for a characteristically quirky collection of old, new and long-lost sketches.

These ranged from the classic lunacy of the Dead Parrot sketch and the Ministry of Silly Walks to such gems as boiling nuns and dancing stockbrokers.

The Pythons, like The Beatles, had always vowed they would never reunite. But the anniversary celebration proved an irresistible temptation for the team whose ardent fans ranged from Elvis Presley to Robin Williams.

The Pythons, interviewed by the BBC, agreed that Chapman was the best actor while Terry Jones got the award for being the best Python drag artist.

John Cleese, who went on to international stardom in the hit film "A Fish Called Wanda," said: "The lovely thing was there was no spotlight on us. We were just able to play and had a great sense of excitement as we could throw out all the conventions."

American Terry Gilliam, whose cartoons became a Python trademark, was not too sure about the reunion because "there is nothing more embarrassing than watching a gang of middle-aged old farts reliving the halcyon days."

Michael Palin, now the presenter of popular television travel programs, could not be accused of nostalgia when recalling the first broadcast before a live audience in 1969.

"There weren't many laughs. I think the audience were in shock," he said. "We didn't all leap in the air and say this is a great breakthrough in world comedy."

Nineties cult comedian Eddie Izzard, who freely admits Python was a major influence, put it more bluntly. "The audience stared at them like six pigs playing banjo at a bar mitzvah."

Cleese said Thursday that he ordered train crash footage edited out of the comedy group's 30-year anniversary special, saying there are "some jokes you could never do."

In a review of the show, the Pythons remained firmly tongue-in-cheek about each other.

Eric Idle, now a Hollywood scriptwriter, said: "John is obviously the cruel-hearted bastard, Palin was the slightly ineffective middle class person and Terry Jones was the ratbag and Gilliam was anything that had any unpleasant make-up."

And he took his hat off to Graham Chapman: "That was the smart thing about dying first. You get everybody at your memorial service."