What a huge impact Monty Python had on American audiences, notably college students. When I was in college, we sat around the dorm room repeating sketches word for word. A small group of us did the did the lumberjack song in the dining hall and eveyone chimed in on the chorus. When Saturday Night Live had a Python on as a guest, it was an event (and a little disappointing, in that SNL sketches written by SNL writers were a big step down from Python's own comedy), and their live appearances in the U.S. were so popular it took the Pythons by surprise. The first episode hit U.S. television about five years after their original release. A year or two before Python we were getting "Doctor In The House," a good but not brilliant comedy that sort of set the stage for the great comedy to come.

-Ken Shabby