Although, originally conceived as a children's programme, it quickly acquired a cult crossover following amongst many adults, including future Pythons John Cleese and Graham Chapman ( as mentioned by Cleese himself in the " Paying my ex-wife " stage performance tour, October 2010 ).

Chapman and John Cleese wrote professionally for the BBC during the 1960s, primarily for David Frost, but also for Marty Feldman.

Chapman, Cleese, and Tim Brooke-Taylor later joined Feldman in the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show.

Chapman and Cleese also wrote for the long-running television comedy series Doctor in the House.

In 1969, Chapman and Cleese joined the other Pythons including Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin for their sketch comedy show Flying Circus.

In David Morgan's book Monty Python Speaks, Cleese asserted that Chapman, although officially his co-writer for many of their sketches, contributed comparatively little in the way of direct writing.

" In writing sessions Chapman " would lob in an idea or a line from out of left field into the engine room, but he could never be the engine ", Cleese said.

Cleese said that he and Chapman believed " There was something very funny there, if we could find the right context for it.

The film, which starred Chapman as the eponymous pirate, also featured appearances from Peter Cook, Marty Feldman, Cleese, Idle, Spike Milligan, and Cheech & Chong.

" In his book Graham Crackers, Chapman said that this took place just before Cleese left the show, and he wondered what the woman thought about his disappearance after getting Idle's response.

Cleese delivered his eulogy to Chapman, which began as follows:

Cleese continued after a break from laughter in the audience, claiming that Chapman had whispered in his ear the night before while he was writing the speech, saying:

The voices of Cleese, Gilliam, Jones, and Palin will be spliced into commentary recorded by Chapman reading from his memoir and taped shortly before his death.

Graham Chapman, still suffering from alcoholism, was so determined to play the lead role – at one point coveted by Cleese – that he dried out in time for filming, so much so that he was also able to act as the on-set doctor on top of his acting duties.

It was written by John Cleese and Graham Chapman and first performed in the eighth episode of the show's first series, " Full Frontal Nudity " ( 7 December 1969 ).

" John Cleese said on the same show that he and Chapman " believed that there was something very funny there, if we could find the right context for it.

At Graham Chapman's memorial service, John Cleese began his eulogy by reprising euphemisms from the sketch, stating that Graham Chapman was no more, that he had ceased to be, that bereft of life he rests in peace, that he had expired and gone to meet his maker, and so on, finally calling him an ex-Chapman.

Possibly unbeknown to Cleese and Chapman at the time they wrote the sketch, there are in fact two species of parrot that live in the alpine regions of South Island in New Zealand-an area known as " Fiordland " for the many fjords it contains.

During the drive back, Graham Chapman said that Cleese should eat something and asked him whether he fancied anything ; Cleese replied that he fancied a piece of cheese.

Upon seeing a chemist's shop, Cleese pondered whether the shop would sell cheese, to which Chapman responded that if they did it would be medicinal cheese and that Cleese would need a prescription to buy some.

Chapman then wrote the sketch with Cleese, who did not initially find it humorous.

In the Dead Parrot sketch, written mostly by Cleese, the frustrated customer was initially trying to return a faulty toaster to a shop.

Not to be outdone by Cleese, Idle was heard saying during the song's close: " I'd just like to be the last person at this meeting to say ' fuck '.

For the original British and Australian releases, a spoof travelogue narrated by John Cleese Away From It All, was shown before the film itself.

In a Not the Nine O ' Clock News sketch, a bishop who has made a scandalous film called The Life of Christ is hauled over the coals by a representative of the " Church of Python ", claiming that the film is an attack on " Our Lord, John Cleese " and on the members of Python, who, in the sketch, are the objects of Britain's true religious faith.

The sketch portrays a conflict between disgruntled customer Mr Praline ( played by Cleese ) and a shopkeeper ( Michael Palin ), who hold contradictory positions on the vital state of a " Norwegian Blue " parrot.

In a 2002 interview with Michael Parkinson, John Cleese said that when he and Palin were performing the sketch on Drury Lane, Palin made him laugh by saying, when asked if his slug could talk, " It mutters a bit " instead of " Not really.

" Cleese remarks that it's not much of a cheese shop, but Palin insists it is the best in the district due to its cleanliness, to which Cleese replies " Well, it's certainly uncontaminated by cheese.

On the strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality.

As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese.

* Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff-Hosted by Gonzo and Camilla at Gonzo's trailer home, which Gonzo tries to pass off as a mansion, with guest stars John Cleese, Jean Stapleton, Dom DeLuise, Julie Andrews, Vincent Price, and Madeline Kahn.

* Rollo Lee, the lead character in the film Fierce Creatures, played by John Cleese.

* Archibald Leach, fictional character played by John Cleese in the film A Fish Called Wanda

In one sketch on 1 March 1967, Feldman's character harassed a patient shop assistant ( played by Cleese ) for a series of fictitious books, achieving success with Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying.

John Cleese lent his support by voicing God in a recorded performance that was integrated into the musical.

In 1980, the BBC produced a version of the play for their BBC Shakespeare series, directed by Jonathan Miller and starring John Cleese and Sarah Badel.

Perhaps the first time that Wensleydale cheese was thrust into the limelight was as one of the cheeses mentioned by John Cleese in the Monty Python sketch " The Cheese Shop ", which originally appeared in a 1972 episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

# Girls in Bikinis: Sexy young women are seen posing in bikinis to the sound of lecherous male slavering, which ends abruptly when the camera pans to John Cleese reclining on a desk in a pink bikini and bow tie saying the phrase, " And now for something completely different.

John Cleese told of his sadness after his fellow Fawlty Towers star had died, saying, " I am very upset.

Cleese said in an interview that one of Chapman's great attributes was " his weird takes on things.

Shortly after the film was released, Cleese and Palin engaged in what would become a notorious debate on the BBC2 discussion programme Friday Night, Saturday Morning, in which Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the Bishop of Southwark, put the case against the film.

Cleese expressed that his reputation had " plummeted " in his eyes, while Palin commented that, " He was just being Muggeridge, preferring to have a very strong contrary opinion as opposed to none at all ".

John Cleese was a cast member.

That same year, the three Goons reunited for a televised re-staging of a vintage Goon Show for Thames Television, with John Cleese substituting for the late Wallace Greenslade, but the pilot was not successful and no further programmes were made.

In one interview, which was widely quoted at the time, John Cleese stated " Milligan is the Great God to all of us ".

Up until the 1990s, each of Gilliam's non-Python films was to feature at least one of his fellow Monty Python alumni ( particularly Palin, Cleese, and Idle ), and for his finished projects Gilliam has worked with the following actors more than once ( in order of first film appearance ):

It is believed that the first person to say " shit " on British TV was John Cleese of the Monty Python comedy troupe in the late 1960s, as he, himself, says in his eulogy for Graham Chapman.

Feldman was co-author, along with Cleese, Chapman and Brooke-Taylor of the " Four Yorkshiremen " sketch, which was also written for At Last the 1948 Show.

Following his At Last the 1948 Show, Feldman was given his own series on the BBC called Marty ( 1968 ); it featured Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin and Roland MacLeod, with Cleese as one of the writers.