40 years ago this week, Monty Python's Flying Circus first aired on UK TV - to the bemused guffaws of a live studio audience.

The Pythons' anarchy and audacity replotted the entire comedy map and their influence still looms, like some titanic (but dead) Norwegian Blue parrot, over any TV/movie writer who sits down with the intention of being funny.

So, as the surviving members are honoured with a BAFTA Special Award, here's totalfilm.com's Top 40 python sketches - from TV and movies. Let us know your favourite - or the ones we missed...

40. The Funniest Joke In The World

Ernest Scribbler, joke writer, comes up with a gag so funny he laughs himself to death. Then, his final missive is unleashed upon an unsuspecting Hun in the form of a weapon...

Quote: “It was obvious the joke was lethal. Nobody could read it and live.”

39. Venus In A Half-Shell

Terry Gilliam loved to bend, fold, spindle and mutilate famous works of art and Botticelli’s ‘The Birth Of Venus’ was a prime candidate for some animated mockery – just watch those legs fly!

The animator got to play with Venus again 17 years later, this time in real life and in the form of Uma Thurman in The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen.

38. Confuse-A-Cat

Is your cat staring into the distance for no discernible reason? Is it outside on the lawn, night and day? Are you worried sick about the poor kitty? What you need to do is… CONFUSE IT!

Cue extreme Python lunacy in the form of a crack team of confuse-a-cat commandos who, along the way, rather confuse us, too…
 
Quote: “Your cat is suffering from what we vets haven’t found a word for.”

37. Come Back To My Place

Short but perfectly formed, this earnest little sketch has Palin complaining about a stolen coat to a copper before the story goes somewhere else entirely...

Never did Python have more fun than when they were playing with authority figures – often in the naughtiest way they could. Bear in mind this was the BBC 40 years ago…

Quote: “Yeah, alright..."

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