Monty Python , also known as The Pythons , is a group of British actors who have acted in several comedy movies ( most famously , Monty Python and the Holy Grail ) and had a television show , Monty Python 's Flying Circus which was originally between 1969 and 1974 , and is still well-known and watched around the world . Monty Python ( sometimes known as The Pythons ) was a British surreal comedy group that created the influential Monty Python 's Flying Circus , a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969 .