Answer: Monty Python’s Flying Circus

The wildly influential surreal comedy show and perennial geek favorite, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, was almost known by an entirely different name. Several different names, actually, including Owl Stretching Time; The Toad Elevating Moment; A Horse, a Spoon, and a Bucket; Vaseline Review; and Bun, Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot.

The only reason we all came to know and love the show as Monty Python’s Flying Circus is that it was the name the BBC printed on the broadcast schedule and, with true British pragmatism, they simply refused to reprint everything to bend to the whim of the comedy troupe.

If you’re sad an “Owl Stretching Time” never got its moment in the sun, take heart. The fun turn of phrase served as the title of the fourth episode in the first season of the show.