IT might have been the comedy favourite of another generation but the Monty Python crew have still got it, according to most critics of the first of a 10-night run at the O2.

The London show really is the full Monty, proclaimed the Mirror. “It’s not something completely different but that’s exactly why fans will love it,” said Mark Jeffries, whose only criticism was not seeing enough of the Pythons onstage compared with the dancers.

But it is understandable that they need breaks offstage because they have to “recover from their exertions”, said the Express.

“It’s a tall order for a bunch of old men and I think we can cut them some slack,” writes Neil Norman, who said they have “embedded themselves in the cultural memory”.

On a less positive note, the ‘i’ newspaper lamented the lack of new material, calling the show “a lazy production”

that relied on television footage and “the whooping adulation of an audience who know all the words”.

While admitting that some of the old sketches were “still very funny”, reviewer John Walsh said it became a little tiresome. The Mail said archive clips featuring the late Graham Chapman received some of the biggest cheers of the night. It is a show for fans, not newbies, according to comedian Russell Kane.

Tweeting after the show he wrote: “Witnessed legends in action.” In The Sun, Kane said it brought him back to his childhood on the sofa beside his father, “laughing my bum off ”.