Monty Python extends stage show to five dates 25 November 2013 Last updated at 17:46 In an announcement about the show last week, Eric Idle said the audience should expect "comedy, pathos, music and a tiny piece of ancient sex" The Monty Python stage show has been extended from one date to five, running from 1 to 5 July at London's O2 Arena. The first show sold out within 43.5 seconds, organisers announced. The other four shows then sold out within 55 minutes. There were 14,500 tickets up for grabs for each show. Eric Idle said: "It's totally amazing. I don't think we realised quite how much Python is loved round the world. We look forward to paying off Terry Jones' mortgage soon. Last week it was announced that John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Idle were to reunite and perform together. It will be the first time the anarchic comedians have performed together since 2009, at their 40th anniversary celebrations in New York. Inflated prices However, several readers of the BBC News website stated that despite trying to buy tickets for the show announced last week, they were unable to, as many had been sold to "ticket marketplace" websites, which buy and sell live event tickets. One reader said: "Within minutes of tickets going on sale (and 'selling out') " many marketplace websites "had thousands of tickets for sale at ridiculously inflated prices." They added that that it was "one of the worst examples of rip-off Britain." One marketplace website, viagogo, had Monty Python tickets for Saturday 5 July listed as ranging from £136.88 to £3,999 [at the time of writing]. Viagogo said in response to the BBC readers' comments: "Every now and again, a show will be so popular it sends ticket prices rocketing. This is one of those times, with demand for Monty Python's shows so high it is even outstripping demand for the Rolling Stones' 50th Anniversary concerts, with Viagogo recording over 30% more searches for the Monty Python shows than that seen in the same period for the Stones in 2012. Spamalot case The company added that just because a ticket is listed at a high price, it "doesn't mean it will sell at that price." On viagogo, tickets are listed by sellers, who also set the prices. These can be less, the same as, or more than the original price of the ticket. Earlier this year, a film producer won a High Court case against the surviving members of Monty Python over royalty rights to the hit stage show Spamalot. The Pythons' hugely successful, zany BBC TV series, Monty Python's Flying Circus, bucked the trend of traditional sketch writing, which used a punchline at the end of a sketch. Instead, the Pythons followed in the footsteps of Spike Milligan, allowing sketches to merge into each other or simply stop abruptly. The first episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus was broadcast on 5 October, 1969. It ran for four series and spawned spin-off records, books and even German-language specials. Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life was released in 1983 and was another financial and critical success, winning the jury prize at Cannes film festival. The surviving Pythons went on to forge successful solo careers while continuing to collaborate with each other. Cleese famously co-wrote the hit BBC TV comedy series Fawlty Towers, which first ran in 1975, with Connie Booth, who had appeared in Monty Python's Flying Circus. Four Python members - Jones, Idle, Cleese and Palin - also appeared in Jones's 1996 adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's novel The Wind in the Willows. Cleese's acting career has also included roles in Clockwise, two James Bond films and two Harry Potter films. Palin has also starred in films including The Missionary and A Private Function and has of course made a huge name for himself with his award-winning travel documentaries.