The parrot was, we were assured, no more. It was definitely an ex-parrot. But there is a glimmer of hope that it could fly again, after fans greeted the news that the full remaining Monty Python crew were set to re-form with dazed delight.

Monty Python fans from Buenos Aires to Bacup have reacted with joy after hearing that the five surviving members of the Flying Circus – John Cleese, 74, Terry Gilliam, 72, Terry Jones, 71, Eric Idle, 70, and Michael Palin, 70 – are set to re-form for a stage show, the details of which are due to be revealed on Thursday.

"Monty Python is set to be a flying circus all over again", John Cleese posted on Twitter, confirming the news that fans have been yearning for for more than a quarter of a century.

On Thursday the comedy stars are set to reunite on stage at the Playhouse Theatre in London, where Spamalot, the musical billed as "lovingly ripped off" from the 1975 Arthurian spoof Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one of the Pythons' most successful films, has packed in audiences for years.

They are expected to outline just how many killer jokes fans can hope for from the reunion, created – if Jones is to be believed – in order to settle his bills. "We're getting together and putting on a show – it's real," he told the BBC. "I'm quite excited about it. I hope it makes us a lot of money. I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!"

On Tuesday Idle, who wrote Spamalot, tweeted that he was excited about a meeting being held that morning. He wrote: "Python meeting this morning. Can't wait. Press Conference Thursday will apparently be live on Sky News. I'll get you the online URL."

Aficionados reacted with delight with fan Andy Newman tweeting: "Possibly the best day of my life. Monty Python to reunite on stage", while @christhebutcher wrote: "Can we,hardcore #MontyPython fans work 4 u,guys,4 free?Like fanning u w palm leaves,etc?".

Hopes for a reunion of the comedy troupe which influenced generations of younger comedians and defined British humour for a generation began as soon as the television series ended in 1974, and the last film, The Meaning of Life, was released in 1983. But hopes faded over the years as Cleese said it was "absolutely impossible" to even get a majority of the surviving comedians in a room together.

Graham Chapman, ever amiably foolish and funny on screen, one of the writing brains of the team in real life, "selfishly" died in 1989, and the last time the five surviving members performed together was at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 1998.

The troupe – who met in the early 1960s at Cambridge while performing with the Footlights theatrical group – wrote and starred in the first Monty Python sketch show in 1969. Only 45 episodes were made over four series, but devoted fans can recite or sing the most famous sketches line by line, from the Spam song, to the unexpected arrival of the Spanish Inquisition, and the surprisingly tender secret life of lumberjacks.

The first season included the oft-cited Dead Parrot Sketch – an argument between Cleese and Palin in a pet shop on the state of health of a Norwegian Blue. The list of euphemisms for the parrot's untimely end: "This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace … " were movingly used again by Cleese at the memorial service for Chapman.

The first Python film, And Now For Something Completely Different, was released in 1971, followed by Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975 and the Life of Brian, featuring the line "He's not the messiah! He's a very naughty boy!", in 1979. The Meaning of Life, the Pythons' last film, was released in 1983 but a 2003 biography of the Pythons said that Cleese felt the film had been average. Plans for a US tour in 1999 and a movie sequel to Holy Grail were shelved and Idle once joked that the group would only "do a reunion if Chapman came back from the dead".

Separately, Palin made a series of ground-breaking travel documentaries, Cleese starred in films and Fawlty Towers, Jones co-wrote the hit fantasy film Labyrinth and the comedy series Ripping Yarns, and Gilliam became a Hollywood film director. Idle went into acting, before writing Spamalot, which premiered in 2004 to massive acclaim.

The success of Spamalot could have been a factor in luring the rest of the Pythons back to the stage. When Royal Mail issued a stamp celebrating the success of the show – it took $175m (£108m) at the box office in its initial Broadway run alone, and has been touring the world continuously since 2005 – Idle was asked how the other Pythons felt about it, and said they had responded "variously, and generously".

By last night, with no indication yet of the nature of the reunion show, Ladbrokes was giving 6/4 odds that it will break West End ticket sale records – and 2/1 on a new feature film too. It may have been time for something completely different, but now fans are overjoyed that it is time for a little more of the same.



Classic Python

Hell's Grannies:

A town is beset by gangs of "layabouts in lace" – elderly women who defile walls with the slogan "Make Tea Not Love".

Policeman: We have a lot of trouble with these oldies. Pension day's the worst – they go mad. As soon as they get their hands on their money they blow it all on milk, bread, tea, tin of meat for the cat.

Four Yorkshiremen:

A foursome of apparently affluent men try to get one-up on each other with tales of the childhood deprivation they suffered.

Palin: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.

Idle: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpaulin, but it was a house to US.

The Argument Clinic:

Michael Palin pays to have an argument with a very contrary John Cleese.

Cleese: I'm very sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid.

Palin: Aha! If I didn't pay, then why are you arguing? Got you!

Cleese: No you haven't.

Palin: Yes I have. If you're still arguing, I must have paid.

Cleese: Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time.

Palin: Oh, I've had enough of this!

Cleese: No, you haven't.

The Killer Joke:

Military tests confirm the killer joke's "devastating effectiveness at a range of up to 50 yards" and an inspector is sent to remove the dangerous weapon.

Inspector: I shall enter the house and attempt to remove the joke ... I shall be aided by the sound of sombre music, played on gramophone records, and also by the chanting of laments by the men of Q Division ... The atmosphere thus created should protect me in the eventuality of me reading the joke.

The Spanish Inquisition:

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise, fear and surprise. Er, two chief weapons … I'll come in again."