Which prompted me to wonder something - watch the video through to the end before reading on...
What if Wells and some of his contemporaries were the first really popular proponents of surrealist humour, and had founded something not unlike the Pythons well before WW2. Who would be their Terry Gilliam equivalent - Dali? Who slots best into the Cleese role? What historical changes are needed to make this possible - a much more liberal management at the BBC, obviously, and an earlier introduction of television, though of course cinema short films are another possibility. What else?
I don't currently plan to do anything with this idea, at least not for publication, but if you decide to use it for an RPG or something a credit would be nice.