I worked on this sketch as a trainee camera operator and unfortunately when Graham Chapman fired the gun the wadding ricocheted off the studio floor and hit me in the chest. I was splattered with wadding but didn't really feel to much. The frightening bit was people looking at me with shocked expressions on their faces. If you watch closely, Graham didn't point the riffle through the window but fires it into the floor. Anyhow I was fine, so all good.
I love that the girl in the background with the french maid outfit is really trying not to laugh at some points. You can see her wrestling with the need to.
One comment claimed that the Pythons were all " Upper - Middle " Class. Only John Cleese was - sort of - Upper - Middle . The rest were bog - standard GP's Sons , sort of a thing . Funny how anyone views another Class , really depends upon - largely , but , not uniquely - how they view themselves . I am Upper - Working / Lower Middle Class; This means i wear a Tie whilst i bite the Heads off Whippets !
Mansfield: "Oh, sorry old man!" Mrs. Vermin Jones: "Don't think so, Becky old chap." "Oh, sorry Becky old beast." A little gender and species confusion on the part of the well-heeled.
Yes, three pub size bottles of gin a day, as he tells us in his A Liar's Autobiography. He describes how he and his medical mates used to play a game called 'shitties.' Use your imagination :) An amusing apophthegm of his is 'masturbation is a noble pastime, enhancing as it does the faculty of the imagination.' It's a great read.
John Landon The ender is often classic for Python. "You wanna come back to my place? I thought you would never ask!" at the end of the parrot sketch...excellent.
They never really knew how to do punch lines, and they constantly mock themselves for it. As everyone knows, there's a whole episode where the cast gets arrested for getting out of sketches without a proper punch line. But the lack of punch lines is part of what makes some of their sketches great. (And something's up with the notification of TH-cam comments, since I got the notification of this comment five minutes ago.)
one facet of why they were so damned good... there are often layers of actual genius at work in some this. They just... forsook the punchline. Who said you needed one? The only way they would acknowledge any kind of rule to making comedy, was when they willfully broke them. And often even worked that very act into it's own gag. They had an actual contempt for convention I think. It often shows in their work. They take what is expected, what you're supposed to do with comedy in a given situation and... they pervert it, twist it.... and I call it genius.
He truly was amazing! He was so gifted. Even his appearance in George Harrison’s Crackerbox Palace cracks me up! His timing and expressions were just epic! 😂❤🎉
Not to mention, he was half in the bag by 10:30. and often fully in by lunch. Some of the saddest stories in Show Biz are the stories of folks who dragged themselves out of the bottle, only to fall in an unrelated tragedy. Kinison, Stevie Ray. And Graham. I have no words. He was a truly talented actor and comedian, and was likely on his way to some more serious roles, as his great pal Cleese would dabble in.
Whether or not you think this is Monty Python's best sketch ever, can we all just appreciate the fact that they made a skit based entirely on intonation and facial expressions?
DealerCamel You are correct. Arguing which Monty Python skit is the funniest is like arguing religion or politics. Never get an agreement and most likely will cause a world conflict.
While I agree that world conflict would be the most likely outcome, I think we all can at least find solace in knowing that joke warfare was banned at a special session of the Geneva Convention.
I think what makes it great is its stamina. There's no major punchline, just the sheer power of Graham's delivery and his ability to keep it going. Also the word "antelope." Smashing word, that!
Best expressions: Graham Chapman Best vocalist: Carol Cleveland Best cross dresser: Eric Idle Winner: The servants keeping straight faces throughout the sketch!
I wouldn't say it's their best sketch, but it's absolutely one of their most underrated. It's definitely one I watch again and again, and I always find it funny. Chapman's facial expressions are priceless here.
Vin Kermit Diesel Who cares. What's really important, the sense of humour of very many viewers was left entirely uninjured thanks to its convenient absence.
Docktor Jim Carol Cleveland if I remember rightly, they usually got her to play young female parts, the python's themselves usually stuck to the old hag parts. She was also in the marriage counseling sketch.
Me and my friend watched this sketch after a long drunken evening many years ago, we still quote it to each other and it's still funny now! Absolute classic, not sure I could choose a best sketch there are so many but this is definitely a favourite.
I mean, the link at the end was a bit weak, but this is still a dreadfully funny sketch. "Sketch." Nasty, tinny sort of word, isn't it? Perfectly dreadful.
definitely one of their most divisive. I love it for the bizarre wordplay and delivery, especially from GC. VOLE....RECIDIVIST.... I just dunno why that makes me laugh. And CC's overreactions
You can see the actress in the maid uniform nearly lose it a few times. She's doing her absolute best to hold it together, and she manages to keep it to only a few tight smiles. If I were in her shoes I'd be absolutely howling.
***** I found it funny, but more than funny smile worthy and insightful, and thats an essential ingredient of good comedy. There are more hilarious bits from them admittedly but I love this one
***** I found it funny at a visceral level, I do love language based humour and love python. I'm not saying it was brilliant, the ending its quite weak, but most of it I liked it a lot
Yeah this is my fav too. Fantastic script + delivery. It's not just absurdist theater - it also underscores the uselessness and degeneracy of the 'gentlemen of leisure' - an actual post-Victorian set that inherited such wealth that they never needed to work in their lives, and might actually have had nothing better to do than spend the afternoon discussing croquet hoops and their favourite syllables. The countries crossed out in the beginning is probably a subtle reference to the dwindling empire (?), emphasizing the absolute indifference and insularity of this cast of relics and hinting at their imminent demise.
Yeah thank god none of these people exist now hey! Inherited wealth sitting around and doing nothing apart from owning land. Glad we got rid of all of them!
@@studioshitaketakashita7093 But then you run the risk of getting bored and deciding to bury forests or block the sunlight with orbiting sunshields like certain people who should be enjoying retired life are trying to do.
Calling this "Monty Python's best sketch ever " is like calling Rocky Road the best ice cream ever. No matter what flavor I'm ultimately handed, I'm going to be happy with it.
I love this sketch because i can relate to it. I also have words that i like to randomly say for no reason, just because they make me feel better. I think that might be a mild case of tourretes syndrome or something.
CaptHollister Every notice that Graham Chapman often played the "straight man" in sketches? In one, they even labeled him as one. Another clever bit of humor since Graham Chapman was gay ...
channelhismojo No, a quick gis shows that it is used in UK slang, too. UK, YTers can confirm this. It almost certainly was not accidental, especially when being uttered by Dr. Chapman.
Everyone has a favourite, it's impossible to pinpoint a particular one. They were brilliant, almost 50 years later and they're still being spoken about like the show was yesterday!
It feels like yesterday when I watch them! My three older brothers and I watched them so much! We all have different favorite episodes. Mine is The Interview! They were completely brilliant! 😂❤
I get it Jamie. I grew up with Monty Python here in Australia. No stranger to the English absurd sense of humour. They have hundreds of sketches that are much funnier than that one, that's all.
If you are looking for a reason for it to be funny then you are missing the point of Monty Python. Something doesn't have to make sense to be funny. Python was always a blend of satire and complete and utter nonsense.
This sketch is the very reason I switched from using my first name 'Tim" - so tiny, and use my middle name Gordon - so woody, so very woody. Also I play sitar the gourd based long neck lute of North India - Gordy on gourds! And is this why I nearly changed my name to Ocelot?
This sketch is priceless...and probably a sarcastic take on English aristocracy. I'm sure this scene has been played out in real life many thousands (millions?) of times. I have to wonder what goes through the minds of the bevy of servants standing in the background. hahaaa
Not all sketches have to have you doubled over in laughter. This one just provides some light amusement. For those who don't get it, it's old money with nothing better to do than sit around and muse on how words sound and make them feel.
Sound symbolism (more or less) and class parody. Perfectly combined with their usual surreal-ness. Also "I'm afraid Mrs. Vermin-Jones appears to have passed on". What a blow for her.
This bit has its moments, but best Python sketch ever? No Spanish Inquisition? No Argument Clinic? No Fish-Slapping Dance? No Ministry of Silly Walks? No Nudge, Nudge? And those are just off the top of my head, with plenty of others.
Geez! Is this where I come to read comments from humorless twits? I guess the upper classes who would blanch at this humor have devolved into TH-cam trolls. This is funny!!
It was amusing how relatable the terms woody and tinny were, even though I had never heard those used to describe words before, but I wouldn't say that this was their best sketch ever.
It's a spoof on the pretentiousness of England's upper crust. You have to be from there or know their culture very well to get it. And, it wasn't their best. I;ll still take it over the garbage of today.
These guys are (and in Graham's case, were) very intelligent cats. These sorts of sketches, where they went into language and word jokes, were some of their best. I'd forgotten about this one, too. :)
Sketches based on word play were the preserve of the ex-Cambridge Pythons (Chapman, Cleese and Idle). And the sketches that tended to be more visual were the ex-Oxford Pythons (Palin and Jones).
I love how at 2:28 after he fires the gun the maid in black is startled then has to stop herself from laughing. It looks like she goes again when he has the bucket of water thrown on him.
No way, their best sketch IMHO is the Greek philosophers versus the German philosophers in football.This isn't even close to the absurdity of that sketch.
For those who don't get the humour, perhaps it might help to suggest that the Python team's approach is sometimes almost Dada, that is to say, absurdist. The underlying theme, if there be one, is that the monied classes have so little to do, that they have time to ponder on the synesthetic attributes of random words while libido rises or the desire for a bath to kill time becomes overwhelming. That, the various ridiculous salutations ("sorry, old horse/old chap" etc. to a female) and Chapman's lubricious delivery (reminiscent of Rowan Atkinson's "school register" delivery in the Secret Policeman's Ball) plus the sudden shock elements of the shotgun and the bellowed song-verse all conspire to create a surreal scenario that Lewis Carrol and Edward Lear would have empathised with. But to explain humour is to castrate it. I for one, just roll with the absurdity and enjoy the drunken, dream-like illogicality of it. Wonderfully liberating, I think. Stop making sense, after all.......
I love how Monty Python are so hugely popular with most people not realizing that when you take away their most famous skits, a lot of the Flying Circus was actually stiff like this. Lots of circular dialogue and targeted upending of expectations. Honestly, I don't even know why this skit makes me laugh, but it does.
I can’t help but feel a lot of their stuff was plain banal... not criticism of the creative process, more a wonder “Life in England makes even this hilarious” 😮
Their best sketch ever? Hardly, but it is a wonderful example of their unique insanity that makes Monty Python unmatched by any other form of sketch comedy troupes ever. Pure genius. Pure Python!
@@dougaldouglas8842 My two favourites were the Whizzo Box of Assorted Chocolates (the ones with Rams bladder cup AND Cockroach Cluster), clearly based in Black Magic, and Ken Shabby wanting to marry an aristo's daughter. (" clean out public lavatories....after two years they give me a broom").
@@alangiles2763 Erm. All were my zany favourites, zany as hell. Its nice to find others that found, and find Monty Python amusing, a real just let go and let things proceed, especially an attack upon the upper crust, just how pompous they are.
It's right up there with the penguin on the telly. I've kept a stuffed penguin on top of my telly for years. Now that we have flat screens, it's standing beside it. Still, it explodes occasionally.
Cleese has said he thought 'The Cheese Shop' sketch one of his best... I found it rather dull, strictly enumeration gag. 'Spanish Inquisition' has to be in the top five. 'Dead Parrot' is near the top of everyone's list. 'Spam' is very near the top for me... I like 'em surreal. I like this one, Carol has a great part (and looks fab!).
+scowell Add the Ministry of Silly Walks to that list, too. And the Argument Sketch. Also, Nudge Nudge, The Four Yorkshiremen, and the Fish-Slapping Dance.
+scowell While I can see why some people might not like the Cheese Shop Sketch it's one of my favorites. And yes, of course the Dead Parrot is one of the best.
I worked on this sketch as a trainee camera operator and unfortunately when Graham Chapman fired the gun the wadding ricocheted off the studio floor and hit me in the chest. I was splattered with wadding but didn't really feel to much. The frightening bit was people looking at me with shocked expressions on their faces. If you watch closely, Graham didn't point the riffle through the window but fires it into the floor. Anyhow I was fine, so all good.
🙀
Don't try that with Alec Baldwin
Wadding. Woody sort of word. Wadding.
Were you hurt?
@@mimilini1 Devastated.
I have to commend the extras in the background for keeping a straight face.
How many takes must this have taken
well that girl got startled by the gunshot pretty badly. Must be the longest 5 minutes of her life trying to hold her laugh.
Ear plugs, maybe?
+lionhead123 She does smile quite a bit when the bucket comes out.
Greater strength has never been displayed on tv
2:34 Caribou gooone - you can see Eric Idle geniunly laughing. :)
+Phil Shary "Erogenous zoooooooone"
+YellowOnline true! He tries really hard not to. :)
Anthony Smith thank you, my dear.
OMG I have ALWAYS found this to be one of the funniest things they ever did! And someone else finally agrees!
Hmmm.
Caribou gorn!
Eroginal ZONE
I saw the early episodes in 1969 and was hooked.
Does that mean Gorns are the woodiest species in Star Trek?
You sound extremely hip.
Also, the Gorn is a witch!
InvisiblerApple EEWW!! what a tinny sort of word.
***** burn it! burn it!
Gorn damnit, you've gorn and done it again. What are we gorn to do with you?
I understood about half of that but still chuckled anyways.
"I'd like to buy an argument"
I love that the girl in the background with the french maid outfit is really trying not to laugh at some points. You can see her wrestling with the need to.
Isn't it funny that one of the servants in the background looks like Mrs. Patmore, with the glasses that she wore in Season 1 😂😂😂
The guy who uploaded these videos hasn't been back for nearly TEN years.
Let that sink in.
I hope he wasn't Gorn'ed off.
what does that sink want now
BenjL yes he has GONE!
He was mistaken for a caribou.
ten is such a woody word
So original. So brilliant.
One comment claimed that the Pythons were all " Upper - Middle " Class. Only John Cleese was - sort of - Upper - Middle . The rest were bog - standard GP's Sons , sort of a thing . Funny how anyone views another Class , really depends upon - largely , but , not uniquely - how they view themselves . I am Upper - Working / Lower Middle Class; This means i wear a Tie whilst i bite the Heads off Whippets !
"Sorry, old horse" gets me every time.
and "Now you're talking!" My friend and I still randomly quote that. lol
"sorry, old beast" does it for me
A good, woody apology.
"Ooooh, sorry, Beck ole beast"
Mansfield: "Oh, sorry old man!" Mrs. Vermin Jones: "Don't think so, Becky old chap." "Oh, sorry Becky old beast." A little gender and species confusion on the part of the well-heeled.
I love how the staff are in the background just being furniture.
+Kenazzle No you don't.
Oh, sorry, wrong sketch.
Throatwobbler Mangrove I'd respond but someone just knocked me into the canal with a large halibut.
Kenazzle Was the halibut called Eric?
Throatwobbler Mangrove He was a very naughty boy.
+Kenazzle That sounds woody don't you think?
Graham Chapman, I believe, was completely and utterly hammered throughout this period. Good times. Still a wonderful, woody sort of sketch.
Gorn!!!
Intercourse the penguin
He was! Very Goooooorn
Yes, three pub size bottles of gin a day, as he tells us in his A Liar's Autobiography. He describes how he and his medical mates used to play a game called 'shitties.' Use your imagination :) An amusing apophthegm of his is 'masturbation is a noble pastime, enhancing as it does the faculty of the imagination.' It's a great read.
@@michaelbuhagiar6203 Goooorn
The four people in the back had the hardest job of all:
Maintaining their composure for five straight minutes.
Like the Roman guards in the Incontinentia Buttox scene in Life of Brian, they should have all been on double time pay.
@@ianbartle456 You do not find it wisible, when I mention my friend, Biggus... Dickus?
Suppose they wanted to be gone!
This sketch leaves a kind of woody aftertaste in my mouth with just a hint of tin.
Might a suggest a polite spit, a hint of lemon to refresh - then repair immediately to the Cheese Shop sketch.
@@ianbartle456 And then have a bath.
I sort of consider that this is how the aristocracy actually spend a lot of their time...
+Katherine Daniel
Sort of...consider...aristocracy... delightfully woody words.
Andronikos
"commoner!"
Ugh.... terribly tinny word, that.....
+Katherine Daniel Wombat!
before tvs and internet yes ^^
muaythai193
INTERNET!
A woody word if ever I heard one!
....Dial-up.... Horribly Tinny....
-INTERCOURSE!
-later dear
gets me every time
I had to pause the video after that part because I was laughing too hard. 😂😂😂
The Tintin movie would've finished off Becky.
Ha. Ha.
Sorry old man!
awful Tinny movie! Tintin!
Becky would love 'Toy Story' though. It is quite woody.
+Corey Wright Badum tish
Which episode of Downton Abbey is this?
pwahahaha.
+DrCruel - ALL OF THEM!!!
+DrCruel The episode that was far too silly.
***** Quite.
+DrCruel waaahahahahah. Comment of the yeaaaar!!!
Love, love, love, love, love the exchange:
"Dead is she?"
"'fraid so"
"What a blow for her."
John Landon The ender is often classic for Python. "You wanna come back to my place? I thought you would never ask!" at the end of the parrot sketch...excellent.
They never really knew how to do punch lines, and they constantly mock themselves for it. As everyone knows, there's a whole episode where the cast gets arrested for getting out of sketches without a proper punch line. But the lack of punch lines is part of what makes some of their sketches great.
(And something's up with the notification of TH-cam comments, since I got the notification of this comment five minutes ago.)
one facet of why they were so damned good... there are often layers of actual genius at work in some this. They just... forsook the punchline. Who said you needed one? The only way they would acknowledge any kind of rule to making comedy, was when they willfully broke them. And often even worked that very act into it's own gag. They had an actual contempt for convention I think. It often shows in their work. They take what is expected, what you're supposed to do with comedy in a given situation and... they pervert it, twist it.... and I call it genius.
“WHAT’S URP?”
Whether this is their best sketch or not, you’ve got to hand the Best Monty Python Actor trophy to Graham Chapman. The man’s range was astounding.
He was just so darned........woody.
He truly was amazing! He was so gifted. Even his appearance in George Harrison’s Crackerbox Palace cracks me up! His timing and expressions were just epic! 😂❤🎉
Chapman really was their best actor. That's why he played the key roles of King Arthur and Brian Cohen; he carried the through-line of the plots.
He was amazing. At 1:55 he turns into Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Not to mention, he was half in the bag by 10:30. and often fully in by lunch.
Some of the saddest stories in Show Biz are the stories of folks who dragged themselves out of the bottle, only to fall in an unrelated tragedy. Kinison, Stevie Ray. And Graham. I have no words. He was a truly talented actor and comedian, and was likely on his way to some more serious roles, as his great pal Cleese would dabble in.
Whether or not you think this is Monty Python's best sketch ever, can we all just appreciate the fact that they made a skit based entirely on intonation and facial expressions?
+DealerCamel - and making fun of the aristocracy
+Ratel.H Badger To be fair, they did that pretty regularly. See Upper Class Twit of the Year.
Eleglas Indeed
DealerCamel You are correct. Arguing which Monty Python skit is the funniest is like arguing religion or politics. Never get an agreement and most likely will cause a world conflict.
While I agree that world conflict would be the most likely outcome, I think we all can at least find solace in knowing that joke warfare was banned at a special session of the Geneva Convention.
This is one of the most "British" things I've ever seen.
Yes it has definitely british feel to it :) I like british people though
I'm British and this was the best thing ever
+ prophetic0311
Obviously they have been British ;)
I'm American but I tend to agree. Personally I prefer the ministry of the funny walks. Check it out sometime.
prophetic0311 oh my, British is quite a woody word, is it not?
I think what makes it great is its stamina. There's no major punchline, just the sheer power of Graham's delivery and his ability to keep it going. Also the word "antelope." Smashing word, that!
_Albatross_ . That's a good word.
@@FrozenHero2010very woodie
Bit tinny in the middle
o-ce-lot
@@kirilzarinski6829 Cariobu … goone 🫎
Graham Chapman was amazing. A very sad loss to comedy when he passed away.
The N word
What a blow for him.
Best expressions: Graham Chapman
Best vocalist: Carol Cleveland
Best cross dresser: Eric Idle
Winner: The servants keeping straight faces throughout the sketch!
Carol was great
Except the maid, second servant on the left, who almost lost it after Mansfield shot the caribou nibbling the croquet hoops.
@@heartspy4525 She obv was laughing at the Original Poster cameraman getting shot with that Woody Olde Wadding.
Eric wants to be a woman
NDA's. Non Disclosure Agreements. 😅
Frightfully sorry Graham Chapman's long GORRRRRRRNNNNNN.
fell in the well thirsty for escape from sadness.
That's a very woody sort of phrase.
AECSRQ GAAAAAAAWWWWWN
He's nibbling off the croquet hoops. The wooden sort, of course.
You spelled it incorrectly.
This is how I imagine Boris Johnson spends his free time.
This sketch is chicken feed to him.
EROGENOUS ZOOOOONE lmfao
+judgewestenn CON-CU-BINE!
loose women erogenous zoo---
+judgewestenn
🤣🤣🤣 So funny.
I wouldn't say it's their best sketch, but it's absolutely one of their most underrated. It's definitely one I watch again and again, and I always find it funny. Chapman's facial expressions are priceless here.
One of their most underrated lines too. "Dead is she? What a blow for her.".
It is all about Chapman's facial expressions. He rules that sketch
Best is so subjective, but I know I loved this sketch when I went through watching all the episodes in order, and it is a standout in my mind.
No caribou were injured during the shooting of this sketch.
No Pythons were injured during the shooting of this caribou.
Vin Kermit Diesel Who cares. What's really important, the sense of humour of very many viewers was left entirely uninjured thanks to its convenient absence.
***** Ahahah I thought the same thing after reading the OP comment.
Yes they were. He shot one, in the antlers.
Nope....one was definitely shot. Although it must have been a very small one from the angle of the gun.
"Do sing me a song! Something woody!"
"You've got a friend in me. You've got a friend in me"
Aaaaaah genius.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay; I sleep all night and I work all day.
🎶 I cut down trees I eat my lunch and go to the lavatory and on Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea 🎶@@MajorazMasta
Wait. That woman in the middle is an actual woman.
Docktor Jim Yes. Well spotted.
Docktor Jim Carol Cleveland if I remember rightly, they usually got her to play young female parts, the python's themselves usually stuck to the old hag parts. She was also in the marriage counseling sketch.
Lord Cottington Cleese as Anne Elk was the best drag I've ever seen.
Docktor Jim Not 'arf!
+Docktor Jim ~ Wooomannn, very woody word. Very woody word, indeed.
“Sorry old Horse!” Imagine saying that to Carol Cleveland…😂🤣
I just like how the staff from the cast of Downton Abbey traveled back in time to stand behind them in this sketch.
Doing nothing.
DOWN-ton : there’s a good woody sort of word!
Gorn; honestly one of my favorite Star Trek species
The Arena
@@ksrmk Arena? Bit tinny, don't you think?
@@FranklinHarris Frightfully so.
What a super woody sort of alien...Gooooooorn.
@@KillingAddiction 😂😂
Me and my friend watched this sketch after a long drunken evening many years ago, we still quote it to each other and it's still funny now! Absolute classic, not sure I could choose a best sketch there are so many but this is definitely a favourite.
A woodycomment😅
Top marks to the background actors for keeping a straight face through this. That's talent.
Just barely. Look at the maid during the "erogenous zooooonne" part of the sketch.
@@brianhaygood183 poor girl nearly jumped out of her skin when the gun went off!
@@willbick7889 That's when it all started getting hard for her. Too much emotion.
@@willbick7889 The really, really pretty one?
@@willbick7889She was nearly to be gooooooon
"Intercourse."
"Later dear."
"No, no, the word 'Intercourse'."
Kevin Lebby
The penguin?
I mean, the link at the end was a bit weak, but this is still a dreadfully funny sketch.
"Sketch." Nasty, tinny sort of word, isn't it? Perfectly dreadful.
Daniel Clarke Well, just time for another bath.
Is GHOTI a tinny word?
And so is "Fish"!
TheTullecesama
"Trout", on the other hand...
The big irony is that although 'Birch' is a type of wood it also sounds very tinny.
*Aaaaah*
"Mansfield's just shot one in the antlers."
Can't argue with that as a line.
No it isn't!
I just don't understand most of their stuff nor Benny Hill
Yes it is!
That`s not an argument .
Oh , " Yes it is" says the La Di Da poofter , like a big QUEEN...............
No it is!
Yes it's not!
This must be the worst MP sketch I've ever seen.
pretty damn bad....
It wasn't great, but still has better comic timing than most comedy sketches you'll see
definitely one of their most divisive. I love it for the bizarre wordplay and delivery, especially from GC. VOLE....RECIDIVIST.... I just dunno why that makes me laugh. And CC's overreactions
It's from season 4; John Cleese had left the show, and the remaining members felt Flying Circus had lost it's subversive mayhem.
You Brits have been cooped up on that island too long!
+Joey Jamison tell me about it.
+Joey Jamison Haha
Better to be cooped up on an island surrounded by sea than a continent surrounded by at least three winds of madness.
COOPED. Very woody sort of word, dont you think ol' chap ?
Its better that way considering our options for company
The full parrot sketch with the lumberjack song is probably my favourite
🙋spam Is good !💁
The Michael Ellis sketch is quite good as well.
@@Ang543210 Doug and Dinsdale.
GROOT. I like the word Groot, gives me confidence. Got a very woody sound to it. GROOT.
I had a good laugh at that!
Yes not at all like Ronan or Rocket. Dreadfully tinny words.
Can' t beat woo wood , anyway
CJusticeHappen21 'Groot' means large or big in Dutch. Bit weird to hear a tree say it
um, hate to be that guy but they were saying "Gone" guys
How are the 4 servants behind 'em keeping a straight face
The maid is wearing sunglasses
As the help should be!
You can see the actress in the maid uniform nearly lose it a few times. She's doing her absolute best to hold it together, and she manages to keep it to only a few tight smiles. If I were in her shoes I'd be absolutely howling.
If yu were in her shoes, you'd be in agony. They're very small shoes.
good thing the TV's back then were 14" and the signal was equivalent to 240p of today, so nobody could really see it
And boy she was hot
Its due to the wasp. Id never noticed it on a small screen but on a big screen you can see hiw aware of it they all are.
´howling´ - terribly tinny word, old chap, Try ´guffaw´ - a nice woody word, guff-aww
This is one of those Monty Python sketches that I like because you either get it or you don't.
It's partly class-parody, but also the British appreciation for a certain synaesthetic _texture_ of various words, here taken to extremes.
***** Different people have different senses of humour.
***** I found it funny, but more than funny smile worthy and insightful, and thats an essential ingredient of good comedy. There are more hilarious bits from them admittedly but I love this one
***** its a surreal sketch, those either bomb or hit the target. I guess I'm the target and you're the civilian casualty
***** I found it funny at a visceral level, I do love language based humour and love python. I'm not saying it was brilliant, the ending its quite weak, but most of it I liked it a lot
***** don't be so hard, perhaps thats from a python sketch?
J/K
The pilot is a reference to another sketch called "RAF Banter" that is worth checking out.
pretty sure it's the same episode
I love that sketch.
Afraid I don't quite follow you, Squadron Leader.
"Cabbage crates coming over the horizon??!"
The first cabbage crates hit London by July 7th. That was just the beginning...
Yeah this is my fav too. Fantastic script + delivery. It's not just absurdist theater - it also underscores the uselessness and degeneracy of the 'gentlemen of leisure' - an actual post-Victorian set that inherited such wealth that they never needed to work in their lives, and might actually have had nothing better to do than spend the afternoon discussing croquet hoops and their favourite syllables. The countries crossed out in the beginning is probably a subtle reference to the dwindling empire (?), emphasizing the absolute indifference and insularity of this cast of relics and hinting at their imminent demise.
god how I'd love to be a "gentleman of leisure"
Yep
Yeah thank god none of these people exist now hey! Inherited wealth sitting around and doing nothing apart from owning land. Glad we got rid of all of them!
@@studioshitaketakashita7093 But then you run the risk of getting bored and deciding to bury forests or block the sunlight with orbiting sunshields like certain people who should be enjoying retired life are trying to do.
I wish people would stop calling their uploads the 'best ever'.
Worst ever just doesn't sell like it used to.
lwolf1952 woooooorst. Woody.
not bad for around this time
It's okay for their worst season, Season 4. But for an actually funny sketch that isn't famous either, try "Flying Lesson."
[PRANK][COPS CALLED][GONE INTERCOURSE][WOODY][TINNY]
Calling this "Monty Python's best sketch ever " is like calling Rocky Road the best ice cream ever. No matter what flavor I'm ultimately handed, I'm going to be happy with it.
Waldog Opinions are like assholes, Everyone has one, and they all stink, except the ones you like. Thus is the nature of opinions.
Anyone with a teaspoon of brains knows that the best ice cream has cubelets of Spam!
My two new favorite things about this sketch: Eric Idle's teacup pinky and Michael Palin's presumptuous nose sniff after saying "What rotten luck!".
I love this sketch because i can relate to it. I also have words that i like to randomly say for no reason, just because they make me feel better. I think that might be a mild case of tourretes syndrome or something.
Onnnnnlyyyyyyy....
mmm reminds me of chocolate.
Tony Arcieri i dunno. i usually have to say them when i recall an akward moment. helps me clear my mind.
but sometimes it's just because im bored.
flabbergasting
no, that's just with everybody i'm pretty sure
autism... now theres a woody sounding word
"You can't beat wood" is a hilarious accidental joke
Particularly coming from Graham Chapman.
It isn't accidental.
CaptHollister Every notice that Graham Chapman often played the "straight man" in sketches? In one, they even labeled him as one. Another clever bit of humor since Graham Chapman was gay ...
Daisy Brambletoes I believe only Americans call erect penises "wood", so it probably is accidental. No other English speakers use that term.
channelhismojo No, a quick gis shows that it is used in UK slang, too. UK, YTers can confirm this. It almost certainly was not accidental, especially when being uttered by Dr. Chapman.
0:35 "You can't beat wood". Yes you can ;)
Dubstep From God Now now, Don't be a Tit about it XD
I often do.
+stanthology sounds too tinny.
DFG Music Your profile picture goes perfectly with what you said
salamander7125 how?
Everyone has a favourite, it's impossible to pinpoint a particular one. They were brilliant, almost 50 years later and they're still being spoken about like the show was yesterday!
It feels like yesterday when I watch them! My three older brothers and I watched them so much! We all have different favorite episodes. Mine is The Interview! They were completely brilliant! 😂❤
I love the one about the guy hooked on blue cheese 🙂 .
@@Beirut27 my favorite was the lifeboat cannibals or cannibal undertakers
Dennis Moore sketch was my favorite. Their brilliance was ahead of it's time.
@@republiccan7138 he robs from the poor and gives to the rich! Stupid bitch! 😁😁😁
Nowhere near their best sketch.
John Seabrook What a tinny comment.
John Seabrook Sorry 'bout that old horse.
+John Seabrook you just don;t get it. it's genius. oh so british.
I get it Jamie. I grew up with Monty Python here in Australia. No stranger to the English absurd sense of humour. They have hundreds of sketches that are much funnier than that one, that's all.
+John Seabrook... Exactly. I would rate this as one of their very worst sketches.
If you are looking for a reason for it to be funny then you are missing the point of Monty Python. Something doesn't have to make sense to be funny. Python was always a blend of satire and complete and utter nonsense.
The Ministry of Silly Walks is my favorite. Really tweaks the bureaucratic Establishment
Yeahhhh as a HUGE fan of monty python, i have to be honest and say this is probably the least funny skit of all of them lol
Comedy subjective
I don't think anyone understands why this is so funny. How dreadful.
Sort of PVC people, don't you think?
Ex Post Facto Dreadfully PVC at that.
Why is it funny, then?
the Sententious Vaunter What is PVC short form for?
^ Dude, just Google it.
This sketch is the very reason I switched from using my first name 'Tim" - so tiny, and use my middle name Gordon - so woody, so very woody. Also I play sitar the gourd based long neck lute of North India - Gordy on gourds! And is this why I nearly changed my name to Ocelot?
Gordon Ocelot. Very woody.
@@martinXYocelot sounds a trifle tinny to me... Gordon though, that's as sound as an oak.
Gordon Ocelot is very woody! Gorn!
“Dead is she?”
“ ‘Fraid so.”
“What a blow for her.”
@@TuckerSP2011 be orf with you! The caribou are on the lawn again...lawn, now that's a nice woody word, much better than grass!
Chapman's delivery is utterly sublime on this. Was in tears at his enunciation of 'prodding'
Intercourse lives up to today's standards as a 'Woody' word.
Wow they were ahead of the ice bucket thing.
What a blow for her.
+BenjamminClark lmao and this joke is passed by so quickly but its gold
can you explain the joke
He doesn't feel the blow... not sad for him, but for her. All this is indicative of the upper class.
Which one of the 100 jokes ?
This sketch is priceless...and probably a sarcastic take on English aristocracy. I'm sure this scene has been played out in real life many thousands (millions?) of times. I have to wonder what goes through the minds of the bevy of servants standing in the background. hahaaa
This is everything Monty Python ever stood for.
+SirCamera you again!
Copacetic who're you?
We had a back and forth regarding the Coen Brothers. It's just a tremendous coincidence to see you again.
"everything Monty Python ever" Indeed no. Cleese stood for logical development in comedy and he had left.
The nurse with the sunglasses 🤣
Not all sketches have to have you doubled over in laughter. This one just provides some light amusement. For those who don't get it, it's old money with nothing better to do than sit around and muse on how words sound and make them feel.
I like the "Back in my day..." one, four of them reminiscing. Fun.
@ralphmacchiato3761 Ya, this is definitely not one of best Monty Python sketches.
Yeah, it's not one of their best..
- when is it from?
- I'd guess it's from a later show, after they'd run out of new ideas ...
Way better than Downton Abbey
This _is_ downton abbey, in their spare time of course
Abbeeeey.... No.. No, that's too tinny.
Dooooooooownton..... ah, yes.
Hero✩Lydragius Got a sort of woody quality, that. Very woody.
@@flyingrancidm00nfish7 intercourse?
Sound symbolism (more or less) and class parody. Perfectly combined with their usual surreal-ness. Also "I'm afraid Mrs. Vermin-Jones appears to have passed on". What a blow for her.
Freud would have to say a woody word or two about this skit, I suppose. 😉
even back then they were making fun of people getting "triggered" by words
It is somewhat prophetic...
Prophetic...
Horrible tinny word that.
Mr Ben EEEEEEEEE
Excellent point!
StormoTheBrave !
What made you think triggered was a new thing? Been happening for eons
This bit has its moments, but best Python sketch ever?
No Spanish Inquisition?
No Argument Clinic?
No Fish-Slapping Dance?
No Ministry of Silly Walks?
No Nudge, Nudge?
And those are just off the top of my head, with plenty of others.
Nudge Nudge was boring
@@ShuikGaming Nah, it weren't boring, na wah I mean? Nudge nudge, wink wink. Say no more.
@@ShuikGaming No no, no NO! Is you wife, er, fond of phoTOGraphy?
You don't like SPAM?
@@GrandTeuton The Sketch or the food?
they were fucking crazy
Hey!! Palin wasn't crazy.
Joseph Scott which Palin are you referring to?
These Public School boys could certainly send up the idle rich! 🙂
These guys were utterly hilarious. Unmatched by anything around today.
Geez! Is this where I come to read comments from humorless twits? I guess the upper classes who would blanch at this humor have devolved into TH-cam trolls. This is funny!!
The young maid behind is cracking up throughout.
Monty Python... now there's a woody sounding name
It was amusing how relatable the terms woody and tinny were, even though I had never heard those used to describe words before, but I wouldn't say that this was their best sketch ever.
IKR. When he said they sounded woody, I thought yep, they do.
It's a spoof on the pretentiousness of England's upper crust. You have to be from there or know their culture very well to get it. And, it wasn't their best. I;ll still take it over the garbage of today.
These guys are (and in Graham's case, were) very intelligent cats. These sorts of sketches, where they went into language and word jokes, were some of their best. I'd forgotten about this one, too. :)
Sketches based on word play were the preserve of the ex-Cambridge Pythons (Chapman, Cleese and Idle). And the sketches that tended to be more visual were the ex-Oxford Pythons (Palin and Jones).
Oxford: sounds nice and woody. Cambridge: frightfully tinny sort of name.
@@johnboyce8279 Caribou. Playing crocquet on the lawn.
dead, is he? what a blow for him.
@@johnboyce8279 Eton--sort of PVC sort of word, you know?
I love how at 2:28 after he fires the gun the maid in black is startled then has to stop herself from laughing. It looks like she goes again when he has the bucket of water thrown on him.
No way, their best sketch IMHO is the Greek philosophers versus the German philosophers in football.This isn't even close to the absurdity of that sketch.
Moist is the new tin
What about moist?
it's the new tin
Stefan Massyn
Why does moist freak people out?
If the new tin is moist, you need to let it warm up for a bit longer before exposing it to humidity.
For those who don't get the humour, perhaps it might help to suggest that the Python team's approach is sometimes almost Dada, that is to say, absurdist. The underlying theme, if there be one, is that the monied classes have so little to do, that they have time to ponder on the synesthetic attributes of random words while libido rises or the desire for a bath to kill time becomes overwhelming. That, the various ridiculous salutations ("sorry, old horse/old chap" etc. to a female) and Chapman's lubricious delivery (reminiscent of Rowan Atkinson's "school register" delivery in the Secret Policeman's Ball) plus the sudden shock elements of the shotgun and the bellowed song-verse all conspire to create a surreal scenario that Lewis Carrol and Edward Lear would have empathised with. But to explain humour is to castrate it. I for one, just roll with the absurdity and enjoy the drunken, dream-like illogicality of it. Wonderfully liberating, I think. Stop making sense, after all.......
Wonderful castration.
Well, you've done an exellent castrating job of this one. So not woody! But.. very well put.
so sad that this is what we came to appreciate as a society
How is it possible someone doesn't get the genius of this skit?
@gogarrio Well, they're all out there...
I love how Monty Python are so hugely popular with most people not realizing that when you take away their most famous skits, a lot of the Flying Circus was actually stiff like this. Lots of circular dialogue and targeted upending of expectations.
Honestly, I don't even know why this skit makes me laugh, but it does.
I can’t help but feel a lot of their stuff was plain banal... not criticism of the creative process, more a wonder “Life in England makes even this hilarious” 😮
Their best sketch ever?
Hardly, but it is a wonderful example of their unique insanity that makes Monty Python unmatched by any other form of sketch comedy troupes ever.
Pure genius.
Pure Python!
Personal opinions of being the best should be avoided. There are so many amazingly funny sketches that just made up this series what it was zanny.
@@dougaldouglas8842 My two favourites were the Whizzo Box of Assorted Chocolates (the ones with Rams bladder cup AND Cockroach Cluster), clearly based in Black Magic, and Ken Shabby wanting to marry an aristo's daughter. (" clean out public lavatories....after two years they give me a broom").
@@alangiles2763 Spam, Lumberjack, Communists, Silly Walks, Dead Parrot, Cheese shop... All woody!
@@alangiles2763 Erm. All were my zany favourites, zany as hell. Its nice to find others that found, and find Monty Python amusing, a real just let go and let things proceed, especially an attack upon the upper crust, just how pompous they are.
@@TuckerSP2011 Wait,no Spanish Inquisition? 🤣
He said "you can't beat wood" lol
It's right up there with the penguin on the telly. I've kept a stuffed penguin on top of my telly for years. Now that we have flat screens, it's standing beside it. Still, it explodes occasionally.
I put a shelve over my telly for the penguin.
Cleese has said he thought 'The Cheese Shop' sketch one of his best... I found it rather dull, strictly enumeration gag. 'Spanish Inquisition' has to be in the top five. 'Dead Parrot' is near the top of everyone's list. 'Spam' is very near the top for me... I like 'em surreal. I like this one, Carol has a great part (and looks fab!).
+scowell Add the Ministry of Silly Walks to that list, too. And the Argument Sketch. Also, Nudge Nudge, The Four Yorkshiremen, and the Fish-Slapping Dance.
+scowell While I can see why some people might not like the Cheese Shop Sketch it's one of my favorites. And yes, of course the Dead Parrot is one of the best.
+Jong-un Kim Spike Milligan, right? Forgot the other one...
+scowell The original four were Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman.
+Maisie Summers Marty Feldman was part of the orginal Monty Python troupe??
Very TINNY sort of sketch... TINNY TINNY TINNY
AAAAAHHHHH
Justin Theobald Sorry old horse.
.....Erogenous ZOOOONE,...,..,..Wasssssp!
Caribou.
Kyle Stubbs no dear its nibbling the hoops
+KlunkerRider oh *BANG*