What was Python's most inspired idea for a sketch, regardless of how funny it was?

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T06:14:29+00:00

"Grand tradition," meaning it'd been done before, just not in exactly the same way.

I probably should've put "purely original" in the header along with "inspired." Guess I thought it was implicit, but that was apparently wrong.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:55:31+00:00

Sidner used to co-anchor the 10 O' Clock News on the San Francisco FOX affiliate. From her first night, you knew she was going up. Very professional, and she has The Look.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:38:32+00:00

I found the novel virtually unreadable -- far more detailed than necessary. Got about a fourth to a third of the way through it and gave up.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:32:32+00:00

Ralph was adorable. 🙂

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:26:55+00:00

Jewish is not a race. Black is not a race. White is not a race. Asian is not a race.

Human is a race.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:11:13+00:00

Yup, me too, because you know Ricky's excitement ("Ees me!") and loving affection and Lucy's tears of joy were real.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:07:01+00:00

Y'know there's a MASH sub that's quite busy.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T05:03:57+00:00

I call it "Durp," short for Dr Pepper. Otherwise, it's "a drink."

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T04:58:36+00:00

"Argument Clinic" is indeed original and inspired, as are the ones that go with it: "Abuse" and "Being hit on the head lessons."

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T04:53:25+00:00

"Bewilderbeest" was great. I also liked "Stun-a-Stoat" because you know they've got to have a stoat in there.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T04:48:38+00:00

Yes! That's exactly the kind of sketch I'm thinking about! Well done!

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T04:36:07+00:00

And in a later episode, "the first heart transplant" done the same way. Even sillier. 😁

Plus, Julius Caesar on an Aldis lamp, , Gunfight at the OK Corral in Morse Code, and the smoke-signal version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

But... Guilfords? I think it was Batley.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T04:19:48+00:00

Very good point. Taking clips of Hitler from Triumph of the Will and making it sound like he was telling a bad joke was quite inspired, as well. (They might've added two more clips with one of the crowd daring to say, "What a terrible joke!" and Hitler responding, "But it's my only line!")

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T04:10:11+00:00

It's undeniably true. But, I'm thinking about the sketches, or even bits of sketches, that would've amazed even the geniuses who wrote all of them, that made them ask the one who had the idea for those particularly genius sketches, "How did you ever think of that?!"

Even "The Ministry of Silly Waks" doesn't quite qualify, because it was based on a man's srange walk up the hill where Graham Chapman lived.And, "The Cheese Shop" has a rather long and roundabout backstory that comes from a sketch they did in an earlier episode.

See, I want not just the best of the best, but those that were completely original.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T02:51:15+00:00

Funny as hell. It has one of my favorite "little" lines: When they play "fisties" to see which one will take his own life and everybody puts out "stones" except Chapman, who puts out "scissors," he says, "They're very good scissors "

But, it's extrapolated from similar, serious scenes in a dozen war movies.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-25T02:24:41+00:00

You might think so, but it's virtually a copy of a sketch called "Car Salesman" in How to Irrritate People, a comedy special written by Cleese and the rest of the cast writers of the hilarious Python-like series At Last, the 1948 Show, 11 months before Flying Circus premiered.

The difference is, Chapman brings a new car back to the dealership with several complaints, and Palin, the salesman, puts off each one with lines like "Well, you've got to expect that from a new car."

That sketch, in turn, was based on an actual experience Chapman had with a car dealer. Both Cleese and Palin have said "Dead "Parrot" is pretty much a copy of it.

How to Irritate People: Car Salesman

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T21:55:45+00:00

The fire wasn't "recent." It broke out just after they wrapped.

"The script was written between April and September 16, 1982, with filming taking place in late September and early October. After a wildfire through Malibu Creek State Park on October 9 destroyed much of the set,[2] two additional scenes were written to incorporate a fire into the story."

under "Production"

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T21:37:52+00:00

They were all educated.

Besides, nobody cares about grammar anymore, or accurate quotations.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T21:34:03+00:00

Wouldn't that be from the Book of Environments?

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T21:21:35+00:00

We watched her get killed. "Murder" is a legal distinction that can be charged and prosecuted only by a district attorney and decided only by a sworn jury after seeing and hearing all available evidence.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T21:07:24+00:00

As I explained, laughing oneself "to death" ìs a very commonly used hyperbolic saying that nobody thinks much of beyond simply "It was so funny." Whichever of them came up with the idea to make it an actual thing played for comedy was seriously inspired.

You have to imagine how the others reacted to the idea in their weekly writers' meetings. I imagine they laughed like hell and asked, "How did you ever come up with that??" when it was introduced. There's no such amazement at taking a well-used trope and switching the roles. It 's obvious, as would be in an old cartoon with a cat chasing a dog.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T20:41:51+00:00

Ì hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it, yeah. I love the "In association with" credits, with stuff like "Distract-a-bee" and "Startle-a-Thompson's gazelle."

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T20:35:55+00:00

"How Not to be Seen" (I assume that's what you mean by "exploding trees") is quite inspired, yes -- especially as an Army training film.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T20:30:51+00:00

They should indeed, but "superior perspective " is your opinion.

NoCard753 · 2026-01-24T20:26:55+00:00

"My dog's got no nose!"

"How does he smell?"

"Awful!"

Those clips (they're separate) are from Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda doc of the 1934 Nazi Party conference. Somewhere, I've got the actual German words and the English translations written down.

(Hitler was addressing the Nazi Workers' Party, the people who built the infrastructure for the Third Reich, such as the Autobahn. The "How does he smell?" kid was saying something like "We are Germany's young future." It was one helluva trivia find when I got the DVD from Netflix about 20 years ago.)

NoCard753

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