I remember watching this in 1969/70 when it was first shown on Monty Python. My three flatmates fell about laughing and went to the pub which was full of those who had just watched the show. what a hilarious evening.
On my first visit to BC I was driving back to town (Prince George) , and got stuck behind a logging truck. That song instantly started playing in my head!
Dear Sir, I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song which had just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women's clothes. Many of my best friends are lumberjacks and only a few of them are transvestites. Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Ms.). P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times.
Note taken. This song only represents one lumberjack, not a generalization of all lumberjacks. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we are at least slightly bewildered by the PS you added.
*wiping tears* My mom made up a version of this and sang it to my dog. They'er both gone now. Bet Graham Chapman and my mom are singing a duet of this. PYTHON ROCKS!!
Out of all of the hilarious Python sketches (Dead Parrot included), this one is my favorite! I could sing it forever. The best part - no one looks at you funny when you sing it! They all either laugh or start singing along! It's amazing! The Power of the Python...
hey, man ime proud to be a lumberjackie (female lumberjack, where ime from) and instead o' doin all those things he sang about, we lumberjackies go to the pub and drink our weight in beer, eat all the nachos and haggus we can consume in our guts then those who r married, like me, we go home to our spouses and have our merry ol' way with them 15 times from Sunday nite! also, we get saturdays off
Connie Booth is unsung as the girlfriend in this piece. Watch as she starts to melt after he mentions "likes to press wildflowers". I wonder if she and John Cleese were dating at this time. They were married to write Fawlty Towers, then later divorced. Great American actress living abroad.
I’m in my late 60’s - first saw this skit when I was in high school. All these years later I’m still laughin’ my butt off! I hope my great grandchildren are still gettin’ a bang out of Monty Python.
I had a Monty shirt that read "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK". Wearing it in Hawaii and I over hear a Japanese tourist group leader trying to explain to his Countrymen what a lumberjack is. Priceless
I too, am from British Columbia, and I dress in women's clothing and hang out in bars. And by dressing as a woman and hanging out in bars, I mean I chop down trees, and eat my lunch.
I once worked as a Dogwalker for A member of MP. I won’t say which one. One day, some guys were cutting down some very old trees near his property, and he went over to gripe at them about it. He wanted to save the old trees. I thought “Wow… that’s gotta be the worst thing EVER to happen to a Lumberjack! To be yelled at, by a Member of Monty Python! And too be told…YOU ARE NOT OKAY!”
Monty Python is such an indispensable pioneer of comedy, it's amazing to see how it's evolved. Today if this were a Tim and Eric bit, the choir would go along with it the whole time and time would be taken to see that it's as legitimate looking as possible, and if the viewer doesn't get it, the joke's on them.
One of my favorite funny songs ever. Learned it in summer camp as a teenager. Of course, the camp music teacher didn't teach it to us--a counselor did who was a Monty Python fan. In a recent survey, lumberjacks have the most well-rested profession, so in future I may say my wife sleeps like a lumberjack.
@RudiL94 This show was VERY popular in the US, too. Though you're probably right - most TV programmes do best in their native country, though there are a few that were more popular elsewhere (like 'Neighbours' and 'Baywatch').
There are only two songs in the world where if you start singing them, everyone will join in. The first is "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". The second is "Monty Python's Lumberjack Song."
I was born and grew up there. This is very accurate about Victoria the capital city where I attended university. That lifestyle is all they talked about at the University Centre cafeteria. I don’t mean lumberjacks.
I remember the first time I saw this episode on TV. I happened to be walking by the tv and saw it. I fell out laughing when they got to the "puts on womens clothing and hangs around in bars".
BBC censors were very strict in those days. That's why it was different on the live versions and the Python film "And Now For Something Completely Different."
