"A mongoose is a long, white, plastic pole that you hang out of your window to frighten the birds away, and a monsoon is a medieval, Hungarian stomach-pump."
This was originally performed on "At Last, the 1948 Show," a precursor to "Monty Python's Flying Circus" with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. And, yes, it's on DVD. ;)
Okay: this bit is from "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball", which is technically the fourth of these charity concerts. If you wish to acquire it, pretty much your only option is to invest in "The Secret Policeman's Ball - 25th Anniversary Silver Box Set", which is available from Amazon U.K. WORD OF WARNING: if you're in the U.S./Canada, the discs probably won't play in your DVD player. Good luck!
Not a Python sketch, but in fact one from At Last The 1948 Show, the show Cleese and Chapman did before the Flying Circus. Tim Brooke-Taylor (who is also in this version) and Marty Feldman rounded out the cast. Despite the BBC's best attempts to wipe it, almost all of "1948" is now back in their archive. Two lost episodes were found in David Frost's collection after he died...the guy just stole them from the vault in the 60s. Glad he did Amazing he didn't try to flog them to Nixon in '77.
Also “The Four Yorkshireman” is a sketch form “At Last, the 1948 Show”, performed live by Python but never on the TV series. Chapman and Cleese of course were part of both shows.
JameyChaCha you're correct . . . this sketch is from the Secret Policeman's Other Ball . . . I should know because I saw it in the movie theaters when it first came out.
I may be wrong but I think this is older than at last the 1948 show and may have been written at Cambridge. I saw one version with Graeme Garden playing Cleese's role
Awesome sketch, thx for posting. Which Secret Policeman's Ball DVD does this come from, please? I know it's from 1979 but I can't find the actual video release.
Palin and Jones were the only Pythons to have never had a beard... and, depending on whether the mustache Michael had in "The Missionary" was actually real, Terry J. may be the only one to have never had any facial hair.
i dont know which one he is but if you've ever seen the show bremner, bird and fortune, then you will see him a lot. he isnt rory bremner, so hes either bird or fortune if thats helps good if not then sorry
This isn't actually Monty Python. There's only two Pythons by my count, Cleese and Chapman. I believe this is from the Secret Policeman's Other Ball from the 80s.
Ok, it's kind of cool to see John, Graham, and Rowan Atkinson on the same stage, but honestly... I don't know why the audience is even laughing. (Maybe because they paid to laugh and they have to get their money's worth.) Unless they start talking about the sex life of gastropods, I'm switching this off...